Things I could do without:
Coordinating with someone to get a time on the calendar is — and I’m not exaggerating here — the absolute worst.
Doodle does a great job eliminating those back-and-forth emails — and they also have a nifty polling feature that makes it easy to find a time that works for a large group of people.
But maybe you’re starting to look at doodle alternatives? In which case you might be asking yourself:
Wow, we’re starting out with philosophical questions — love it.
“Why you should consider alternatives” depends on what you’re looking for.
If you’re running a customer-facing revenue team, you might be looking for something that lets you get your show rates to 95%, book meetings from sales cadences, or schedule meetings from your webform (in which case, I recommend Chili Piper).
If you’re running a small business, you might be looking for something that lets you manage invoicing, contracts, and client management in a single platform (in which case, hop down to HoneyBook).
If you’re like our friend u/agt_dunham, maybe you’ve become disillusioned with Doodle’s polling feature:
Source: Reddit
Or maybe you love Doodle and you’re just here because of obligatory “competition vetting”.
Whatever it is, this article should get you what you need.
Let’s dive in.
Chili Piper is the only Doodle alternative that’s built for customer-facing revenue teams. Of all the Doodle alternatives, it’s the only one specifically built with B2B revenue teams in mind.
Good ol’ Chili P has a chrome extension that makes it easy to book meetings from your fave tools. Of course, that means classics like Gmail and Outlook, but also Salesforce, HubSpot, Salesloft, Outreach, and more.
You can also use Chili Piper to book meetings on behalf of others. Think prospecting teams booking for sales or AEs handing off to implementation teams.
Aaaaand Chili Piper also works with your web form. So anyone requesting a demo is qualified, routed, and scheduled with the right rep. In seconds.
Chili Piper pricing is fully transparent, with a strict no-discount policy.
Instant Booker licenses are $15/user/month and include:
Handoff is $25/user/month and includes everything in instant booker, plus:
Form Concierge is $30/user/month and includes everything in Concierge, plus:
Chili Piper also has a free version coming soon 👀
If you’re looking for a free doodle alternative with smart scheduling features for customer-facing revenue teams, get on the waitlist.
Source: G2
Honeybook is a complete client flow platform, perfect for independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, etc.
It combines everything you’ll need to manage a successful small business, including sending invoices, signing contracts, and booking and scheduling meetings.
HoneyBook includes all the features you’d expect in a scheduling tool. You can share your availability, create different meeting types, and eliminate back-and-forth emails.
Who should use Doodle:
You should keep using Doodle if you…
Who should use HoneyBook
You can consider switching to HoneyBook if you…
HoneyBook has 3 main pricing tiers: Starter, Essentials, and Premium. For scheduling features, you need to be on the Essentials or Premium package.
Starter is priced at $12.80 per month (for annual contracts) and includes invoicing, proposals, a client portal, and basic reporting.
Essentials is priced at $25.60 per month (for annual contracts) and includes a scheduler, profit and loss, and expense management.
Premium is priced at $52.80 (for annual contracts) and includes unlimited team members, priority support, and a dedicated account manager.
Source: G2
Calendly is a free Doodle alternative with the polling feature, specifically. If you’re all about that polling, go with Calendly.
With Calendly, you can use polling alongside their other scheduling features.
Calendly’s core functionality was developed around scheduling — and they recently added a polling feature to compete with Doodle head-to-head.
Doodle, on the other hand, was first developed as a polling tool and has evolved to include appointment scheduling functionality.
You should use Doodle if…
You should use Calendly if…
Calendly has 5 pricing tiers: Basic, Essentials, Professional, Teams, and Enterprise.
Basic is their free version that lets you connect one calendar, create one event type, and customize your booking link.
Essentials is $8/seat/mo and lets you connect 6 calendars, create unlimited event types, and create group events.
Professional is $12/seat/mo lets you view analytics and set up routing via Calendly forms.
Teams is $16/seat/mo and includes round robin event types, integration with Salesforce, and routing with Marketo or HubSpot forms.
Enterprise pricing isn’t included on their website, but it includes SSO, a dedicated Calendly account partner, and an activity log.
Source: G2
ChiliCal is a free Doodle alternative smart scheduling solution built for customer-facing reps. It’s got alllll the bells and whistles, including:
When a high-priority customer books over a low-priority meeting, ChiliCal automatically finds a new time that works.
Rather than keeping your eye on the clock, ChiliCal will drop you at exactly the start time — so you’re never late. (Don’t worry — you’ll see the Zoom preview before you join so you’re not caught off guard 🤗)
*Results vary based on your average typing speed. But it’s fast.
If shortcuts aren’t your thing, no worries. ChiliCal knows what you’re trying to say and will make life easier for you.
And the best part? All these features are included in the free plan. (Yes, for real).
ChliCal is still in beta… but we’re very, very close to launching.
Get on the waitlist so you can be the first to know when we launch!
Thinking about making the transition? With so many alternatives to doodle out there, let’s help you out.
When transitioning from Doodle to another scheduling tool, like Chili Piper, it’s actually quite straight forward.
Here’s what our typical onboarding process for Instant Booker looks like:
You’ll gain access to your Chili Hub to complete your Kickoff Checklist.
Time needed: 30 minutes
Meet with Chili Piper to begin initial set up
Time needed: 45 minutes
Review Queue Rules, Meeting Templates, and prep to go live
Time needed: 50 minutes
Get your team up and running using Instant Booker.
Time needed: 45 minutes
There are dozens of Doodle alternatives out there — this article merely summarized the biggest players in the space.
As you’re looking at alternatives, here are some good resources to help you in your search:
When you find a good alternative that works for you, find me on LinkedIn and let me know what you found — I can update this article with your findings.
Things I could do without:
Coordinating with someone to get a time on the calendar is — and I’m not exaggerating here — the absolute worst.
Doodle does a great job eliminating those back-and-forth emails — and they also have a nifty polling feature that makes it easy to find a time that works for a large group of people.
But maybe you’re starting to look at doodle alternatives? In which case you might be asking yourself:
Wow, we’re starting out with philosophical questions — love it.
“Why you should consider alternatives” depends on what you’re looking for.
If you’re running a customer-facing revenue team, you might be looking for something that lets you get your show rates to 95%, book meetings from sales cadences, or schedule meetings from your webform (in which case, I recommend Chili Piper).
If you’re running a small business, you might be looking for something that lets you manage invoicing, contracts, and client management in a single platform (in which case, hop down to HoneyBook).
If you’re like our friend u/agt_dunham, maybe you’ve become disillusioned with Doodle’s polling feature:
Source: Reddit
Or maybe you love Doodle and you’re just here because of obligatory “competition vetting”.
Whatever it is, this article should get you what you need.
Let’s dive in.
Chili Piper is the only Doodle alternative that’s built for customer-facing revenue teams. Of all the Doodle alternatives, it’s the only one specifically built with B2B revenue teams in mind.
Good ol’ Chili P has a chrome extension that makes it easy to book meetings from your fave tools. Of course, that means classics like Gmail and Outlook, but also Salesforce, HubSpot, Salesloft, Outreach, and more.
You can also use Chili Piper to book meetings on behalf of others. Think prospecting teams booking for sales or AEs handing off to implementation teams.
Aaaaand Chili Piper also works with your web form. So anyone requesting a demo is qualified, routed, and scheduled with the right rep. In seconds.
Chili Piper pricing is fully transparent, with a strict no-discount policy.
Instant Booker licenses are $15/user/month and include:
Handoff is $25/user/month and includes everything in instant booker, plus:
Form Concierge is $30/user/month and includes everything in Concierge, plus:
Chili Piper also has a free version coming soon 👀
If you’re looking for a free doodle alternative with smart scheduling features for customer-facing revenue teams, get on the waitlist.
Source: G2
Honeybook is a complete client flow platform, perfect for independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, etc.
It combines everything you’ll need to manage a successful small business, including sending invoices, signing contracts, and booking and scheduling meetings.
HoneyBook includes all the features you’d expect in a scheduling tool. You can share your availability, create different meeting types, and eliminate back-and-forth emails.
Who should use Doodle:
You should keep using Doodle if you…
Who should use HoneyBook
You can consider switching to HoneyBook if you…
HoneyBook has 3 main pricing tiers: Starter, Essentials, and Premium. For scheduling features, you need to be on the Essentials or Premium package.
Starter is priced at $12.80 per month (for annual contracts) and includes invoicing, proposals, a client portal, and basic reporting.
Essentials is priced at $25.60 per month (for annual contracts) and includes a scheduler, profit and loss, and expense management.
Premium is priced at $52.80 (for annual contracts) and includes unlimited team members, priority support, and a dedicated account manager.
Source: G2
Calendly is a free Doodle alternative with the polling feature, specifically. If you’re all about that polling, go with Calendly.
With Calendly, you can use polling alongside their other scheduling features.
Calendly’s core functionality was developed around scheduling — and they recently added a polling feature to compete with Doodle head-to-head.
Doodle, on the other hand, was first developed as a polling tool and has evolved to include appointment scheduling functionality.
You should use Doodle if…
You should use Calendly if…
Calendly has 5 pricing tiers: Basic, Essentials, Professional, Teams, and Enterprise.
Basic is their free version that lets you connect one calendar, create one event type, and customize your booking link.
Essentials is $8/seat/mo and lets you connect 6 calendars, create unlimited event types, and create group events.
Professional is $12/seat/mo lets you view analytics and set up routing via Calendly forms.
Teams is $16/seat/mo and includes round robin event types, integration with Salesforce, and routing with Marketo or HubSpot forms.
Enterprise pricing isn’t included on their website, but it includes SSO, a dedicated Calendly account partner, and an activity log.
Source: G2
ChiliCal is a free Doodle alternative smart scheduling solution built for customer-facing reps. It’s got alllll the bells and whistles, including:
When a high-priority customer books over a low-priority meeting, ChiliCal automatically finds a new time that works.
Rather than keeping your eye on the clock, ChiliCal will drop you at exactly the start time — so you’re never late. (Don’t worry — you’ll see the Zoom preview before you join so you’re not caught off guard 🤗)
*Results vary based on your average typing speed. But it’s fast.
If shortcuts aren’t your thing, no worries. ChiliCal knows what you’re trying to say and will make life easier for you.
And the best part? All these features are included in the free plan. (Yes, for real).
ChliCal is still in beta… but we’re very, very close to launching.
Get on the waitlist so you can be the first to know when we launch!
Thinking about making the transition? With so many alternatives to doodle out there, let’s help you out.
When transitioning from Doodle to another scheduling tool, like Chili Piper, it’s actually quite straight forward.
Here’s what our typical onboarding process for Instant Booker looks like:
You’ll gain access to your Chili Hub to complete your Kickoff Checklist.
Time needed: 30 minutes
Meet with Chili Piper to begin initial set up
Time needed: 45 minutes
Review Queue Rules, Meeting Templates, and prep to go live
Time needed: 50 minutes
Get your team up and running using Instant Booker.
Time needed: 45 minutes
There are dozens of Doodle alternatives out there — this article merely summarized the biggest players in the space.
As you’re looking at alternatives, here are some good resources to help you in your search:
When you find a good alternative that works for you, find me on LinkedIn and let me know what you found — I can update this article with your findings.