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Comparisons·

Best Doodle Alternatives: 7 Free Group Polls

TL;DR

The best Doodle alternative for most people is a free availability grid, where everyone paints when they are free and the overlap wins, without the ads Doodle shows participants on its free plan. Timespree is the modern pick: a mobile-first grid with automatic time zones, a calendar overlay, and no sign-up or ads. When2meet is the classic grid but still shows ads; LettuceMeet is a cleaner, ad-free grid. For date-only voting, Rallly is the best open-source option and Xoyondo adds opinion polls and sign-up sheets. If you are already in Calendly, its free Meeting Polls covers propose-and-vote. Checked August 2026.

Key takeaways

  • Most people leave Doodle because its free plan shows ads to every participant who opens the poll, and calendar sync is paywalled.
  • For an ad-free group poll, use an availability grid: Timespree (modern, mobile-first, time zones, no ads) or LettuceMeet (clean, ad-free).
  • When2meet is the classic free grid but, like Doodle, it shows ads and has no calendar sync.
  • For date-only voting, Rallly is the best open-source option; Xoyondo adds opinion polls and sign-up sheets, free with no account for voters.
  • All of these need no account to respond, and unlike Doodle's free plan, most show no ads to your group.

Why look for a Doodle alternative?

Doodle still works, but most people who leave it do so for one reason: the ads. On Doodle's free plan, ads show to every participant who opens your poll link, not just to you, so a client or a whole team sees banner advertising on the page you sent. Calendar sync, so your real availability is reflected, sits behind Doodle's paid tiers too, and the interface has grown busier over the years.

The good news is that finding a time for a group is a well-served problem, and most of the best tools are free and ad-free. They split into two shapes: availability grids, where everyone paints all the hours they are free and the overlap surfaces on its own, and date polls, where people vote on a short list of options. We have sorted the seven below by shape, checked August 2026.

The best Doodle alternatives, compared

Here are all seven side by side, with how each works and whether it shows ads to your group.

ToolTypeAds to participantsBest for
TimespreeAvailability gridNoModern ad-free group polls
When2meetAvailability gridYesThe classic, no accounts
LettuceMeetAvailability gridNoClean grid, good on mobile
RalllyDate pollNoOpen-source date voting
XoyondoPoll suiteNoPolls, opinions, sign-up sheets
Calendly Meeting PollsPropose-and-voteNoIf you already use Calendly
Google FormsDIY formNoFully custom, manual counting

Availability grids: the closest Doodle replacements

A grid is the strongest replacement for Doodle's group poll, because it captures everyone's full availability instead of a few proposed times.

  • [Timespree](/new) is the modern pick: a mobile-first grid with automatic time-zone conversion, a free calendar overlay so people see their busy times while responding, no participant limit, no ads, and no account needed to respond. It is the closest thing to Doodle's job done cleanly and for free.
  • When2meet is the original grid, running since 2008. It needs no accounts and loads instantly, but it shows ads like Doodle, has no calendar sync, and barely works on phones. Our When2meet alternatives roundup weighs it up.
  • LettuceMeet is a cleaner, modern grid with a good mobile experience and automatic time zones, and it is ad-free with optional Google sign-in to auto-fill busy times.

Date polls and poll suites: vote on options

If you would rather propose a short list of dates and have people vote, these fit better than a full grid.

  • Rallly is the best open-source option: propose a few dates, share the link, and people vote with no login. It is self-hostable and privacy-focused, free for most use, with a paid tier for persistent polls.
  • Xoyondo goes beyond time-finding into opinion polls and sign-up sheets, with unlimited polls and participants free and no account required for voters. It is the versatile pick if your group needs more than a meeting time.
  • Calendly Meeting Polls is free on every Calendly plan and works as propose-and-vote, which is handy if your team already lives in Calendly.
  • Google Forms can run a bare-bones scheduling poll if you want full control, though you count the responses by hand. See our Google Forms meeting poll guide.

How to pick the right Doodle alternative

Pick by how you want people to answer.

  • Everyone paints their full availability (best for finding any time): Timespree for a modern ad-free grid, LettuceMeet for a clean mobile grid, When2meet if you want the bare classic and do not mind ads.
  • Vote on a few proposed dates: Rallly for open-source date polls, Xoyondo if you also need opinion polls or sign-up sheets.
  • Already in Calendly: its free Meeting Polls covers propose-and-vote.

For a recurring group, a scheduling poll for team meetings settles the time fast, and our group availability poll roundup compares the free grids in more depth.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free Doodle alternative?

For most people, a free availability grid. Timespree is the modern pick, with a mobile-first grid, automatic time zones, a calendar overlay, no ads, and no sign-up. LettuceMeet is another clean ad-free grid. Both do Doodle's group-poll job without the banner ads Doodle shows on free.

Which Doodle alternative has no ads?

Timespree, LettuceMeet, Rallly, and Xoyondo all run their free polls without ads. Doodle's free plan and the classic When2meet both show ads to participants. If an ad-free page for your group is the goal, those four are the safe choices.

Is there an open-source alternative to Doodle?

Yes. Rallly is open-source (self-hostable) for date polls, and its hosted version is free for most use. If you want a self-hostable availability grid instead, When2meet's approach is widely copied, but Rallly is the maintained open-source project most people reach for.

What is the difference between an availability grid and a date poll?

A grid (Timespree, When2meet, LettuceMeet) has everyone paint all the hours they are free, so the best overlap surfaces on its own. A date poll (Rallly, Doodle's classic mode) has people vote on a short list of times you propose. Grids find times you might not have suggested.

Do Doodle alternatives need an account to respond?

No. Timespree, When2meet, LettuceMeet, Rallly, and Xoyondo all let participants respond without an account, just like Doodle. You share one link and people mark their availability or vote, which keeps response rates high for large or casual groups.

Keep reading

Written by

Timespree Team

The Timespree team builds a free group scheduling poll and writes hands-on guides about finding meeting times. Every tool mentioned in our comparisons is tested in a real browser before we write about it, and posts are updated when products change.

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