We complain about spending countless hours in unproductive and mismanaged meetings.
But the greater crime is all the wasted time we spend scheduling the meeting.
The endless back-and-forth communication and steps — reviewing calendars, determining the best place to meet, setting up a call-in number, adding the meeting to the calendar, inviting all the necessary attendees, and so on. To put it simply, the process makes the meeting a hassle before it even starts.
Best Way to Schedule Meetings
That's where meeting scheduling software comes into play — this is the more efficient way to optimize your time when scheduling meetings (and the time of everyone who's invited).
These tools have a variety of functions such as agenda scheduling automation, reminders and notifications, and integrations to connect your scheduling software to your other business tools (such as your CRM and sales software). So, let's take a look at some of the best meeting scheduler software available today.
Best Meeting Scheduler
Whether you're trying to find the perfect window of time to catch up with your busy team, or looking for the best way to coordinate with your clients, these meeting scheduler tools have you covered.
1.HubSpot Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler
Price: Free, $0/month (Free), $45/month (Starter), $450/month (Professional), $1,200/month (Enterprise) for Service Hub or Sales Hub
HubSpot's Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler allows your prospects to book one-on-one and group meetings with you automatically to avoid the time-consuming back-and-forth that comes with determining someone's availability.
Prospects can see your calendar and availability, and simply select a meeting time that works for them. You'll be notified of their selection and it'll automatically be added to your calendar. If there are any relevant data about the contact you're having a meeting with, that'll be surfaced for you, since the tool is integrated with your all-in-one CRM.
HubSpot works with Google Calendar and Office 365 Calendar and is available free forever or with a paid Sales Hub or Service Hub plan.
2. Arrangr
Price: Free, $3.99/mo (Pro), $6.99/mo (Pro+)
Arrangr handles the meeting scheduling process from beginning to end by reserving tentative meeting times and also releasing slots that don't get taken.
It integrates with calendars and CRMs, and it has the capability of scheduling group events. The most unique thing, though, is its ability to suggest the perfect meeting location for all parties based on criteria you provide around your preferences (e.g. where to go for a coffee chat versus lunch meeting).
3. Demodesk
Price: $25/mo (Basic), $45/mo (Pro), custom pricing (Business or Enterprise)
Demodesk is an all-in-one meeting scheduler and assistant designed specifically for sales demo scheduling. Not only do you get custom booking pages, calendar syncing, and meeting analytics, but you can also take advantage of its advanced screen sharing and virtual display options. It also has native integrations with many tools including CRM platforms.
4. Rallly
Price: Free
Rallly lets you create a simple, straightforward poll where attendees can vote on a day for an event that works best for them. It also includes an open comment section on the meeting page so attendees can plan the meeting agenda or discuss details before the event.
5. Calendar
Price: Contact Calendar for a quote.
Calendar is a free service that integrates Google and Apple calendars. The app offers two ways to schedule meetings. With the "outbound" method, hosts indicate their own availability, list the attendees they'd like to come to a meeting, and use the Calendar software to send out an email to collect everyone's preferred times.
After Calendar determines the ideal time for everyone to meet, the app schedules the meeting for you. With the "inbound" method, Calendar gives you a personal URL where users can check your availability and request times to meet with you.
6. NeedToMeet
Price: Free, $12/yr/user (Advanced), $19/yr/user (Premium)
NeedToMeet doesn't require you to sign up for an account to use their service. Simply enter a brief description of your meeting's purpose, block off your availability on a calendar, and send the link to attendees. The free version doesn't sync with your calendar, but they do offer a premium subscription that integrates with Outlook.
This tool differs from services like Rally and Doodle because it allows attendees to indicate their preferred date and times, rather than only choosing from a list of dates and times set by the meeting host.
7. YouCanBook.me
Price: $10/calendar/mo
If you find yourself struggling to make your availability known to clients, try out YouCanBook.me. This tool offers users a custom URL where users can view free spots on your Google Calendar or iCloud Calendar and book time with you. It also allows you to customize your booking page with different layouts, colors, and your company's logo.
8. Pick
Price: $9/mo
Pick automatically scans everyone's Gmail calendars to find open slots and delivers a list of mutually available times. You can then send a calendar invite to all attendees directly from the app. Something to note is that all members of your team need to be on Pick in order to share their availability. The app also provides users with an individual URL so you can share your availability with people requesting a meeting.
9. Doodle
Price: $6.95/mo (Pro), $8.95/mo (Team), contact for a quote (Enterprise)
With Doodle, select a list of potential dates and times for your meeting and then poll your attendees to see which option works best for them. You don't have to sign up for a Doodle account to participate in a poll. You can also create a public Doodle URL, where individuals can request a meeting with you based on your listed availability.
10. Calendly
Price: Free, $8/mo (Premium), $12/mo (Pro), contact for a quote (Enterprise)
Calendly integrates directly with your Google or Office 365 calendar and gives you a personalized URL where people can view your availability and schedule their meetings with you. To help you stay organized, the app lets you set up custom meeting types and durations (e.g., 30 Minute Check-In or 60 Minute Project Review).
Add custom questions to the form people use to sign up to meet with you, include a link to a document or web page people should review prior to your meeting, and make events private when necessary.
11. Clara
Price: $99/mo (Essential), $199/mo (Professional), $399/mo (Executive)
Meet Clara, a virtual assistant fueled by machine learning that can schedule all your meetings and get acquainted with your scheduling patterns. Once you sign up, you indicate your preferences regarding the days and times that you're available for meetings as well as your favorite locations for those meetings (e.g. for lunch, coffee, etc.).
If someone requests a meeting, you can CC Clara's email address (which can be customized to your company's domain), and the virtual assistant will determine a time, date, duration, participants, and location for the meeting so you don't have to. She also understands human commands like, "I'm sick so can you reschedule my meetings on Tuesday?"
12.Google Calendar
Price: Free
If your team already uses the GSuite (e.g. Gmail) and would like to streamline scheduling processes by using the same platform for your calendars and schedules too, use Google Calendar.
If your work email is already part of a GSuite membership, you can go to your calendar, search for another team member under the "Meet with" tab on your left, and then click their name to view their calendar up against your own. If you click on a time slot on that calendar, you can schedule a meeting with both yourself and that teammate.
If your teammates aren't part of your GSuite, press the "Share" button to share your calendar with their email addresses. From there, they can enter the calendar and schedule a meeting time with you.
13. Zoom
Price: Free, $149.90 /yr/license (Pro), $199.90 /yr/license (Business), $240/yr/license (Enterprise)
Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing platforms, but it also includes tools to make the process of scheduling one a lot easier.
Choose to add the meeting to your calendar (which may send an invite to the recipient for you) or copy and paste the invite to an email. In addition, two of the Zoom Meetings features are recording and transcripts.
14. Chili Piper
Price: $30/user/mo (User License), $150/mo (Spicy), $400/mo (Hot), $1,000 (Inferno)
Chili Pepper is a scheduling software for B2B revenue teams — it offers one-click scheduling from any email as well as seamless handoff scheduling between your reps. The tool books meetings for your customers with one click and it automatically updates your CRM so your contact data is centrally located and up-to-date.
It also optimizes your calendar and helps increase productivity by setting meeting reminders, handling no-show attendees, creating meeting buffers, reserving time slots on your calendar as needed, and allowing for straightforward meeting rescheduling.
15. Setmore
Price: Free, $9/1-2users/mo (Premium), $5/3+users/mo (Pro)
Setmore is automated online booking software that handles 24/7 scheduling, reminders, and payments. You can brand your bookings and schedule to make for a professional feel — this includes personalized page URLs, logos, fonts, and colors.
The tool makes hosting virtual meetings easy since it integrates with Zoom and Teleport, and you can include your calendar link on your website and social profiles such as Facebook and Instagram.
16. CalendarHero
Price: Free, $8/mo (Professional), $12/mo (Team)
CalendarHero is an online meeting scheduling software that automates the meeting scheduling process for you. Simply add your video chat provider (e.g. Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams Video) and get started scheduling and hosting virtual meetings.
Attendee insights and meeting briefings are available after your calls — that data can then be added to your integrated sales software or CRM. You can also automate meeting tasks by integrating CalendarHero with software like Slack and HubSpot to make the process of adding, referring to, and updating contact records, files, and simpler.
How to Schedule a Meeting With HubSpot's Meeting Tool
As mentioned above, HubSpot's Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler makes the process of scheduling meetings and managing associated contact data easy — below we'll review the steps involved in scheduling a meeting with HubSpot so you can see one of these scheduler tools in action.
1. Sign up for HubSpot.
You can use HubSpot's meeting scheduler if you're a free or paid Sales Hub or Service Hub user.
2. Click the Meetings link under the Sales tab.
This will take you to the back end of the Meetings tool where you can create your own meeting link.
3. Click the "Create meeting link" button in the top right corner.
You may see the option to choose Personal or Team. If it's just you that's requesting the meeting, choose Personal.
4. Fill out your meeting details.
HubSpot asks for the headline (which will show up on your Meetings Tool), name, what you want your link URL to be, and more details.
5. Configure your meeting in HubSpot.
There are also additional fields for optional details to be included in the invite, such as subject and description that will be sent to attendees.
6. Designate your availability.
This is the key feature that eliminates the back and forth. By designating when you can meet, this will display only those times for the recipient to choose from.
7. Add form questions for qualification.
If you're in sales and have your Meetings Tool visible to anyone, you may want to only allow qualified prospects to book with you. This section requires a few fields to give you more insight.
8. Click "Save changes" and check your work.
Once you click this button, you'll see a popup that includes your page link and the embed code.
Copy and paste the booking link into your browser and check to see if your Meetings Tool has this meeting configured the way you want it.
Start Scheduling Your Meetings
Start saving time and using meeting scheduler software — this will ensure everyone efficiently agrees to meeting dates and times, eliminating unnecessary and time-consuming back-and-forth communication.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in July 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
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