Doesn’t matter if your sales team is an army or just small and mighty, scoring more meetings with your prospects is always the top goal. The secret to booking more meetings is not so secret.
You need to smooth out the bumpy road that stands between you and your prospects. Hopefully you’re not rocking a“Our sales team will get back to you ASAP!” thank you page or still asking your clients, “Can you share some times that work best to meet?” But if you are, that's ok, just make sure to keep reading.
A scheduling tool to automate and simplify booking meetings is a must. And Chili Piper is no doubt the market leader when it comes to inbound scheduling and lead routing for your sales team.
Since you’re looking into alternatives, you probably already know, many teams try to find an alternative to Chili Piper mainly because of cost and complexity of the tool. Unless you're an enterprise client, odds are you’re paying a lot for features you simply don’t use or don’t know how to set up.
Whether you’re looking for a basic scheduling genie or a more sophisticated lead distribution solution that battles Chili Piper, I’ll be sharing the good, the bad, the ugly.
The top 5 Chili Piper alternatives I will be reviewing will be:
Avoma
Calendly
HubSpot
RevenueHero
Doodle
What to consider when looking for the right scheduling tool
I’m not here to tell you which tool to use.
Every tool has its own strengths and unique qualities, and every single one has compromises. The goal here is that these compromises are acceptable to you, and that your essential needs are still met.
Here’s a few things you’ll want to consider:
Price
What is your budget? If you’re looking for something under $15/mo per user, you’re probably going to have to settle for a basic scheduling tool.
If you’re an entrepreneur or have just a few sales reps, basic scheduling will most likely be more than enough for your workflows.
If you have more room in the budget, price is pretty similar with all these tools, so reviewing product features and how each tool fits into your tech stack and workflows is what you want to focus on.
Integrations
There are three integrations you’ll want to prioritize in your search - your CRM, your calendar, and your video conferencing solution.
Make sure they have native integrations and be aware that just because they added the logo on their integration page, does not mean it works the way you want it.
The worst thing is to adopt a tool that completely flips your workflow upside down, or worse, stops working.
And make sure you don’t have to pay more for the integrations, sometimes you do.
CRM
Typically Hubspot and Salesforce, and some have support for smaller CRMs like Zoho, Pipedrive, Copper, or Microsoft Dynamics.
Calendar
Typically Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple Calendar.
Video Conferencing
Typically Google Meet and Zoom, and some have support for Microsoft Teams, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, or UberConference.
User Interface
To quote a classic, “If you build it, they will come.” Well sometimes… It’s dang near impossible to build lead routing.
Some tools make it easier than others, and some have developer dependencies with things like form mapping to API field names and setting routing rules.
If you’re very tech savvy or have dedicated sales ops, then ignore. But if not, my advice is to look into help docs (most have them). And if your brain starts to hurt, move on. 🙂
Branding and personalization
It’s best to avoid confusion when prospects see unfamiliar logos all over your reminder emails or scheduling links.
Make sure you can add your own colors, logos, and personalized messaging to clearly convey the purpose of the meeting and outline the topics that will be discussed. The best way to ensure meetings are held!
Team structure
Think about the needs of your entire GTM team. What automation can help your SDRs, AEs, and finally the handoff to your CSMs?
Having the ability to make sure every type of meeting booked is smooth and your team knows exactly what they need to do to make them successful is important.
You may want to focus first on the demos booked but remember, your team is having many different types of meetings - deep dives, negotiations, onboarding, etc. Don’t forget about them.
Product Features
Saving the best for last. What features do you love in Chili Piper? What can you live without?
I cannot emphasize enough how different all these tools are and what features they choose to focus on. Have the top 3 features you can’t live without on the top of your mind.
—
But first, the elephant in the room.
I don’t know about you, but I hate the comparison articles you click on only to see a BS landing page on why their product is superior. You won’t get that here.
And somehow my CEO told me to be brutally honest with my review and to put myself in your shoes so I did.
In the past 10 years, I have used many of these tools, including Chili Piper, and there are pros and cons to all.
And there are teams that love every single one of them.
Let’s find out which one is best for you.
—
#1 Avoma
Avoma matches many of the main lead routing and scheduling features loved by Chili Piper customers.
With Avoma’s Scheduler, you can create varied scheduling links to eliminate email ping-pong so prospects can easily book meetings one-on-one with the rep, with a group of people, or through a round robin.
You can also qualify, route, and schedule meetings with prospects and customers instantly from your website with Lead Routing via Avoma Scheduler.
With these scheduling and inbound lead routing features, Avoma uniquely simplifies and automates much of the setup.
Instead of complex form mapping via navigating API names and IDs, Avoma integrates with your CRM and automates much of the setup. You can create routing rules and mapping via simple selections and IF-THEN statements.
Many of the features needed in Chili Piper for GTM teams are covered, however, it is not full compatibility.
Instead, Avoma’s focus is to help teams manage the entire customer lifecycle, beyond just booking the meeting.
Avoma has an AI Meeting Assistant for reps to automate manual tasks like note-taking and CRM entry, an AI Coaching Assistant for managers to auto-score calls and give insights into conversations, and finally deal intelligence for leaders to help teams close deals and reveal risks with AI.
For teams looking for a more comprehensive solution to cover many aspects of the Sales and CS process from booking the meeting to closing the deal, Avoma is a great solution.
If you’re looking to match every single feature of Chili Piper, you might be disappointed but for most Avoma can cover their needs.
Pros:
Free Plan/Trial Option
One-on-one scheduling links are free to use forever, reducing back-and-forth with clients. To use more advanced features like round robins, group scheduling, and lead routing you can test them out in a free 14 day trial.
Easy Setup
Avoma automates many of the steps you see in the industry like form mapping, routing rules, and integrations with your CRM so you start qualifying and routing meetings in just a few minutes.
We love no developer dependencies.
Deep CRM Integration
Seamless integration with many CRMs - Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, and most deeply Hubspot. Avoma automates many rep tasks through these CRM integrations like creating contacts, deals, and updating meeting types, outcomes, and owners.
Avoma also uniquely automatically writes notes for reps during the meeting and updates various custom properties like competitors, features interested in, budget, and more.
Disqualification
Your sales team can't talk to everyone. Disqualify low value leads and redirect them to specific landing pages.This feature ensures efficient use of your sales team's time. Guide disqualified prospects toward product-led experiences or a thank-you page tailored to their needs.
Cons:
Basic Reporting
While Avoma provides basic insights into meeting metrics—such as the number booked, abandoned meetings, and distribution among reps but advanced dashboards are still being developed. In the interim, users can receive CRM notifications or manually navigate the reports for follow-ups and rescheduling.
No Instant Handoff Booker
If you do have a large SDR team who uses Handoffs in Chili Piper, Avoma's process can be tricky. In Avoma, SDRs need to send a round robin link to prospects or utilize a round robin scheduling link on behalf of the prospect to book a meeting for the next rep.
Lead Routing Plan Requirement
The Starter plan at $19/mo per user covers basic group scheduling and round robins, making it more cost-effective than many alternatives.
However, for advanced features like routing and rep qualification, an upgrade is necessary. Opting for the Business plan also unlocks automatic AI notes, syncing call notes to CRM, auto call scoring, AI forecasts, deal risk analysis, and conversation insights across your organization.
#2 Calendly
Calendly is known for its user-friendly approach to one-on-one and team scheduling. It offers basic routing features for sales and customer service teams, making it a suitable option for those primarily focused on getting meetings organized efficiently.
The platform's strengths lie in its simplicity, making it easy to embed calendar booking in emails and on websites. It provides a free plan for basic one-on-one scheduling and offers additional features at a cost.
However, Calendly's limitations become apparent when considering its integration capabilities, especially with CRM systems like Hubspot, where the platform may not fully align with the specific needs of sales teams.
Pros:
Free Plan
For basic scheduling needs, Calendly offers a free plan. It's an excellent option for one-on-one scheduling and basic features.
Team Scheduling
Calendly excels at team scheduling and integrates deeply with Salesforce. It allows ownership checks, routing to existing owners, and even integrates with payment processors.
Branding Options
Even the free version allows some custom branding on scheduling pages, enhancing the professional look.
Cons:
Basic Routing
While it has qualified/disqualified options, Calendly lacks advanced routing capabilities. It may struggle with HubSpot integration, and property updates can be messy.
Limited CRM Integrations
Beyond Salesforce, Calendly relies on Zapier for CRM integrations, making it less native for other CRMs.
#3 HubSpot
HubSpot is the choice for those already deep into the HubSpot ecosystem, seeking an all-in-one solution. It provides basic routing rules with advanced features like group scheduling, round robins, and lead routing rules suitable for smaller teams testing qualification rules.
Hubspot excels in multi-calendar support, seamlessly integrating with Google Calendar and Office 365 Calendar. The user interface is designed to be attractive to prospects, facilitating easy booking. However, for those not using Hubspot, the learning curve can be steep, and many features may be restricted.
Despite its advantages, Hubspot has limitations in terms of disqualifying prospects, and its pricing model can be expensive for teams that require all members to have paid Sales or Service Hub subscriptions.
Pros:
Seamless CRM Integration
HubSpot's strength lies in integration with its CRM. If you're already using HubSpot, it consolidates all your needs in one place.
Advanced Routing
HubSpot offers advanced routing rules, group scheduling, and lead routing for smaller teams testing qualification rules.
Multi-Calendar Support
Ideal for those with multiple calendars, HubSpot considers your entire availability before scheduling a meeting.
Cons:
Not User-Friendly for Non-HubSpot Users
If you're not using HubSpot, the learning curve can be steep, and many features may be restricted.
Costs add up
Pricing can be high, especially if you need advanced features. Each team member requiring access to Sales or Service Hub can add up quickly.
Limited CRM Integrations
HubSpot's integrations are primarily tailored for its CRM, making it less versatile for users with other CRMs.
#4 RevenueHero
RevenueHero is positioned as a tool most similar to Chili Piper, offering complex rule control for lead distribution. For feature parity, RevenueHero customers pay a fixed platform fee of $79 per month and $25/mo per user, slightly less expensive than Chili Piper.
However, its complexity might be a drawback, requiring users with routing expertise for proper configuration. It lacks group availability and an AI meeting assistant, and can be considered a substantial investment for teams using lead routing automation alone.
Pros:
Complex Rule Control
RevenueHero provides detailed rule controls for distribution, similar to Chili Piper, with AND/OR rules for precise team targeting.
Redistribution Feature
Unbooked meetings can be sent back to the CRM for redistribution, ensuring no opportunity is missed.
Cons:
Complexity
Configuring RevenueHero may be challenging for those not well-versed in routing. Knowledge of "field API names" is required.
No Group Availability
It lacks a feature for group availability, focusing mainly on web demo routing to a single rep.
No Meeting Assistant
Like Chili Piper, RevenueHero stops at booking the demo; it lacks an AI meeting assistant for post-meeting insights.
Expensive
While cheaper than Chili Piper, it's still an investment, especially for teams merely routing leads from forms.
#5 Doodle
Initially developed as a polling tool, Doodle has expanded to include basic scheduling features. It is positioned as a cost-effective option, particularly suitable for entrepreneurs or small teams. The platform's strength lies in its simplicity, offering a great user interface and eliminating back-and-forth scheduling issues.
Doodle provides a free plan with unlimited group polls, making it ideal for internal teams or communities. The platform also offers a bookable calendar and survey builder for additional flexibility. However, for those seeking more advanced features tailored to sales, marketing, or customer service teams, Doodle may fall short compared to dedicated scheduling tools.
This comprehensive overview provides insights into the strengths, limitations, and use cases of each scheduling tool, assisting readers in making informed decisions based on their specific requirements.
Pros:
Great Free Plan
Doodle's free plan is generous, making it an excellent choice for small teams or entrepreneurs.
Unlimited Group Polls
A standout feature, Doodle allows unlimited group polls, ensuring hassle-free coordination for events or internal meetings.
Bookable Calendar
Doodle's bookable calendar with time zone detection adds flexibility for one-on-one scheduling.
Cons:
Limited Integrations
Doodle lacks integration with major CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce, limiting its applicability for sales and marketing teams.
No Lead Routing
It doesn't provide lead routing or disqualification features, making it less suitable for teams with complex qualification processes.
Limited Web Conferencing Support
In the free plan, only Microsoft Teams and Webex web conferencing are supported, and you need to upgrade for additional options.
No Analytics on Meetings Booked
Doodle lacks detailed analytics on meetings booked, making it challenging to track performance.
Conclusion: Choose Your Perfect Chili Piper Alternative
In the diverse landscape of scheduling tools, each alternative brings its unique set of features. Avoma stands out with its comprehensive automation, Calendly excels in simplicity, HubSpot offers an all-in-one solution for its CRM users, RevenueHero targets those wanting advanced features, and Doodle keeps it basic.
The key is to identify the specific needs of your team and choose the spice that enhances your workflow without leaving a bitter aftertaste.
