13 Best Schedule Makers to Boost Productivity

The world, we live in, has become fast-paced and super busy. Creating and having a schedule is an essential element to being organized and staying on top of everything.

Creating a perfect schedule often feels like trying to manage a business of ferrets. By the way, it is a correct collective noun, we aren’t kidding, check it out.

Luckily, the world is full of creative innovators. You have the option to choose from a load of different tools that can help with this process.

But which one is the best free schedule maker to date?

We have come up with this list of the top schedule makers out there for you to use so that the process of selecting the right one can be easier for you.

Before we get into our top picks for the best free schedule maker out there, let’s first see what you can gain from creating a schedule and why you would want one.

Benefits of Creating a Schedule

• Scheduling your day gives you an action plan. This action plan lets you move forward with the right amount of energy, time, and availability to match what you have for the day. It also allows you to reduce stress because you are prepared for the tasks and responsibilities you have to get done.
• Creating a schedule lets you prioritize items as they come along. You will have everything in front of you and will be able to determine what needs to be bumped up in your to-do list. You can also match these items with your day’s plan and amend them accordingly. Moreover, creating a schedule lets you identify any potential pitfalls so you can be prepared for emergencies.
• A schedule will not only help you be organized, but it will help those around you. Especially in regard to work situations. A schedule will encourage your coworkers and team members to plan and be prepared.
• With a schedule laid out in front of you, you will be able to evaluate if you are meeting your goals, and what activities are taking up too much of your time.

What Is An Online Schedule Maker?

An online schedule maker is a dedicated tool designed to help create daily, weekly and monthly schedules. With the help of these tools employees and business professionals can schedule meetings, appointments, etc.

These tools are rich in advanced scheduling and tracking features that can help optimize your performance. The biggest perk of having an employee schedule maker is that you can automate the scheduling process, making it easy for you to organize and manage events without any hassle.

With an online schedule maker app users can easily optimize schedules, track performance, and make adjustments wherever and whenever necessary. The ability to automate scheduling processes and allocate resources gives makes the whole process much simpler and easier.

Here are added advantages of using a scheduling system:

• Easy time tracking
• Reducing errors in payroll-related issues
• Optimizing employee performance
• Reducing scheduling conflicts
• Simplifying communication across teams

Top Pick for the Best Free Schedule Maker

Not everyone has a budget to spend on getting a scheduling tool, however, there is a sheer number of free options for you to choose from.

Here are our top picks for the best schedule makers that are free to use.

1. nTask

If you look at nTask, you may not think of a schedule maker as it is predominantly a project management tool.

However, with the vast features provided in the platform, nTask can be used to serve the purpose of a great schedule maker, while also providing other facilities.

Once you get a feel for its functionality, chances are you won’t want to consider any other tool.

With nTask you have the option of Gantt chart views or calendar views to schedule tasks concerning your projects to know what you and your team’s schedule will be.

You can also create meetings, track progress, and get reminders for important dates or approaching deadlines.

The app provides great versatility and thus can be used to meet your needs.

Pricing:

• The basic plan for free
• Premium $3 per month
• Business plan for $8 per month
• Enterprise plan customizable plan

2. Calendly

Calendly is a great app if you need a scheduling tool to create or set appointments.

The application shows any open slots you have in your schedule and gives external contracts to request or schedule appointments or meetings with you.

This app is great at keeping your scheduling in a centralized location and drastically eliminates the confusion created by email appointments.

Calendly provides a free version, however, this version is aimed at individual users, and so will become difficult to manage if you assign multiple people to one slot.

Pricing:

• Access Calendly’s basic plan free of cost
• Upgrade to the Premium plan for $8/month, per user
• A pro plan for $12/month, per user

3. Schedule Builder

Schedule Builder is a great daily or weekly Schedule maker.

With this tool, you can create up to 5 weekly or daily schedules online. You then have the option to save the schedule, convert it to an image or PDF file, or even print it for your ease.

The software supports nine languages and is also customizable in terms of the background image you wish to have.

Pricing:

• Schedule Maker is free to use

4. Google Sheets

You can access Google Sheets as part of the Google Docs package.

Google Sheets is spreadsheet software that allows you the option to create grids where you can make your own schedule. The benefit of using such a tool rather than a specific schedule maker is the customization it allows you.

You can even take the help of a schedule template to get you started.

By using Google Sheets, you have a centralized schedule that gives you and your team the ability to adjust on their terms. It also makes your schedule easier to update.

Pricing:

• Google Sheets is free to use

5. Shiftly

Shiftly is a scheduling app that can be used for individuals or small businesses.

The software allows you the ability to schedule multiple employees within multiple shifts.

Created specifically for this purpose, Shiftly makes scheduling simpler. With an intuitive design and a drag-and-drop interface, your scheduling becomes a breeze.

The application also gives you the option to assign responsibilities and tasks to your employees so they are aware of what needs to be done.

However, since the application requires schedules to be sent via email this can be troublesome for some. You need to ensure everyone receives their schedule and also be vigilant to inform anyone of any changes that are made.

Pricing:

• Shiftly has a starter plan for free
• You can update to the pro plan for $4/month, per staff

6. Appoint.ly

Appoint.ly gives you a platform that allows you complete control of your schedule.

You should note that Appoint.ly is a good tool for individual schedule making, but is not suited if you want to organize schedules for multiple employees and view them on a single schedule.

The software gives you the ability, through its website widget, to integrate with your website. If you do not have a website the tool gives you a unique sub-domain that will let you create your very own booking page.

Moreover, you could also create a tab on your Facebook page through the software that will allow customers to schedule their appointments.

Pricing:

• You can use Appoint.ly for free
• Pro plan starts at $8/user per month
• Custom Enterprise plan.

7. Google Keep

Another Google product that is great for scheduling is Google Keep.

Google Keep gives you a blank interface where you can draw, type, or even use a stylus to create what you want.

The software lets you create checklists and to-do lists. While also letting you set reminders and dates, therefore giving you the option to create a schedule for yourself.

However, this tool can only be used for personal scheduling and a created schedule will be difficult to share.

Pricing:

• Google Keep is free to use

8. ProofHub

ProofHub is a comprehensive project management and team collaboration tool with a vast variety of features that aid teams to improve their performance and productivity.

As a scheduling application, ProofHub is a massive success as it allows users to schedule events, milestones, and tasks in a single space. Users can easily stay on top of their schedule with automatic reminders and even create recurring tasks and events. Further, users can also create personal milestones to record important events, dates or data.

Pricing:

• The Ultimate Control plan is available for $89 per month (limited time offer) (billed annually) with unlimited projects and unlimited users
• The Essential plan is available for $45 per month (billed annually) with unlimited users

9. HubSpot Meetings

HubSpot Meetings allows you to create personalized booking links that you can use to invite people to view your calendar availability and book meetings with you.

HubSpot Meetings integrates with both Google Calendar as well as Office 365 and is part of HubSpot’s CRM platform.  When you sign up for HubSpot Meetings, you automatically gain access to HubSpot’s free CRM, which includes marketing, sales, and customer service tools, like email marketing automation, live chat, forms, landing pages and more.

When someone schedules a meeting with you, their contact details will automatically be added to your calendar and pushed to the HubSpot CRM database where you can keep track of the relationship.

Pricing

• Free Plan – Includes one personalized meeting link, unlimited meetings, integration with HubSpot’s free-forever CRM, and the ability to embed a calendar on your website.
• Starter Plan ($50/month) – Includes all the other paid features of HubSpot Sales, as well as 1,000 personal & team meetings links.

What are Work Schedule Apps?

Work schedule apps are tools that help organizations manage and schedule employee work schedules. These apps typically allow managers to create, publish, and manage employee schedules, assign tasks, and communicate with employees.

They offer features such as drag-and-drop scheduling, employee self-scheduling, automated shift reminders, time and attendance tracking, integration with other tools, availability management, and mobile access. 

These apps are widely used in various industries such as retail, hospitality, healthcare, and transportation. They can help managers effectively manage their workforce by keeping track of employees’ schedules and attendance, while also offering employees more flexibility and control over their schedules. 

Employing work schedule apps can lead to improved productivity, better employee satisfaction, and reduced scheduling conflicts.

Work Schedule Makers to Also Consider

Apart from the free options listed above. Here are some other Schedule makers to consider which are available for a certain price.

10. Doodle

Doodle is a great tool to use if you are trying to plan an event or schedule events with large groups of people.

You can also use the application for personal scheduling, or creating schedules for your employees.

Users can check off which days and times work for them, or mark which ones they will be unavailable. This lets you see the availability of your team, or in the case of planning events, your guests. Thus, you can create schedules accordingly.

The application creates a master document that everyone can view, making it easy to update as well.

Pricing:

• You can access Doodle with their starter plan for $4.49/month
• You can also upgrade to the Pro plan for $5.99/per month
• There is a Team plan for $30/month
• Or you could choose the Enterprise plan for a customized solution for your organization
• Doodle also offers a free 14-day trial to see whether the tool is best suited for your needs.

11. Excel

Like Google Sheets, Excel is Microsoft’s version of a spreadsheet tool. This tool also provides the ability to create customizable schedules for yourself or your team.

You can take help from Excel schedule templates, or create your own with sections, conditional formatting, and even color-coding.

However, much like Google Sheets, while it may be easy to update, the schedule is not suited for adapting to change.

Moreover, once the template you create is filled, you will have to start anew.

Pricing:

• You can access Excel with Microsoft Office 365 for $6.99/month.
• You can also purchase the application for $139.99 for use on one device.

12. Airtable

This incredible schedule maker is a tried and tested application being used by over 200,000 businesses worldwide. And these businesses are no slouches either. They include Netflix, New York Times, and Buzzfeed, among many others.

Airtable lets its users set up different calendars to handle all of the various reservations about rooms, people, or some form of equipment that the customer wants from the company or the business.

This incredible tool also offers its customers many customization options like drag-and-drop functionality to create custom calendars and some other options to visually transform their calendars using different colors.

The application also has an automatic table syncing option that helps you to save your data the moment you enter it into the interface.

When we dive into the benefits of this incredible application, we come to know that it has different pre-made templates that can help you create your very own Airtable base when you first start using the application or want to set up the foundations for a new project.

The application also has a different custom view for different needs and requirements that the customer might have while using the tool.

The application also allows you to store different project files safely and securely, and that too in one place, so that when you want to access that data in the future, you only have to look at one place and not a dozen different data repositories.

The application also has task management and task tracking in-built so that all of the different tasks and processes you have to perform as part of the project development process can be easily tracked and managed within a single interface.

Pricing

• This incredible schedule maker has a free plan for all of its customers that want to enjoy its features without paying, but if you’re going to get the paid plans for more premium features, you can pay $10/seat/month for the starter package

13. Calendarpedia

Calendarpedia is another reliable and efficient solution for schedule-making. The tool offers customizable templates of yearly calendars, quarterly calendars, monthly calendars, and many more.

Users can download any calendar of their choice in PDF, Word, or Excel and customize it according to their liking. The best part is that all templates are available for free.

Calendarpedia is a nice option if you want to go for a simple and to-the-point solution. The tool has a clear interface and no fuss at all.

Users can simply visit their website and download the calendar of their choice free of cost.

Pricing

• All calendars of Calendarpedia are available for free and can be downloaded easily.

Honorable Mentions

Apart from the tools mentioned above, you could always use a trusty pen and paper schedule. You can take the help of a paper template and take advantage of this free, easy-to-use, schedule maker.

However, with so many options available with added features for your benefit, the pen and paper just don’t seem to cut it anymore.

While finding the best schedule makers, we came across some other tools that didn’t quite make our list but are worth a mention.

1. ClickUp, provides a single platform for all your work, like tasks, chat, goals, docs, and more.
2. Asana, this software organizes work so your teams can work efficiently, it lets teams understand what needs to be done, why, and how.

These are predominately productivity tools that can be used to make individual or group schedules according to your requirements.

What Is The Best Schedule Maker App?

All the apps listed above are known for their efficiency, user-friendliness, inexpensive pricing, and the elaborate list of features they offer to their users. 

That said, keeping in view a large number of options available, it can be difficult to narrow down your options and choose your pick. There are, however, certain features that should be a part of a good online schedule maker. Here is a list of must-have features of the best schedule maker:

• Intuitive Interface – No matter which schedule maker you choose, it should have a user-friendly interface. The tool will be used by all the employees in the organization, for that matter, it is necessary that it be easy to use and have an intuitive interface that is easy to navigate through.
• Customization – Having customization options means you can personalize the outlook of the tool, make changes wherever necessary so that it fits your requirements, and have control in your hands. 
• Communication and collaboration – The best schedule maker app will allow for communication and collaboration across teams, making it easier to work together. Communication across organizations means you can freely interact with employees, share files, photos, etc. and collaborate in real-time.
• Tracking – If performance optimization and improving productivity is a goal you wish to accomplish then tracking and monitoring features are a must-have. These features allow you to track your performance and identify gaps so that you can make necessary adjustments to improve processes.

Any schedule maker app that offers the above features along with reasonable pricing, third-party integrations, and mobile apps is probably one of the best, if not the best, online schedule makers!

5 Best Apps to Make Schedules

The following 5, in our opinion, are the best apps to make schedules:

1. When I Work: A popular app that allows managers to create and publish employee schedules, track time and attendance, and communicate with employees.
2. Homebase: A schedule and time tracking app that also allows managers to manage employee availability, track labor costs, and communicate with employees.
3. ShiftPlanning: A schedule management app that provides a wide range of features, including employee self-scheduling, automated shift reminders, and time and attendance tracking.
4. Deputy: A comprehensive scheduling and workforce management app that includes features such as employee self-scheduling, time and attendance tracking, and automated shift reminders.
5. TSheets: A schedule and time tracking app that allows managers to create and manage employee schedules, track time and attendance, and communicate with employees via messaging.

These apps can also be integrated with other tools and can be accessed from mobile devices, making it easy for managers and employees to access schedule information and communicate with each other. It’s important to evaluate and compare the apps according to your organization’s specific needs and requirements.

FAQs

Conclusion

There you have it! Our list of the top free schedule makers. We hope this list has made your choice easier for you.

Don’t forget to check back later for future updates!