Best Calendar Apps

Calendar apps can help you maintain organization and consistency in a busy schedule. After reviewing dozens of calendar apps on the market, we found that Calendar is the best app for most people—whether you own a business or not—due to its AI-based infrastructure and advanced analytics. With team scheduling, customization, and unification, Calendar will help you maintain organization and improve it permanently. 

The Best Calendar App for Most 

With robust scheduling features, an easy-to-use interface, and synchronization, Calendar is the perfect app for individuals and teams looking to become more time-efficient and manage their busy schedules online. Calendar will lift the stress of overbooking and rescheduling with its AI-based software that offers one-click capabilities and automatic functions. 

The Best Calendar Options to Consider

1. Calendar – Best for most
2. Fantastical – Best widget-friendly calendar
3. Google Calendar – Best free option
4. SavvyCal – Best for scheduling capabilities
5. Business Calendar 2 – Best for extensive customization

When It Makes Sense to Invest In Calendar Apps

Before you invest in a calendar app, you should outline the reasons why you need one in the first place. Not everyone works in a fast-paced environment or lives a busy life, so determining the reason for a calendar app is crucial. 

You might manage a small team and need an app to help you schedule tasks, meetings, and group activities. A calendar app can help you do all these things with one-click capabilities and color-coded boxes. 

Are you constantly on the move as a busy consultant and need to check your schedule on the go? Because a calendar app with cross-platform synchronization is what you might need. Most calendar apps offer services on all platforms, from desktops and mobiles to tablets and smartwatches. 

If organization and time management has never been your calling, you might need to prevent overbooking and protect your boundaries when it comes to overworking. A calendar app can stop you from working overtime by allowing you to choose certain days other employees can book you. 

Even as an individual, a calendar app can be useful for day-to-day tasks and setting reminders for events. You don’t need to run a business to use a calendar, as these apps are typically helpful for everyone.

#1 – Calendar – The Best for Most

Trusted by more than 80,000 businesses, Calendar is the ultimate app for most people in a business or not. As a useful app for teams, Calendar can help you schedule, track, and maintain meeting spots without overbooking. 

If you manage a team of more than two people, Calendar is an excellent option for creating time slots and never overlapping meeting days. You can create time slots for events and meetings with Calendar’s customizable templates—displaying the time, date, and location. With a simple design interface, you can easily understand what you are looking at and can navigate the platform efficiently. 

Not only can you create a time slot, but you can allow anyone else to create one directly in your calendar by sending them a customized and unique scheduling link. Calendar will protect you from overbooking and ensure you aren’t booked more than once on the same day. 

The most helpful function of the Calendar app is its advanced analytics, which can help you become more productive in the long run. The analytics dashboard lets you know exactly where your time is going, so you don’t need to waste time on ineffective meetings or canceled ones. 

If you’ve ever wondered what specific meetings take up most of your time, Calendar’s analytics can tell you with its Meeting Distribution feature. Meeting distribution allows you to visualize your time spent on different meeting types with a color-coordinated pie chart. 

Calendar makes it easy to organize teamwork with its AI-based software made for gentle follow-ups and time-zone-friendly infrastructure. You can make sure everyone has RSVP’d to meetings, and global teams don’t have to worry about not being able to collaborate efficiently, as Calendar handles availability across time zones. 

The Calendar app is cross-platform and is available on both desktop and mobile. You can access your calendar dashboard, view and connect other calendars, add and edit events, and share your schedule, all in a few taps on the go. 

You can try Calender’s premium version free for 14 days or choose to use its free forever plan, which includes five workspace members, two customizable scheduling slots, one calendar connection, and a meeting with up to five guests. 

Alternatively, if you need more functionality, you can choose from Calendar’s two paid plans, including: 

• Standard — $6 per user per month. Includes unlimited workspace members, 25 team scheduling slots, analytics, five customizable scheduling slots, and live phone support. 

• Pro — $8 per user per month. Includes everything in Standard, plus 50 workspace teams, white labeling on personal scheduling pages, unlimited customizable scheduling slots, and SMS reminders. 

#2 – Fantastical – The Best Widget-Friendly Calendar 

When it comes to customization, synchronization, and UI design, Fantastical ticks all the boxes by a mile. As one of the only calendar apps with extensive widgets, you can commit to events and view tasks quicker than ever before. 

Widgets can help you view tasks faster and stay up-to-date with your busy schedule in a more exciting way. Fantastical offers 14 widgets you can mix and match directly on your home screen. The widgets come in small, medium, and large sizes to help you stay organized and prioritize the tasks you need, even when you aren’t using Fantastical directly. 

Not only can you quickly view upcoming events, tasks, and conference calls, but Fantastical has integrated a unique weather widget into its software. You can view your area’s 10-day weather forecast from your calendar app, making it easier to schedule and rearrange meetings around the weather. 

The weather widget covers temperature conditions, sunrise and sunset times, and specific location weather, so you can plan your day perfectly. 

But Fantastical offers more than just a widget-friendly platform. It also supports cross-platform engagement and works seamlessly across Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch. 

Not only does it sync across different platforms, but you get access to powerful dashboard views and file attachments, no matter the device you are using. Fantastical will give you the view you want, with its DayTicker feature, or you can choose to browse comprehensive full-screen views of your day, week, month, quarter, or even year if you’re seeking maximum detail. 

Organize calls and meetings with ease through Fantastical’s Openings and Proposals features. Openings let the people around you know when you are available, while Proposals allow you to propose and plan events with your team in just a few clicks. 

Fantastical also prides itself on providing a privacy-first approach to its software, so if security is an issue for you, you won’t have to worry about it with Fantastical. Your account’s password is securely stored on your device using Keychain and never leaves your device. 

You can add new, updated calendars to Fantastical for holidays, religions, or education systems. You can even include calendars for sports events and TV shows, so you will never miss a thing outside work. You can also group different calendars and tasks together and toggle them on and off whenever you please. 

You can try Fantastical Premium for free for 14 days and receive a three-day weather forecast, standard email support, full-screen views, and full task support. Alternatively, you can choose from the two paid plans and get access to all advanced features. 

• For Individuals — $5.25 per month
• For Families Up to 5 — $8.33 per month

According to Fantastical, you get the same premium features for both plans, including the same features as the free plan but with additional productivity, scheduling, collaboration, and customization functions. 

If you want to use Fantastical for your organization, you will need to contact the sales team. 

#3 – Google Calendar – The Best Free Option

If you are looking for a free calendar app to choose from, Google Calendar is one of the most popular and reliable options on the market today. With easy integrations and smart scheduling, you can’t go wrong with Google Calendar. 

Integrate your calendar seamlessly with the rest of Google’s suite, such as Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Site, and Meet. Google Calendar is a solution designed for teams to help them work better together and always know what’s happening next. 

With a simple design layout, on the left side of the screen, you will see a mini calendar view, your current calendars—such as birthdays, reminders, and tasks—and other calendars, like holidays. You can also search for people using their Gmail addresses and add them to the calendar with a few clicks. 

You can schedule events and meetings quickly by checking your colleague’s availability or layering their calendars in a single view. You can also share your calendars with others, so they can see when you are free. 

As a cross-platform solution, you can access Google Calendar on your laptop, tablet, or phone. View and edit your schedule directly from any of these devices with Google’s optimized mobile app or sync with your phone’s built-in calendar. 

Google Calendar lets you publish your calendar on the web, which is an excellent function if you want to share special events with your customers or let people know when you are next available for bookings. Google Calendar also offers easy migration from legacy systems, such as Exchange, Outlook, or iCal. 

Google Calendar is completely free for all users. All you need is a Gmail account to get started.

#4 – SavvyCal – The Best for Scheduling Capabilities

SavvyCal is an advanced calendar app for anyone looking for personalized scheduling capabilities and excellent UI design. You will be able to navigate SavvyCal with ease and transform your productivity with its interactive interface. 

With an extensive calendar overlay and reliable design, there’s no need to switch between calendars with SavvyCal. Instead of giving your recipients a list of time slots to choose from, SavvyCal transforms navigation by giving you the option to overlay your calendar over your recipients’ to easily find mutual availability. 

Team scheduling has never been easier with SavvyCal and its automatic functions. You can enable an automatic round-robin routing and set up collective scheduling, so you can add teammates to your calendar in just one click. 

Take back control and stop overbooking with SavvyCal’s Buffers and Limits function. You can set limits for how many meetings can be booked per day, week, or month. And not only that, but you can present ranked availability on your calendar to encourage recipients to choose the time that suits you best. 

SavvyCal also lets you use time blocks to control the availability and prevent you from overworking if you struggle with time management. You can create naming conventions, and SavvyCal will find scheduling availability based on your already existing calendar events. 

Do you run a website that would benefit from a booking calendar? Because SavvyCal has got you covered. You can embed your calendar directly into your website using a hyperlink, a floating button, or a JavaScript call. 

Switch it up with SavvyCal’s ad-free meeting polls that keep teamwork exciting. You can invite people to vote on a set of times to meet and book the most favored response. 

SavvyCal offers extensive integrations with popular apps, so you can take your scheduling offline. Connect your calendar with apps like Zoom, Google Meet, Outlook, Zapier, and Slack. 

You can try SavvyCal’s premium version for free for 14 days or choose its free forever plan, which includes meeting polls and the ability to overlay your calendar on other recipients scheduling links. Alternatively, you can choose from two of its paid plans for more advanced features: 

• The Basic Plan — $12 per user per month. Includes your own individual and team scheduling links and meeting polls. 

• The Premium Plan — $20 per user per month. Includes the removal of SavvyCal branding from your links, collecting payments via Stripe, and delegating access to your assistant. 

#5 – Business Calendar 2 – The Best for Extensive Customization

Business Calendar 2 is a powerful app for professionals using Android devices who need more advanced functions and widgets. Business Calendar 2 is purposely geared towards scheduling business tasks and has a wide range of features and customizations that provide you with the support you need.

Business Calendar 2 offers different modes and a range of configurations, making it an excellent application for business purposes. The app offers customizable functions, such as a favorites bar, widgets, themes and templates, voice input, and emoticons. 

You can create events with ease by using the calendar’s automatic data input and hands-free audio input. Most of Business Calendar 2’s capabilities are automated, so you don’t need to waste time filling out information. 

The calendar lets you easily handle tasks with a dedicated view and the option to postpone tasks or set your preferred sorting order to find things quicker. You can sync and backup your task lists with Google Tasks, so you don’t need to worry about losing important information. For more advanced capabilities, you can repeat your tasks regularly and add as many subtasks as you need. 

But that’s not all, as Business Calendar 2 has an extremely extensive list of features, including: 

• Month view
• Week view
• Day view
• Reminders
• Attachments
• Print 
• Share calendars 

Business Calendar 2 offers a free and premium version of the application, but it doesn’t disclose pricing on its website. With that said, we found that many reviews said the pricing is around $10 per month, but this may not be accurate. 

Methodology for Choosing the Best Calendar Apps

There are a few factors that go into finding the best calendar app. Sometimes it can be difficult to choose the right application, so we put together this methodology of the three most essential elements to consider before investing in a calendar app for your time management and organization.

User Interface

Before investing in any old calendar app, make sure it offers an easy-to-use interface. You will spend the majority of your time navigating a calendar app through scheduling, so learning how to use its interface should be a simple process. You should look for apps that offer color coordination, tick boxes, and clear displays of time, date, and location. 

You should avoid calendar apps that are all over the place or are lackluster with little to no color or interactive functions. 

Synchronization

Syncing your calendar app across devices is one of the most critical aspects. It’s unrealistic to think that you will be in the same place at all times, so accessing your calendar on your mobile phone, tablet, laptop, and even smartwatch is paramount. 

Even if the calendar app offers only one synchronization option to a mobile phone, we would still say this is worth it—although the more, the better. You should avoid an app that doesn’t offer cross-platforming at all. 

Customizable 

A customizable calendar will make life so much easier for you. Customization can help you create personalized time slots or templates and makes your business look more professional and lively. And even as an individual, a customizable calendar app can be more exciting to use and improve your consistency and productivity. 

You should avoid rigid calendar apps that don’t offer customizable features or automated functions. A calendar should make things easier and more convenient for you, not make you put in extra work.

Summary

Overall, Calendar is the best application for most people. The app offers a simple design interface, unique scheduling links, and advanced analytics features to help you improve your productivity. 

However, it may not be the best solution for everyone. If you are looking for better customization, more widgets, powerful scheduling, or even a free option, the other calendar apps on this list are excellent alternatives. 

Don’t forget to use our methodology before you make your final decision on the best calendar app for you and your business.