OpenSlot vs Doodle
Doodle is the veteran of group scheduling polls: propose slots, share a link, collect votes. OpenSlot removes the poll — it reads Outlook calendars and tells you when people are free, as a list you paste anywhere. The tools overlap least where it matters most: whether your participants' calendars are readable, and whether you can afford a voting round.
Where Doodle shines
- Works with participants on ANY calendar system — or none. Voting needs no calendar access at all.
- Large-group coordination (20+ people picking an evening for the club) where computing overlap is impossible anyway.
- Familiar: most people have answered a Doodle poll before.
Where OpenSlot takes a different approach
- Zero rounds: when everyone's on Microsoft 365, the overlap is computable — polling people about information their calendars already contain wastes days.
- No participant effort: nobody clicks a link or votes; the sender offers times that already work.
- Inside Outlook: list built and inserted in the compose window, not on a separate site.
- Private by default: no public poll page listing names and votes.
Side by side
| Doodle | OpenSlot | |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | Poll with votes | Computed free/busy overlap |
| Participant effort | Everyone votes | None |
| Calendar requirement | None | Microsoft 365 free/busy |
| Best group size | Large, cross-org groups | 1–15 colleagues and clients |
| Where it lives | Web + apps | Web + Outlook compose pane |
| Privacy | Shared poll page | List only in your email |
The honest verdict
Choose Doodle when participants span organizations and calendar systems you can't read, or for big social-group coordination.
Choose OpenSlot when the people are in Microsoft 365 (yours or readable via shared free/busy) and you want the answer without a voting round.
Try the list approach
Every new OpenSlot account starts with 14 days of Pro — no card. Sign in with Microsoft, pick people, paste the times.
Try OpenSlot freeDoodle is a trademark of its owner; OpenSlot LLC is not affiliated with or endorsed by it. Their product evolves — verify details and pricing on their own site. Comparison reflects our understanding as of August 2026.