Calendars seem like a fairly basic technology on the surface, but if it were that easy to make a good calendar program, there would presumably be more worthy alternatives to Google Calendar. It’s simple, effortlessly cross-platform, shareable, tweakable, and comes with a boatload of random helpful features and integrations, and there’s honestly no perfect clone out there. There are, however, a few that come quite close, so if you’re looking to make the switch with minimal friction, check out the Google Calendar alternatives below.
Most of these apps support gCal integration, your data is safe and will sync back to the service, allowing you to switch between these apps and Google Calendar at any time.
Also read: How to Share Locations and Invite People to Events with Google Calendar
1. Outlook Calendar
Available on Windows | Mac | Android | iOS | Web
If you’re hunting for a Google Calendar replacement, you may not be thrilled about jumping directly into the arms of Microsoft. I get it. Outlook Calendar is, however, a very solid free Google Calendar alternative. You can schedule meetings, create multiple calendars, share schedules, view multiple calendars in one, sync with Internet calendars (including Google if you make the switch), set email reminders, and generally do a lot of what you can do with Google Calendar. It comes with many integrations as well, so it’s easy to make it play nice with other services, especially Outlook Mail, which can, as with Gmail and Google Calendar, automatically generate meetings using email.
The free web-based version is fairly sleek and easy to use, with a few clunky navigation exceptions. (Sharing a link to a calendar, for example, requires you to dig through a settings menu.) It’s also available as a free app for Android and iOS, integrated with the Outlook email app. It even works with Apple Watch. Desktop programs for Windows and Mac are available with a paid Office 365 plan.
Also read: How to Add a Signature in Outlook
2. Zoho Calendar
Available on iOS | Android | Web
Zoho isn’t exactly a household name, but its large suite of products has stayed current enough to be competitive. Its calendar has recently been updated with a new, refreshed look. It lets you sync with external calendars and includes meeting scheduling and group coordination features. Importing and syncing make it pretty straightforward to push events from other calendars, like Google and Outlook, into Zoho, making any transition easier. The “smart add” feature from previous iterations is gone, but adding events remains straightforward. Just click on “New Event” in the upper-left corner or click any time on the calendar and add event details.
Apps are available for Android and iOS, and they work well. Zoho regularly updates with bug fixes, and the apps offer a similar feature set as the website. You’ll have to register a Zoho email address to use them, though.
Zoho stacks up pretty well vs. Microsoft/Google. Its refreshed look is aesthetically appealing, and the strong privacy policy is a big plus. Zoho has many other apps as well, including document editing, cloud storage, notes, and more, and they’re all worth checking into if you’re looking to ditch Google.
Also read: How to Create a Calendar Server With Baikal
3. Nextcloud Calendar
Available on Windows | macOS | Mobile | Linux | Web
The ideal Nextcloud setup actually involves you running the software on your own server, giving you full data control at all times. It’s easy to get started with that, and the calendar itself has a nice, clean design. Syncing, sharing, inviting, scheduling – it’s all here, and it should easily meet standards for any moderate calendar user, though power users may come across little missing features (like setting the first day of the week) here and there.
The software is free and open source, which is a big mark in its favor. The big downside is that there’s no mobile app (for the calendar part), so you’ll have to sync your mobile phone using the CalDAV standard aided by an app like DAVx5, which is a technical challenge that not everyone may be up to. CalDAV is built into iOS, though, and the DAVx5 app can be purchased from the Play Store, or sideloaded from the F-Droid store for free.
Also read: The 10 Best Google Chrome Extensions for Productivity
4. Teamup
Available on Web | iOS | Android
While paying for a premium plan will get you access to much more business-grade features, Teamup’s free calendar service works well for smaller groups. It allows you to create and manage calendars without signing up and has some seriously powerful calendar management and sharing features.
You can use Teamup for your personal calendar, of course, but its scheduling, access management, and event coordination features really shine for groups, whether it’s a business or a class. You can even share individual events as standalone web pages. Google Calendar doesn’t even do that!
It can be a bit clunky to navigate at first, but once you figure out that you have to press the hamburger button on the top right, go to Settings, then navigate to different parts of the settings menu with another hamburger button on the top right, you’ll realize how many features are hiding out of sight. The Android and iOS apps are also surprisingly good. They don’t suffer from as much feature loss as some other calendar apps seem to.
Teamup works very well alongside other calendars, acting as a team/event management extension. I find the system isn’t quite what I need to keep track of personal day-to-day stuff, but Teamup works great if you need to quickly organize a group of people.
5. Apple Calendar
Available on macOS | iOS | Web
While it may not be traditionally cross-platform, Apple’s preinstalled Calendar app offers plenty to love for anyone in the Apple ecosystem. Even with its Apple focus, Calendar integrates well with Exchange, Google, Yahoo, iCloud and other popular CalDAV services. Creating events couldn’t be any easier with the “+” button for adding a quick event. Alternatively, click on any given day to add an event with additional invitees, notes, attachments, etc.
The iCal format is pretty standard across business environments, so workplaces should have no trouble integrating iCal invites. Adding or modifying events is as easy as clicking on any event and adding notes, contact info, files, etc.
The biggest downside of Apple Calendar as it stands today is its lack of natural language support and that hasn’t been absolved with macOS Monterey. The iOS experience is cleaner than its desktop counterpart but still ensures that adding events is clunkier than natural language competitors like Fantastical.
Also read: 10 of the Best Apple Notes Features You Need to Start Using
6. Time Tree
Available on Web | Android | iOS
Calendars are made for sharing, and that’s what makes Time Tree so great as a Google Calendar competitor. Ideal for friends, family or work, Time Tree helps keep all of your calendars separate. On top of that, it pulls double duty with the addition of a journal and notes app. Want to add a shopping list for your spouse? That can be done right from inside the app.
Inside the add event screen you can add a title, memo, notifications, color code, family, friends or colleagues, etc. Open the “Advanced” screen, and your options grow with a place to add to-do lists, location data, URL for meeting invites and notes.
If keeping your calendar to small groups is a primary use case, Time Tree is a standout option for desktop users. Added to that, iOS and Android apps making it ideal for use anywhere, anytime. With its clean interface, I could easily see making a swap to Time Tree for future use, and that idea is bolstered by its zero cost feature set.
Also read: How to Show Lunar/Moon Phases in Google Calendar
7. Cozi
Available on Web | Android | iOS
Combining a calendar and to-do and shopping lists, Cozi is designed with families in mind in the hopes of keeping every household organized and running smoothly. The calendar interface emphasizes what everyone in the family is up to and does so through a color-coded view so that it’s easy to distinguish between various schedules. For every calendar appointment, reminder and agenda emails are available so that nobody misses an important function.
Step away from the calendar for a minute and jump into to-do lists and create a list of things to take on an upcoming vacation. How about a shopping list instead? No problem there, as nobody needs to rely on paper lists anymore. All of these features ensure that Cozi is a very different choice from Google Calendar, even if you can integrate Google Calendar right into the app.
Even if Google offers its own sort of to-do list, it’s not nearly as cohesive as Cozi. Most of the feature set is free, but a “Gold” program costs $29.99 per year, removes ads, and includes a shopping mode, birthday trackers and a calendar search function.
Also read: 9 Mobile Apps to Easily Share Your Location with Your Family
8. Calendar.com
Available on Web | Android | iOS
Whereas apps like Cozi and Time Tree are geared more toward families, Calendar.com is all about business as a combination scheduling software and productivity tool. Its biggest differentiator is an analytical tool that shows you how to best manage your time by tracking how many meetings you have scheduled, attended, rescheduled, missed or canceled. On top of that, it will also track where your meetings regularly take place in the hopes of recommending future meeting locations.
Launching the app takes you right into the calendar view above where you can see your day, week or month. Each view can be changed with a single mouse click, and a new appointment with the “+” button can be changed as easily.
When you create an event, you have a familiar set of options with duration, location, name, time zone, etc.
The basic plan is free for up to five users, while Standard and Pro users can add more team members starting at $6 per user per month. If you want to connect multiple calendars, you will need the Pro plan, a feature most of the competitive options on this list don’t charge for.
Also read: How to Record Online Meetings Even When You’re Not the Host
9. Fantastical
The best-known third-party calendar app for macOS/iOS is undoubtedly Fantastical. Even with its Apple focus, you can add calendar accounts from Google, Yahoo, Exchange, iCloud, Todoist and any CalDAV account. On top of that, Fantastical easily taps into conference call services for generating new meets or joining existing invites. That’s true for Zoom, Teams, Webex, BlueJeans, Skype, Google Meet and more.
Scheduling events is super easy with other Fantastical users or anyone from any of the above accounts, as you can easily see availability or propose your own event time.
Fantastical’s only downside beyond not being cross-platform is its price. The freemium model ensures the free version is good for the bare minimum calendar needs. Video conferences, timezone adjustments and meeting scheduling all require the Pro model, which starts at $3.33 per month for individual users. As someone who heavily relies on Fantastical on iOS, there is little question that along with being a strong Google Calendar replacement, it’s one of the most feature-rich options on this list, period.
10. Any.do
Available on Windows | macOS | Web | Browser Extensions | Android | iOS
Something of a combination calendar/productivity tool, Any.do is a great alternative to Google Calendar, thanks to its deep feature set. With the integration of Google Calendar, iCloud, Outlook and more, you can bring Any.do cross-platform between macOS, Windows, iOS, Apple Watch, Android, and even Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
The calendar is super clean, which makes it a joy to use. You can both combine or separate work, personal and social events easily so that there is no overlap. Certain editing options aren’t always initially clear when it comes to adding new items, but you quickly get the hang of it. Your to-do list is nicely separated from the calendar, and adding items is done separately from the calendar, as opposed to Fantastical which merges both into one screen.
One of the best aspects of Any.do is its useful widgets on both Android and iOS. Access to your calendar and to-do lists are right there so that you can quickly see upcoming items, tasks, etc.
Also read: 5 Great Free Productivity Apps in the Mac App Store
Syncing Back to Google Calendar
You may be wondering if you can use a third-party calendar yet also sync the data back to Google Calendar to keep it up to date still. Any calendar data you enter on these sites is specific to their proprietary calendar services. Unfortunately, data might not sync backward if you are using Calendar.com’s default entry types. In other words. If this is something that matters to you, choose a service like Fantastical that acts more as a Google Calendar overlay while still offering its own functionality.
On the contrary, if you’re looking to leave Google Calendar in the dust as well as other Google apps, you may want to take a look at these Google Maps alternatives and Google Authenticator replacements.
2 comments
There’s also the option to sync directly between devices: tools like GeneralSync can sync calendars in the local network (Wi-Fi, LAN, etc.) without involving any servers or clouds. By integrating into client software (Thunderbird, Outlook, Android calendar apps) and operating in the background GeneralSync often yields the same level of comfort than cloud-based solutions – without the privacy implications of the cloud or the work involved in setting up your own server. And it keeps working if you’re offline ;)
Im- and Export usually also works via iCal files as described in the article.
Disclaimer: I’m the developer of GeneralSync, which is a commercial product (pay what you want for private users, commercial rates vary depending on user count).
While these are great for office use, for the average user, they take up way too much screen real estate. For me, Orage is about the best calendar app, ever. It can sit off to one side on the screen, and be always available, but takes up very little room. It has appointment, event, and to do features comparable to the big boys. I use it extensively.