Updated 1st August 2026. First published in 2019.
Every day, we use tools that automate our work so we can get things done faster. Email isn't one of them, at least not when it comes to arranging meetings. That's why you should consider a scheduling tool. Right?
Scheduling tools replace the back-and-forth of finding a meeting time with a single link or poll. For scale-ups, where every new hire, client and time zone adds more meetings, the right tool can win back hours every week. Calendly, Cal.com, Doodle and Google Calendar's free booking pages are good places to start.
Post summary
Why scheduling eats into a scaling team's time
How do scheduling tools usually work?
10 scheduling tools worth trying
Which scheduling tool suits your team?
Frequently asked questions
Why scheduling eats into a scaling team's time
When scheduling meetings with potential clients, partners and our own teams, many of us still use email or chat. Every day, messages bounce back and forth just to find a time that works.
The numbers show how much time that costs. Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index, based on 31,000 workers in 31 markets, found that the average employee receives 117 emails a day and is interrupted every two minutes by meetings, emails or chat messages.
An earlier Microsoft report showed where that time goes. Of the time people spend in Microsoft 365 apps, 57% goes on communicating through meetings, chat and email, leaving 43% for creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Where the working day goes
Share of time people spend in Microsoft 365 apps, communicating vs creating
Meetings 23% Chat 19% Email 15% Creating work 43%
Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index 2023, Microsoft 365 usage data.
Arranging meetings is a big part of that. In a Calendly survey of workers in the USA and UK, about one in four said they spend three to four hours a week just scheduling meetings. That's around half a working day.
The problem grows as a business scales.
More people. Every new hire adds more meetings, interviews and handovers.
More time zones. Microsoft found that nearly a third of meetings now span multiple time zones, up 35% since 2021.
More searching. Atlassian's State of Teams 2025 report found that leaders and teams waste 25% of their time just searching for answers.
Scheduling tools won't fix everything. However, they remove one of the most repetitive tasks from your team's day, and they make you look organised to clients. They're one of the simplest ways to improve remote team communication as you grow.
How do scheduling tools usually work?
Most scheduling tools work in one of two ways.
Booking links. You set the times you're available, and share a link. The other person picks a slot that suits them, and the meeting lands in both calendars. This is best for client calls, sales demos and one-to-one meetings.
Group polls. You suggest several dates and times, and send them to everyone who needs to attend.
Recipients get an invitation with clickable time slots or a link to an event page.
They select the slots that suit them best.
Once a time works for everyone, each person gets a confirmation with the date and time.
Most scheduling tools connect to your calendar, whether that's Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar, so they only offer times when you're free and add the meeting in a few clicks.
If that sounds like something you need, take a look at these scheduling tools and decide for yourself which one suits your business.
10 scheduling tools worth trying
1. Calendly
Calendly is one of the most popular scheduling tools for people who organise client meetings, run webinars or attend lots of internal meetings. We use it ourselves at Blu Mint to book calls with our team and clients.
It's easy to use. You share your booking link, and the other person chooses from the times you've made available.
Another brilliant point about Calendly is that you can block out times you never want meetings, such as Fridays, early mornings or lunchtimes. That way, you make time for your actual work, not just meetings.
Once a time is booked, it's added to your calendar automatically, whether you use Google, Outlook or iCloud. And the people you invite don't need to sign up to choose a slot.
Calendly has a free plan, and paid plans start from $10 per user a month, billed yearly. It also has an AI assistant that can book meetings for you when you copy it into an email thread.
2. Clara
Clara is a virtual assistant for scheduling meetings. You copy Clara into an email, ask it to find a time, and it handles the conversation with everyone else.
For example, if you write "Clara, can you find a time for us to meet for a morning business meeting this week?", Clara emails everyone and agrees a time, date and place.
When this article was first written, Clara relied partly on people behind the scenes, which made it relatively expensive. It relaunched in 2026 as a fully automated AI assistant, priced at $80 a month for 30 meetings.
3. Doodle
Doodle is a reliable way to manage a team's meetings through polls. Invitees vote for the times that suit them, and the organiser picks the slot most people chose, although that may still not be the best time for everyone.
It's a helpful tool for smaller teams to get started with. Doodle's free plan now allows one live group poll, one booking page and one one-to-one link at a time. Paid plans start from $11 per user a month and add calendar integration and automatic reminders.
4. Rallly
Rallly (spelt with three Ls) is open source, which means anyone can see and improve its code. It's a simple, ad-free alternative to Doodle.
You create an event page, share it with others, and everyone picks the times that suit them. The free plan includes unlimited polls and participants, and the Pro plan costs $6 per user a month.
5. Cal.com
Cal.com is another open-source option, and one of the most flexible tools on this list. It's free for individual users, with unlimited event types and calendars.
Paid team plans add round-robin scheduling, which shares meetings out between team members, plus shared availability and CRM sync. That makes it a strong choice for scale-ups with growing sales or customer success teams.
6. SavvyCal
SavvyCal mixes booking links with polls. Its standout feature is that invitees can overlay their own calendar on your booking page, so they can see at a glance which times suit you both. Polling is free, and paid plans start from $12 per user a month.
7. Google Calendar appointment schedules
If your team already uses Google, you may not need another tool at all. Any personal Google account can create a basic booking page for free. Google Workspace Business Standard, at $14 per user a month, adds unlimited booking pages, payments and checks across several calendars.
8. zcal
zcal is one of the most generous free tools available. Most of its features, including polls and embedding a booking page on your website, are free and unlimited. Paid plans start from $7 per user a month.
9. TidyCal
TidyCal suits solo founders and small teams who don't want another monthly subscription. The free plan covers unlimited bookings on one calendar, and the paid version is a one-off payment of $29 for life, rather than a monthly fee.
10. Reclaim
Reclaim, which Dropbox bought in 2024, uses AI to protect your time. It gives booking links different priorities and moves lower-priority events when something more important comes up. It has a free plan, and paid plans start from $10 per user a month.
A word of warning
Scheduling tools come and go. Clockwise, a popular AI calendar tool, shut down in March 2026 after its team joined Salesforce, and users' data was deleted soon after.
Before you roll a tool out across your whole team, check that it's well established, and that you can export your data if you ever need to switch.
Which scheduling tool suits your team?
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calendly | Client calls and sales teams | Yes | $10 a user |
| Clara | Hands-off AI scheduling by email | No | $80 a month |
| Doodle | Group polls for small teams | Limited | $11 a user |
| Rallly | Free, ad-free group polls | Yes | $6 a user |
| Cal.com | Flexible, open-source team scheduling | Yes, one user | Team plans |
| SavvyCal | Seeing both calendars at once | Polls only | $12 a user |
| Google Calendar | Teams already on Google | Basic | $14 a user |
| zcal | The most features for free | Yes | $7 a user |
| TidyCal | Solo founders avoiding subscriptions | Yes | $29 one-off |
| Reclaim | Protecting focus time with AI | Yes | $10 a user |
Prices are monthly unless stated, and many are billed yearly. Check each tool's website for the latest pricing.
If you're a scale-up, a few features matter more as your team grows.
Round-robin scheduling shares client and sales meetings fairly across your team.
Time zone detection shows each person times in their own time zone, which matters when you work across the USA and Europe.
Buffers and blocked times stop back-to-back meetings and protect time for real work.
Calendar and CRM integrations keep every booking in the systems your team already uses.
If after reading this you still believe email is the best scheduling tool, then carry on as before.
However, if you're into innovation and want to build scheduling into your daily workflow, your clients and your team will be impressed.
Scaling your team and your marketing?
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It depends on how you meet. For booking links, Calendly, Cal.com and zcal all have useful free plans. For group polls, Rallly offers unlimited free polls. If your team already uses Google, its free booking pages may be all you need.
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A booking link lets someone pick a time from your availability, which suits one-to-one meetings and client calls. A poll asks a group to vote on several options, which suits team meetings where many people need to attend.
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They remove the back-and-forth of arranging meetings as your team, client list and time zones grow. Features like round-robin booking, time zone detection and CRM integrations help growing sales and customer teams stay organised without extra admin.
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Yes. Tools like Clara and Calendly's AI assistant can arrange meetings for you over email, and Reclaim uses AI to protect your focus time and move lower-priority meetings when plans change.