When2Meet Poll: How the Free Availability Grid Works
A When2Meet poll is an availability survey on a free web tool, not a one-vote ballot. Participants mark the time slots they can attend on a shared grid, and that grid fills in live as people respond. Anyone can create and join availability surveys at no cost, with no account or email address needed, the vendor's own pages state. Ads help cover some of the operating costs.
Written by BuyPollVotes editorial desk | Last checked
What the grid actually does
A When2Meet poll measures availability, not preference. Each participant sees a grid of days down one side and time slots across the top, and marks every cell they could attend by clicking and holding as they drag across the pink section. Nothing is submitted in the ballot sense; the grid simply reflects what each person has dragged.
The shared view on the right fills in as people respond, and darker green marks the slots where more people are free. Mouse over any cell to see exactly who is available and who is not at that time. For an organiser, that hover is the whole decision: one glance names the collision or the clear window.
- A shared group grid that updates live as participants respond, with darker green meaning more people are available at that slot
- A hover view on any cell that shows exactly who is available and who is not at that specific time
- A personal marking surface where each participant clicks and drags across the pink section to show availability
Create a When2Meet poll from scratch
Setting up an event takes a single screen. The organiser chooses the dates and the daily time span, gives the event a name and shares the link. There is no template gallery and no question builder, because the only question a grid can ask is when.
Once the link is out, participants type their name into the sign-in box to the left of the screen and start dragging. The vendor keeps this deliberately bare: anyone can create and participate in availability surveys, and nothing in that flow requires a sign-up page or a verification step.
- The date range the event should cover
- The span of hours each day should show
- A name for the event, so participants know which grid they opened
- An optional password, which can stay blank
Members, groups and a single event
How many members can you host via a single event? The vendor's pages do not publish a ceiling. The grid grows with the number of people who respond, and the live group view keeps working as more names land in it. If a group is very large, the useful reading comes from the colour depth rather than from hovering cell by cell.
A single event also means a single decision. When a first sweep fails to produce a window, the practical move is a new event with a fresh range of dates, not an edit of the old grid, so the earlier answers stay readable for the group.
- One event holds one set of date and time options
- A separate event suits a separate group or a second round of dates
- The vendor publishes no maximum membership for an event
Sign-in, names and the optional password
The sign-in box is where the whole anonymity question lives. A participant enters any name and the grid takes it at face value. The guide is clear that you do not need to fill in the password, although you can if you want, so an organiser who wants a thin gate on who joins can set one and an open team survey can skip it.
For an organiser, that design is a trade to accept knowingly. Entries are cheap and unverifiable, because there is no account behind a name. In a work team this hardly matters; in a public sweep it means the grid shows what people typed, not who they are.
- Participants type their name into the sign-in section on the left of the screen
- The password field is optional and can be left empty
- No email address is collected at any point in the flow
The free tier and its trade-offs
Is When2meet free? Yes, and the vendor states it plainly: the service is free, and anyone can create and participate in availability surveys at no cost. Ads help cover some of the operating costs, which is the entire business model on the page. There is no plan table, no trial clock and no locked feature waiting behind an upgrade.
The trade for that price is the tool you get. It does one format, the availability grid, and it does it in a browser. Everything an organiser gives up, calendar sync being the largest piece, is the price of a service that never asks a participant to sign up for anything.
- Creating an event costs nothing
- Responding to an event costs nothing
- Ads cover some of the operating costs
- There is no upgrade tier to compare against
Google Calendar sync and other integrations
Can the tool sync with Google Calendar? No. Independent write-ups agree that When2meet does not integrate with other calendars, and one guide puts it bluntly: no calendar integration of any kind, not Google Calendar, not Outlook. A comparison site reviewing alternatives repeats the same finding: the tool does not allow calendar integrations natively.
In practice this means the winning slot lives only in the grid. Someone on the team reads it and books the meeting in whatever calendar the group uses, copying the date and time across by hand. Groups that want the winner pushed into invitations automatically need a different tool; groups that just need the answer will not miss the integration.
- No Google Calendar integration
- No Outlook integration
- No native calendar connections of any kind
Change your availability later
Plans move, and the grid expects that. To change availability, go to the Availability page from the main menu and drag again; clicking and dragging on the calendar creates or modifies the slots you hold. The shared group view updates with the new shape, and the darker cells re-sort themselves without anyone re-running the survey.
Recurring availability is the second entry point. For a standing commitment, such as every Tuesday afternoon, the recurring setting marks those days once instead of forcing a drag on each date. That keeps a regular schedule honest without asking anyone to maintain the grid weekly.
- Open the Availability page from the main menu
- Click and drag on the calendar to create or modify time slots
- Set recurring availability for specific days of the week
When2Meet or Doodle
When2meet or Doodle is the comparison most groups actually face, and the honest answer is that the two sit at different weights. When2meet gives you the bare grid: no accounts, no cost, no integrations, and a live view that shows who is free. It suits a group that shares a link once and reads the answer the same day.
Choose on the features you cannot do without. If the group needs calendar connections or a formal invitation flow, the integration absence rules When2meet out. If the group needs a fast answer from known people, the bare grid wins on speed, because a participant is typing a name and dragging cells within seconds of opening the link.
- When2meet: free, no accounts, one grid format
- Doodle: the heavier, better-known scheduling brand
- The decider is whether the group needs calendar integration
What the tool will not do
State the limits plainly and the tool stops disappointing anyone. The sign-in box takes a name on trust, so an organiser running a contest draw or a prize sweep on top of the grid should publish how entries are counted before sharing the link. Nothing on this site adds entries to a When2meet poll; the service sells nothing, and a grid of typed names has no counter for a seller to fill.
The same honesty applies to scheduling. No calendar sync exists, so the meeting itself is booked elsewhere. And because the vendor publishes no cap on members or slots, treat any exact figure you read elsewhere as unverified. The grid answers when, and it answers that well; everything past when is somebody else's tool.
- It does not verify who typed a name
- It does not push a winner into a calendar
- It does not state a membership ceiling
- It does not record votes in the ballot sense
| Aspect | What is documented |
|---|---|
| Cost | Free; ads cover some operating costs |
| Account | Not needed to create or respond |
| Not collected from participants | |
| Password | Optional; can be left blank |
| Calendar sync | None; no Google Calendar, no Outlook |
| Live view | Group grid updates as people respond |
| Membership cap | Not published by the vendor |
| Deadline | Organiser sets one for participants |
How to do it
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Set the range
Choose the dates and the daily time span the event should cover, name the event, and leave the password blank unless invited-only access matters. The whole setup fits on one screen.
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Share the sign-in link
Send the link to the group. Each participant types a name into the sign-in box on the left of the screen and drags across the pink section to mark the slots they can attend.
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Watch the grid fill
The shared grid updates live as people respond, with darker green marking the slots where more members are available. Hover any cell to see exactly who is free at that time.
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Give a deadline
The organiser can give participants a deadline for completing the poll, so the meeting is convened with appropriate notice instead of waiting on stragglers indefinitely.
Common questions
How many members can you host via a single When2Meet event?
The vendor does not publish a cap on how many members a single event can host. An event is one set of date and time options, so its practical size depends on the range you choose. Large groups still work, because everyone types into the same shared grid and the darker cells show where availability clusters. The vendor's pages simply state no maximum.
What does the "Optional Password" do?
The optional password gives an organiser a light gate on the event, and it can be left blank. The guide is explicit that you do not need to fill in the password, although you can if you want. Use it when only invited people should type into the grid; skip it for an open availability survey inside a team that already shares the link.
Why might you choose to use When2Meet over other, more advanced calendar apps?
Because it trades advanced features for speed: no accounts, no setup steps and a grid that fills in as people respond. Calendar integration is absent by design, which keeps participation down to typing a name and dragging a few cells. For a quick sweep inside a group that already knows the candidate times, that simplicity beats configuring a full scheduling app.
Is When2meet free?
Yes. When2meet is a free service, and its own page states that anyone can create and participate in availability surveys at no cost. Ads help cover some of the operating costs. There is no tier list to compare and no upgrade prompt, because the whole tool sits on the free side of the line.
Do you need an account to use When2meet?
No. You do not need an account or an email address to create an event or to respond to one. A participant types a name into the event's sign-in box and starts marking slots. That convenience has a flip side: the organiser cannot verify who typed which name, so entries are only as honest as the group is.
Can When2meet sync with Google Calendar?
No. When2meet does not integrate with Google Calendar, and independent write-ups confirm there is no calendar integration of any kind, not Google Calendar and not Outlook. If you book the winning slot elsewhere, you copy the date and time across by hand. The grid itself stays the single source of truth for the group.
How do you change your availability on When2meet?
Open the Availability page from the main menu, then click and drag on the calendar to create or modify time slots. You can also set recurring availability for specific days of the week. An earlier entry is not locked in: dragging again replaces what you marked before, and the shared grid updates for everyone who is watching it.
Is there a When2meet app?
Nothing in the vendor's own pages documents a dedicated mobile app; the tool presents itself as a browser site. The sign-in box and the availability grid are built around a wide view, so the desktop layout is the safe assumption. Because no account exists in the first place, there is nothing to install or log into anyway.
Where these facts come from
- usecarly.com. usecarly.com/blog/how-to-use-when2meet/.
- rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk. rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/books/other-online-tech-tools/page/tools-for-scheduling-meetings-when2meet-lettucemeet.
- when2meet.com. when2meet.com.
- usecarly.com. usecarly.com/blog/how-to-use-when2meet/.
This page cannot raise a tally or add entries to a When2meet poll, and no paid add-on exists for it in the first place. The vendor documents no calendar sync, no membership cap and no identity check behind the sign-in box, and this page does not invent those numbers. It also never teaches automated voting, repeat entries or any way past an organiser's rules.
X prohibits coordinating with or compensating others to inflate engagement metrics, and it names Polls among the features covered. The Pet Industry Business Awards name the consequence in their own contest: a business may be investigated, lose votes or be disqualified on reasonable evidence of purchased votes. No seller can stop an organiser from doing that.
Slido says it is alerted when an event gets an unusually high number of votes in a very short time, and Crowdsignal says its built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting. Ordinary participation arrives spread across the voting window, from different people at different moments. Nothing on this site is a method for getting a vote past a check, and a vote that a tool blocks does not count.
Organiser rules differ: the RSPCA Pet of the Year Awards allow extra votes through donations on their official mechanism, while OpenTable Australia treats a vote cast in exchange for money or a reward as null and void. Both are contest rules, not statutes, and whether payment is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. Orders are refused for any contest whose rules ban paid votes, and for political ballots.
Votes ordered for a poll that never appear on its count are refunded after the poll closes. A refund never covers an organiser's decision: Localsearch may void all votes for a disqualified nominee, and Mentimeter says a user whose access it cancels under its Acceptable Use Policy is owed no refund or compensation. No result is promised.