Today’s working professionals, like you, must stay on top of your to-do lists and show up at all your appointments for both your work and personal lives. The best online calendar apps can help you manage your time and stay productive.
This blog post discusses the best calendar apps, including the easiest calendar to use, and how to choose one that suits your needs and business.
A calendar app is software that can help you organize and manage your schedules, tasks, and appointments.
It can send you reminders about your upcoming appointments and tasks. Do you need to collaborate with your team or other people? You can share your availability through your calendar app, too.
What makes a good calendar app?
The best online calendar planner isn’t just functional—it seamlessly integrates into your life, providing the features you need to stay on top of your schedule. Here’s what sets the best calendar apps apart:
Designed with purpose: Does the calendar actually do what it promises, and does it do it well? Calendars might seem simple, but handling time zones, overlapping events, and juggling personal and professional life can be tricky. The best calendars feel like they were made by people who truly understand calendars.
Super easy to use: A great calendar app shouldn’t make you jump through hoops. Adding events should be quick and accurate, and seeing what’s coming up should be a breeze, all without needing a manual.
Sharing is simple: You almost certainly need to schedule events with other people—whether they’re for work or your personal life. The best calendar app shares include invitations to events and even the ability to share entire calendars. That way, you can keep your schedules in sync when you need to.
Integrates well with other apps: We love apps that play nice with others. The best online calendar planner should sync with your other apps for setting meetings and appointments, no matter where you are or what device you have handy—or at least on all the devices you own.
By prioritizing these qualities, you can find a calendar app that not only meets your scheduling needs but also enhances your overall productivity and organization.
7 best calendar apps to organize your life and stay productive [free and paid]
Now that you know what a calendar app is, let’s review the best online calendar apps you can use today. The table below summarizes the tools’ price and the best uses for them:
Starts $10 per month (free limited plan and 14-day free trial available)
Good for setting up complex appointments with multiple people
Let’s dive into each one:
1. Google Calendar
Price: Free with every Google account (a paid Google Workspace account starts at $6)
Availability: Web-based, iOS, and Android
Looking for the best free calendar apps that you can use? Google Calendar is a tool that comes free with every Google account.
Google Calendar is one of the easiest calendars to use. This intuitive calendar app lets you create and manage events. You can also send meeting invites through Google Calendar for in-person meetings or conference calls. As a result, you won’t miss important personal and professional appointments.
Google Calendar also lets you add a task with a due date. Add subtasks within a task so you can keep track of individual deadlines. You can also create recurring tasks and get alerts when you need to do them.
This calendar app also allows you to view your personal and professional appointments, holidays in your country, and birthday reminders in one calendar using this calendar app. Pick a color for each sub-calendar (personal, professional, task, or birthday reminders) to quickly identify each appointment.
If your account is part of the paid Google Workspace, you can also set your focus time and work location for the day to let your colleagues know the best time to arrange a meeting with you.
You can also integrate your Google Calendar with your CRM system to bring all your events into one central hub, making managing important appointments and meetings easier.
2. Microsoft Outlook Calendar
Price: Free (a Microsoft 365 paid account with Outlook Calendar starts at $19.99 per year)
Availability: Web-based, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
Do you want your email, calendar, phone book, tasks, and notes integrated into a single app? Consider Microsoft Outlook, an easy-to-use calendar app.
With this app, you can create appointments and provide links to meetings, manage multiple calendars, and set reminders on Microsoft Outlook.
This digital calendar and email app allows you to schedule recurring tasks and appointments. You can even organize your meetings by adding categories with color codes.
If you need to see what your schedule will look like for the work week, change the calendar view to Work Week. You can also use daily, weekly, and monthly views.
The Microsoft Outlook Calendar is another popular calendar that seamlessly integrates with CRM systems like Nutshell, helping your team stay organized where they work.
3. Calendar
Price: Starts at$10 per month, billed annually (Free limited plan and 14-day free trial available)
Availability: iOS, Android, and web-based
One of the best digital calendar app is Calendar. This tool makes collaboration with others easier, thanks to its appointment scheduler and meeting poll features.
Create a public profile after signing up and set up your available times. You can then share your profile URL so others can schedule an appointment with you.
This calendar app costs $20 per month, but a free limited plan is available. Want to try the premium features before you sign up? A 14-day free trial is available.
4. Apple Calendar
Price: Free
Availability: Apple devices
Apple Calendar is the default calendar and the best free calendar app for iPhones, Mac computers, iPhones, and iPads. It’s an intuitive calendar app that syncs with Google Calendar, Yahoo, and other calendar platforms.
I use this calendar app on my mobile phone and tablet. My work and personal calendars are integrated into this app, so all-important appointments and reminders are in one place.
Do you need to save an appointment schedule while in the middle of a task? Apple Calendar works with Siri, so you can use the virtual assistant to book it for you.
5. Fantastical
Price: Starts at $4.75 per month, billed annually (14-day free trial available)
Availability: Apple devices
Fantastical is another calendar app for Apple devices. It has a user-friendly interface that enables you to switch views—you can set it to a full-screen view.
You can link it with other calendar apps and providers to have a single view of all your events and tasks.
You can create an event and type in the details. Or you can tell the app what your event is about. Fantastical uses natural language to understand what you’re saying and create your event.
Looking for an easy-to-use meeting scheduler in your CRM?
Nutshell Scheduler lets you collect, scheduler, and manage bookings with your prospects, all without leaving Nutshell.
Price: Starts at $4.99 per month, billed annually (Free version available)
Availability: iOS and Android devices, Mac computers, desktops, Apple Watch, and Web-based
Any.do is a calendar app that lets you create to-do lists and events and receive notifications about important appointments and deadlines.
It also features collaboration tools to tag people into tasks and other items in your online calendar. Creating recurring tasks is also a breeze with Any.do.
The paid version lets you choose your calendar theme. It also has WhatsApp reminders, allowing you to turn messages from the platform into tasks and reminders using natural language. It can also integrate with over 5000 apps!
7. Calendly
Price: Starts at $10 per month (Free version available)
Availability: iOS and Android devices, Mac computers, desktops, and browser extensions
Calendly simplifies scheduling for both work and personal life by automating tasks based on your availability. Share your Calendly link or embed it for easy booking, ideal for hybrid workers scheduling Zoom or in-person meetings. Categorize events, set up recurring or one-off meetings, and automate scheduling. Premium users get integrated metrics to improve daily life.
While Calendly is streamlined and accessible with a focus on automation and ease of use, customization is limited. If you’re seeking a straightforward and efficient best online calendar planner, Calendly is a solid choice.
The benefits of using online calendar apps
Digital calendars are helpful tools for staying organized and productive. These apps also help you:
Remember important events: Committing to memory all the birthdays, anniversaries, appointments, and deadlines is easier when you use the best online calendars. They work like an extension of your memory for events you can’t risk forgetting. You can set alerts and reminders for these events to send well wishes and greetings or meet work deadlines.
Improve your time management: Online calendars enable you to schedule action items and set appointments with others, helping you to manage your time effectively.
Block times in your day: Set aside productive time for yourself with your online calendar. Doing so lets other people who can view your calendar schedule appointments outside these hours.
Access your calendar using different devices: Whether on your mobile device, tablet, or laptop, you can access your online calendar so you don’t miss an important event!
What to look for in a calendar app
While most calendar apps have similar capabilities, your digital calendar app of choice must have these features:
Intuitive interface: Calendar apps must be as easy to use as a physical calendar. Look for a calendar app that makes managing your schedule easy!
Compatible with multiple devices: Is the calendar app available on your devices? The best digital calendars let you check your schedule on any device you currently have access to.
Notification features: Digital calendars help you stay on top of your important appointments. The best online calendar apps enable you to set notifications and reminders. Do you have recurring appointments? These tools must let you set notifications for routine tasks and appointments.
Collaboration features: If you need to set a meeting, the best online calendars must let you schedule and send the details through any device where the calendar is installed. Other calendar apps even have scheduling capabilities, enabling you to find a schedule that works for you and the person you’re meeting.
Privacy features: The best digital calendar apps keep your information private and have security features that safeguard your account.
Tips to Maximizing Productivity With the Best Online Calendars
Want to make the most of your calendar app? Set it up to ensure you remain as productive as possible and reap all the benefits of an advanced online calendar.
Integrate with other tools
Integrating your calendar app with the most essential software in your tech stack, like your CRM system, will streamline your workflow and improve efficiency. These connections allow your core programs to communicate with each other, centralizing your data, improving collaboration, enhancing customer relationship management, and increasing overall productivity.
Customize to your needs
Another way to boost productivity is to customize your online calendar software to align with your business needs. Tailoring the app’s features according to your workflow requirements can make it a more efficient and effective tool for managing your and your team’s schedules and tasks.
Sync across devices
Synchronizing your online calendar app across your devices lets you stay on top of your schedule, keeping it consistent and up to date on all related platforms. Calendar sync lets you seamlessly access and manage all your appointments, meetings, and tasks from anywhere, giving you more flexibility and increasing productivity.
Set reminders and notifications
Create reminders and notifications to ensure you never miss an appointment or deadline. Setting up automated alerts like this enhances task organization and prioritization and helps you and your team manage your time efficiently for increased operational productivity.
Utilize calendar sharing
Sharing calendars among your team ensures you all work together more cohesively and collaboratively. Facilitating a shared calendar view of schedules and events across the team helps your team coordinate timings, reduce scheduling conflicts, and improve communication across departments.
Leverage advanced features
Opting for paid online calendar apps typically gives you access to advanced features that can further enhance your team’s overall productivity. Examples of these advanced features include location-based reminders, time tracking, time zone recognition, multi-person scheduling, and calendar analytics. Taking advantage of these advanced features can help you better manage your time for a more streamlined workflow and productive team.
Make your digital calendar more powerful with Nutshell
The best online calendars enable you to make the most of every hour of your day. Integrating your online calendar with Nutshell, a user-friendly customer relationship management (CRM) platform, adds more valuable features to your calendar, including a meeting scheduler.
Nutshell’s Scheduler is a calendar management app that works with our CRM platform to make meeting planning, connecting your appointments, and syncing meeting information a breeze. As a result, you streamline your scheduling process with your customers and prospects.
