Scheduling software tackles the often tedious task of managing a work calendar. When integrated with other work apps, scheduling tools allow customers to view and select open times to meet with you based on real-time availability (meaning your calendar is always up to date, and not promising a free afternoon via a two-day-old email thread).
AI-powered schedulers usually offer bundles of additional features to further enhance workflows, such as writing assistants, chat bots, and email management systems.
Main Features of a Meeting Scheduler
Appointment scheduling software makes calendaring easier to manage for busy employees and more comfortable to navigate for customers not always eager to exchange available meeting times in a timely manner. Scheduling meetings through an app or an online portal gives customers more visibility into your schedule while encouraging more on-time appointments and fewer cancellations.
When seeking out a scheduling tool that’s right for your business, keep your eyes open for the following core features:
- Automated calendar syncing and embedding (to avoid double-booking)
- Automated meeting confirmation emails, details, and reminders
- Compatibility with your existing workflow apps
- UI-friendly booking page for a variety of meeting types
How AI Can Help You Streamline Your Meetings
One of the factors making AI such a powerful force for efficiency in modern meeting scheduling, calendaring, and messaging is the host of integrations available. Integrations—combinations of tools and apps that recognize and augment one another’s capabilities—amplify scheduling software’s impact on your company’s bottom line.
AI integrations are what make it possible for software to pull information from your calendar in one app to automate messaging expressing your real-time availability in another. It is these automations, powered by AI, that elevate an appointment scheduling app beyond a simple booking link and into an indispensable AI assistant.
The 12 Best Meeting Scheduler Apps
There’s no shortage of AI-based scheduling apps openly available for use, either through a free personal use basis or a per-seat subscription fee. Here are 12 of our favorite apps and tools designed to simplify customer communication and save employees the headache of tracking meetings on sticky notes or their phone’s notes app.
Podium’s AI Employee
How it Works: Podium’s all-in-one AI employee facilitates communications with customers through automated scheduling, messaging, and customer support. The AI also never goes to sleep, which means prospects can book appointments and raise concerns at any hour and receive a quick response.
Key Features: Automated client communications, optimized lead conversion, AI-enhanced customer support
Pricing: Available as an add-on to all Podium plans
Reclaim
How it Works: Reclaim’s smart calendar uses AI to act the part of a daily planner, managing meetings and appointments while setting aside time for breaks or out-of-office time.
Key Features: Task and meeting scheduling, smart one-on-ones, time blocking
Pricing: Plans start at $8/month
Clockwise
How it Works: For companies operating in Google Workspace, Clockwise presents a highly customizable scheduling app that automates the appointment booking process via synced team calendars. Its AI’s primary function is to organize meetings as efficiently as possible and identify meeting times that work for the whole team.
Key Features: Calendar optimization, automatic meeting scheduling, “focus time” creation, team availability insights
Pricing: Plans start at $6.75/month per user
Motion
How it Works: Motion is robust to say the least, offering several project management features beyond its calendaring system. Employees may find a reshuffled task list for the day as clients book appointments, as Motion’s AI aims to balance your schedule—it knows too many back-to-back meetings in a row isn’t conducive to a productive work environment.
Key Features: Task scheduling and prioritization, meeting management, project planning
Pricing: Plans start at $19/month
Clara
How it Works: Employees can hand their hot leads over to Clara for scheduling and let the AI do the rest while assuming the persona of your personal assistant. Clara can continue your ongoing dialogue with the customer and syncs with your calendar to accurately convey your availability. The AI can also be renamed and its email address customized to include your company domain.
Key Features: Automated appointment scheduling, calendar management, personalized responses and email follow-ups
Pricing: $99/month per user depending on plan
Trevor
How it works: Trevor’s click-to-accept approach to scheduling uses AI to gauge the best time of day for your meetings, then turns the controls over for you to accept or decline the proposed schedule. Trevor’s insights also allow it to serve as an effective time-management tool for other routine tasks.
Key Features: Adaptive scheduling, to-do list, drag-and-drop meeting navigation
Pricing: Plans start at $3.99/month
Kronologic
How it works: Kronologic is a tool for sales teams, outfitted with AI trained to book calls at optimal times to produce more conversions. The app automates rescheduling if leads decline the proposed time and offers a high-density scheduling mode to drive greater call volume during empty periods in your schedule.
Key Features: Templates for various meeting types, automated replies, smart scheduling, high-density mode
Pricing: Plans start at $6/month
Scheduler AI
How it works: Though it works just fine as a 1-on-1 tool, Scheduler AI’s biggest utility is in simplifying the scheduling process for team-wide discovery calls. For scheduling meetings involving multiple contacts and presenters, email chains can extend at length before an agreed-upon date and time is set; Scheduler AI uses connected calendars to identify available windows for meetings and handles any conflicts via automated messaging for new time slot suggestions.
Key Features: Wide integration compatibility, Group meeting troubleshooting, reply automation
Pricing: Plans start at $25/month per user
Calendly
How it works: This scheduling app may be light on features, but Calendly’s ease-of-use makes it one of the most dominant scheduling softwares around. Users quickly set up their booking page by connecting it to their work calendar and choose which meeting types to allow. Paid Calendly plans add features like automated meeting reminders and feedback requests.
Key Features: Simple scheduling tool, synced booking page, custom meeting types
Pricing: Paid plans start at $8/month
Calendar
How it works: The Calendar app boasts customizable preferences so extensive it can be overwhelming for businesses that don’t need too many extra features. Setup is more complex, but for larger teams it’s a strong all-in-one tool with a host of meeting statistics available to help spot key trends.
Key Features: Meeting scheduler, separate calendars for work and personal use, tailor-made meeting types, scheduling pages, and time slots
Pricing: Paid plans start at $20/month
SavvyCal
How it works: SavvyCal is a meeting poll app. Free of the more complex AI automations available from other assistants, its ease-of-use stems from a simple shared calendar overlay allowing users to quickly spot open times for group meetings. Standard features like adjustable meeting types, shared links, and custom locations are available through the paid plan.
Key Features: Minimalist meeting polls, UI-friendly dashboard
Pricing: Paid plans start at $12/month
SimplyMeet.me
How it works: Another relatively bare-bones but immensely popular meeting scheduler, SimplyMeet.me offers a familiar format (a scheduling link to a page showcasing your availability) but in a surprisingly robust 500-free-meetings-per-month package. The app also integrates easily with Microsoft tools, Google calendar, Zapier, and all the other usual suspects.
Key Features: Shared calendar link, time zone detection, healthy free plan
Pricing: Paid plans start at $9.99/month per user
5 Benefits of Using a Meeting Scheduling App
As the features throughout the list above indicate, the most sought-after benefits of a meeting scheduling tool all pertain to either operational efficiency or customer experience. Most scheduling tools will emphasize one or two features that differentiate them from the rest, but the goal of adopting any meeting scheduler remains pretty consistent across the board:
- Improve inbox efficiency through automation
- Increase client satisfaction with crisp communication
- Reduce no-shows with reminders and scheduling transparency
- Offer customization and personalization for operational comfort
- Provide data analytics and reporting for performance measurement
Does Google Have a Free Meeting Scheduler?
Google doesn’t currently provide any free meeting scheduling tools or software.
Choosing Podium’s AI Employee
Podium’s AI Employee is a powerful tool capable of scheduling appointments, automating email and SMS communications, and strengthening relationships with customers by responding to inquiries and booking requests without delay. Watch a demo to see how Podium’s AI employee improves sales through always-on, human-like communication.
