A Doodle alternative for meetings that don't fit neatly into a poll
Can We Meet is a Doodle alternative for meetings where people's availability is messy. Instead of voting on fixed slots, each person replies in plain words, such as "any weekday after 4 except Friday", and Can We Meet works out the times that suit everyone.
Published and last checked 1 November 2026. Other products' features change; check their sources below.
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Can We Meet and Doodle group polls compared
Doodle is a well-established scheduling tool. Its group polls are a good fit when you already know the handful of times you want to offer. The table below compares Doodle group polls with Can We Meet, based on Doodle's public product and help pages as of 1 November 2026. Features change, and Doodle's vary by plan.
| Feature | Doodle group polls | Can We Meet |
|---|---|---|
| How times are offered | Organiser picks time options; invitees vote on them | Organiser describes the plan; invitees say when they can do it in their own words |
| Account needed to reply | No, participants can vote without an account | No, invitees reply from a link without an account |
| Constraints like "not before 10, except Mondays" | Expressed by voting yes, no or if-need-be on each option | Written once in plain words and applied to every candidate time |
| Connected calendars | Available, depending on plan | Optional; only calendars you connect and allow are checked |
| Tracking replies and confirming | Reminders and final confirmation | Track responses and confirm a time; the organiser chooses |
| Use from an AI assistant | Not covered here | Through the MCP connector on supported assistants, see /connect |
Doodle group polls compared with Can We Meet (checked 1 November 2026)
- How times are offered
- Doodle group polls: Organiser picks time options; invitees vote on them
- Can We Meet: Organiser describes the plan; invitees say when they can do it in their own words
- Account needed to reply
- Doodle group polls: No, participants can vote without an account
- Can We Meet: No, invitees reply from a link without an account
- Constraints like "not before 10, except Mondays"
- Doodle group polls: Expressed by voting yes, no or if-need-be on each option
- Can We Meet: Written once in plain words and applied to every candidate time
- Connected calendars
- Doodle group polls: Available, depending on plan
- Can We Meet: Optional; only calendars you connect and allow are checked
- Tracking replies and confirming
- Doodle group polls: Reminders and final confirmation
- Can We Meet: Track responses and confirm a time; the organiser chooses
- Use from an AI assistant
- Doodle group polls: Not covered here
- Can We Meet: Through the MCP connector on supported assistants, see /connect
Who Can We Meet is best for
- Groups where people have rules rather than free slots: school runs, shifts, part-time office days.
- Meetings where the organiser does not yet know which times to offer.
- People who would rather type or say one sentence than tick a grid.
When Doodle is the better choice
- You already have three or four fixed options and just need votes.
- Your team already uses Doodle and its plan features, such as branding or booking pages.
- You want a familiar grid that everyone recognises immediately.
How to switch from a Doodle poll in four steps
- Open Can We Meet and describe the meeting, for example "90-minute planning session with the committee in the next two weeks".
- Answer any short question it asks, such as your timezone or how long the meeting is.
- Share the invite link by message or email, as you would a poll link.
- When replies are in, choose one of the times that works and confirm it.
A realistic example
“Weekday evenings after 7 are fine, but not Wednesdays. Saturday mornings work if it's over by 12.”
In a poll, that person would need to scan every option and vote one by one, and the organiser might not have offered a Saturday at all. In Can We Meet that sentence becomes a rule that is checked against everyone else's replies.
Use Can We Meet with your AI assistant
If you already plan things with an AI assistant, you can ask it to set up the meeting instead of building a poll by hand, for example: "Use Can We Meet to find a time for the committee next week."
Can We Meet offers an MCP connector, so a supported AI assistant can start a meeting, fetch the invite link, check replies and confirm a time you choose, all through your own signed-in account. Which assistants can use it depends on each platform and on your plan or organisation settings, so check the connect page for current, step-by-step instructions.
You can use Can We Meet directly in your browser at canwemeet.me, without connecting another AI assistant. Check the site for supported app availability.
What Can We Meet can and cannot see
Can We Meet only checks calendars you have connected and allowed. If a work diary cannot be connected, those times are treated as unknown, not free, and the organiser confirms the final time. It is not an automatic booking service that can see everyone's diary.
Frequently asked questions
Do invitees need a Can We Meet account?
No. Invitees open the link and reply without creating an account.
Can I still offer specific times?
Yes. You can tell Can We Meet the times you have in mind, and invitees reply against them in their own words.
Is Can We Meet a replacement for every Doodle feature?
No. It focuses on finding a time from free-form replies. Check Doodle's own pages for its full feature set and plans.
Try it on your next meeting
Start without an account, or create a free one and spend a minute teaching Can We Meet how your week works.
Sources and feature notes
Competitor details were checked against these official pages on 1 November 2026. Product names belong to their owners; no endorsement is implied.
- doodle.com/en/product/polls: Doodle group polls: organiser sets time options, invitees vote, participants do not need an account, reminders and final confirmation.
- help.doodle.com: Free and Professional differences: Doodle features vary by plan.