Comparison
A when2meet alternative without the ads
Overlap does the same job as when2meet: one person proposes some days and hours, everyone marks when they’re free, and the group sees where it overlaps. It’s free, has no ads or ad tracking, and adds the parts when2meet leaves to you: an If needed option, a ranked list of the best times, and a way to lock in the final time and put it on everyone’s calendar.
Compared against when2meet.com as of October 13, 2026.
| Feature | when2meet | Overlap |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Ads | Google AdSense ads | None |
| Analytics and ad tracking | Google Analytics and Google Ads tags | Self-hosted, cookie-free Plausible page counts; no ad tracking |
| Account required | No. Name, with an optional password | No. The device remembers you; a personal link moves you to another one |
| Marking availability | Drag across a grid | Drag across a grid, with Available and If needed brushes |
| Time zones | Detected from the browser, changeable | Detected from the browser, changeable; the grid is re-laid out for each viewer |
| Ranked best times | No. Read the heatmap | Yes, with who's missing from each window and a Must attend filter |
| Lock in a final time | No | Yes. Everyone gets an .ics file or a Google Calendar link |
| Open source | No | Yes, MIT license |
Is Overlap really free?
Yes. There are no plan tiers and no ads. Red Leg Dev runs Overlap on Cloudflare Workers with a single D1 database. Each person’s availability is stored as one short string, so saving a response is one database write and a poll costs a fraction of a cent to serve. The code is MIT-licensed if you’d rather host your own.
How do you pick a time in Overlap?
The Best times panel walks the grid in time order and groups each run of slots where the same people are free. It ranks those windows by how many can attend, counting If needed as half, and lists who’s missing from each. Mark someone as Must attend to see only the windows that work for them. The organizer locks one in, and the poll shows everyone an Add to calendar button.
Can people respond from a phone?
Yes. On a phone the poll shows one grid at a time, with tabs for your availability, the group, and the best times. Drag on the grid to mark times, or tap a day’s header to fill the whole day.
When is when2meet still the better choice?
If your group already knows when2meet and the poll is a quick yes-or-no grid, it works fine. Overlap is the better fit when people are spread across time zones, when some times are possible but not ideal, or when you want the poll to end with a calendar invite instead of a screenshot of a heatmap.
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