8 Best AI for Scheduling: Tools & Apps for Teams

Meetings are an essential part of getting work done, but scheduling them can take more time than you have to spare. Using AI scheduling assistants can make it way faster and easier to get your most important meetings on the calendar. Below is a guide to AI for scheduling, including some recommendations for the best AI scheduling tools. 

• What is an AI scheduling assistant?
• What’s the difference between smart calendars and AI calendars?
• Benefits of AI in scheduling
• Challenges with using AI for scheduling
• Top 8 AI meeting schedulers
• Effortless planning with Fellow

What is an AI scheduling assistant? 

An artificial intelligence (AI) scheduling assistant is a software program that automates the tedious work of keeping your calendar up to date. For example, some AI scheduling assistants can take over the process of sending back-and-forth emails to schedule a meeting.

Here are some key characteristics to look for in an AI scheduling assistant: 

• User experience. An AI scheduling tool is meant to make your life easier, so a user-friendly interface is non-negotiable. You should find it a total breeze to navigate through the platform, and you should intuitively understand how to use all the features. 
• Easy integration. Look for an AI scheduling assistant that can connect to your most frequently used applications and platforms—the most important being your calendar. Integrations with project management tools come in handy, too, for keeping your meetings on your task lists.
• Learning capabilities. The best AI scheduling assistants use machine learning to find patterns in your schedule. They learn and recognize your unique needs and find a time to meet that works well for you. They then look for where this timespan overlaps everyone else’s availabilities and book the meeting.
• Strong security features. AI scheduling assistants use your personal data to glean insights into your scheduling habits. You should feel confident that this data is safe and sound with your chosen tool. 

What’s the difference between smart calendars and AI calendars?

It’s true that smart calendars and AI calendars have some overlapping features, such as integrations and automation. However, there’s still a lot of manual work associated with smart calendars. AI schedulers instead use advanced algorithms to learn all about your calendar habits and become the best meeting scheduler possible on your behalf.

For example, if you’re searching for time to focus on your highest-priority tasks, a smart calendar, on one hand, can offer suggestions. On the other hand, an AI scheduling assistant does 100 percent of the work. It will analyze all of your deadlines and meetings and reprioritize your full to-do list. 

Benefits of AI in scheduling 

Here are some of the top ways AI scheduling tools can boost workplace productivity. 

• Streamlining time and resource management
• Eliminating human error
• Using data insights for the best scheduling experience

1Streamlining time and resource management

The biggest appeal of AI scheduling tools is how much time they save you. There’s no longer any need to waste precious minutes looking at ten different calendars to find a meeting time that works for everyone. When you delegate scheduling tasks to an AI assistant, you get all that time back. 

This feature makes your daily routine more efficient and provides support when the unexpected happens. If an urgent meeting suddenly needs to be rescheduled, but you’re on a tight deadline for another project, your AI scheduling assistant has you covered. 

2Eliminating human error 

Have you ever scheduled a meeting in the wrong time zone? What about experiencing the sheer panic of realizing you double-booked yourself right before an important meeting? These kinds of mistakes are easy to make. AI tools, though, prevent these errors, drastically enhancing the quality of your scheduling process.

3Using data insights for the best scheduling experience

You can always use extra tips and strategies for better time management, and AI scheduling assistants help you see your calendar from a different perspective. For example, some programs analyze your scheduling habits and offer customized productivity tips on the best times to get things done. 

Challenges with using AI for scheduling 

AI scheduling assistants can be a huge help, but they’re not without drawbacks. Here are some risks to watch out for with AI scheduling tools. 

• Protecting data privacy
• Bias in AI
• Lack of human oversight

1Protecting data privacy

AI scheduling assistants, especially those that integrate with your other tech platforms, have access to personal and potentially sensitive information. Choose an AI scheduling assistant with a proven cybersecurity track record to keep your data safe. 

2Bias in AI

It’s been well-documented that AI can reflect human biases and accidentally recreate discriminatory practices. AI scheduling assistants might not take important factors into account, such as employees with disabilities who need scheduling accommodations. 

3Lack of human oversight

An AI scheduling assistant can take tons of work off your plate, but you shouldn’t fully hand the wheel over. You’ll still need to monitor your scheduling assistant for quality control, especially in the beginning while it’s still learning your schedule. 

Top 8 AI meeting schedulers

Looking for the right AI scheduler for your team? Below are the eight best AI planners and schedulers for every team’s needs. 

• Calendly
• SavvyCal
• SimplyMeet.me
• Clara
• Motion
• Sidekick
• Cal.com
• Scheduler AI

1Calendly

Calendly is a commonly used appointment scheduling tool. When team members need to book a meeting, they visit your Calendly page and select an available time slot. Calendly connects to your calendar, so as long as that’s up to date, Calendly will reflect your current availability. Once the other person confirms the meeting time, Calendly generates an invite automatically. The program is free for individuals, with standard features available starting at $10 per person per month. 

2SavvyCal

This web-based AI scheduling tool includes the option to create a poll and propose a few meeting times to team members. They’ll have the option to overlay their calendars with the times listed on your poll to get a clear picture of your shared availability. SavvyCal also offers ranked availability features, so your poll will make note of which meeting times people prefer most. 

SavvyCal’s offers a free package. You can access additional features with paid packages that start at $12 per person per month. 

3SimplyMeet.me

SimplyMeet.me offers scheduling features tailored to several types of teams, including marketing and sales. HR teams can also use SimplyMeet.me to streamline the recruitment and interview scheduling process. The platform includes automatic time zone detection and the ability to block out buffer zones so you don’t schedule back-to-back meetings all day. 

One of the biggest advantages of SimplyMeet.me is the robust features available with its free plan. Paid plans start at $9.99 per user per month. 

4Clara 

Clara is an AI scheduling assistant that connects directly with your primary email platform. When you want to schedule a meeting, cc Clara on an email, and the AI assistant will handle all remaining scheduling communications. The platform also uses conversational intelligence technology to constantly learn about your scheduling needs. Clara doesn’t list its pricing publicly but does say it plans to roll out a new pricing structure soon. 

5Motion

Motion offers the support of both a scheduling assistant and a task manager. You can put up healthy boundaries with Motion’s meeting assistant, which you can use to set a maximum number of meetings per day. You can also block time off for recurring tasks with Motion’s task manager feature.

Motion’s AI appointment scheduling tools for individuals cost $34 per month billed monthly or $19 per month billed annually. Pricing for teams is $12 per month billed annually, or you can pay $20 billed monthly. 

6Sidekick 

Sidekick offers three formats for meeting scheduling. You can set up a scheduling page for team members and clients to select a time from an available list. If you have other Sidekick users on your team, you can let the Sidekick scheduling assistant find a time for you. You’ll also be able to schedule meetings with a simple email forwarded to Sidekick. The program offers a free plan as well as a paid plan for $5 per month. 

7Cal.com

Cal.com is another tool you can use to set up booking pages for streamlined scheduling. You can send your Cal.com link to team members and clients so they can select a meeting time when you’re available. You can also customize workflows for sending meeting reminders if you use the team plan, which costs $12 per user per month. Individual Cal.com plans are entirely free. 

8Scheduler AI

In addition to booking meetings, this AI assistant includes features for tracking and converting sales leads. Through its customer relationship management (CRM) integrations, the Scheduler AI assistant responds to potential leads and schedules a client kick-off meeting when the lead seems warm. You can also automate lead assignments among your team based on their availability. Plus, Scheduler AI follows up when a lead doesn’t accept a calendar invite so that you don’t lose time to no-shows. Individuals and small teams can use this AI for scheduling starting at $49 per user per month. 

Effortless planning with Fellow 

With the right AI scheduling tool, you’ll be amazed by how much time you save in the long run. Once your AI scheduling tool’s job is done, Fellow is here to help with everything before, during, and after your actual meetings. 

With Fellow AI Meeting Copilot‘s AI transcriptions, recordings, and summaries, your meeting participants can stay engaged in the discussion and aligned on all decisions, all in one place. Fellow also comes with hundreds of helpful templates to guide your meeting agendas, or you can use Fellow’s AI meeting agendas for faster planning. Fellow also offers native integrations with all major Calendar tools, allowing you to make your meeting workflows even better.

Whatever you need to run better meetings, you’ll find it in Fellow.