Best Calendar App For Mac Os X

Each Mac ships with the built-in OS X Calendar application, but Apple’s calendar is basic and lacking many helpful features. Thankfully, there are plenty of great third-party apps that serve as a replacement for the Calendar application, or as add-ons to take it to the next level.

1. Best Calendar App For Mac Os X
2. Best Calendar App For Windows 10

We’ve narrowed our list down to the five best calendar apps for Mac — don’t forget to let us know which one you prefer in the comments at the end of this post.

Great Replacements

Best Calendar App For Mac Os X

But while its website is fine for quickly uploading small files, the Mac app turns the service from a simple digital locker into a seamless storage syncing solution. But while its website is fine for quickly uploading small files, the Mac app turns the service from a simple digital locker into a seamless storage syncing solution. 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. Resolve meeting conflicts: In Outlook 2016 for Mac, if a meeting invitation conflicts with another one on your calendar, you can propose a new time from your calendar or email inbox. Sunrise is a free calendar application developed for iCloud, Google Calendar, and Exchange. The application connects you with all your favorite apps like Evernote, Facebook, Foursquare, Wunderlist, Todoist and more.

Best of the Rest. There are a lot of other applications that we use on a daily/weekly basis that play a very important part in our workflows. Airmail, Postbox, MailPlane, MailMate – There are a lot of great email clients available for Mac, but Apple Mail (or Mail.app) isn’t one of them. Pocket Informant is the Best Calendar app for mac and iOS. Pocket Informant for iOS, Mac desktop, and Android.

Are you looking to replace the standard calendar? One of the following two applications will get the job done.

Fantastical 2 ($49.99)

Best for: Those looking to do a little bit more with their calendar each day, who don’t have time to customize.

Fantastical just happens to be a 2015 Apple Design Awards winner for Mac. What makes Fantastical so impressive is its natural language engine, which makes adding new events a pain-free experience.

For example, you can type “meeting with Jay at 4 pm” and Fantastical will begin creating a calendar entry for the next afternoon on your calendar and also suggest people named Jay from your Contacts application. Once this information is confirmed, it will even send Jay an email inviting him to the event. The application also understands text suggesting a future or repeating event, such as “third Sunday of every month,” “every weekend,” “last weekday of the month,” and more.

Fantastical features a full calendar window with day, week, month, and year views. It also offers light and dark themes, time zone support, and birthday reminders. A Notification Center widget is also available. If you also use Fantastical 2 for iOS, Apple Handoff support is provided, offering continuity between different devicesWhat Does Continuity Mean for Yosemite & iOS 8?What Does Continuity Mean for Yosemite & iOS 8?OS X 10.10, better know as Yosemite, is a major Mac update that offers numerous features never seen before in an operating system. One of the most important is Continuity.Read More. The application’s native CalDAV engine lets users connect their Mac directly to their calendar services such as iCloud, Google, and Yahoo.

What sets Fantastical apart from other solutions on our list is its full-featured menu bar app, which was availableManage Your Calendar From The Mac Menubar With FantasticalManage Your Calendar From The Mac Menubar With FantasticalManage your calendar, completely, from your Mac's menu bar. Fantastical isn't just a way to quickly see your upcoming events: it's a way to never look at Apple's default Calendar again.Read More before the application became a full Calendar replacement. Menu bar access offers a powerful way to review your day through a mini-calendar. Better still, Fantastic 2 allows this calendar to detach right from the menu bar, and you can also resize it.

Fantastical is available on the Mac App Store or Flexibits Store. A free 21-day trial is also available. Should you spend $50 on a calendar? We believe it’s worth every dime$50 for a Calendar? 5 Reasons Fantastical 2 is Worth It$50 for a Calendar? 5 Reasons Fantastical 2 is Worth ItThe original Fantastical wasn't cheap at $15, and now developer Flexibits will be charging $50 for the updated version — so is it worth it?Read More.

BusyCal 2 ($49.99)

Best for: Those happy with Apple’s Calendar application, who want more customization tools.

BusyCal is one of the oldest and most popular third-party Mac calendar applications. Like Fantastical, BusyCal allows you to add events using natural language. It also works with most CalDAV services, including iCloud, Exchange, and Google.

Where BusyCal shines through customization and the use of Smart Filters. Unlike the native Mac application, BusyCal allows you to change the number of weeks to show in the Month view. You can also change the number of days in Week view. Your calendar’s font and colors are adjustable as well.

Smart Filters let you create calendar sets and saved searches. You can create a filter that only shows events that match certain conditions, such as a text string or event type. Another filter could show events that contain a string of text modified in the last 15 days.

The application also includes a to-do list, weather reports by day, list view, and more. With all these features, BusyCal helps you become more organized and productiveGet More Organized and Productive With BusyCal for MacGet More Organized and Productive With BusyCal for MacThe OS X Calendar (formerly iCal) has been a stable application ever since the operating system was released. Many Mac users were not been too happy with the latest design of replacement app Calendar, though...Read More.

BusyCal is available on the Mac App Store or BusyMac Store. A free 30-day trial is also available, as are discounts for BusyCal 1.x customers. There is also an iOS version called BusyToDo.

Perfect add-ons

Enjoying Apple’s Calendar application, but want a little bit more from it? These three applications will fit the bill.

Blotter ($9.99)

Best for: People looking for a fancy live desktop calendar.Live Wallpaper For Mac? It's Easier Than You ThinkLive Wallpaper For Mac? It's Easier Than You ThinkGet animated wallpaper for your Mac. It's beautiful, useless, and fun.Read More

If you’d rather see your schedule and reminders on your desktop, Blotter is for you. With Blotter, your entire week becomes part of your wallpaperTop 7 Ways to Personalize Your Mac DesktopTop 7 Ways to Personalize Your Mac DesktopWant to make your Mac more personal? Check out these awesome methods for customizing your Mac theme and more.Read More. You can also use it to add events and reminders on the fly. With Blotter, you can show weekday dates or your desktop, or the next seven days on your calendar. You can also adjust its size and reposition it.

Blotter’s most impressive feature is its use of shortcuts. With these, you can perform simple tasks with a few clicks of the keyboard. These include new event, new reminder, next week, and more.

Blotter works directly with your OS X Calendar app and is available on the Mac App Store.

Best Calendar App For Windows 10

Calendar 2 (free)

Best for: Those who want to view their upcoming schedule in the Mac menu bar without paying a dime.

Here’s another status bar app that compliments Apple’s standard calendar. With a single click, Calendar allows you to see your whole month’s events and tasks right in your menu bar. The aim here is to view everything on your schedule at a glance, without having to spend the time bring up Apple’s application.

The application shows your entire monthly calendar. Details about a particular day are just a click away, also on the menu bar. You can customize the application by changing its fonts, colors, and themes; and you can also add a weather forecast.

Calendar is free on the Mac App Store. Additional customization such as Facebook integration is available through an in-app purchase.

QuickCal 3 ($2.99)

Best for: Folks who need to add calendar events in a hurryHow To Instantly Add Anything To Your Mac's CalendarHow To Instantly Add Anything To Your Mac's CalendarAdd something to your Mac's calendar in just a few keystrokes – we've got the software to make it possible.Read More.

Natural language plays a central role with QuickCal. After a few keystrokes, the menu bar app begins creating an event for placement in your Mac’s Calendar application. It even notes when there are conflicts on your schedule.

With QuickCal, your upcoming schedule is viewable in a list view, which can include events up to seven days in advance. You can also see your reminders from this location. Want to receive a notification for an upcoming event? QuickCal features “Smart Alerts”, which will create alarms at different time intervals.

QuickCal supports iCal, Google Calendar, and BusyCal. It’s available on the Mac App Store. A free 14-day trial is also available through the QuickCal website.

See also: For a slightly outdated and older equivalent of QuickCal that won’t cost you a penny, check out RemindMeLater. It was built during the iCal era but still works well with OS X El Capitan’s Calendar app, allowing you to use natural language to add events to your schedule — without QuickCal’s fancy extra features.

The Choice Is Yours

There is nothing wrong with using Apple’s built-in Calendar app for Mac. If you’re looking for something different, consider the solutions we’ve presented here. Fantastical and BusyCal will replace the Calendar application while Blotter, Calendar 2, and QuickCal will enhance it. Each can be an excellent choice, depending on your needs.

What’s your favorite calendar solution for Mac?

Explore more about: Calendar, Google Calendar, Organization Software, OS X El Capitan.

1. Does anyone know of a good free calendar app that works with Trello? That was the main reason I used Sunrise, and the two integrated seamlessly.

   Itsycal looks okay, I'll check it and UpTo out. I can't justify spending all that cash on an app like Fantastical that looks exactly like iCal, and charges separately for mobile and desktop versions.

2. test

3. I'm really liking UpTo as a Sunrise replacement. Not everything sunrise was, but free. And nice. And some fun different features.

4. I've been having a very tough time looking for a free calendar (or at least one that is not so expensive as Fantastical2) that allows me to have the same functionalities on iphone and mac... Just as I used to with Sunrise. </3
   If anybody has a suggestion, please, fire away... :(

   • I just tried Fantastical 2, and can't believe Sunrise being a free app was so much better syncing with google calendars than this overpriced garbage app. Calendar 5 is a good app for mobile devices, syncs well with google calendars too, but for Macbooks I'm still on the search :( Come back Sunrise :'(

     • I found a couple for iphone... But nothing for Mac. :(

5. Sunrise is officially shutting down soon. I need an alternative, and I haven't been able to find one yet. :-(

6. I've been using Sunrise [Broken Link Removed]

   I can keep my calendar updated on my iphone, ipad & mac

   • I just found out Sunrise discontinued further development and support as they were bought by Microsoft in Feb. :(

   • Too bad it is going away :( stupid microsoft

7. Been using Itsycal for quite some time and absolutely love it, might have to check out Calendar 2 though.

   • Itsycal looks like crap

     • That is not very helpful; what is it that you don’t like?

     • I have a Mountain Lion and a Sierra MacBookPro (insist on working in InDesignCS4, so needed a new machine rather than just upgrading). Sierra will be my traveller, Mountain Lion my “desktop” stay-at-home. I tried copying my new calendar from Sierra to Mountain Lion, as I have done for back-ups previously in Mountain Lion; the transfer failed, as Calendar on Sierra is not the same as iCal on Mountain Lion (which I actually prefer). Thoughts on something that will work on both? Could I actually copy iCal to the new machine and use it, even if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Apple seems to think I prefer? (I like months that stay as months, with 1 at the top and 30 at the bottom, for instance, not free-form.)

MacOS does come with a fully-featured calendar app, but it’s possible that you may not like it and are looking for a better alternative. If you’re one of those users who aren’t satisfied with the default Calendar app, here are some alternatives for you. These apps will help you keep your tasks and events organized, as that’s what they are for.

1. Fantastical 2

Flexibits’ calendar app Fantastical really lives up to its name, offering an experience that arguably beats out even Apple’s own Calendar app. It lets you connect all your accounts easily – iCloud, Google, Yahoo, obscure ones like CalDAV, you name it – then see them all elegantly organized into the stylish flat interface.

It does a great job of putting all the info under one roof and has Google-like features, such as automatically slotting things into your calendar based on things you type (“Dentist appointment next Thursday at 2pm”, for example). It’s received some good updates over the years, too, such as an ‘at a glance’ daily view and toggling various calendars on and off. In many ways it’s like an independent version of the next app on this list.

You can get Fantastical for $24.99.

2. Google Calendar

Perhaps the reason you want to leave Apple’s Calendar app is not to be tied into the big corporate machine, in which case Google Calendar might not be for you. But with one of the most user-friendly interfaces around and plenty of quality-of-life features, like the option to quickly type appointments and toggle calendars, Google’s free offering may tempt you. It’s easy to export data and collaborate on your Calendar with other people and is smooth to sync up with Apple’s iCloud services.

There’s no actual desktop app for Google Calendar. It’s all browser-based and syncs up with the corresponding app on iOS and Android, but it’s free, and there’s a good chance you don’t want any third-party software clogging up your system. That being the case, this one’s a winner for those with Google accounts.

3. BusyCal

If you’re looking for a professional calendar app that does it all for you, BusyCal is something you should try. This app integrates all of the features that you expect from a calendar app. From the ability to add events using natural language to getting multiple calendars together, it can do everything for you. It is fully customizable and works the way you want it to. You can have it show only the things that you think are important and hide the unnecessary ones.

The app costs $49.99 and you can download it from the Mac App Store.

4. Blotter

Blotter claims to be an unforgettable calendar, and it does live up to its hype. What Blotter does for you is convert your whole calendar into a wallpaper and lets you view it right on your desktop. It looks so beautiful that you will fall in love with it once you install it. The app lets you specify what tools you’d like to see and what tools to be hidden. This lets you keep your desktop clutter-free.

You can download this beautiful app for $9.99 from the Mac App Store.

Conclusion

If you don’t like the default calendar app on your Mac or if you’re fed-up of using it, the above alternatives should help you with your schedules using the best most beautiful technologies. Happy calendaring!