Doodle Alternatives | How to Pick the Best Scheduling Solution for You

July 27, 2023
min to read

Doodle Alternatives | How to Pick the Best Scheduling Solution for You

Madeleine Work
July 27, 2023
min to read

Things I could do without: 

  • Lukewarm coffee 
  • Pennies (absolutely useless piece of currency)
  • Back-and-forth emails trying to get a time on the calendar

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. 

Doodle poll

But maybe you’re starting to look at doodle alternatives? In which case you might be asking yourself: 

Why should I consider alternatives to Doodle? 

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:

Doodle review

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. 

Doodle Alternatives for Easy Scheduling

Best for B2B - Chili Piper 

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. 

Best Doodle Alternative for B2B

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.

Qualify, route, and book sales meetings from your webform

Chili Piper vs Doodle: Feature comparison 

Chili Piper Pricing

Chili Piper pricing is fully transparent, with a strict no-discount policy.

Instant Booker licenses are $15/user/month and include:

  • 1-click over email
  • No-show and cancelation management
  • Integration with Salesforce/HubSpot
  • And so much more

Handoff is $25/user/month and includes everything in instant booker, plus: 

  • Booking meetings on behalf of others — with round-robin based on CRM or custom rules

Form Concierge is $30/user/month and includes everything in Concierge, plus: 

  • Route, qualify, and schedule meetings from any web form
  • Lead to account matching
  • And more
Chili Piper pricing

Chili Piper also has a free version coming soon 👀

Best Free Doodle Alternative

If you’re looking for a free doodle alternative with smart scheduling features for customer-facing revenue teams, get on the waitlist.

What people are saying in the wild

Chili Piper review

Source: G2

Best for independent contractors - Honeybook

Honeybook is a complete client flow platform, perfect for independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, etc.

best Doodle alternative for independent contractors

It combines everything you’ll need to manage a successful small business, including sending invoices, signing contracts, and booking and scheduling meetings. 

HoneyBook vs Doodle: Features

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…

  • Need polling to find the best meeting time that works for multiple people (although Calendly also has this feature)
  • Need to be able to book on behalf of others (although Chili Piper also has this feature)
  • You need multiple scheduling links (although Chili Piper and Calendly both have this feature)

Who should use HoneyBook

You can consider switching to HoneyBook if you…

  • Want to consolidate invoices, contracts, scheduling and more into a single platform
  • Are a consultant, freelancer, or solopreneur who has lots of 1:1 meetings with clients
  • Are a small business owner who wants to gate meeting types behind a paywall (e.g. requiring people to pay before booking a consultation or hair cutting appointment)

HoneyBook Pricing

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.

honeybook pricing

What people are saying in the wild

honeybook review

Source: G2

Best for polling - Calendly 

Calendly is a free Doodle alternative with the polling feature, specifically. If you’re all about that polling, go with Calendly. 

best doodle alternative for polling

With Calendly, you can use polling alongside their other scheduling features.

Calendly vs Doodle: Feature Comparison

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’re really attached to Doodle’s user interface 
  • You’re on a recruiting and staffing team that schedules one-on-one, group, or video conference meetings
  • You’re willing to watch ads in exchange for using a free product 

You should use Calendly if…

  • You want a simple, easy-to-use, all-in-one scheduling and polling solution 

Calendly Pricing

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. 

Calendly pricing

What people are saying in the wild

Calendly review

Source: G2

Bonus: ChiliCal (coming soon)

ChiliCal is a free Doodle alternative smart scheduling solution built for customer-facing reps. It’s got alllll the bells and whistles, including: 

Making room for high-priority meetings

When a high-priority customer books over a low-priority meeting, ChiliCal automatically finds a new time that works. 

find the right time for priority meetings

Dropping you in the Zoom at the perfect moment

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 🤗)

join your meeting right on time

Insert your booking link in 0.5 seconds*

*Results vary based on your average typing speed. But it’s fast.

insert your booking link in 0.5 seconds

Insert your booking link without even thinking about it

If shortcuts aren’t your thing, no worries. ChiliCal knows what you’re trying to say and will make life easier for you.

text expander for scheduling

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!

Transitioning from Doodle

Thinking about making the transition? With so many alternatives to doodle out there, let’s help you out.

Migration is more simple than you think 

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: 

  1. Pre-Kickoff

You’ll gain access to your Chili Hub to complete your Kickoff Checklist.

Time needed: 30 minutes

  1. Kickoff

Meet with Chili Piper to begin initial set up

Time needed: 45 minutes

  1. Build

Review Queue Rules, Meeting Templates, and prep to go live

Time needed: 50 minutes

  1. Launch 

Get your team up and running using Instant Booker.

Time needed: 45 minutes

Taking the next step

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: 

  • Post on r/software subreddit to see if anyone has any recommendations for your specific use case
  • Request to join Slack groups like Wizard of Ops or MO Pros. They both have channels for tech stack discussions where you can get input from your peers.
  • Ask your network for recommendations by posting on LinkedIn
  • Check out G2 reviews for Chili Piper, Calendly, Honeybook, and any other alternatives you’re looking at.

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: 

  • Lukewarm coffee 
  • Pennies (absolutely useless piece of currency)
  • Back-and-forth emails trying to get a time on the calendar

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. 

Doodle poll

But maybe you’re starting to look at doodle alternatives? In which case you might be asking yourself: 

Why should I consider alternatives to Doodle? 

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:

Doodle review

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. 

Doodle Alternatives for Easy Scheduling

Best for B2B - Chili Piper 

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. 

Best Doodle Alternative for B2B

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.

Qualify, route, and book sales meetings from your webform

Chili Piper vs Doodle: Feature comparison 

Chili Piper Pricing

Chili Piper pricing is fully transparent, with a strict no-discount policy.

Instant Booker licenses are $15/user/month and include:

  • 1-click over email
  • No-show and cancelation management
  • Integration with Salesforce/HubSpot
  • And so much more

Handoff is $25/user/month and includes everything in instant booker, plus: 

  • Booking meetings on behalf of others — with round-robin based on CRM or custom rules

Form Concierge is $30/user/month and includes everything in Concierge, plus: 

  • Route, qualify, and schedule meetings from any web form
  • Lead to account matching
  • And more
Chili Piper pricing

Chili Piper also has a free version coming soon 👀

Best Free Doodle Alternative

If you’re looking for a free doodle alternative with smart scheduling features for customer-facing revenue teams, get on the waitlist.

What people are saying in the wild

Chili Piper review

Source: G2

Best for independent contractors - Honeybook

Honeybook is a complete client flow platform, perfect for independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, etc.

best Doodle alternative for independent contractors

It combines everything you’ll need to manage a successful small business, including sending invoices, signing contracts, and booking and scheduling meetings. 

HoneyBook vs Doodle: Features

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…

  • Need polling to find the best meeting time that works for multiple people (although Calendly also has this feature)
  • Need to be able to book on behalf of others (although Chili Piper also has this feature)
  • You need multiple scheduling links (although Chili Piper and Calendly both have this feature)

Who should use HoneyBook

You can consider switching to HoneyBook if you…

  • Want to consolidate invoices, contracts, scheduling and more into a single platform
  • Are a consultant, freelancer, or solopreneur who has lots of 1:1 meetings with clients
  • Are a small business owner who wants to gate meeting types behind a paywall (e.g. requiring people to pay before booking a consultation or hair cutting appointment)

HoneyBook Pricing

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.

honeybook pricing

What people are saying in the wild

honeybook review

Source: G2

Best for polling - Calendly 

Calendly is a free Doodle alternative with the polling feature, specifically. If you’re all about that polling, go with Calendly. 

best doodle alternative for polling

With Calendly, you can use polling alongside their other scheduling features.

Calendly vs Doodle: Feature Comparison

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’re really attached to Doodle’s user interface 
  • You’re on a recruiting and staffing team that schedules one-on-one, group, or video conference meetings
  • You’re willing to watch ads in exchange for using a free product 

You should use Calendly if…

  • You want a simple, easy-to-use, all-in-one scheduling and polling solution 

Calendly Pricing

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. 

Calendly pricing

What people are saying in the wild

Calendly review

Source: G2

Bonus: ChiliCal (coming soon)

ChiliCal is a free Doodle alternative smart scheduling solution built for customer-facing reps. It’s got alllll the bells and whistles, including: 

Making room for high-priority meetings

When a high-priority customer books over a low-priority meeting, ChiliCal automatically finds a new time that works. 

find the right time for priority meetings

Dropping you in the Zoom at the perfect moment

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 🤗)

join your meeting right on time

Insert your booking link in 0.5 seconds*

*Results vary based on your average typing speed. But it’s fast.

insert your booking link in 0.5 seconds

Insert your booking link without even thinking about it

If shortcuts aren’t your thing, no worries. ChiliCal knows what you’re trying to say and will make life easier for you.

text expander for scheduling

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!

Transitioning from Doodle

Thinking about making the transition? With so many alternatives to doodle out there, let’s help you out.

Migration is more simple than you think 

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: 

  1. Pre-Kickoff

You’ll gain access to your Chili Hub to complete your Kickoff Checklist.

Time needed: 30 minutes

  1. Kickoff

Meet with Chili Piper to begin initial set up

Time needed: 45 minutes

  1. Build

Review Queue Rules, Meeting Templates, and prep to go live

Time needed: 50 minutes

  1. Launch 

Get your team up and running using Instant Booker.

Time needed: 45 minutes

Taking the next step

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: 

  • Post on r/software subreddit to see if anyone has any recommendations for your specific use case
  • Request to join Slack groups like Wizard of Ops or MO Pros. They both have channels for tech stack discussions where you can get input from your peers.
  • Ask your network for recommendations by posting on LinkedIn
  • Check out G2 reviews for Chili Piper, Calendly, Honeybook, and any other alternatives you’re looking at.

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.

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