Event planning app: what to look for before you choose
There are plenty of tools you can use to plan an event: a group chat, a shared spreadsheet, forms, or a dedicated app. No single tool fits everyone. This guide helps you decide what you actually need.
First: what kind of event
- A small get-together with friends or family: mostly a date, split tasks and a simple invitation.
- A large event (a wedding, a big family party): also vendors, a budget, RSVPs and several organizers.
- A trip or a recurring event: splitting costs and keeping a history matter.
Seven questions to ask
- Can every guest join easily? If it needs signup and a download, some people will not join. Check whether guests can reply through a link.
- Are there tasks you can assign to a person and check off?
- Can you run a poll for a date or a place?
- Can you track expenses, and how do you work out who owes whom?
- Is there chat or messaging inside the event, so messages do not scatter?
- Does it work well on a phone, and in your language?
- What is free and what costs money? Check before you invite people.
What not to ignore
- Privacy: what is collected and kept. Read the privacy policy.
- Export: whether you can take your data with you if you leave.
- Notifications: whether you can control them, so they do not flood people.
- Maintenance: whether the tool is still being updated.
Where PlanOra fits
PlanOra is an app for planning events with friends and family. It has tasks, polls, chat, a photo gallery, expenses and invitations with RSVPs, in English and Hebrew, and you can start from a ready-made template or from scratch. It is free. It is not the right tool for everyone: if you need professional production tools for an event with hundreds of guests and many vendors, look at other tools too.
How to try a tool without committing
- Create a small real event, like a get-together with friends.
- Invite two or three people and see how many join without help.
- Try assigning a task and settling a date with a poll.
- If it feels simple, keep going. If not, move on.
More: how to split up event tasks, how to find a date and how to get RSVPs.
Planning an event?
PlanOra puts tasks, polls, chat, a photo gallery, expenses and invitations with RSVPs in one place. Free.
Start planning