Calendly Alternatives That Don't Use Booking Links

Last updated: February 2026

Calendly is great at what it does. You send a link. The other person picks a time. The meeting appears on your calendar. Efficient? Absolutely. But there's a reason people search for alternatives — and it's not always about price or features.

Sometimes the problem is the link itself.

Sending a booking link to a recruiter, a potential client, or someone you're trying to grab coffee with can feel... off. It says "schedule yourself into my calendar" when you meant to say "let's find a time that works." That subtle difference matters in professional relationships where tone, power dynamics, and personal touch count.

If you've ever hesitated before pasting a Calendly link into a message — or if someone's sent you one and you felt a small twinge of annoyance — you're not alone. Here are the best alternatives that skip the booking link entirely.

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Why Booking Links Can Be the Wrong Move

Before diving into alternatives, it's worth understanding when booking links hurt more than they help.

Booking links work well in certain contexts. If you're a consultant taking inbound appointments from strangers, or a sales team handling high-volume demos, a booking page makes perfect sense. The recipient expects it.

But in relationship-driven contexts — networking, recruiting, client relationship management, sales outreach to warm leads — a booking link can signal the wrong thing. It can imply that your time is more valuable, that you're too busy to engage in a normal conversation about scheduling, or that the other person is just another slot on your calendar.

This isn't about Calendly being a bad product. It's about matching the tool to the context.

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The Best Calendly Alternatives Without Booking Links

1. ShareAvailability — Plain Text Availability from Google Calendar

What it does: Connects to your Google Calendar (read-only) and generates a formatted, plain-text list of your free times. You copy it and paste it into any message — email, Slack, text, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, anything.

Why it's different: There's no link involved at any point. The recipient reads your availability in the body of your message and replies with what works. It feels exactly like you typed out your schedule by hand — because the output is plain text — but it takes about 10 seconds instead of 5 minutes.

The output looks like this:

Here are some times I'm free this week (EST):

Wed (2/12): 9–10am
Thu (2/13): 9am–3pm, 4–6pm
Fri (2/14): 9am–6pm

Key features:

• Checks multiple Google Calendars simultaneously (work + personal)
• Customizable date range, working hours, timezone, meeting duration, and buffer time
• Read-only access — can't modify your calendar
• Doesn't store your calendar data (fetched on demand, immediately discarded)
• Free, no account required for the recipient

Best for: Coffee chats, job seekers emailing recruiters, salespeople following up with warm leads, anyone scheduling informally in text-based channels.

Limitations: Google Calendar only (Outlook and Apple Calendar on our roadmap). Doesn't auto-book the meeting — you'll need to create the calendar event after agreeing on a time.

Cost: Free.

→ Try ShareAvailability

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2. Gmail's "Propose Times You're Free"

What it does: A feature built into the Gmail compose window. You select available times from your calendar, and Gmail inserts them into the email as clickable time slots. The recipient clicks one, and the meeting is auto-booked.

Why it's different from Calendly: The availability lives inside the email itself — there's no external link to visit. The recipient sees time slots directly in the message body.

How to access it: In Gmail, compose a new email → click the calendar icon (or three-dot menu → "Set up a time to meet") → "Propose times you're free" → select times → "Add to email."

Key features:

• Built into Gmail — no extra tools
• Shows clickable time slots in the email body
• Auto-books when recipient selects a time
• Free for personal Google accounts

Best for: 1:1 scheduling via Gmail where you want the convenience of auto-booking without sending a separate link.

Limitations:

• Only works for 1:1 meetings (not group scheduling)
• Only checks your primary calendar
• Only works in Gmail (can't use it in Slack, text, etc.)
• Requires the recipient to interact with Google's scheduling UI — it's not truly "plain text"
• Some features (like booking pages) require Google Workspace

Cost: Free with a Google account.

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3. Sundial — Chrome Extension for Google Calendar

What it does: A Chrome extension that adds scheduling tools directly into Google Calendar. You drag time blocks on your calendar, and Sundial converts them into written text you can copy and paste. It also handles timezone conversions.

Why it's different from Calendly: Like ShareAvailability, the output is plain text — no booking link. But instead of a standalone web app, Sundial lives inside your Google Calendar as a sidebar.

The output looks like this:

Mon, Jan 2: 9–11am EST
Tue, Jan 3: 8–9am EST

Key features:

• Drag-to-select time blocks directly on your Google Calendar
• Automatic timezone conversion (search for a city/timezone and the text updates)
• Bulk create/delete calendar holds
• Overlay meeting requests from text onto your calendar

Best for: Executive assistants, salespeople, and anyone who schedules frequently across time zones and already lives in Google Calendar.

Limitations:

• Requires Chrome + Google Calendar (doesn't work in other browsers or with Outlook)
• Free plan allows 25 uses/month; Pro is $29/month
• Requires you to manually select time blocks (doesn't auto-detect your free times)

Cost: Free (25 uses/month) or $29/month for Pro.

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4. The Manual Approach (With a Template)

What it does: You look at your calendar, type out your availability, and send it. The original scheduling method.

Why it's different from Calendly: No tools, no links, no setup. Just a human writing a message.

A decent template to speed it up:

Hi [Name],

I'd love to connect! Here are a few times that work on my end (all times EST):

- Tuesday 2/13: 9–10am or 2–3pm
- Wednesday 2/14: 10am–12pm
- Thursday 2/15: 1–4pm

Let me know what's good for you, or feel free to suggest something else.

Best,
[Your name]

Best for: One-off meetings where you already know your schedule and don't want to use any tools.

Limitations:

• Slow (3–10 minutes per message)
• Error-prone (especially with multiple calendars)
• Doesn't scale if you schedule frequently

Cost: Your time.

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How These Compare

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When You Should Still Use Calendly

To be fair, there are situations where a booking link is the right call. Calendly (starting at $12/month for Standard, with a limited free tier) makes sense when:

• You're taking inbound appointments from strangers — people expect a booking page when they visit a consultant's website or a company's "Schedule a Demo" page.
• You need auto-booking at scale — if you schedule 20+ meetings a day, the time savings from auto-booking outweigh any loss of personal touch.
• You need team scheduling features — round-robin assignment, collective availability, and lead routing are Calendly's strengths.
• The recipient expects it — in some industries and contexts, booking links are standard and welcomed.

The question isn't whether Calendly is useful — it clearly is. The question is whether it's the right tool for every scheduling interaction. For many people, the answer is no.

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The Takeaway

Booking links solve a real problem: they eliminate back-and-forth scheduling. But they solve it by externalizing the work to the other person and removing the conversational element from the interaction.

For situations where relationships matter — and that's most professional scheduling — plain-text availability sharing gives you the same time savings without the impersonal feel. You still look organized. You still avoid the back-and-forth. But the other person feels like you wrote them a message, not assigned them a task.

ShareAvailability was built specifically for this use case: turn your Google Calendar into a clean text list, copy it, paste it, move on. Free, no sign-up for the recipient, no link to send.

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ShareAvailability generates plain-text availability from your Google Calendar in seconds. No booking links. No recipient setup. Free.