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Managing your time has long been a part of the knowledge worker’s day, and calendar apps have been around almost as long as email. But while the quantity of available options is high, the number of quality calendar apps is a small handful.
The option that is best suited for you will depend on your needs, but a closer inspection has shown us that, for most people, Fantastical 2 is the best calendar application for macOS users.
What We Looked For When Looking for the Best Calendar App
Mar 13, 2019 The built-in Calendar app on Mac is. Sometimes though, you need a few different features. That's where third-party calendars can be very useful. Check out my favorite calendar apps for the Mac and let us know which one suits you best. Mar 24, 2016 Getting started with Calendar for Mac - 2016. Learn how to add events, create calendars and use different views. Please Subscribe for more tips,tricks & follow me tutorials. The Verdict: Fantastical 2 is the best calendar app for Mac. The original Fantastical for macOS was the best option for quickly adding and reviewing calendar entries. Version 2 keeps all its advantages while adding the functionality of more robust calendar applications.
A calendar app on its own is a simple thing. You put items on it to show where you need to be, how long you’re going to be there, or what you’re going to do. Any calendar app must include those features to be useful in any way.
But a useful and effective calendar app requires those features to be well-designed, as well as include other functionality. Here’s what we looked at to arrive at our decision.
- Ease of use: The number one priority of a calendar app must be the UI. How intuitive is the app? How easy is it to add a new event? A task or reminder? To add some notes or details to an event? How hard is it to invite people to an event? These are some of the questions we asked when comparing the options.
- Aesthetics: For many people, using a calendar application is a necessary evil. It’s a tool to manage how other people are using up your time. But if you’re going to have to spend time managing this part of your life, an attractive interface can make the chore more enjoyable.
- Power: Once you have a smart UI in place, the next thing to consider with a calendar app is the feature set. What can the user do from this application? The best app will need to meet the needs of the novice (your grandma) as well as the power user (your CEO’s assistant). And those features cannot detract from the usability of the app. No small order, there.
- Price: With many categories of desktop applications, the price can often be irrelevant as the gap is narrow and most options are similar. However, because of Outlook’s inclusion in our comparison, price factored into our decision.
- macOS integration: How well the application fits the environment is always key — especially for cross-platform tools. At the risk of sounding painfully obvious, a calendar app for macOS must work with iCloud. And not just for the calendar functionality: Reminders are a key tool for Apple users and need to be accessible in our selection.
- Third-party integrations: Because macOS users do not all use the same calendar service (iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, etc.), our desktop app must work with all the available options.
- iOS versions: Lastly, because most of us live in a multi-device environment, it is beneficial to have iOS versions of each app.
The Calendar App Contenders
- Calendar (Free): Included in macOS, Apple’s option covers all the basics. It sports an attractive interface, but suffers from several usability issues.
- BusyCal ($49.99): The BusyMac team has been in the app-making business for some time. And their flagship app, BusyCal, has long offered more features than its macOS counterpart. The focus here is functionality.
- Fantastical 2 ($49.99): This option started as a menubar app for macOS, often used in tandem with the other desktop calendar options. It originally launched in May, 2011 and has since made its way to iOS. However, Fantastical 2 for macOS sports a new interface and is now a full-fledged desktop app.
- Outlook ($6.99/$9.99 per month, $139.99/$219.99): The old behemoth chugs along. Outlook was a key cog in the Microsoft dominance on the PC, but it’s always felt like an ugly duckling on macOS. We wanted to know if that was still the case.
The Verdict: Fantastical 2 is the best calendar app for Mac
The original Fantastical for macOS was the best option for quickly adding and reviewing calendar entries. Version 2 keeps all its advantages while adding the functionality of more robust calendar applications.
Ease of Use
There is a lot to like about a number of these calendar apps, but what makes Fantastical stand out is the first item on our list of criteria: it’s the easiest to work with. For a calendar app, ease-of-use needs to be considered in a few different ways.
First, how easy is it to glance at your day, week, or month and quickly get a feel for how your time is going to be spent? Second, and perhaps more importantly, how easy is it to get items into your calendar? Because many calendar apps do a decent-to-good job of displaying your events, we could argue that ease-of-entry is the most vital part of a desktop calendar app.
![Calendar For Mac Calendar For Mac](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133947621/857482508.png)
And, in this regard, Fantastical leads the way.
Aside: savvy macOS users could point to the fact that desktop utilities such as Alfred, LaunchBar, and Spotlight make ease-of-entry a non-sequitur. And I agree: I often use LaunchBar to add events to my calendar rather than Fantastical … but this is a review of the full-fledged functionality of the desktop calendar app landscape. If launcher type utilities are your thing, check out our review.
From its inception, the focus with Fantastical was its natural-language parsing, the ability for the user to enter random bits of text into the entry box and the app just figures it out. It’s almost magical and it set the bar for calendar apps on macOS.
That has not changed with Fantastical 2. Although the app is no longer just a menubar utility, the ease of getting items into your calendar is the same. The great part of Fantastical 2 is that for those who loved the simplicity of the first version, you can use it in the exact same fashion. The full fledged app interface never needs to be seen.
Indeed, the menubar functionality is now a must-have for a calendar application. I want to be able to glance at my day without having to open the full application. Fantastical gives me that option and builds on the original experience of the first version to also give the full functionality and bigger long-term views of more traditional calendar apps.
Apple makes every effort to turn the phrase “it-just-works” into reality. Flexibits does the same with its ability to take what you throw at it and turn your words into events that make sense. And, as alluded to earlier, ease of use also includes a few other touches. Viewing a calendar filled with events and tasks is one factor, but we’ll touch more on the UI below.
Another way many calendar apps cause frustration is in editing events already in your calendar. Some of our options add friction to the process of editing existing entries, most often in the form of multiple clicks. Fantastical does no such thing. Simply click on an existing event, and update fields as desired. Other options require you to click a button or double click an entry before field values can be added. Advantage Fantastical!
There are a few other common tasks that are (thankfully) easier than was common several years back. Adding invitees, locations, or notes to a calendar entry is a fairly simple process in Fantastical, BusyCal, and Calendar.app — both in creating a new entry, or with editing an existing one. In this regard, Outlook adds slightly more friction to the process.
Aesthetics
In many interfaces, the “less is more” mantra is an ideal goal. Most clean, well-thought out UI’s make ample use of whitespace and contrast to differentiate between different types of content.
The hard part of designing a calendar application is that the designer has to give the user the ability to view a large amount of information (a month or year view of a busy person’s calendar), yet still maintain clarity. No easy task. In this regard, Flexibits has done a laudable job with Fantastical.
The desktop calendar space for macOS had long been ruled by options putting functionality over aesthetics or options that came close to usable, but slightly missed the mark (Apple’s own Calendar app).
Power Play
The problem with many of the apps that place the highest priority on aesthetics, ease of use, and a clean experience is that power features are often sacrificed. And in most cases, this is a good thing.
But applications that can provide a clean user experience and full functionality will rule the roost. That’s the case with Fantastical. No one could ever accuse BusyCal of not delivering on features, but it, and other options, lack the grace of Fantastical. So, when talking about feature sets, this must always be kept in mind.
How does Fantastical fare with features in mind? Very well, thank you! It integrates with iCloud and Google accounts, the two most used options for macOS users. But it also plays nicely with Exchange (for those poor souls living double lives), Yahoo, and CalDAV accounts. Is your Google account configured to use two-factor authentication? No problem.
In essence, desktop calendar applications can be thought of as wrappers. The full functionality is dependent on the background service (iCloud, Google etc). But each client on macOS integrates with those backend services to differing degrees. Fantastical does a fair job of offering the majority of options that iCloud and Google calendar apps provide.
However, one feature Fantastical does not include is the ability for users to share their calendars. But, neither do any of the other options we considered (apart from Outlook giving you options to share Exchange calendar accounts). Overall, most of the apps considered have parity in this regard. None of the other options add enough functionality to overcome Fantastical’s excellent design.
Price
For many comparisons of desktop applications for macOS, cost is not a determining factor, simply because the range of prices is mostly consistent, but with Calendar apps, price does come into the discussion. This is due to the fact that Apple provides a free option within the desktop OS, but also because Microsoft Outlook is more than 4 times the cost of the other contenders.
With Fantastical and BusyCal sitting at $49, people have two questions to answer. First, do these third-party applications offer enough advantage over the free app already installed on their computer? If the answer to that question is yes (and for many people, it likely is), the next question to answer is whether or not Outlook offers enough advantages over Fantastical and BusyCal to justify the $219 price tag.
Lastly, one consideration when factoring in price to a decision such as this is support. When a Mac user makes a purchase of this nature, choosing a third-party tool over what Apple already provides, you have to consider what kind of company your purchasing power is supporting. Part of what makes macOS so special is the thriving community of developers. They truly make macOS a better platform (as well as iOS), extending what it can do beyond what Apple envisioned.
It’s just another reason that makes Fantastical our top choice. It feels good to support the Flexibits team. Reciprocal benefit is a beautiful thing!
Fitting In
Another vital aspect of a desktop calendar app for macOS is fitting in and being a good neighbor. With iCloud, an app that makes adding and viewing reminders has a distinct advantage over an app that does not. And again, Fantastical meets the need, and does so better than the other contenders.
This may be one of my favorite touches with Fantastical. To add a reminder to one of your Reminder lists, simply toggle the switch in the new entry window.
The same benefits to adding an event to your calendar apply to your Reminders. Simply start typing in the entry window, then toggle the switch as shown above. Want that reminder to have a due date? Not a problem — just type it in like you would for an event. The natural parsing of Fantastical handles events and reminders with ease.
Displaying your reminders is also done well. In the Mini Window (capitalized for your pleasure), your reminders are placed at the end of your list of events. If one has a due date and time, it shows amidst your events at that time. In the full app window, the reminders show in both the sidebar and the full calendar view.
Apple has made an attempt to have Reminders be the default to-do list of the casual computer user. Unfortunately, they fell short making the experience fluid. However, Fantastical makes up where they lack. With Fantastical 2, the experience of adding, viewing, and interacting with reminders makes it feel as if Reminders is a natural extension of the calendar.
Fantastical has a fantastic (sorry … you knew it was coming!) Today widget. None of the other contenders offer that functionality. If the menubar is not your thing, then a quick three finger swipe can bring up the Today window for a look at what’s coming.
Basically, Fantastical makes working with your calendar and your reminders an experience. It’s the best option for fitting in with macOS. By far!
iOS Counterparts
Although not essential to the experience on macOS, any desktop application that has counterparts on iOS (or Android) extends the overall experience. Outlook is complete in this area, as is Apple’s Calendar app. However, the same smart design touches that make Fantastical the preferred option on macOS also give it the edge with the iOS versions.
We’ve written in detail about the Fantastical iPhone app in a separate review. Read more about that here.
Once again, Fantastical comes out ahead in our comparison.
Free Productivity Guide: Download our simple guide to productivity to help you improve your workflows and be more focused with your time and attention. Get it here.
Other Candidates
BusyCal
Probably the most feature complete option we considered, BusyCal is the best choice for those who value function over form. It certainly gives you all the features you could want. Where it lacks for yours truly is the aesthetics: it looks and feels a little like corporate software.
I used BusyCal several years back when there were less options available to replace Apple’s iCal (you can almost smell the faux leather). Today, BusyCal is greatly improved, even to the point where it competes feature-by-feature with Fantastical.
A good example is the menubar functionality. Although BusyCal started as a full desktop app, in contrast with Fantastical’s progression from menubar utility to full app, it includes a nice menubar option that allows for quick calendar entry. It even uses Fantastical-like language processing.
Free Calendar For Mac
Where it falls short of our choice is the overall look and feel.
Outlook
One consideration a review of this type requires is how to approach Outlook. Do you compare the calendar function only? Because it’s a full-fledged application that covers multiple categories (email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes) with a price tag to match, you have to decide if the additional functionality should factor in to the comparison.
For this review, it did not. If an all-in-one approach is your preference, then Outlook is certainly a potential good fit for you. But, when considering calendar-specific features on their own, Fantastical is a much better overall experience than what the calendar portion of Outlook has to offer.
Another issue to weigh is the cost. Is Outlook good enough to overcome the larger price tag? Not in this author’s mind. If fitting in with Exchange is a must have or if you already subscribe to Office 365, then Outlook merits serious consideration. For anyone else, the other options are all a better fit.
Calendar
Last, and certainly least, Apple’s own Calendar must be considered. It’s free, it’s installed on every Mac, and it has improved over the years (the Scott Forstall faux leather years, to be specific). For the most casual user, it can certainly fit the bill.
Where does it lack compared to Fantastical? Well, it does not have a menubar option. As mentioned under ease of use, this is a must have for yours truly.
The oddest part of Calendar is its lack of integration with other iCloud items. Want to interact with your Reminders in your calendar app? Then Calendar is not for you. Same for the Calendar Today widget. Because Apple separates Reminders into its own app, you cannot see these tasks (even if they are time-based) in the view of your day. You’d have to keep both apps open.
Once again, the completeness of Fantastical surpasses the contender.
Why this over other options
With our full comparison, while there is feature parity for the most part, none of the options can compete with Fantastical in terms of overall design and ease of use. BusyCal comes close feature-wise, but is lacking the grace of a more well-designed application. And while Apple’s Calendar has the benefit of already being on your machine, it falls short in terms of usability.
Fantastical is the king of the hill. You need look no further!
Calendars don't need to be complicated—a paper planner can do the job, after all. The best calendar application combines the timeless simplicity of paper calendars with advanced features that make it even easier to keep track of appointments.
But productivity applications that don't fit your workflow can trip you up, which is why finding a native macOS app matters. Keyboard shortcuts, notifications, and even user interfaces that don't feel native can be distracting, which is the last thing you want when you're planning your time.
Best Calendar Apps For Mac
We outlined the best calendar apps and learned a lot doing that. Now we're focusing specifically on macOS calendars. We tried all of the top calendar applications, both inside the Mac App Store and outside it, and surfaced only the best of the best.
And these apps all have a few things in common. The best calendar apps for Mac:
- Offer a clean, native user macOS interface. The ideal app is easy to use at a glance, but not in a way that compromises on functionality. It should also integrate well with macOS, offering native keyboard shortcuts along with notifications, menu bar icons, and Today widgets.
- Make it quick to add appointments. Ideally, you only need to click one button or use a keyboard shortcut to start typing and add an appointment. Natural language processing, which allows you to add appointments by typing something like 'Drop off dog at the vet Monday at 5pm,' is a big plus here.
- Make it quick to see your appointments at a glance. Calendars are only useful if you can actually tell what's on them, so the ideal calendar app needs to be easy to arrange however you prefer. Daily, weekly, monthly, and agenda views should all be offered, and they should all be easy to parse.
- Offer syncing, both to mobile and other computers. It doesn't matter if this is via iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, or some combination of those three—some sort of syncing is a must.
Applications that can't do these things weren't considered, but the best apps offer even more. Here they are; hopefully one of them is right for you.
The Best macOS Calendar Apps
- macOS calendar: Best free calendar app for Apple users
- Fantastical: The best designed macOS calendar
- Busycal: The most flexible macOS calendar
- Microsoft Outlook: Best for Microsoft Office fans and syncing with Windows and Android
- Itsycal: Best free menubar icon for Apple Calendar
- Calendar 366 II: The most customizable menu bar icon for Apple's Calendar
- Other options that don’t quite fit but are still neat
macOS Calendar (macOS, iPhone, iPad)
Best free calendar app for Apple users
Not sure where to start? Apple's Calendar, which is already installed on your Mac, is clean, functional, and syncs with your iPhone and iPad without any effort.
Adding appointments is simple: click the + button. Natural language processing means you can type something like 'go for a walk at noon' and expect your computer to figure out what you mean. You can also click-and-drag on the calendar itself to specific There are four main views: day, week, month, and year.
You can create as many local calendars as you want, and all of them will sync using iCloud. You can also add calendars from Exchange, Google, Yahoo, or AOL accounts. This is handy if you've got a work account and personal calendars to keep balanced.
Apple's calendar used to offer a to do list, but tasks now live in Reminders, a separate app. If you want to see tasks alongside your appointments, this app won't cut it. But there are plenty of other integrations. Addresses, for example, show up in Apple Maps, and you can optionally get travel time notifications.
Apple's Calendar is simple, sometimes to a fault, but if you only use Apple products you should try it before installing anything else because it covers all the calendar basics.
macOS Calendar price: Included with all Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
Fantastical (macOS, iPhone, iPad)
The best designed macOS calendar
Putting the word 'Fantastic' in the name of your product is risky. Fantastical pulls it off.
Put simply, this is the best designed calendar app for macOS. Start with the left panel: Most apps put a mostly useless list of calendars here. Not Fantastical: Here the space is used for an agenda view or your reminders. It's a small thing, but it reflects how carefully the developers thought about every design element here to make the calendar intuitive to use. Another little thing: If an identical event shows up in two calendars, it will only show up once, with a pin-strip pattern letting you know it's in two different calendars. Use Fantastical for a while and you'll notice all kinds of little things like this.
Adding appointments is quick: Just hit the plus button and start typing. There's natural language processing with animated real-time feedback, making it very clear how the natural language processing works. Viewing appointments is also great: there are daily, weekly, monthly, and annual views, all well thought out. There's also a great menu bar icon, which basically gives you access to the right-panel in the main interface at any time. Native notifications and a really great Today widget round out the integrations.
Fantastical supports syncing with iCloud, Exchange, Office 365, Google, Yahoo, Fruux, Meetup, and any CalDAV service, so you've got nearly endless syncing options. The only downside I can think of is the price, which is high, but Fantastical just might be worth it for you if you spend a lot of time in your calendar.
Fantastical for macOS price: $49.99. There's a 21-day free trial. Fantastical for iPhone costs $4.99; Fantastical for iPad costs $9.99.
BusyCal (macOS, iPhone)
The most flexible macOS calendar
BusyCal, at first glance, looks almost identical to Apple's Calendar. It isn't.
Look close and you'll see a few things. A weather forecast and moon phases show up in the weekly and monthly views, for example. Click around and you'll notice more things. The right panel can show your to do list, for example—tasks are pulled in from Reminders. If you don’t use Reminders this panel can show details from the currently selected event. Or, if you want both Reminders and details, you can have one atop the other. Your Reminders can also optionally show up in the calendar itself, on the dates that they’re due.
Which is just to say that everything about this program is very flexible. Dig through the preferences and you'll find ways to change the color scheme, what shows up in the info panel, and even change the fonts. You can add a second timezone to the side panel, which is great if you happen to travel a lot or work with teammates in another area. There’s an availability panel, which is useful if you want to quickly find the next available open s. You can also enable a great menu bar icon for quickly browsing appointments. Dig in and I'm sure you'll find even more things to tweak.
Adding tasks is quick: Just use the + button to use the natural language processing or click-and-drag the time you want to allot. And there are five main views for seeing your appointments: daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and list. Syncing is handled using the default calendars and iCloud, or you can add accounts from Google, Yahoo, Fruux, Fastmail, Office 365, CalDAV, and Exchange.
It's a lot of flexibility. The only downside, as with Fantastical, is the price point, but again this just might be worth it for you if you're looking for the most customizable calendar for Mac.
BusyCal for macOS price: $49.99 with a 300day free trial. BusyCal is also available on SetApp, a $9.99/month subscription offering dozens of indie Mac apps. BusyCal for iPhone costs $4.99.
Microsoft Outlook (macOS, Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad)
Best for Microsoft Office fans and syncing with Windows and Android
Mac applications tend to focus on doing one thing well, which is why Apple computers come with separate email, contact, to do, notes, and calendar applications. Microsoft's Outlook does not adhere to this philosophy—it's all those things, and more, all at once. If that's what you're looking for, then Outlook might be just right for you. Yes, the ribbon user interface feels more like a Windows app than a Mac one, but heavy users of the Microsoft Office suite might like that (even if Apple purists won't.)
Calendar For Mac And Iphone
There are four main views to see your appointments: daily, work week, week, and month. The work week view, which isn't offered by any other tool outlined, is a good example of how work-focused Outlook is.There are some other nice features: A three day forecast, for example. Collaboration is a key focus, and the integration with email and contacts helps with that. You can also create templates for appointments, which is useful if you regularly invite people to similar things. Exchange accounts are supported, obviously—Microsoft built the Exchange protocol around Outlook. But the most recent versions of Outlook for macOS also supports Google Calendar, which was missing as recently as Office 2016. This is a very welcome addition.
Adding tasks is a little more complicated than other applications we've outlined here: There's no smart entry, for example, which is disappointing. Appointments are created in their own window, but you can still create an event pretty quickly using the tab key.
Outlook might not be the first app you think of using for a macOS calendar, but it's worth checking out, especially if you're already an Office user.
Microsoft Outlook price: Starting at $69/year as part of Office 365 or $149.99 as part of Microsoft Home and Student 2019.
Itsycal (macOS)
Best free menubar icon for Apple Calendar
As great as macOS is, a few missing features make absolutely no sense. For example: on Windows you can click the clock to see a calendar. Apple hasn't added anything like this.
Enter Itsycal. It's not really a full calendar app, but it's free and makes the default calendar application a lot better. Itsycal lives in the menu bar, where its icon tells you the current date. Click the icon and you'll see a miniature calendar, which is a perfect reference tool. You can also set up a global keyboard shortcut for seeing this icon. Below the calendar you'll see your appointments, and you can even use your keyboard to browse dates. You can also quickly add appointments to your calendars from here.
It's a tiny addition to Apple's Calendar application, granted, but one that makes it a lot easier to see your appointments at a glance. And it's fairly customizable: there's a dark and a light theme, for example, and you can change the icon to include the month and the day of the week. You can also pin the calendar, which is perfect when you need to reference it while writing an email or a memo. Try this application out if all this sounds useful to you, because the price is nothing to complain about.
Itsycal price: Free.
Calendar 366 II (macOS, iPhone, iPad)
The most customizable menu bar icon for Apple's Calendar
Calendar 366 II is a surprisingly complete menubar calendar. You can basically manage your calendar using only this app, even though it functions primarily as a supplement to Apple's Calendar, which it uses for all data.
You can open the calendar by clicking the menu bar icon or by using a global keyboard shortcut. Adding tasks is quick thanks to natural language processing, and you can view your appointments in a variety of ways. The default puts an agenda view below a monthly calendar, but there are other views offered: year, month, agenda, week, week with agenda, and even the current day.
Calendar For Mac Download
And everything about the application is customizable. There are numerous color schemes, for example, and you can change up the font and layout to your liking. The menu bar item can be an icon or replace your system clock.
It's a great as a supplement to Apple's Calendar, but it could also replace it completely depending on your workflow.
March 2019 Calendar
Calendar 366 II for macOS price: $14.99. There is a 30 day free trial. Calendar 366 for iPhone and iPad costs $6.99.
Other Mac Calendar Options
Do none of the options above quite work for you? Here are a few other options that didn’t quite fit our criteria:
Calendar Macro For Excel
- Google Calendar in your browser works really well (but we tried to stick to desktop software for this article.)
- iCalBuddy allows you to view calendar events in the Terminal and can be combined with software like Geektool or Übersicht to show appointments on your Mac's desktop.
- Blotter ($9.99) puts your calendars on your desktop.
- Alfred, a productivity app that can change the way you work, makes it really easy to add calendar appointments to Apple Calendar.
- Instacal, available for $4.99, is another menubar supplement to Apple's Calendar but is less customizable than Calendar 366 II.