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Running a business has many moving parts—and chasing after clients to secure a meeting time is the last thing you want to worry about. That’s why picking a platform that works for you is so important. That means a platform that is:
Efficient scheduling can be the difference between a smoothly running Lexus and a Ford Pinto. Platforms like Calendly and Doodle can help you streamline your operations for appointment scheduling. If you're curious to know which one is right for you, read on in this comprehensive guide, which will provide an unbiased comparison of Calendly and Doodle, helping you make an informed choice.
Category |
Calendly |
Doodle |
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Best for |
Enterprises, individuals seeking enhanced calendar connectivity, sales, marketing, recruitment, education, and businesses. |
Casual users, social clubs, sports teams, coaches, solopreneurs, and community organizations. |
| Free trial available | ✅ | ✅ |
| Free plan | ✅ | ✅ |
| Pricing | More cost effective when billed monthly. | More cost effective when billed annually. |
Trusted by over ten million users worldwide, Calendly is a versatile scheduling platform that's agnostic to a wide range of users. This platform streamlines appointment scheduling, offers customization options and automates communication workflows.
Users can share personalized calendars effortlessly through seamless website and social media integrations, making the scheduling experience efficient and user-friendly, especially with the Meeting Polls feature for finding preferred meeting times.
Best suited for: Enterprises, individuals seeking enhanced calendar connectivity, sales, marketing, recruitment, education, and businesses.
Core features include:
Doodle simplifies scheduling through quick polling and seamless calendar sync. Originally a polling tool, it has evolved into an appointment scheduler suitable for various types of users. It suits a range of scheduling needs and is ideal for those who value quick polling and integration with popular calendars like Google Calendar, Office 365, and iCal.
Best suited for: Casual users, social clubs, sports teams, coaches, solopreneurs, and community organizations.
Core features include:
Both Calendly and Doodle support various meeting types. Let’s look at how they differ.
Calendly accommodates typical meetings you’d expect when working with external people, like:
Designed as a dedicated meeting lifecycle management platform, Calendly offers extensive team and enterprise functionality. It can extract available meeting slots based on multiple calendars rather than just one. For example, if you have a dedicated sales team, you can create one calendar link that extracts available times across the entire team when prompting prospects to book a demo.
Calendly is an excellent choice for busy professionals and teams looking to enhance productivity and create a positive impression through efficient meeting scheduling.
Doodle’s best for its inherent simplicity and effectiveness, providing a user-friendly interface for various scheduling needs. Doodle’s great for:
It’s great for casual users, small groups, and those seeking simple scheduling solutions.
Whether coordinating a casual catch-up or arranging a small meeting, Doodle's intuitive polling feature lets users decide preferred meeting times. It provides a streamlined and hassle-free scheduling experience–ideal for those who prefer simplicity over complexity.
Seamless calendar integration is a vital component of scheduling tools, and both Calendly and Doodle offer multiple options. Both integrate with popular calendars like:
They also offer integrations with other popular platforms such as:
Both Calendly and Doodle have received mixed user feedback. Let’s see what customers are saying.
Users of Calendly praise its intuitive platform, which significantly streamlines the scheduling process. The convenience of customizing meeting preferences, automated time zone adjustments, and easy calendar integration has made it a favorite among sales professionals, marketers, recruiters, and educators.
However, some users have noted Calendly's lack of workflow capabilities, making it harder to send automated messages post-booking.
Elizabeth F, a VP of Communications at a small business shared that:
| "As of now (10/26/2023) , you can't add workflows to Managed Events. (Example - I assigned an event type to my staff who are in "____" group, but I can't add a workflow to that event type to automatically send a thank you email with a survey after event completion.)" |
Doodle reviewers appreciate its interface's simplicity and ability to quickly poll invitees for preferred meeting times. The platform excels in targeting non-business users and small groups. Sales and marketing teams, freelancers, and various organizations have also found value in Doodle's straightforward scheduling capabilities.
On the downside, one user complained of frequent pop-ups, ads, and an overall confusing layout, Bob Burleigh shared:
| "I've been a Doodle user for a decade, for my company, and as a Volunteer in a number of philanthropic/non-profit organizations. Until April 2022. Never. Again. The "improvements" for the most recent survey were SO awful I am gone forever. Pop-ups every 5 seconds, 2/3 of the screen was ads on both sides of the dates. The new layout is VERY difficult to see/navigate and even more difficult to see who else has selected particular date." |
⭐️ Calendly comes with all the bells and whistles of customization for specific professional needs. Doodle shines with its simplicity, catering to a broader audience looking for simpler scheduling solutions.
Pricing can significantly influence the platforms you choose for your business. So, let’s look at how the two compare.
Calendly has three paid tiers for business purposes on top of a free forever plan. All three come with scheduling solutions that simplify setting up appointments and meetings. Here's a summary of features available at each pricing tier:
Like Calendly, Doodle also offers free and Premium subscription options. The free version is suitable for individuals or small groups, offering basic scheduling features and group polling for availability assessment. The Premium subscription provides an ad-free experience and unlocks additional features for more advanced scheduling needs.
While Doodle can cater to some businesses, its feature set primarily targets casual users, offering the following integrations:
⭐️ Both scheduling platforms offer a free forever plan. But, when looking at a per user cost, Doodle is the clear winner when billed annually (with savings of 55%). However, when billed monthly, Calendly wins.
Calendly vs. Doodle: Our verdict
Calendly and Doodle both simplify and streamline scheduling, regardless of the meeting's nature. However, they cater to different user profiles and offer varying functionality to meet user requirements.
Calendly can accommodate individuals and teams from various sectors, including coaches and trainers.
Calendly offers broad usability across industries, making it suitable for shareholder meetings as well as casual coffee chats.
Doodle primarily targets non-business users but also finds use in companies and organizations. With Doodle, you can:
When it comes to picking Calendly or Doodle, it will ultimately depend on your specific needs. Go for Calendly if you need more advanced functionality, business features, team functionalities, advanced scheduling capabilities, and a large number of integrations.
Pick Doodle if you’re a non-business user, small group, or seeking simple scheduling solutions.
YouCanBookMe is the ultimate solution for those seeking the perfect blend that outshines Calendly and Doodle.
YouCanBookMe stands out with its focus on solopreneurs and small businesses, prioritizing customization and delivering an exceptional client experience. It’s a scheduling tool with unparalleled customizability, from branding to post-booking experiences.
Similar to Doodle and Calendly, YouCanBookMe integrates with commonly used apps like Google Calendar, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook. But, to help you streamline your business operations, YouCanBook me also works with tools like Stripe and thousands more through Zapier.
Experience streamlined automation with seamless confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups dispatched, significantly reducing no-shows so everyone stays in the loop.
Unlike Calendly and Doodle, with YouCanBook Me, you can also create “request only” booking links, giving you full control to accept or reject incoming bookings.
YouCanBookMe offers the best bang for your buck, with paid plans starting at only $8.10/month (yep, that’s almost 20% less than both Calendly and almost 50% less than Doodle!).
Here's the best part: YouCanBookMe offers a 14-day free trial across all of our plans and a free forever plan, giving you a zero-risk chance to see how much YouCanBookMe can enhance your business.
Stop the scheduling struggle, and don’t settle for second best. Your time is invaluable—let us help you elevate your booking process. Try it today and embrace the difference!