The best family calendar apps in 2026
Every family runs differently - so instead of crowning one winner, here's what each app does beautifully, what it really costs, and which kind of household it suits. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pages, checked this week.
· prices checked on each vendor's site
How to actually choose
Four questions decide this category - answer them first and the right app mostly picks itself. Hardware or software? A dedicated screen costs $300–$700 before the subscription; software runs on devices you already own. Who does the typing? Apps that read school emails and flyers themselves get used far more than ones you feed by hand. Calendar, or household? Shared events are the easy part - chores, rewards, meals and lists are what make it the family's operating system. What does year three cost? Subscriptions compound and hardware doesn't resell - do the math on your shortlist before deciding.
The field, side by side
| Plannie | Cozi | Skylight | Hearth | Sense | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per year (family) | Flat $99 / Free plan One plan covers the whole household - every member, every device. The free plan is free forever. | $0–79 | From $79 Calendar Plus, $79/year - on top of a $299.99+ display. | From $86.40 Family Membership, required at setup - $9/month, or $86.40/year billed annually. The display itself is $699. | $59.99 |
| Hardware to buy | None | None | $299.99+ display | $699 display | None |
| iOS | ✓ Full Plannie app - every member can see their day, add events, tick off chores and manage lists from their own iPhone. | ✓ | ● Companion app to the Skylight display - add events, chores and lists on the go; the display is the family’s main surface. | ● Companion app to the display - add and edit events and to-dos, monitor routines; kids complete routines on the display. | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ Full Plannie app - the same complete experience as iOS, for every member. | ✓ | ● Companion app to the Skylight display - add events, chores and lists on the go; the display is the family’s main surface. | ● Companion app to the display - add and edit events and to-dos, monitor routines; kids complete routines on the display. | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ The full app in any browser - calendar, chores, meals and lists on any laptop or tablet, nothing to install. | ✓ | ● Skylight Cloud manages photos and synced calendars - it isn’t a day-to-day family calendar in the browser. | ● A limited web app - Hearth says its current focus is the mobile app and the display. | ✓ |
| Kiosk mode | ✓ Switch any tablet to kiosk mode and it becomes a shared always-on family display - everyone’s days, everyone’s reminders. | ✗ | ✓ The Skylight display itself - an always-on wall calendar by design. | ✓ The Hearth display is the always-on family surface. | ✓ Sense Hub mode turns a mounted tablet into an always-on family dashboard. |
| Personal phone mode | ✓ Each member’s phone is genuinely theirs: their own look, only their own notifications, private personal lists - alongside the shared family view. | ● The whole family shares one account and password - everyone sees everything, with no personal views. | ● The app shares one household account - handy on the go, but without per-member personal views. | ● Per-person profiles exist, but the app is a companion to the display rather than each member’s personal planner. | ● Each member uses their own phone; separate personal-vs-family views aren’t documented. |
| Synced & individual todo lists | ✓ Shared family lists and private personal lists. Items nest - sub-tasks, headers and paragraphs - so your phone runs Plannie as a full to-do app, synced with the household. | ● Shared lists only - every member sees and edits every list, and items are flat. | ● Shared household lists on the display and app - a lighter list, with no private per-member lists. | ● To-dos per profile in a shared household - private lists aren’t documented. | ● Family to-dos with per-member assignment; private lists aren’t documented. |
| Two-way Google & Outlook sync | ✓ True two-way sync with both Google and Outlook - edits flow in both directions. Apple Calendar comes in as a subscribed feed. | ● Google, Apple and Outlook connect - but only as read-only feeds, in and out. Nothing syncs two-way. | ● Two-way with Google only; Apple, Outlook and other calendars import one-way. | ● Syncs Google, Outlook and Apple - whether it’s two-way isn’t documented. | ● Two-way with Google, per Sense; other calendars import one-way. |
| AI import - email, photo, PDF | ✓ Included in Premium - forward email to the Family Inbox, or capture photos, flyers and PDFs with Magic Import. | ● AI Event Import on the $79.99 Max tier reads invitations from your email inbox - photo and PDF capture aren’t documented. | ✓ Magic Import, part of Calendar Plus - reads forwarded emails, PDFs, spreadsheets and photos of flyers. | ● Hearth Helper imports from photos, forwarded email and links, with the membership - PDF import isn’t documented. | ✓ Sense’s core skill - email, photo, WhatsApp and PDF. The free plan caps AI at 10 actions a month. |
| Chores, routines & rewards | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weekly meal planning | ✓ | ● Recipes and menus rather than a weekly planning grid. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open API | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| MCP - connect your own AI agents | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Family of 4 (2 kids), per year | $99 One flat plan - nothing is billed per child or per device. | $0–79 Cozi Gold is $39/year, Max $79/year - one subscription for the family. | $79–119 $79/year Calendar Plus covers the household, including Buddy features for the kids’ devices; the Skylight Assistant add-on is $40 more - $119/year total. Buddy hardware is $119.99 per child, one-time. | From $86.40 Family Membership at $86.40/year billed annually (or $9/month) - plus the $699 display up front. | $59.99 One family plan, billed annually. |
Prices and platform details from each vendor's own site and support pages, checked 6 August 2026, at list (not sale) prices. 'AI import' means the app can turn an email, photo or document into calendar events - a paid-tier feature everywhere; hover a mark for what each vendor's version covers.
Cozi - the budget veteran
Free with ads · Gold $39/year · Max $79/year
Cozi has organised families since before smartphones - dependable, familiar and cheap, with a free tier that covers a shared calendar, lists and recipes.
Pros
- Cheapest proven option - Gold is $39/year
- Full apps on iOS, Android and the web
- Two decades of reliability
Cons
- Outdated design - the app has changed little in years
- Ads and a 30-day planning window on the free plan
- One shared account - no personal views or private lists
- Calendar connections are read-only feeds, not sync
- No chores/rewards; AI import is email-only, on the $79 Max tier
Best for: families who want the cheapest proven option and can live without chores, rewards and real sync. Full breakdown: Plannie vs Cozi.
Skylight Calendar - the one with hardware in the box
$299.99 (15″) or $629.99 (27″) + Calendar Plus $79/year
Skylight ships a dedicated wall display, extended by the Buddy kids' device and, new this year, an SMS assistant that texts you reminders.
Pros
- Dedicated display, working out of the box
- Buddy device gives kids their own routines screen
- Sidekick AI + the new text-message Assistant
Cons
- $300–$630 of hardware before the $79/year begins
- Phone app is a companion to the display, one shared account
- Two-way sync with Google only
- Assistant is a separate $40/year add-on
- Rewards can only be set from the phone app, not on the display
Best for: families who want a dedicated appliance and would rather buy a screen than repurpose one. See Plannie vs Skylight and the no-hardware comparison.
Hearth Display - the routines specialist
$699 display + membership from $86.40/year
Hearth leans into routines, visual schedules and sharing the mental load, with features aimed at neurodivergent kids.
Pros
- 27″ display available
- Expert-informed approach to routines
- Companion app on iOS and Android
Cons
- The most expensive path: $699 + required membership
- Without the membership the display is calendar-view only - routines and lists stop working, per Hearth's own FAQ
- Reviewers find synced Google events flatten into one colour - no per-person colours from your existing calendars
- Web app is limited by Hearth's own admission
- Kids complete routines on the display, not their phones
Best for: families set on a premium display with a routines-first philosophy, where budget isn't the constraint. Full breakdown: Plannie vs Hearth Display.
Sense - strongest pure capture
Free plan (10 AI actions/month) · Premium $59.99/year
Sense is built around getting events in: forward an email, snap a flyer, share a WhatsApp message, and it extracts the dates.
Pros
- Broad capture - email, photo, WhatsApp, PDF
- Cheapest paid family plan here at $59.99/year
- Full apps on iOS, Android and web, plus a tablet hub mode
Cons
- Free plan's 10 AI actions/month go fast
- Personal-vs-family views and private lists undocumented
- Two-way sync with Google only
Best for: capture-first households who mainly want the school-email problem solved.
Google Calendar - the free baseline
Free
Shared Google calendars remain the zero-cost answer, and for two adults they're often enough. What's missing is the family layer - member colours, chores, meals, lists, a wall display - which families end up assembling from separate apps, with one parent as the glue. It's rarely either/or, though: the better family apps sync with Google two-way. See Plannie vs Google Calendar.
Maple - now sunsetting
Shutting down December 31, 2026
Maple earned its following with a warm design and a family inbox, but following its acquisition it sunsets on December 31, 2026, with data deleted after that date. For Maple families planning the move, there's a step-by-step migration guide.
Plannie - the complete family hub, no hardware needed
$99/year for the whole household · free plan available · no hardware
Plannie is built on a simple observation: most families already own the screens. One subscription covers every member on every device - a tablet in kiosk mode as the family display, every phone personal - with the full layer built in: member colours, habits with tickets and rewards, a weekly meal planner, and an assistant that reads school flyers, PDFs and forwarded email through Family Inbox and Magic Import.
Pros
- One flat $99/year - nothing per child or per device
- Kiosk mode + a personal mode on every member's phone
- True two-way sync with Google and Outlook
- Shared and private lists with real structure
- Visual, predictable structure - member colours, repeating routines and instant reward feedback suit neurodivergent kids
- Only app here with an open API and MCP for your own AI
Cons
- No dedicated screen in a box - bring your own tablet
- No SMS channel - the assistant lives in-app, in your inbox and Siri
Best for: families who want the whole layer - calendar, chores, meals, capture, wall display - at one price, without buying a screen.
Switching without losing your history
For most households the events don't live in the app - they live in the Google, Outlook or iCloud accounts the app connects to. Reconnect those in the new app and the schedule simply reappears; what genuinely needs moving is the chores-rewards-recipes layer, which is an evening's setup. Export first if events exist only inside the old app - and mind real deadlines: Maple deletes all data after December 31, 2026, so move before the holidays.
The bottom line
Want a dedicated appliance? Skylight is the stronger hardware pick - Hearth costs more and does less without its membership. Want the whole family layer without buying a screen? That's the gap Plannie was built for: one $99/year plan, kiosk mode on the tablet you own, personal mode on everyone's phones, and an input method for every way dates arrive. Not sure? Every software option here has a free plan - try the shortlist for a week each and let the family vote.
Frequently asked
What is the best family calendar app in 2026?+
For most households the strongest all-round pick is Plannie: a shared colour-coded calendar with two-way Google and Outlook sync, chores and rewards, meal planning and an AI that reads school emails - at $99 a year for the whole family with no hardware to buy. Cozi remains the budget veteran, and Skylight is the pick if you specifically want a dedicated wall screen in the box.
Do I need a hardware calendar like Skylight or Hearth Display?+
No - hardware is a preference, not a requirement. A Skylight Calendar starts at $299.99 and a Hearth Display at $699 before their subscriptions. A software calendar like Plannie turns a tablet you already own into the same kitchen wall display with kiosk mode, so the hardware cost is zero.
What is the best free family calendar app?+
Google Calendar is the best fully-free option if all you need is shared events. If you want a family layer - member colours, lists and meal planning - Plannie's free plan adds those on top of two-way Google and Outlook sync, and Cozi's ad-supported free plan covers the basics with a 30-day planning window.
Which family calendar app works without buying a device?+
Plannie, Cozi, Sense and Google Calendar all run purely on the phones, tablets and laptops you already own. Plannie is the one designed to double as a wall calendar: switch any tablet to kiosk mode and it becomes a shared always-on family display, while everyone keeps a personal view on their own phone under the same $99/year household plan.
Which family calendar app is best for neurodivergent kids?+
Look for visual structure and predictable routines rather than a brand. Hearth Display builds its $699 screen around routines for exactly this reason - though kids complete them on the display, not their phones, and routines stop working without the membership. Plannie covers the same ground in software: every member owns a colour, the day reads as a visual timeline on a kiosk-mode tablet, and chores are repeating routines with instant reward feedback - the predictability neurodivergent kids benefit from, on devices the family already owns.
How does a family calendar app reduce mental load for parents?+
By taking one parent out of the role of household memory. When every event, chore and dinner lives where the whole family sees it - a kitchen display, everyone’s phones - nobody has to hold the week in their head or answer “what’s on today?” all day. The apps that reduce mental load most are the ones that also remove the typing: Plannie, for example, reads school emails and photographed flyers straight into the shared calendar, and its chores-with-rewards system moves the reminding from a parent to the app.
Try the one that needs no new screen
Plannie is free to start - no card, no hardware, five-minute setup.
Get started free