How to migrate from Doodle to Rallly without losing poll history
If a renewal, a per-seat increase or a data residency requirement has led you to consider moving group polls to self-hosted Rallly, plan on two separate workstreams. Group date polls and their voting links move cleanly in practice, because a poll is a set of date options plus responses. Booking pages, sign-up sheets and any calendar or video integrations do not carry over and need their own handling. Most of the migration effort sits in that second group, not in the polls. In most organizations the move is run by the platform or IT team, often with an implementation partner who handles the server build, the reverse proxy, the PostgreSQL database, the mail relay and the upgrade routine. For a small user base, the work is mainly deployment, a license decision and a message to participants. For a large user base, the work also includes mapping who owns which poll, setting up Spaces for shared polls, and testing that invitation emails reach people inside your mail system. Confirm the current deployment requirements in Rallly's GitHub repository before you size the host.
Start by exporting poll history from Doodle while your paid plan is still active. Excel exports of group poll participant data are limited to the Pro, Team and Enterprise tiers, so confirm your plan and export each poll you need to keep before you cancel. Store the files in your records system, because Rallly will not import them as live polls. Count your intended Rallly users before you choose a license tier. Self-hosting is free for one user, and multi-user instances are asked to buy a key, with the tier set by user count. Keys are perpetual for v4.x, but the instance keeps running past its limit with a reminder, so the key is a compliance decision rather than a technical lock. The main risks are a broken link for a participant who expected Doodle's address, email that never arrives from the new server, and an upgrade that stalls on a security release. Before cutover, send a short notice to regular participants with the new address and a test poll. Check that the instance can reach licensing.rallly.co over HTTPS, because activation depends on it.
Which Doodle capabilities map to Rallly and which need rework
This table compares the Doodle capabilities your group scheduling depends on with what Rallly covers directly, what needs a workaround, and what it does not cover. Read the rows marked as clean first, then check the rework rows against how your teams actually use Doodle. The main takeaway is that group date polls move across cleanly, while booking pages, sign-up sheets and admin controls need a separate plan.
| Capability | Rallly (self-hosted) | Doodle equivalent and what to plan |
|---|---|---|
| Date and time polls with multiple options | Organizers create polls with several date and time options | Same core use. Confirm that your most common poll shapes, such as recurring slots, appear in your test instance. |
| Voting without an account | Participants vote without creating an account | Doodle invitees can respond without signing up. Confirm how your participants currently sign in before you change links. |
| Availability grid and comments | Responses appear in an availability grid, with comments supported | Equivalent for group polls. Export or screenshot any grids your team cites in decisions before cancelling Doodle. |
| Notifications and finalizing a date | Organizers finalize a chosen date and participants are notified | Equivalent flow. Test the email notification path end to end, since it depends on your own mail server. |
| Spaces for shared polls | Members create and manage polls together, with up to 5, 50 or 100 members per Space on Plus, Organization and Enterprise tiers | Doodle Team seats cover shared work. Count the people who need to edit polls, not only those who vote, when you choose a tier. |
| Booking pages and 1:1 scheduling | Not covered by Rallly | Rework needed. Move these to a separate tool such as Cal.diy and plan that migration on its own. |
| Sign-up sheets | Not covered by Rallly | Rework needed. Track any sign-up sheets as a separate workflow with its own owner and records. |
| Video integrations and admin console | Not covered by Rallly | Gap. Confirm which video links and admin reports your teams rely on and decide how each will be replaced. |
| Excel export of poll data | Confirm the export formats available in your Rallly version and in your own Doodle account before cancelling | Doodle exports to Excel are limited to Pro, Team and Enterprise. Check your plan and download results while access remains. |
What data to export from Doodle and what to rebuild in Rallly
Doodle data falls into three groups: poll participant data you may be able to export, records you must capture by hand, and settings you rebuild in Rallly. Work through the cards in order, starting with the export, because what you can take out depends on your current plan.
Excel export of poll participants
Doodle's Excel export of group poll participant data is only available on Pro, Team and Enterprise plans, so check your plan before a renewal lapses or an account is downgraded. Export every poll you need to keep, including participant names, the options offered and the responses recorded for each. Store the files in your own records system, then confirm the current export options directly with Doodle, because plan features can change.
Capture what free accounts see
A free Doodle account may not include the Excel export, so it has to plan manual capture for every poll it wants to keep. Open each poll, record the title, options, final choice and comments, and save screenshots of the results view as a fallback. Do this before cancelling or letting a subscription end, because access may end with it. Confirm with Doodle what remains viewable on the free tier for your account.
Archive booking pages and sign-up sheets
Booking pages, 1:1 links and sign-up sheets are not covered by the poll export, so archive them by hand. For each one, record its public link, event name, duration, available hours, the questions asked of invitees, and the bookings or sign-up entries you still need. Keep invitee details in a restricted location, because they are personal data. Rallly does not replace booking pages, so decide separately which tool will cover them.
Rebuild calendar integrations as configuration
Calendar, video and notification connections made inside Doodle do not carry over to a self-hosted instance. List every integration your team uses, note who set each one up and what it writes to. For each item, decide whether the Rallly instance needs a configuration setting, a manual step or no replacement. Check the Rallly documentation for your version before promising any integration to participants.
Recreate active polls as new polls
Recreate each active poll as a new Rallly poll, keeping the same date and time options, title and description. Ask the organizer to confirm the final dates before rebuilding, and note the old poll link so the new one can take its place. Once a Doodle poll closes, its record exists only in your archive, so keep that copy. Send the new links to participants only after you have tested the instance.
The migration sequence from inventory to Doodle shutdown
This sequence moves recurring group scheduling from Doodle to a self-hosted Rallly instance without losing poll history or leaving participants with dead links. Each step produces a written artifact so the cutover and the Doodle shutdown can be checked rather than assumed.
Inventory active polls, owners and recurring scheduling
Ask every Doodle account holder in scope to list their open polls, booking pages and sign-up sheets, the people who answer them, and how often each recurs. Record the owner, the participant group, and whether the poll is a one-off or a standing series. Note which items are group polls, since those are the ones Rallly covers, and which are booking pages or sign-up sheets, which need a different replacement. The output is a single inventory list with an owner for every row. You know it is done when each active item has a named owner and a category.
Stand up a pilot Rallly instance
Deploy Rallly from its Docker image in your own infrastructure, using the self-hosting documentation in the project repository, and confirm the server can reach the licensing service over HTTPS if you plan to use a license key. Create one Space for a small pilot group, invite a few real organizers and participants, and run two or three real polls through the full cycle: create, vote without an account, comment, finalize, and confirm the notification emails arrive. Check the email delivery path against your mail provider's requirements. The output is a verified pilot with a short written record of what worked and what needed configuration. Confirm the current installation steps and any version requirements with the Rallly documentation before you deploy.
Choose the license tier from the user count
Before expanding beyond the pilot, count the users who will create or manage polls on the instance, using the tier limits in Rallly's licensing documentation: free personal use for one user, and paid keys for multi-user instances. Confirm whether guest voters count toward the limit, since unregistered voters do not. Decide whether the Space member limits fit the teams that will share polls. The output is a signed-off user count and a chosen tier, with the license request logged. Ask Rallly support about non-profit discounts if your organization qualifies.
Run Rallly and Doodle in parallel
Route all new scheduling requests to Rallly and let existing Doodle polls close on their own schedule. Tell organizers which tool to use for which kind of request, and keep the booking pages and sign-up sheets on Doodle until a separate replacement is chosen. Track any polls that still arrive in Doodle and move their owners across. The output is a running log of new polls by tool, which shows the parallel period is shrinking. Once Doodle has no new group polls for the teams in scope, the parallel run is complete.
Send the participant notice and update links
Before cutover, send regular participants a short notice explaining the new Rallly address, what they need to do, and that they do not need an account to vote. Update the links in calendar invitations, email templates, intranet pages, shared documents and recurring meeting series to point to the Rallly instance. Keep a list of every place a Doodle link was published so none are missed. The output is a notice sent to the participant list and a link inventory marked as updated. You know it is done when recent Doodle links have been replaced at each recorded location.
Export history and decommission Doodle
Before you cancel the Doodle subscription, export the poll participant data you are entitled to take out, using the Excel export available on the paid tiers, and archive the booking page and sign-up sheet records by hand as the Doodle documentation describes. Store the exports in your own document system with the poll owner and date recorded. Then remove the Doodle accounts and cancel the subscription, confirming with Doodle the final billing and data deletion terms in writing. The output is an archive of exports with an index, and written confirmation that the Doodle subscription has ended. Verify the exports open and contain the expected records before you cancel.
How the move differs for a small team, a department and an enterprise
A single person running Rallly for personal use sits on the free tier, which the licensing documentation allows for one user. No license key is needed, so the move is mostly about the instance itself: deploying the Docker image, pointing a domain at it and creating the one account. Because the free tier is limited to one user, a second person who needs to create polls is the trigger to review licensing.
- No license key: Personal use with one user does not require activation against the licensing host.
- Spaces: The documentation publishes Space member limits only for Plus, Organization and Enterprise, so confirm with Rallly whether Spaces are available on the free tier before you plan shared polls there.
- Email: Set up outbound mail for invitations and notifications, and send a test message from the instance before you share any poll links.
- Upgrade trigger: Adding a second user moves the instance into the multi-user category, where a license key is requested.
Check the user count on the instance before you invite anyone else, since that is the point at which the licensing question starts.
A small team of up to five users falls in the Plus tier, priced at $49 in the licensing documentation. The license key is requested because the instance has more than one user, and it is activated when the server reaches licensing.rallly.co over HTTPS. Spaces differ most from personal use here, since up to 5 members can share one Space and manage polls together.
- License key: Buy the Plus key and activate it from the instance. The server needs outbound HTTPS access to the licensing host.
- Honor system: The instance keeps running past its user limit and shows an upgrade reminder, so compliance depends on a named owner who tracks the seat count.
- Spaces: One Space holds up to 5 members, which fits a single team but leaves no room for a larger group in the same workspace.
- Email: Configure the mail relay the team already uses, and confirm that invitations reach external participants, since they vote without accounts.
- Guest voters: Unregistered guest voters are not counted toward the user limit, so outside participants do not use up seats.
Confirm the seat count and the outbound network path with your administrator before buying the key, because activation fails if the server cannot reach the licensing host.
A department with up to 50 users moves to the Organization tier, priced at $499 in the licensing documentation. The step up matters most for Spaces: each Space can hold up to 50 members, so a department can run shared polls for a whole group in one workspace without splitting people across several instances or accounts.
- One license key: A single Organization key covers all users up to 50 and is activated the same way as the Plus key.
- Spaces for shared scheduling: Create one Space per department or program so members manage polls together and owners can see the history.
- Mail volume: Plan for more invitations and reminders across a larger audience, and confirm sending limits with the mail provider you use.
- Non-profit request: Rallly offers non-profit discounts on request through its support channel, so ask before purchasing.
- Named ownership: Assign who holds the license key, the Docker host and the upgrade schedule, since the honor system relies on the organization to stay within its tier.
Ask Rallly support about any non-profit discount before you buy, and confirm that the named user count stays at or below 50.
Organizations with 50 or more users fall under Enterprise, which Rallly prices from $999 by quote. Spaces on this tier allow up to 100 members each. The rollout is usually a project of its own, so confirm the scope, the number of Spaces and the support arrangements in writing before you commit.
- Quote-based pricing: The starting price is $999, and the final figure depends on the scope agreed with the vendor, so request it in writing.
- Space layout: Up to 100 members fit in one Space, so decide whether one large Space or several department Spaces match how your teams share polls.
- Internal approvals: Procurement, data protection and the mail relay owner usually need to sign off on an instance that holds participant names and availability.
- Staged cutover: Moving departments in stages lets existing Doodle links stay live while people update bookmarks and invitations.
- Security releases: Confirm who applies releases such as v4.15.5, which upgraded Next.js to 16.4.2, and how quickly that happens.
Ask for the Enterprise quote with the user count, Space layout and support terms stated, so the figure can be compared with the Organization tier.
How to run Doodle and Rallly in parallel and cut over
The parallel period works best when you decide the cutover rules before anyone sends a new link. Keep your Doodle account open so existing polls keep collecting votes and so you can still read them. From an agreed start date, every new group poll is created in your self-hosted Rallly instance, and the organizers who create polls are told to stop using Doodle for new work. Pick a second date after which Doodle links are no longer shared, and write both dates in the same notice so nobody has to guess which tool a poll lives in. Keep the Doodle window short enough that organizers do not drift back to the old habit, but long enough that polls already in flight can close on their own schedule.
Regular participants need a short notice that tells them three things: the new Rallly address, that the old Doodle links will stop working after the second date, and that they can still vote without creating an account. Participants who only click a link and pick slots never need a login, so emphasize that, since it removes the most common objection to switching. Send the notice from the people who normally send Doodle polls, and include one example link to a test poll so people can check that the page loads and their browser accepts it before a real invitation arrives. Ask your team to confirm that Rallly's invitation emails reach a mailbox outside your organization, because email delivery is set up on your server and is not something Doodle handled for you.
Export before you cancel. Once the Doodle subscription ends, the participant data behind old polls may no longer be reachable, and the Excel export is the only record of who voted for which options. Run the export for every poll you still need for audit, reference or follow-up, store the files on your own systems, and confirm the export contains the participant responses you expect before you change the billing plan. Check with Doodle which export options your plan includes, because the ability to export group poll data depends on the tier you hold. Cancelling early is the most common way to lose that history, so treat the export as the final step of the parallel period, not an optional extra.
Questions buyers ask before moving from Doodle to Rallly
How long does a move from Doodle to a self-hosted Rallly instance take?
The duration depends mostly on the hosting path, the email setup and how many active poll owners need onboarding. Deploying Rallly from its Docker image is the quick part. The longer items are provisioning a server or cluster, configuring a mail provider that can send from your domain, agreeing on which polls and history to keep, and communicating new links to regular participants. Ask for a timeline built from your own list of tasks rather than a generic figure, and confirm each dependency with your IT and email teams before the scope is fixed. A fixed-scope engagement sets the timeline in writing before work starts.
What does the move need from our team?
Plan for administrative access to the host or cluster where Rallly will run, a domain or subdomain with a valid TLS certificate, SMTP credentials for outgoing invitations and notifications, and a Docker-capable host with a PostgreSQL database. You also need someone who can export poll records from Doodle before the subscription ends and someone who owns the instance after handover. Confirm the email provider's sending limits, authentication requirements and allowed sender domains in your own environment, because these settings often decide whether participant emails arrive. Confirm outbound HTTPS access from the server to licensing.rallly.co if you buy a license key.
Which Rallly license tier should we choose by user count?
Rallly is free for personal use with one user. Multi-user self-hosted instances are asked to buy a license key: Plus covers up to 5 users at $49, Organization covers up to 50 users at $499, and Enterprise covers 50 or more users from $999 by quote, according to the Rallly licensing documentation. Count the people who create polls and manage Spaces, since those are the users the tier limits. Guest voters who respond without an account are not counted. Keys are perpetual for v4.x versions and work on an honor system, so the instance keeps running past its limit with an upgrade reminder. Confirm the current tier terms with Rallly before purchase.
Do guest voters count toward the Rallly user limit?
No. According to the Rallly licensing documentation, guest voters who are not registered do not count toward the user limit. Participants can vote on a poll without creating an account, so the number that matters is the registered accounts that create or manage polls. Before you choose a tier, export a list of your current Doodle organizers and estimate how many of them will hold accounts on the new instance. Check the licensing page for any change to these counting rules before you rely on them for a purchase decision.
Can our own IT team do this migration without an implementation partner?
Yes, if your team has Docker, reverse proxy, TLS, PostgreSQL and mail administration experience and can own the instance afterward. Rallly is built with Next.js, Prisma, tRPC and Tailwind CSS, and it ships as a Docker image, so the deployment is conventional. The harder parts are operational: backups, patching (v4.15.5 was a security release that upgraded Next.js to 16.4.2), monitoring, email deliverability and user onboarding. Teams without spare capacity for those tasks often use a partner for the initial build and handover, then keep the upgrade work in-house.
What does a DeployOpen fixed-scope engagement cover for a Rallly move?
DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own infrastructure. For a Rallly move, a fixed-scope engagement would typically cover the deployment plan, the Docker-based install, domain and TLS configuration, email delivery setup, Spaces configuration, backup and upgrade procedures, documentation and handover. Scope, deliverables and timelines are agreed in writing before work starts, and a quote follows from that written scope. DeployOpen does not issue audit reports or certifications. Ongoing support and upgrades are available as a retainer.
What happens to our Doodle poll history before we cancel?
Export it first. Doodle's Excel exports of group poll participant data are available only on its Pro, Team and Enterprise plans, so confirm which plan holds your history before you downgrade or cancel. Rallly does not import Doodle data, so exported results become an archive rather than a live record. Store the archive in your own system with a retention period set by your records policy, and keep the Rallly instance focused on new polls. Confirm the export format and the data each plan returns in Doodle's own documentation before the exit date.
What drives cost and duration in a Doodle to Rallly move
The cost of moving from Doodle to a self-hosted Rallly instance splits into a few one-time items (license keys, migration work, email setup) and several recurring ones (hosting, PostgreSQL operations, upgrades, support). The cards below describe each driver and what to confirm before you commit to a scope.
User count sets the license tier
Rallly's self-hosting is free for one user, but multi-user instances are asked to buy a license key. Count the people who will create polls, not only the people who vote, because guest voters without a registered account are not counted. The tier you choose depends on that count, so confirm the number of users per tier with the licensing documentation before you ask for a quote.
License keys are one-time for v4.x
For v4.x versions, Rallly license keys are perpetual, so the license spend is a one-time item tied to your tier. Ask whether a future major version would need a new key, because that changes the recurring picture. Activation requires the server to reach the licensing service over HTTPS, so plan that outbound path during setup.
Poll history and active polls
The effort to migrate depends on how much Doodle history you keep and how many polls are still open. Exporting to Excel is available only on Doodle Pro, Team and Enterprise, so confirm your current plan before you cancel. Old results are usually archived as files rather than imported, which means archiving work is a separate line item from the Rallly deployment itself.
Hosting and PostgreSQL operations
Rallly ships as a Docker image and is built on Next.js, Prisma and Tailwind CSS, so the recurring cost is the compute, storage and database administration you run yourself. Backups, restore testing, and PostgreSQL patching are ongoing work. Ask the implementation partner to specify the backup schedule, the restore test cadence and who owns each task after handover.
Upgrade cadence and security releases
Rallly v4.15.5, published on October 18, 2026, was a security release that upgraded Next.js to 16.4.2. Security releases like this recur, and each one needs a test window and a rollback plan. Budget for upgrades as a standing cost, and confirm with your support provider how quickly they can apply a patch in your environment.
Email delivery and participant communication
Rallly notifies participants by email, so you need an outbound mail service with correct sender authentication. Mail provider fees and deliverability work recur, and a misconfigured sender can silently stop invitations. Separately, regular participants must learn the new links, which takes communication effort from the organizers who send polls today.
How DeployOpen scopes and runs a Doodle to Rallly migration
DeployOpen is a Chainscore Labs company that plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades and documents self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure, whether that is a cloud account, a data center or an air-gapped network. For a Doodle to Rallly move, that means the work covers the Rallly deployment itself, the database and email configuration, the backup and upgrade routine, the access model for Spaces and the documentation your administrators will use after handover. DeployOpen is not an official partner, reseller or certified provider of Rallly or Doodle, and the migration is not presented as a vendor-endorsed service.
Most engagements are fixed-scope. Before work starts, the written scope sets out which Doodle poll history is exported and archived, how many Rallly users and Spaces are provisioned, which license tier applies, how participant communication is handled and what the cutover date and acceptance checks are. DeployOpen does not publish a price list. A quote follows from that written scope, so the questions to bring to a quote are which Doodle accounts are in use, how many people will organize polls, whether non-profit terms apply (requested through Rallly's support channel) and who will operate the instance after handover. Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as a retainer, which is the usual route for teams that want someone to apply Rallly security releases on a schedule they agree in advance.
Confirm the scope items that depend on your environment before you sign: the server location and whether it can reach licensing.rallly.co over HTTPS for license activation, the email provider used for poll notifications, and the retention rules that apply to exported participant data. Ask for the deliverables in writing, including the runbook for upgrades, the restore test for backups and the list of accounts that hold administrative access. Independent auditors and certification bodies decide whether any control evidence meets a framework, and DeployOpen prepares the systems and records for that review without issuing audit reports or attestations.
