A free SignUpGenius alternative, compared honestly
Your volunteers never see an ad.
SignUpGenius is free for organizers, and the people signing up pay for it with their attention: banner ads, video ads and pop-ups to click past on the way to a slot. Shatuga Chooser's sign-up sheets have none of that, on any plan, for anyone. SignUpGenius still does some things better, and they're listed first below.
Side by side
As of 26 October 2026. Both products change; if something here has gone out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
Where SignUpGenius is better
It collects money. A sign-up can take payment for a dish fee, a shirt order or a deposit. Chooser doesn't take payments.
It reminds people for you. SignUpGenius sends reminders before each slot automatically, by email, and by text on paid plans. Chooser can nudge the people who haven't answered yet, but it doesn't yet remind the people who signed up.
It keeps a waitlist. When a slot fills, people can still get in line for it. Chooser doesn't have a waitlist.
More hands and more looks. Paid plans let several organizers share an account, and there are hundreds of themes to dress a sign-up up.
People already know it. Plenty of parents and volunteers have used it before, and familiar is worth something.
Where Chooser is better
No ads, no pop-ups, no ad trackers. Not on free choosers, not on paid ones, not for anyone. On SignUpGenius, ads show on free sign-ups, participants "cannot make that change from their end", and removing them from every sign-up takes one of the top plans.
No subscriptions, ever. Chooser's everyday tools are free. The extras that cost us money to run, like a big batch of email credits or a custom banner, you buy outright when you need them; we don't sell subscriptions at all. SignUpGenius's paid plans are subscriptions.
The whole job in one place. Pick the date first, find a meeting time, run the sign-up sheet, then take a poll or a secret-ballot vote, all with the same links and the same people.
Which one fits
If you need to collect money with the sign-up, or you want reminders going out on their own today, SignUpGenius is the better tool right now.
If you'd rather the people giving you their Saturday never wade through an ad to do it, try Chooser. Nobody needs an account to answer.
Chooser is made by a small, independent company. Your data is never stuck here: a free account can download everything, any time. And we're committed to making our software open source as well, once we've gotten a good start.
Quick answers
Is there a free SignUpGenius alternative without ads?
Yes. Shatuga Chooser's sign-up sheets are free, and the people signing up never see an ad, a pop-up or an ad tracker, on any plan. They don't need an account to sign up.
What does SignUpGenius do better than Chooser?
It collects payments with a sign-up, sends reminders before each slot automatically, keeps a waitlist when a slot fills, lets several organizers share an account on paid plans, and has hundreds of themes. If you need payments or automatic reminders today, SignUpGenius is the better choice.
Is Chooser really free?
Yes, for everyday use: live polls, date picking, meeting times and sign-up sheets are free, with no ads for anyone. The extras that cost us money to run, like a big batch of email credits, a custom banner or room for more people, you buy outright when you need them. We don't sell subscriptions at all.
