Meetly vs Rallly
Meetly wins on everything except data ownership. Rallly is a solid open-source poll, but it asks you to name the candidate times up front, reads only Google on its hosted product, and stops once the votes are in. Meetly gives you the full availability grid, imports Google, Outlook, Apple and .ics for every participant, ranks the results and sends the invite. Choose Rallly when self-hosting is a genuine requirement.
Rallly occupies a specific and defensible position: the Doodle replacement you can run yourself. If self-hosting is a genuine requirement, that ends the comparison in its favour. For everyone else, it asks you to do more work up front and stops earlier than Meetly does.
What is Rallly?
Rallly is an open-source group scheduling poll released under AGPL v3. You create a poll with date and time options, share the link, and participants vote without needing an account. It runs as a Next.js app on PostgreSQL and ships as a Docker image, so self-hosting is genuinely practical rather than theoretical. There is also a hosted instance with a paid Pro tier.
| Meetly | Rallly | |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | No | Yes, AGPL v3 |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes, Docker plus PostgreSQL |
| Hosted price | Free | Free tier plus paid Pro |
| Account to vote | Never | Never |
| Calendar import for participants | Google, Outlook, Apple, any .ics | Google integration on hosted |
| Background re-sync | Yes | No |
| Poll style | Continuous availability grid | Discrete date and time options |
| Ranked slot suggestions | Yes | Vote tally |
| Preferred vs available | Yes | Yes, via maybe votes |
| Localisation | English | Ten-plus languages |
| Video links on finalize | Google Meet, Zoom, Teams | Link management |
| Data residency control | Hosted only | Total, if you self-host |
What do they cost?
Meetly is free with no per month fee and no seat count. Rallly has a free tier on its hosted instance plus a paid Pro plan, and self-hosting costs only your own infrastructure, which for a small instance is a few dollars per month. Neither shows advertising to your participants, unlike Doodle's free tier or When2Meet.
The usual criticism of Rallly is operational rather than functional: self-hosting means a server, a database, updates and somebody who owns them, and teams routinely underestimate that. The usual criticism of Meetly is the mirror image, that hosted-only leaves you no way to keep the data on infrastructure you control.
Discrete options or a continuous grid?
This is the real usability difference and it is easy to miss. Rallly asks you to enumerate the options: Tuesday 2pm, Tuesday 4pm, Wednesday 10am. Participants vote yes, no or maybe on each one. Meetly gives a date range and a daily window, generates the grid, and asks people to paint their availability across it.
Enumerated options are better when you have four candidate times and want a clean tally. Grids are better when the answer is not obvious yet and you want to see the whole shape of the group's week before narrowing. Neither is universally right.
When does self-hosting actually matter?
More often than people admit, and less often than they claim. It genuinely matters when you work under a data residency requirement, when scheduling metadata is sensitive because the attendee list itself is confidential, or when your organization simply cannot approve a new external processor.
It matters less when the poll is for a book club. Self-hosting is not free: it is a server, a database, updates and a person who owns it. That cost is worth paying for a real constraint and not worth paying as a preference.
Use Meetly when
- You want the availability grid rather than a fixed list of options
- Participants are on mixed providers and should import their own calendars
- You want the invite and video link handled after the vote
- Nobody on your side wants to operate a server and a database
- You want slots ranked, with preferred weighted above merely free
Use Rallly when
- Data has to stay on infrastructure you control
- Your group needs an interface language other than English
Why pick Meetly over Rallly?
Three reasons. Meetly gives you a continuous availability grid instead of asking you to name candidate times up front, it imports Google, Outlook, Apple and .ics for every participant rather than Google for the organizer, and it finalizes with a calendar invite and meeting link. Rallly stops when the votes are in.
Do I need to know the candidate times before starting?
Not with Meetly. You give a date range and a daily window and it generates the grid, which is what you want when the answer is not obvious yet. Rallly asks you to enumerate options, which suits a short pre-narrowed list.
Does Meetly require anyone to run a server?
No. It is hosted and free, with nothing to deploy, update or own. Self-hosting Rallly means a server, a database and a person responsible for both, which is worth paying only for a real constraint.
When is Rallly the better choice?
When data residency is a genuine requirement or your organization cannot approve a new external processor. Rallly is AGPL v3 with a Docker image, so you can keep everything on infrastructure you control. Meetly cannot offer that.
Try it on your next group meeting
Create a poll, share one link, and let everyone import their calendar instead of retyping their week.
Create a free pollPricing checked 29 July 2026 against Rallly and Rallly source. Prices move; if something here is out of date it is a mistake, not a position.