Google Calendar
Best used for: Office meeting scheduling | habit formation.
Pricing: Both free and paid plans are available.
Google Calendar is simple-looking but powerful, and it’s one of the best calendar applications out there. The simplicity it offers—from scheduling a recurring meeting to collaborating with people from different time zones—is welcoming for its users. Users can set up in-person meetings or use Google Meet for virtual meetings. You can color code your events so you can differentiate work from personal events at a glance.
To get started with Google Calendar you simply need to create a Google account and you’ll get access to the app. After that, everything is just a tap or drag away so you can make the most out of your day. Google Calendar smoothly integrates with its vast suite of apps that comprise Google Workspace so that your calendar journey is super-powered for maximum productivity and less planning fatigue.
Top 3 features of Google Calendar
Integration across a vast suite of apps
Google Calendar makes it a point to be the best calendar app by allowing integration across a host of third-party apps. Applications such as Trello, Slack, and Asana can be directly integrated into Google Calendar so that you don't miss a beat while dancing to the busy rhythm of your work day.
Simple to use
Google Calendar, unlike other calendar apps, doesn’t make the user navigate through complicated steps. It keeps everything relatively simple by nailing down the basics and doing them right.
API to supercharge your calendar
The API feature allows developers to add more useful features to the Google Calendar application, making it more powerful and better suited to users’ organizational needs.
Microsoft Outlook calendar
Best used for: Office meeting scheduling | event management
Pricing: Both free and paid plans are available
Just like the ecosystems of Zoho, Google, and Apple, the Microsoft Outlook calendar is part of Microsoft’s wider ecosystem. Outlook calendar is free to use, although with a limited feature set. To unleash its full potential, you need to sign up for the Microsoft 365 paid plan. Microsoft Outlook calendar is synonymous with a lot of corporate companies and this can be counted as its strength. Many people are already familiar with the calendar’s layout.
Outlook has kept its interface fairly simple and easy to use. You can set up meetings, send event invites, and have multiple calendars overlay each other so you get the gist of what your team is up to that day. Outlook for mobile also comes with voice control that can schedule meetings and inform you of upcoming events when you ask for it.
There are other calendar apps in the market brimming with flashy features, but Outlook keeps it simple when it comes to customization or integration with third-party weather tools. Instead, the user can focus on sorting out their day and setting up meaningful meetings.
Top 3 features of MS Outlook calendar
The calendar overlay view
Now you can create multiple calendars for work, personal time, or freelancing, and have them open in separate tabs. This will help you save time and heartache by avoiding double bookings.
Calendar delegation feature
This feature will come in handy for C-suite level executives and department managers. You can delegate your calendars to your executive assistant and maintain control over how much access the assistant can have.
Automatic processing
You can choose custom actions to be performed when a particular set of rules are met. For example, you can automatically mark a meeting as tentative when someone books with you.
Zoho Calendar
Best used for: Task management | Business meetings.
Pricing: Free.
Zoho’s free calendar application comes with a lot of nifty features, such as event scheduling, setting up meetings, and organizing the day. The app is straightforward when it comes to functionality. With a couple of clicks, you can set up meetings, integrate other calendars, change time zones to accommodate people in other countries, and much more. You’ll also have the option for resource booking, such as reserving a conference room so there’s no last-minute fumbling to find a place to hold your meeting.
Zoho Calendar for mobile makes resource booking even easier by allowing you to book conference rooms just by scanning a QR code. Attention to details like this are built in to Calendar’s features for ease of use and increased productivity.
As part of Zoho's dynamic suite of apps, Zoho Calendar integrates well with its ecosystem. If you’re an existing user of Zoho products, this will make your life easier and more organized.
Top 3 features of Zoho Calendar
It’s free
Most other calendar applications require you to pay to access their premium features. But Zoho Calendar’s seamless collaborative experience is always free.
It has a feature-laden package
Zoho Calendar comes packed with all the bells and whistles to make your calendar experience a productive one. You can share and embed calendars with ease, you can subscribe to different calendars, integrate different calendars from other providers, and sync data in real time over a secure cloud.
It offers resource booking
For the "meeting heavy" people, the resource booking feature of the Zoho Calendar will be a lifesaver. Spend more time preparing for your meeting instead of hunting for a conference room. You can book rooms in advance right within the Zoho Calendar app.
Fantastical Calendar
Best used for: Scheduling meetings | day organization
Pricing: Individuals: $4.75/per month | Family: $7.50/per month
Fantastical is an Apple-only calendar app that’s as fun and productive as any calendar app can get. It’s full of features that put both fashion and function at the forefront. With natural language processing, you can easily schedule events by typing in a sentence that has details about the attendee's name, time, and place of the meeting.
Fantastical supports video conferencing integration for added ease of use. With Fantastical you can check the weather to plan your team's off-site meeting. Those who use Fantastical on their phones are treated to a handful of beautiful widgets to stay updated about their priorities, wherever they are.
The highlight of Fantastical is the way the layout has been designed with users in mind. It provides the option to change calendar views, including detailed full-screen views and much more so that you never miss an event or important meeting. The meeting organizer also has the option of letting people vote on their preferred time so that there are no dropouts during the meeting.
Top 3 features of Fantastical
Best-in-class design
Fantastical has an award-winning design that makes it stand out from the pack. Users are presented with powerful layouts and views that make every single navigation within the app a breeze.
Compatible across all Apple devices
If you are deep into the Apple ecosystem with their devices, then Fantastical might be the best calendar app for you. Fantastical syncs beautifully across all Apple devices, including the Apple watch.
Powerful natural language processing
Fantastical helps you create events and invite attendees in a smart way. Just type in your sentence while creating events by including details about the invitees, as well as the time and place of the meeting. This will add the event to your Fantastical calendar.
Apple Calendar
Best used for: Business event planning | team organization.
Pricing: Free.
The default calendar app for all Apple devices takes simplicity to the next level by offering features for event scheduling, video conferencing, color coding your events, and more. Apple Calendar allows you to pull event details from other calendar providers, such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, so that you have all your events available for you. You can easily set up recurring meetings and get on with your day.
Another smart feature of Apple Calendar is its ability to add location details once it senses that you have entered a particular location. The users are also given the liberty to set reminders for when they would like to be reminded about a meeting or event.
Top 3 features of Apple Calendar
Simplicity
Apple Calendar is an easy-to-use calendar that covers all the bases required for a good calendar application. It doesn’t have additional fluff that can confuse users.
Tight integration with Apple apps
Apple Calendar is well integrated with Apple devices and services. It uses FaceTime for video meetings and the optimizations help it run smoothly and efficiently.
Color coding
Work-life balance is an overused phrase but a necessary one in everyday life. Apple Calendar gives users the option to differentiate their priorities based on color coding. Users can create events with specific colors for work, personal, freelancing gigs, and more.
Calendar
Best used for: Scheduling software for teams | meeting heavy individuals.
Pricing: $8 annually.
When it comes to the best calendar apps for work, Calendar is one of the top choices out there. It lets you create workspaces for you and your team to schedule meetings and events and get things done in an effective manner. Calendar also makes it easier for you to find free slots in your day so that a last-minute meeting request doesn’t make the rest of your day hectic. Users are given the freedom to choose a view that suits them.
To get more information at a single glance, users can opt to view multiple calendars at once. Calendar does not slack off when it comes to including nifty features. It comes with a built-in, powerful analytics tool that lets you keep track of how many meetings you schedule and which meetings consume the most of your time.
Top 3 features of Calendar
Personal analytics
Calendar comes bundled with a powerful analytics feature. This isn’t a gimmick; instead, it focuses on delivering some handy functionality to its users. It gives insights into the total number of meetings, time spent on meetings, the number of meeting invites accepted, and other useful information that can help you plan your days better.
Smooth calendar experience
Calendar is designed to deliver smooth transitions, a lag-free interface, and a clutter-free canvas to schedule events, set up meetings, and do more with your day.
Find a time
This feature can single-handedly take productivity to the next level for users who are meeting-heavy. This feature eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails asking your team what time works for them for a meeting. Instead, Calendar will find a common time that works for everyone and sets up a meeting.
What makes a calendar app great?
Gone are the days when a calendar was used just to check the date. Modern calendar apps have evolved into much more than that. To be one of the best calendar apps out there, a feature-packed offering with useful attributes is a must.
These are some of the important features any calendar app needs to be effective for any business.
Must integrate well with other tools
For you to be at your maximum productivity, the calendar app must be able to integrate well with your CRM, the email application of your choice, and any project management software you use.
Must be mobile-friendly
Your day doesn't stop when you step away from your desk. This is why mobile friendliness is vital for a modern calendar app.
Must enhance collaboration by sharing
Create a team calendar and keep your entire team in the loop of all that's happening for the day and the project. This is one of the most-used features of any calendar app for a business or team.
Support for different time zones
What good is a calendar application when your team is working from different time zones and your calendar doesn’t support it? Support across different time zones should be a mandatory feature.
Wide range of customizations
Make your calendar your own by customizing them. Different tags, different color coding, and vibrant themes are just some of the ways you can make your calendar feel personal to you.
Notifications and reminders
The main function of any calendar app is to remind people of the meetings or the events on their schedules, so a calendar app should have a robust notification system.
Affordable
No one hates a bang-for-your-buck deal. The best calendar app should provide that experience for its users without breaking the bank.
Conclusion
As the old English proverb says, "time and tide wait for none." But with the right calendar application, you can stay on top of your daily priorities and make the most of your time. The calendar apps in this list pack a lot of features. These include your meetings, tasks, to-dos, and much more.
Start decluttering your schedule with these calendar apps to supercharge your productivity while not getting stuck on things that don't matter.
Frequently asked questions
1. What are the benefits of a shared calendar?
A shared calendar helps with day planning, meeting organization, getting reminded about daily priorities, etc. It also enables the HR team to determine who is overloaded from the employee side based on their calendar schedule.
2. Is it possible to sync my calendar with other calendar apps I use?
Most apps like Google Calendar, Zoho Calendar, and Microsoft Outlook Calendar allows you to sync calendar from different apps so that you are presented with a unified view of all your events in a single app across all your devices.
3. Is it possible to export my calendar to another format?
Modern shared calendar apps allow you to export your calendar to popular formats such as a CSV file, iCal, PDF, etc. This is useful if you want to share your calendar on your website or print it out.