Calendly is a booking link: one person publishes their calendar, other people take a slot. WhenNOT does that too — free, with Google and Microsoft calendars — but it starts from the harder problem Calendly doesn't solve: getting eight busy people to agree on one time.
Routing forms, round-robin across a sales team, payment collection, CRM workflows and reporting are a genuinely deep product. If booking is your job, that depth is worth paying per seat for.
Group polls where nobody signs up, results ranked automatically, calendar invites on lock-in, RSVP event pages — plus a booking link for the occasional 1-on-1, at no cost and with no seats.
| WhenNOT | Calendly | |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | ✓Find one time a whole group can make | ~Let people book a slot on one person’s calendar |
| Group polls | ✓The main product — 2 to 30 people, ranked results | ~Meeting polls exist, but sit behind an account and a plan |
| Sign-up to respond | ✓None — open link, cross out, first name, done | ✗Invitees hand over name and email to book |
| Booking link | ✓Free, unlimited event types, Google + Microsoft 365 | ~Free plan allows one event type; more needs a paid seat |
| Pricing model | ✓Free, no seats, no group-size cap | ✗Per-seat subscription for anything past the basics |
| RSVP + event page | ✓Free RSVP website with guest limits, +1s, bring-list | ✗Not what it’s for |
| Routing, round-robin, payments | ✗Deliberately not built | ✓Mature, with CRM and workflow integrations |
| Team analytics & admin | ✗No accounts, so no admin console | ✓Seat management, reporting, SSO on higher tiers |
| Time to first link | ✓About ten seconds, no login | ~Sign up, connect a calendar, configure an event type |
Written August 2026 against the publicly documented plans. Calendly’s free tier is real and useful — the point of this row set is that its limits start where group scheduling begins.
Six friends planning a trip have no “owner calendar” to book against. Everyone’s constraints matter equally, which is a poll, not a booking page.
Calendly collects contact details because booking is often the start of a sales relationship. For a game night, that’s friction with no upside — so we don’t ask.
Our booking link exists so you don’t need a second tool. Unlimited event types, both major calendar providers, no upgrade prompt — it’s a feature, not a funnel.
We're not trying to replace a scheduling platform that a revenue team runs on. If you need lead routing, round-robin distribution, paid bookings, CRM sync, SLA reporting or centralised admin, buy Calendly — and use WhenNOT alongside it for the group polls it was never designed for.
Google Calendar or Microsoft 365. WhenNOT reads busy blocks only, hides them from your booking page, and writes the accepted meeting back.
Name, duration, buffers and working hours. There’s no cap, so the 30-minute, 15-minute and intro calls can all exist on a free account.
Anything that used to be a thread of “does Thursday work?” becomes a link people cross out in four taps.
Yes — unlimited event types and bookings, with Google and Microsoft calendar support. It’s funded as part of the product, not as a trial of a paid tier.
For simple 1-on-1 booking, usually yes. For routing, round-robin, payments or CRM workflows, no — and we’d rather say so than pretend.
No. Booking asks for a name and an email so the invite can be sent; poll responders don’t even give that.
They work, but require an account and sit inside a paid product. Ours is the default path, free, and responders never sign in.
Create a poll in ten seconds, or claim a booking link that reads your real calendar.
Create a poll — it's freeAlso compare: WhenNOT vs When2meet · WhenNOT vs Cal.com