How to Use WhenIsGood (and When to Switch to Something Better)

WhenIsGood (whenisgood.net) is one of the older free scheduling tools on the internet — it pre-dates most of its competitors and has been quietly running the same way for well over a decade. It’s free, requires no accounts, and gets the job done. Here’s exactly how it works, and — importantly — when it’s not the right tool.

How to create a WhenIsGood event

Step 1: Go to whenisgood.net. The homepage is the event creation form — no account needed, no sign-up step. You start selecting times immediately.

Step 2: Select your time slots. The grid on the homepage represents times across the days of the week. Click or drag to select the time slots you want to offer your group — selected slots turn green. The grid runs Monday through Sunday across the top and time of day down the left side. Select everything in the realistic window: if your group could meet any weekday evening between 6pm and 9pm, select those rows for each relevant day.

Step 3: Enter your name and create. Below the grid, enter your name in the “Your name” field and click “I’m good, show my widget.” WhenIsGood generates your event and your own availability is already marked.

Step 4: Copy the respondent link. On the response page, you’ll see two links: one for you (the admin view) and a separate “Respond to a WhenIsGood” link for your participants. Share the respondent link, not the admin link. This is an easy mistake to make — double-check which one you’re pasting into your group chat.

How to share it and collect responses

Paste the respondent link into wherever your group communicates — WhatsApp, Slack, email, a group thread. Add a deadline when you share it: “fill in by Thursday” works significantly better than “whenever you get a chance.” People who see a deadline respond; people who see an open-ended request come back to it later and then forget.

When participants click the link, they see the same grid and click or hover to paint the slots they’re available. Results update in real time — you can watch the heatmap fill in as responses arrive. No accounts required from anyone.

How to read the results

Once responses are in, click “See when everyone’s good” on the admin link to see the full heatmap. Darker green cells are when the most people are available; lighter cells represent partial availability; white means nobody in that slot is free.

Hover over any cell to see which names are in for that slot — useful for checking whether a good-looking slot has a key person absent. There’s no automatic “best time” surfacing; you read the grid, find the darkest slot that works for the right people, make the call, and then communicate it to your group separately.

When WhenIsGood is the right tool

WhenIsGood works well for a specific scenario: finding a time for an event that happens once, with people who may not share a calendar. It’s free, fast to set up, and requires nothing from respondents.

• A one-off meeting where you need to find the best slot across a group
• Coordinating a catch-up, a team lunch, or a committee session that won’t repeat
• Any situation where the attendees may change from occurrence to occurrence
• Groups where you need a recurring weekly slot and want to use the natural Mon–Sun grid structure

When it’s not the right tool

The limitation becomes obvious the moment you try to use WhenIsGood for a group that meets regularly. Because WhenIsGood has no memory. Every single cycle — every week, every fortnight — you start from scratch:

• Create a new event
• Select the grid again
• Copy a new respondent link
• Share it to the group again
• Wait for responses
• Chase the ones who haven’t filled it in
• Read the grid and make a decision
• Communicate the outcome separately

That’s the same eight-step manual loop, every week. And it always falls on the same organiser. After twenty or thirty cycles, that person gets tired — and the group quietly stops meeting.

WhenIsGood also has no concept of a minimum headcount. It shows you who’s free, but it can’t tell you “you have enough people” versus “you’re one short.” For sports groups or any crew with a minimum number to make the activity viable, that’s a significant gap.

What to use instead for recurring groups

If your group meets regularly, the right tool is one that models the group rather than the individual event. Toss-up is built for this.

You set up the group once. Members join with just an email. Each week, everyone taps their free days in about ten seconds — no new event to create, no new link to share, no grid to fill in. Toss-up identifies the best overlap, checks whether you’ve hit your minimum headcount, and the organiser confirms with one tap. Everyone gets notified. Then it resets automatically for next week.

The cycle that WhenIsGood makes you run manually every week happens automatically. No new grid.