How whenisgood works (as of October 2026)
Whenisgood's idea is refreshingly plain. We went through the site and its FAQ in October 2026, and this is the flow it describes:
- The organizer opens the create page and paints over a grid of dates and hours. The default view shows a few weeks of days and a band of daytime hours. Under the options you can widen the hours, hide weekdays, switch on time zones and pick 15, 30 or 60 minute steps.
- After pressing "create event" you get two things: an invitation link for the group and a results code for yourself. Keep that code. Without an account it's your way back to the answers.
- Invitees see the proposed slots in gray, paint over the ones that are good for them, type a name and send their response. Each person gets a personal link to update it later.
- The organizer enters the results code. Slots that work for everyone show up in green. "Near misses" get small red dots, and hovering shows who can't make it. Names are sorted from most to least flexible.
- Click a slot to see who can and can't come and grab an iCal link for your calendar.
A few more facts from the FAQ: the site is free and has no adverts, an account is optional (you log in with a code sent to your email, no password) and time zones adjust automatically for each person once switched on. For what it's built for, that's a solid tool.
Where the whenisgood grid is the right tool
Before we talk alternatives, let's be fair. If any of these sound like your plan, stay with a time grid:
- A call across time zones. Your cousin in Denver, a friend in Dublin and you in Chicago want 45 minutes together. Whenisgood's time zone option shows everyone the slots in their own local time, which is exactly the hard part here.
- A recurring study group or tutoring slot. You need "Thursdays 4 to 5" and not just "Thursday".
- Interviews or committee meetings. Several busy people, short slots, a working day that's already half full.
- Volunteer shifts. When the hours are the whole point of the question.
In all of these the hour is the decision. A day poll would leave you with "Thursday works" and a second round of questions.
When a whenisgood alternative makes more sense
Things change once the plan fills a whole evening or several days. Then the hours on the grid stop carrying information, and painting them becomes busywork. Here are the situations where people tend to go looking for something else.
The plan is several days in a row
Eight friends want a lake house for 3 nights sometime in July. In a time grid, every person paints full days across a month. Then the organizer scans the colors and tries to spot three green columns next to each other, ideally ones that also include a Saturday. That works, but it's detective work.
A poll that understands "3 days in a row" does that search for you. It checks every possible stretch, counts who can make all of it and puts the best one on top.
The hour gets decided later anyway
For a 40th birthday dinner, the restaurant sets the time. For a backyard barbecue, it's "from 4-ish". Asking people for exact hours only slows them down and they'll mark the whole evening regardless.
The group should see the result too
Whenisgood is organized around the person holding the results code, who then lets everyone know. That's tidy for a manager. For a friend group, it often helps when everybody opens the same link and sees which day is winning, so nobody needs to ask "so what's the plan?" in the chat.
Most answers come in on a phone
Group links get opened between two other things, usually with a thumb. Tapping 6 or 7 whole days is faster than painting rows of small cells, especially for the aunt who rarely uses her phone for anything but photos.
You want a "maybe" that still counts
Plenty of people can do a Sunday "if it has to be". In our poll you tap a day once for "works" and twice for "if needed". Those days still count, firm yeses just win a tie. It's often the difference between finding a date and finding none.
Rallly: another option worth knowing
Rallly is the other name worth knowing, especially if you like open source tools. Here's what its website and help pages say as of October 2026:
- How it works: the organizer proposes a set of options and shares a link. Participants vote without signing up, and the organizer finalizes the winning option, which sends out a calendar invite.
- Slots or whole days: options default to 1 hour slots, the length can be changed, and there's an "All day" choice for voting on whole days.
- Time zones: times are shown to each participant in their own time zone, with an option to lock one time zone for everyone.
- Open source: the code is under the AGPLv3 license and can be self-hosted with Docker. Self-hosting is free for personal use. A setup with several users needs a paid license key.
- Free and Pro: the free plan lets you keep up to 3 polls open at a time. Free polls are deleted once all their dates are well in the past and nothing has happened for a while. A paid Pro plan lifts the limit, keeps polls indefinitely and adds custom branding.
So Rallly is closer to a classic date poll than to a grid: it's at its best when you already have 3 or 4 candidate dates. If you'd rather not guess the options in advance and want people to mark every day they're free in a whole month, that's where a day poll fits. Our Doodle alternative guide explains that difference in more detail.
Whenisgood alternative comparison table
Facts about whenisgood and Rallly come from their own websites and help pages, as of October 2026. Features change, so check before you rely on one.
| Whenisgood | Rallly | AskForDates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What people mark | Free time on a grid of dates and hours | Yes or no on options the organizer proposed | Whole days in a calendar |
| Hourly time slots | Yes, in 15, 30 or 60 minute steps | Yes, 1 hour by default, adjustable | No |
| Whole days | Possible via full-day selection and calendar view | Yes, with "All day" | Yes, that's the whole idea |
| Searches for several days in a row | Not described, you read it off the grid | Not described | Yes, 2 to 30 days |
| Account needed to create | No (optional, login by email code) | No (optional, for managing polls) | No |
| Account needed to answer | No | No | No |
| Time zones | Yes, optional | Yes, automatic | Not needed for whole days |
| Who sees the result | The organizer via results code (can pass it on) | Shown in the poll | Everyone with the link, right away |
| Calendar entry | iCal link for the chosen slot | Calendar invite when finalized | Calendar entry once the date is locked in |
| Cost | Free, no adverts | Free plan (up to 3 open polls), paid Pro plan | Free, no ads |
| Open source | No | Yes (AGPLv3) | No |
There's no overall winner here. The question is what your group has to agree on: an hour, one of a few fixed options or a day nobody has picked yet.
Five real plans and the tool that fits
- A 30-minute family video call with Grandpa in Arizona and the kids in London. Whenisgood with time zones on. Done.
- The board of a running club picks one of three evenings the community hall has free. The options already exist, so a poll like Rallly fits nicely.
- Ten college friends, a cabin in the Smokies, 4 days between June and August. A day poll that searches for 4 days in a row. Nobody wants to paint 90 days of hours.
- A surprise 50th for your mom, one Saturday in spring. A single-day poll, sent first to the people who absolutely have to be there. Our surprise party planning guide covers how to keep it secret.
- A 20-year class reunion. A day poll sent months ahead, because people need to book travel. More in class reunion planning.
How our day poll handles the same job
The AskForDates poll was built for plans 3 to 5 above. You choose a single day or several days in a row (2 to 30), set the dates you're looking at and give it a name. Then you share the link in WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal or by email.
Everyone types a name and taps days: once for "works", twice for "if needed". For each possible day or stretch, the poll counts how many people can make all of it. The option with the most people goes on top. If two options tie, the one with more firm yeses wins, then the earlier one. Below it you see up to two alternatives that don't overlap, each with the names of whoever is missing.
When you're happy, you lock in the date and people add it to their calendar. A poll stays online until 60 days after its date range ends and is then deleted.
psst … this makes it easier
Find the day that works for everyone
- Create a poll and drop the link in the group chat
- Everyone taps the days they're free and the best one shows up instantly
- Free, no account, no app
What our poll can't do
If you're switching from whenisgood, you should know where we stop:
- No hours at all. "Saturday" yes, "Saturday at 2" no. For that, go back to the grid.
- No time zones. Whole days don't need them, but an international call does.
- No proposed options. You set a range of dates and people mark what works. If you only have 3 fixed choices, a classic option poll is more direct.
- Edits only on the same device. Since nobody has an account, an answer can be changed on the phone or laptop it was made on.
- Up to 100 people per poll. Plenty for a wedding weekend, not meant for a whole company.
Messages for moving your group to a day poll
If your group is used to whenisgood links, a short heads-up helps. Say what changed and why it's quicker for them.
Lake house plan, take two 🛶 This time no hour grid: just tap every day in July you could do, and the poll finds the 3 nights that work for most of us. Tap twice if a day only works in a pinch: [link]
Vote by Sunday, I'll book on Monday.
Planning a dinner for Jordan's 40th 🎂 Please tap every evening you're free in the next five weeks. No times, no sign-up, takes a minute: [link]
Whichever night most people can make wins.
Hi cousins! We're finally doing the reunion. Pick every day you could make it between June and September, the poll will show the best weekend: [link]
If you only know your work schedule later, mark the days as "if needed" for now.
Tip: Tell people the rule before they vote ("the stretch most of us can make wins"). Nobody can argue with a result they agreed to in advance.
For the whole process, including what to do when no day works for everyone, see how to find a date that works for everyone. Planning a trip? Our group trip guide goes from first message to booking. And if you came here from the other big grid tool, there's a separate page on when2meet alternatives. All planning guides live under Parties & planning.
Frequently asked questions
Is whenisgood free?
Yes. As of October 2026, whenisgood's own FAQ says everything on the site is free and there are no adverts. You don't need an account either. An optional account works with a six-digit code sent to your email, so there's no password.
Can whenisgood find whole days instead of hours?
It can. The FAQ mentions a calendar view through a 'day' button, and when you create an event you can shift-click a date header to select the full day. The tool still thinks in a grid of dates and times, so if you need a run of several days in a row, you read that off the grid yourself.
What is Rallly?
Rallly is an open source scheduling poll. The organizer picks a few dates or time slots, shares a link and people vote without signing up. You can also choose all-day options, and the code can be self-hosted with Docker. As of October 2026 the free plan covers basic polls with up to 3 open at a time. A paid Pro plan removes that limit and adds things like branding.
Which whenisgood alternative is best for a group trip?
A poll that searches for consecutive days. You tell it how many days the trip lasts and which months are possible, everyone marks the days they're free and the poll shows the stretch where the most people can come. AskForDates works this way, from 2 up to 30 days in a row.
Does AskForDates support hourly time slots like whenisgood?
No, and that's on purpose. Our poll is day-based: one evening or several days in a row. For a video call where 10 am versus 3 pm matters, whenisgood or a similar time grid is the better tool.
Do people need an account to answer?
Not with any of the three tools covered here. On AskForDates people open the link, type a name and tap their days. They can change their entry later on the same device.