How to choose a scheduling tool - 6 points to check
Here are 6 points to check when choosing a scheduling tool, along with how PickDay actually handles each one (PickDay’s specifications as of October 2026).
Does the response page show ads?
The page participants open is the response page. To check whether ads or videos appear near where people choose ○, △, or ×, create a test event and open its response page on a smartphone.
In PickDay: The response page shows no ads.
Is registration required?
Some tools require registration or login not only from the organizer but also from people answering. If even 1 participant is stopped by registration, you do not get that person's answer.
In PickDay: Neither the organizer nor people answering need to register. We do not collect email addresses either.
Limits on candidates and people
Check whether there is a limit on how many candidates you can offer and how many people can answer within the free tier. Gatherings that pick 1 day from a long period end up with many candidates.
In PickDay: Up to 50 candidates and up to 100 respondents.
Can times be candidates?
Some tools let people choose only dates, while others pair dates with times. When you want to decide between midday and evening on the same day, you need time candidates.
In PickDay: Candidates can be dates only, or dates with start / end times, and you can list several time slots on the same day. On devices in a time zone different from the organizer's, the time on that device is shown alongside.
Can other people's answers be rewritten?
Some tools let anyone who knows the URL edit other people's answers. That makes mistakes easy to fix, but someone's answer can also change without them knowing.
In PickDay: Only the device that submitted an answer can edit it. Other people's answers cannot be rewritten.
Available languages
If you have participants abroad or participants who do not read Japanese, check whether the response page displays in their language.
In PickDay: The response page can be shown in 4 languages: Japanese / English / Chinese (Simplified) / Spanish.
Look at what happens after the date is set, too
How much effort it takes participants to add the event to their own schedules after the date is set also depends on the tool. In PickDay, once the organizer decides, the chosen date appears on the event page, and people can add it to their calendar from there (as an iCal file or to Google Calendar).
For gatherings where you do not want the attendance poll visible to anyone who merely has the URL (such as handouts for parent meetings), you can set a viewing passphrase when creating it. The passphrase is not included in the URL, so people who do not know it cannot see the poll even if they open the URL. How to run parent meetings is covered in PTA scheduling.
Try it before you send it out
For how to offer candidates in the first place, see how to finish scheduling fast.