- Which Mac calendar app is right for you? Discussed above are four of the best calendar apps out there. In the end, it all comes down to what you value the most. If you’re looking for the best free calendar app for Mac, the default Apple option or the one from Google could be your choice.
- Slack has quickly become the first name in business collaboration and messaging since it launched in 2013, and its free Mac app is the best way to keep in touch with your team. Bringing everything.
The app takes events from your digital calendar and displays them inside paper-like drawing surfaces, so you can jot down meeting notes, goals, daily highlights, and to-do list items with an Apple.
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Technology was supposed to make us work less, but it turns out we just do more work, more efficiently. What does this mean for the average person? A tightly packed work and a social calendar full of meetings, projects, dinners, birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and a million social engagement we just can’t seem to say “no” to. Then, the best calendar app for Mac will fit best to our busy schedule.
Our obsession with stretching ourselves thin doesn’t look like it’s going to go away any time soon – studies show the current workforce is working harder and longer than ever before.
So, why not make all of this tech for you? If you have to juggle a thousand events, why not let a computer take care of the heavy lifting?
These calendar apps for your Mac could help you turn a schedule that looks like a pile of spaghetti into a clean and efficient itinerary in no time flat.
How to Determine the Best Calendar App for Mac
How do we decide what the best calendar app for Mac is?
First off, we make sure that the calendar app syncs with your iPhone – what’s the use of a handy calendar that doesn’t go with you? The whole point is that you’re busy! You’re not always at home with your desktop or lugging your MacBook around. You need a calendar that will follow you wherever you go.
Our second requirement for the best calendar app for Mac is landing on this list is ease-of-use. A shallow learning curve is best for something that is designed to save you time. If you have to spend a bunch of time learning how to use your calendar, are you really saving any time in the long run? All of the calendars on this list are simple, intuitive, and designed so that you can see your whole schedule and calendar at a glance.
Quick Comparison Table:Top 5 Best Calendar Apps for Mac
Calendar App | Our Rating | Details |
---|---|---|
1. SmartDay | ||
2. Google Calendar | ||
3. Fantastical 2 | ||
4. Apple Calendar | ||
5. Blotter |
Full Review: Top 5 Best Calendar Apps for Mac
Best Calendar App for Mac: SmartDay
SmartDay is a kind of “all-in-one” calendar, task manager, note taker, and smart assistant designed to integrate all of your schedule management into one handy application.
It is also available for Mac, and it can also sync with your iPhone and your iPad. It’s even available for Android if you have a Mac but don’t have an iPhone, or if you want to sync your calendar to your spouse or a business associate whose working on a different type of mobile platform than you are.
One of the most useful features of SmartDay is that your calendar will adapt to your actual behavior. Most calendar apps are just numbers on a page (or on a screen). If you can stick to the schedule, great. If the realities of life get in your way, you either have to rewrite the schedule or just wing it.
Also, if lunch runs long, you have to figure out how to alter your schedule. If you get stuck in traffic and show up late to a meeting, or if a meeting ends up being way shorter than you’d schedule for, you have to reshuffle everything for the rest of the day.
SmartDay, instead, has the ability to adapt.
As you mark tasks finished or remove tasks that can no longer be done because of extenuating circumstances, your SmartDay calendar will shift around and help you figure out how the rest of the day is going to go, and how much time left you to have to accomplish the rest of your tasks.
Of course, SmartDay is fairly modular, so if you don’t want the calendar to adopt you can turn off that feature and handle it yourself. Either way, the task list that comes with the app (and its integration into the calendar) is useful enough that, even without the adapting features, SmartDay is a great scheduling app for your Mac.
While there are other free options out there, SmartDay is still worth the price tag.
Pros
- fairly modular
- calendar will adapt to your actual behavior
- sync ipad and iphone
Cons
- free option is not available for devices
Quality | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|
Best Quality |
Best Calendar App for Mac: Google Calendar
While it may not be a surprise addition to this list, the fact is, Google’s Calendar app is still one of the most useful scheduling apps out there.
Its integration is probably its strongest suit, of course. All Android phones come with Google Calendar installed, meaning you can sync either with your phone or your friends and business partners phones with ease.
As of this 2016 study, there are over 1 billion monthly active Gmail users, which puts good odds that you or at least most of the people you interact with have a Gmail account. With about 4 billion people on the planet using the internet actively, that’s a 25% penetration of Google’s email service.
And, since Google Calendar integrates so easily with Gmail, Google Hangouts, and other Google products, you’ve got a calendar that is simply a juggernaut when it comes to compatibility. Solitaire mac app store.
Calendar Integration
But install base and compatibility are not the only hallmarks of a good scheduling app. Luckily, the features of Google Calendar are right in line with other top-of-the-line calendars. Google Calendar integrates with the contacts in your phone, especially if you’re logged into Gmail on your mobile. This integration will spread to your Mac, allowing you to access phone numbers, emails, and the like. Adding meetings with people to your calendar becomes even easier because you can add contact info – like addresses – to your scheduled events.
The UI is also extremely intuitive and colorful, and the colors are more than just an aesthetic bit of eye candy. Instead, you can separate your calendars into different categories like work, social, spouse, events, etc., as many categories as you need. Each calendar gets a different color, and you can choose any combination of your categories to see at any time.
Obviously, Google Calendar runs smoothly on your iPhone and your Mac. And, it is free on all platforms.
Pros
- free on all platforms
- extremely intuitive and colorful
- easy to use
Cons
- gmail is needed to sync across devices
Quality | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|
Best Quality | $ |
Best Calendar App for Mac: Fantastical 2
Now, Fantastical 2 does come with a hefty price tag. However, there’s a reason it won the Apple Design Award in 2015. Fantastical 2 excels its wide array of features and its incredibly intuitive design. Plus, the ongoing support for Fantastical 2 is extremely robust – you really do get what you pay for with this particular calendar app for Mac.
Advantages
First off, when it comes to ease-of-use, there’s no app on the market that can beat it. Not Google, not Apple, no one. Fantastical 2 installs an entry on the menu bar on your Mac, which can be accessed quickly and (here’s the kicker) can turn a natural language sentence into a scheduled calendar event.
So, let’s say your friends invited you to go see a movie on Friday night. Click on the Fantastical 2 shortcuts in your Mac menu bar and then simply type something like “See Avengers on Friday with Nate at 6.” Fantastical 2 is designed to understand natural language and to parse the relevant info. So, from that string above, it would take “Friday” and place an event “Go to the Movies” and grab “Nate” from your contacts info and schedule it for 6 pm. Why 6 pm? Because they don’t show movies at 6 am, and Fantastical 2 would be able to figure that out.
Now, this feature in itself justifies the price tag, in our opinion. Not having to fiddle with menus or press “add calendar event” and clicking drop-down menus and typing in text is worth its weight in gold. Fantastical 2 really does finally fulfill the promise of a digital assistant, dedicated to managing your schedule with as little stress from you as possible.
Other Benefits
However, even if you choose to skip the natural language features, adding events manually could not be simpler. Once you click an event, you’re given a quick breakdown of all of the data fields – date, time, notes, etc. You don’t have to click on anything else or visit a separate menu. Right there you’ll be able to change the data in any of these fields, a feature that is shockingly absent from many other calendar apps. In other apps, you often have to go to the event and then click on the separate time and date fields be taken away. Instead, all of the info is in one convenient location.
The calendar itself has a solid design that is both simple and packed with information. You’re given a lot of clean white space and high contrast, making it easier to both find and identify text.Combine that with availability scheduling with work associates, compatibility with Google, Outlook, and iCloud, different visual themes, travel notifications, ease of access, and even time and geo-tagged alerts (alerts that only go off when you’re in a specific location), you have yourself a true digital schedule that you won’t regret purchasing.
Pros
- easy to use
- solid design that is both simple and packed with information
- designed to understand natural language and to parse the relevant info
Cons
- paid only but offers 21 days free trial
Quality | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|
Best Quality | $$ |
Best Calendar App for Mac: Apple Calendar
Another obvious entry for the best calendar app for Mac, certainly, but one that pretty much has to be on the list.
While some of its competitors are more robust (SmartDay, Fantastical 2), Apple Calendar is so well-integrated in the ecosystem of both iPhone and Mac that it still remains a great option for an everyday calendar for many, many people.
The fact that Apple Calendar (the iCloud calendar) is so deeply embedded in all iOS and Mac OS features means that you won’t have to work to make it all compatible. Anything you enter in your Apple Calendar will give you notifications on all of your Apple devices without a fuss. You won’t have to install anything, update anything, or try to find the right app to download. All of your Apple devices will already be raring to go with iCloud.
Language
Like Fantastical 2, Apple Calendar can take the natural language like “party at Ben’s next Thursday” and transform it into a calendar invite. While we found it wasn’t quite as robust as Fantastical 2, it’s still fairly decent and will work for most everyday usages.
Apple Calendar is also designed cleanly, free of clutter, and fits perfectly into the Apple design philosophy of ease-of-use and clean lines.
Plus, it’s free and already included on your devices! For convenience sake, it stands up strongly against the competition.
Pros
- cleanly designed
- free and already installed on an apple device
- syncs with icloud to all devices
Cons
- not robust enough compared to other products
Quality | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|
Best Quality | $ |
Best Calendar App for Mac: Blotter
The blotter is an interesting app because it does something a little different than the other items on this list. Instead of being a separate app, or a quick bar, Blotter instead integrates with the wallpaper on your Mac’s desktop and provides you with a transparent overlay that shows your calendar however you want to see it. Canon 80d mac app.
Whenever you minimize a program you have your calendar right there, a see-through interface that still shows your desktop background (so you don’t lose sight of your children, favorite movie, funny quote, or landscape) while you get your work done.
You can choose what kind of view you want – do you want quick access to your monthly view, your weekly view, or a daily view? Either way, not only can you decide in advance, you can also quickly change views on your desktop if you need a different perspective on your schedule.
Pros
- integrates as a wallpaper
- simple and elegant
- you’ll stop forgetting appointments because they are right there, in your face, all the time
Cons
- no sync to all mac device feature
Quality | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|
Best Quality | $$ |
![Free Free](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134053426/608503047.png)
The Best Calendar App for Your Mac is the One That Works For You
While reading reviews is a great start, remember that not everyone needs the same kind of calendar in their life. A Type-A might work better with a Fantastical 2 or SmartDay calendar, while a more relaxed person might enjoy the background element of a calendar like Blotter.
The nice thing is that all of these calendars are either a) free or b) have a free demo you can download, install, and play with whenever you like. Make sure to try out a calendar before you end up inputting all of your events and dates and really committing.
It may seem like a simple decision, but your schedule can determine the course of not only your whole day, but of your week, or month. It could be the difference between organizing all of your events and all of your events burying you under a pile of bricks.
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Multipart article
by Kate Eby on Jun 17, 2016
Success relies on organization, and a calendar is one way that helps many people stay on track, meet deadlines, and organize their events. Apple’s built-in calendar app, iCal, is a go-to for scheduling - you can invite other attendees to events, link to maps, set notifications, and add events using natural language (if you type, “meeting with Joe at 2 pm Friday” and iCal will auto-create the calendarized entry).
However, greater functionality is required for scheduling many projects and events. Perhaps you need to access calendar information on multiple devices that aren’t all Apple products. Maybe you want to keep an editable to-do list inside your calendar app. There’s also the possibility that you just want an alternative to what comes standard on a Mac. Below you’ll find a roundup of the top calendar apps for Mac, as well as iCal add-ons so you can manage your schedule your way.
However, greater functionality is required for scheduling many projects and events. Perhaps you need to access calendar information on multiple devices that aren’t all Apple products. Maybe you want to keep an editable to-do list inside your calendar app. There’s also the possibility that you just want an alternative to what comes standard on a Mac. Below you’ll find a roundup of the top calendar apps for Mac, as well as iCal add-ons so you can manage your schedule your way.
Top 5 Calendar Apps for Mac That Will Keep You Organized
Looking for a Mac calendar app that goes beyond the features offered by iCal? These five apps, that work with Mac OS X or later, have all the essential calendar features plus added functionality including the ability to add tasks, to-do lists, weather updates, and customization options that will give you just the experience you want.
1. Fantastical 2
1. Fantastical 2
This full-featured app will help you keep track of all the things you need to accomplish in a day. You can easily import calendars from Google, Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo, and other CalDAV accounts to make Fantastical 2 your one-stop view for all events in your life. Once calendars are loaded, you can create sets of calendars to see the information you want, and add reminders using natural language. You can even program calendar sets to appear by location, so that when you’re home, you only see the calendars related to your personal life.
Other helpful features of Fantastical 2 include the widget and Mini Window. The widget supports extensions so you can add other important daily information, like weather, to your daily calendar. The Mini Window lives in your menu bar and is easily editable for quick updates - a helpful tool for those viewing their calendar on desktop.
Other helpful features of Fantastical 2 include the widget and Mini Window. The widget supports extensions so you can add other important daily information, like weather, to your daily calendar. The Mini Window lives in your menu bar and is easily editable for quick updates - a helpful tool for those viewing their calendar on desktop.
The latest version of Fantastical 2.2 is available for $49.99. You may also purchase the Fantastical 2 calendar app for iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch separately, and your calendars will sync across devices.
Features:
Features:
- Works with iCloud, Exchange, and Google
- Multiple calendar views, with light or dark themes
- Add events and reminders using natural language
- Included widget shows everything happening in a day
- Ability to add other extensions to the widget such as weather
- Links to Google Hangouts
- Maps displayed for locations
- Add event notes and URLs
- Search for events
- Available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese
2. BusyCal2
BusyCal2 looks a lot like iCal, but is more powerful. Like the other calendar software for Mac in this roundup, BusyCal2 syncs with Google, iCloud, iOS, and other CalDAV accounts. It includes all the typical calendar views (day, week, month, and year), and also adds a List view. You can decide the number of weeks you want to show in a month view, or number of days in a week view. BusyCal2 includes several other calendar capabilities, such as adding weather and moon phases, to-dos (with or without a date), and sticky notes.
BusyCal2 is also highly customizable. You can change colors and fonts for specific calendars and types of to-dos and even add Emojis to specific days. Additionally, you can create calendar groups and turn groups on or off to show or hide calendar activity. If you don’t want to keep the app open on your screen, there’s a menu bar app so you can see your day at a glance. The app costs $49.99, but you can try it free for 30 days.
Features:
BusyCal2 is also highly customizable. You can change colors and fonts for specific calendars and types of to-dos and even add Emojis to specific days. Additionally, you can create calendar groups and turn groups on or off to show or hide calendar activity. If you don’t want to keep the app open on your screen, there’s a menu bar app so you can see your day at a glance. The app costs $49.99, but you can try it free for 30 days.
Features:
- Syncs with iCloud, Google, Yahoo, and other CalDAV services
- See events and to-dos in the calendar view
- Create calendar groups
- Change number of weeks shown in a month or days in a week
- Change fonts and colors and add Emojis
- Create Sticky Notes
- Add to-dos with or without a date
- Menu bar app option
3. Microsoft Outlook
The calendar feature is an element of the email app in Microsoft Outlook and is geared toward business users. Many of the features in the app are designed to help you schedule meetings based on the availability of other team members. With this app you can view group schedules and side-by-side calendars, send out meeting invites, and create all-day events. The calendar overlay feature allows you to view your personal schedule and work appointments in one view. The app is part of Microsoft Outlook for Mac and costs $109.99.
Features:
Features:
- View availability of other team members
- Organize meetings
- Send calendars through email
- Publish calendars to Microsoft Office.com
- Link to calendars on Microsoft SharePoint sites
- Change calendar settings and colors
4. SmartDay
This calendar app doubles as a task manager. You can change due dates by dragging and dropping tasks onto specific days; uncompleted tasks will automatically be moved to the next day. The auto-schedule feature allows you to place tasks into a timeline so you can easily view deadlines and identify how many tasks you can complete in a day or week. Use SmartDay as an organizational tool by attaching notes and documents to events, and even include checklists within your notes. For example, you can add a grocery list to a scheduled shopping event.
The calendar app runs on a Mac, but iOS and other device versions are available, as well as a web-based option. Try the SmartDay Mac OS X app for $29.99, iPhone and iPad app for $9.99 each, or the web version for free.
Features:
The calendar app runs on a Mac, but iOS and other device versions are available, as well as a web-based option. Try the SmartDay Mac OS X app for $29.99, iPhone and iPad app for $9.99 each, or the web version for free.
Features:
- Synchronize events and tasks with iCal
- Search events
- Drag and drop events
- Create tasks and to-dos
- Apply tags
- Add detailed notes to any item
- Create checklists on any Note
- Automatically schedule tasks
- Connects with Google Calendars
5. Rainlendar
Rainlendar is a highly customizable calendar app that lives on your desktop and includes a variety of ‘skins’. Create an event, task list, or alarm and then choose a single skin or mix skin template to create the exact view to fit your needs. Rainlendar is the most customizable of the calendar apps listed here, and that is the product’s strength. Rainlendar offers many of the basic calendar features along with the ability to create a to-do list and pop-up reminders and view multiple calendars in a single view. There is a Lite version, which is free, and a more robust app that costs €9.95 (about $11) available on the Rainlendar site.
Features:
- Customize the view with skins
- Subscribe to online calendars
- Keep events and tasks in separate lists
- Integrates with Outlook or Google
Use iCal the Way You Want with Calendar Software for Mac
Enhance the familiar iCal functions with software add-ons that allow you to display appointments on the desktop, customize the look of the calendar, incorporate weather updates, and provide a way to enter events quickly. We’ve rounded up calendar add-ons for iCal that will change the way you view appointments.
Blotter
Blotter
Blotter integrates with iCal and copies your schedule to your desktop, so you don’t need to open iCal to view it. You choose which events from iCal to display on Blotter, and you can also quickly add events or create reminders from the desktop view. However, you can’t edit existing appointments from the app. You can download the Blotter app from the Mac App store for $9.99.
Features:
- See iCal appointments on your desktop
- Add new events or reminders
- View the next seven days (regardless of the day of the week)
- Customize display
Calendar 2
This customizable menu bar app displays information beyond calendar events on your desktop. With this calendar app add-on, you can also see the weather for the next 15 days, as well as Facebook events and birthdays. Customize the look of the app with one of 20 available themes, or set a background using your favorite picture. The Calendar 2 app is free, but more advanced features are available as in-app purchases.
Features:
- Customize the look with one of 20 themes
- View weather details
- See upcoming iCal appointments at a glance
- View Facebook events and birthdays
QuickCal
Best Calendar App Mac
Use QuickCal to quickly add events to your iCal. The app uses natural language and auto-complete for fast input, and will send alerts for schedule conflicts. Along with iCal, the app can integrate with Google Calendar and BusyCal. You can try the app free for 14 days or purchase it for $2.99.
Features:
Features:
- Quickly enter appointments and reminders
- Uses natural language and auto-complete
- Detects appointment conflicts
TimeWorks
TimeWorks displays all of your iCal appointments simultaneously on your desktop in an easy-to-read visual. iCal events appear on your desktop in chronological order (moving left to right), and a vertical yellow line on the screen tracks progress as events pass. You can choose to display events from a single day or a longer period. TimeWorks’ Exposé setting brings all the events displayed on the desktop in front of all currently open windows. Instead of having to minimize windows to see what’s happening next, hit F9 and you’ll see them immediately. It’s a helpful feature for those who often have multiple windows open while they work. TimeWorks is available for $9.99.
Features:
Features:
- View upcoming events in chronological order on your desktop
- Use the Exposé feature to bring all events to the front of your screen
DateLine
DateLine copies your calendar events and tasks from iCal to your desktop, and offers additional customization features such as color, font, size, themes, and transparency. You can view up to 69 days at once in a calendar dateline. The DateLine app costs $4.99.
Features:
Features:
- Customizable by color, font, size, and transparency
- Lock the DateLine placement on the desktop
- View events and tasks on your desktop
Want a Calendar for Mac that Does So Much More?
Smartsheet, a spreadsheet-inspired work management tool, features a powerful calendar designed to help you track tasks, reminders, and events. You can overlay key dates from Smartsheet on iCal or Google Calendar, and also import Google Calendar events straight to Smartsheet.
Easily switch between calendar views (like week or month) and keep your calendar organized by customizing events with colors and fonts. Add, edit, or delete events directly within the calendar, or switch to grid or Gantt views to see additional event details. Share your Smartsheet calendar with anyone to edit or simply view the calendar. And, with Smartsheet’s mobile app for Android and iOS, you can access your calendar from anywhere, on any device.
Print Mac Calendar
See how easy it can be to manage your events and schedules with a calendar in Smartsheet. Try Smartsheet for free for 30 days.
Free Mac Calendar Software
If you found this post helpful, visit our Resources page to learn more about managing your work on a Mac.