A Framadate alternative that never asks for your email
Framadate is the poll tool run by Framasoft, a French non-profit, and it has been free since 2011. Its own homepage says the service reaches over two million people and asks for donations rather than money for features. There is no paid tier, no ad network, and the software behind it is licensed under the AGPL so anyone can run their own copy. Nothing on this page is going to pretend otherwise.
People still end up looking for something else, usually for one of three reasons. The old Framadate was switched off, so an old link now lands on a shutdown notice and the polls behind those links stay readable only until September 2026. The replacement asks for your email address before it will let you propose a single date. And every poll carries a 180-day lifetime by default, after which you get a two-month window to extend it or it is deleted. We walked the live site in August 2026 to check each of those, and this page is what we found plus how the same job works on Best Day To Meet.
The old Framadate has been switched off
Typing the old create-a-poll address, framadate.org/create_poll.php, no longer opens a form. It redirects to a page headed "Framadate gets a makeover!" that says: "You've landed here because we've shut down the old version of Framadate." The same page states that past polls stay readable and votable "for 6 months, until September 2026", and offers two buttons into the new version instead.
The homepage banner fills in the rest of the timeline: creating polls on the old version stopped in April 2026, and the six-month reading window runs from there. If your club or team has a Framadate link pinned in a group chat or a wiki, that link stops resolving to anything useful within weeks of this page going up. Copying the votes somewhere before then is worth the ten minutes.
What the new Framadate asks for first
The new version runs at beta.framadate.org and is labelled "Framadate BETA" in its own header. Choosing "Schedule an event" opens a form headed "Poll creation", marked "Step 1 on 4". Before any calendar appears, it wants the name of the poll, an optional description, a poll closing date, your name, and your email address. Checking the form markup, four of those five fields are required: only the description is optional.
The email field carries its own explanation: "Your address will not be shared with other poll participants. It will only be used to enable you to find your poll if you lose its address and to notify you when new votes are made." That is a reasonable use, and the form stops there: no password, no confirmation step, no profile to manage. You are still handing over an address before you have seen a calendar.
The address does real work later. Framadate's "My polls and votes" page keeps your polls and votes in the browser you used, warns you to clear them if you share the machine, and offers a "Find my polls by email" box that mails you the links back. Framasoft's documentation describes the same split: after creation you get a public share link for voters and a private admin link you have to keep. Lose the admin link and the email is the way back in.
The 180-day clock
The Framadate homepage carries a section headed "Limitations" that states two rules: "a form has a lifetime of 180 days (by default)" and "after expiration you will have 2 months to extend your survey before it is permanently deleted from our database". For a poll about next Thursday, that is irrelevant. For a committee that meets twice a year and likes to look back at who could make what, the record is gone before the second meeting.
The same screenshot catches the language seam. The illustration sitting on the English-language homepage is in French: the vote values read Oui, Si besoin and Non, and the totals row reads Somme. The language switcher offers 18 languages including English, and the interface itself translates, but French keeps surfacing at the edges. The feedback button in the new version's header is labelled "Vos retours", and the documentation for the new version exists only in French.
Framadate vs Best Day To Meet
Every Framadate fact below was observed on the live site in August 2026, either on framadate.org or on beta.framadate.org.
| Feature | Best Day To Meet | Framadate |
|---|---|---|
| Email address to create a poll | Never asked for | Required field on step 1 of 4 |
| Account to create a poll | No | No |
| How long a poll lives | No expiry clock on an Event | 180 days by default, then 2 months to extend |
| Price | Free core, optional Pro | Free, funded by donations |
| Open source and self-hosting | No | Yes, AGPL 3, documented self-hosting |
| Interface languages | English | 18 in the language switcher |
| Third-party ads or trackers | None | None seen; every request went to a Framasoft domain |
| Where your polls are kept | In the Event; a free account keeps them across devices | In your browser, with the links recoverable by email |
Reading the network requests the Framadate homepage made, every host was one Framasoft runs: framadate.org, framasoft.org, framablog.org, and their own analytics at stats.framasoft.org. No ad exchange, no third-party analytics, no consent banner to dismiss, because there is nothing to consent to.
The same poll on our side
Creating an Event on Best Day To Meet is two steps and no personal details. You type a name, choose whether Participants mark a calendar or pick from Date Options, set a date range, and press create. The next screen is the share link. Participants open it, type a name, and tap the days they can make, and vote counts appear on the dates as they go.
The Host sets a country so public holidays land on the dates themselves, and picks whether weekdays, weekends or holidays count at all, which is why the September grid above skips straight past the greyed-out Saturdays. Nobody gives an email address to any of it. If you want your Events to follow you between your laptop and your phone, you can add an email and get a free account, but that is a choice you make after the Event exists rather than a gate in front of it. There is no deletion clock on a free Event.
When Framadate is the better choice
Framadate wins outright in several situations, and a page that pretended otherwise would not be worth reading:
- You want free software you can audit or host. The new version is built on Pollaris, published under the AGPL 3, and Framasoft documents installing it on your own server. Best Day To Meet is hosted by us and closed.
- You want a tool with no paid tier at all. Framadate has never had one and asks for donations instead. Our core is free, but Date Options mode, multi-day Events, the comment feed and branding removal sit in an optional Pro tier.
- Your group does not read English. Eighteen languages in the switcher against our one is not a close contest.
- You are polling opinions rather than dates. Framadate's "standard poll" lets people vote between arbitrary options, biscuits included, which we do not do.
- You want the admin controls their documentation lists: password protection on a poll, a cap on how many people can pick each option, and a custom link.
If any of those describe you, use Framadate and give Framasoft a donation. The rest of this page is for people who just want a date fixed without handing over an address.
Running the same poll here
- On the homepage, name your Event and choose how people pick: Calendar, where Participants mark every day they can make across a range, or Date Options, where you list exact dates or multi-day blocks.
- Set the date range, then skim the optional settings: the country whose public holidays should show, whether weekends and holidays count, and event length.
- Send the short link, or read out the join code. Nobody signs in, on either side.
- Watch the counts build on the calendar. Participants can change their answer later from the same browser, and the winning day is the one carrying the most votes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Framadate free?
Yes, and it always has been. Framasoft has run it since 2011, there is no paid tier and no ad network, and the homepage asks for donations to keep it going. The costs are the 180-day default lifetime on a poll and the email address the new version requires to create one.
Does Framadate still work?
The new version at beta.framadate.org works and is where all new polls are created. The old version was shut down: its create page now redirects to a notice saying so, and polls made on it stay readable only until September 2026.
Do you need an account for Framadate?
No account, but the new create form requires your email address along with the poll name, a closing date and your name. Framadate uses the address to mail you your poll links and to notify you of new votes.
How long does a Framadate poll last?
Its homepage states a default lifetime of 180 days, followed by two months in which you can extend the poll before it is permanently deleted from Framasoft's database.
Is Best Day To Meet free?
The core is free with no account and no card: creating Events, sharing the link, whole-day voting, public holidays and the weekday filters. An optional Pro tier, sold as a subscription or as a one-time unlock for a single Event, adds Date Options mode, multi-day Events, the comment feed and branding removal. There are no ads on any plan.
Can people vote without giving an email address?
On both tools, yes. Framadate voters pick their values and type a name; the address is only asked of whoever creates the poll. On Best Day To Meet nobody is asked for one, Host included.
Comparing more options? See Best when2meet alternatives.