WhenAvailable and Commonhour share the part that matters most to a group: people answer on a link, with no account and no app. The differences are on the organizer's side. Commonhour lets you start without signing up, ranks the best time for you, and ends with a free calendar invite.
| Commonhour | WhenAvailable | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free; Organizer $5/month (coming soon) | Free plan; OneTime $14 (one-time); Premium $49/year |
| Account needed to create | No | Email verification to create a poll; sign in with email, Google or Apple |
| Account needed to respond | No | No |
| Respondent limit | 12 without an account, 20 with a free Planner account, 100 with Organizer (coming soon) | 20 guests per poll on the free plan; unlimited on paid plans |
| How people answer | Tap each time that works | Yes, No or Maybe for each option; poll can also include text questions |
| Finding the best time | Ranked list with the best time on top and who's missing | Live vote counts; results page highlights the options that work for the most people |
| Calendar invite at the end | Google Calendar, Outlook, or .ics, free | Not described |
| Time zones | Detected and converted for each person, with a manual override | Not described |
| Reminders to people who haven't responded | Organizer (coming soon) | Not on the free plan; OneTime includes 5, Premium is unlimited |
| Google Calendar sync to fill in your availability | Organizer (coming soon) | Paid plans; importing Google Calendar and contacts is on every plan |
| Apps | Website only, no native app | Website, plus iOS and Android apps |
| Ads | None | None on any plan |
Based on each product's public site as of October 2026. "Not described" means the product's own site doesn't say. Spot something out of date? Let us know.
Both are free to start and ad-free, and neither makes guests create an account or install an app. The organizer sets up a poll with a handful of options, shares one link, and people respond from their phone or computer.
WhenAvailable asks the organizer to verify an email address to create a poll, and its site describes signing in with email, Google or Apple. Commonhour lets you create and share a plan with no account at all. An optional free account adds plan history and an email when people respond.
WhenAvailable shows live counts for each option and highlights the ones that work for the most people. Commonhour ranks every option, with the best one on top and a note of who's missing from each. Someone only counts as free if they're free for the whole event, not just its start.
Once the group picks a time, the organizer can send it to Google Calendar or Outlook, or download an .ics file, with everyone who's free already added as a guest. That step is free on every plan. WhenAvailable's site doesn't describe a calendar-invite step; it describes Google Calendar sync on its paid plans.
Yes. Creating a plan, responding, and sending the calendar invite are free, and neither you nor the people you invite need an account.
No. Guests open the link in their browser and tap the times they're free. Commonhour is a website, so there is no native app to install.
Plans created without an account take up to 12 responses. Plans created while signed in to a free Planner account take up to 20 responses, and Organizer (coming soon) takes up to 100. WhenAvailable's free plan allows 20 guests per poll, and its paid plans are unlimited.
Commonhour sends the final time to Google Calendar, Outlook or an .ics file once the group picks one. Google Calendar sync to fill in your own availability is part of Organizer (coming soon).