Plannie vs TimeTree: a shared calendar, or a family hub.
TimeTree is a free, cross-platform group calendar with comments, photos and memos, and a flyer scanner that turns a poster into events. Plannie is a family hub: a colour per member, two-way sync with Google and Outlook, chores, meals and a kitchen display, all on one $99/year plan instead of a Premium per account.
Feature by feature
| Plannie | TimeTree | |
|---|---|---|
| Shared family calendar, colour per member | ✓ | ● Events take a label colour from a fixed palette. TimeTree’s own tip is to name labels after members (Member A: Red, Member B: Blue), so colour per person is a convention you keep by hand. |
| Two-way calendar sync | ✓ Google and Outlook two-way, iCloud and any ICS feed as subscribed calendars, and events created in Plannie sync back to your default calendar. | ✗ One-way import only You cannot export events from TimeTree. Imported events either show on your private Home Calendar and auto-update, or go into the shared calendar without auto-update. The web version cannot display external calendars. |
| Comments, photos & memos on events | ✗ | ✓ |
| Chores, routines & rewards | Premium | ✗ An event can carry a to-do checklist and a counter. No chores, routines or rewards. |
| Weekly meal planning | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shared and private lists | ✓ | ● Memo per calendar Each shared calendar has a Memo for shared notes and events have checklists. Private per-member lists are not documented. |
| AI import of emails, photos & PDFs | Premium | ● Event Scan, photos only Event Scan reads posters, flyers and newsletters from a JPEG or PNG on iOS and Android and is not listed as Premium-only. No email forwarding or PDF import is documented. |
| Wall display | Kiosk mode on any tablet | Not documented |
| Per-member personal mode | ✓ | Own account and Home Calendar Each person has a private Home Calendar plus the shared calendars, with their own notifications. Kids’ accounts are not documented. |
| Open API & MCP for your own agents | ✓ | ✗ None documented Public calendars can be embedded on a web page; no developer API is documented. |
| Hardware to buy | None | None |
| Subscription | $99/yr whole household The free plan has no ads and no time limit. | Free with ads · Premium $44.99/yr per account TimeTree Premium is $4.49/month or $44.99/year, first month free, and removes ads, adds an hourly view, file attachments and pinned events. It is per account; TimeTree says no sharing plan is available. |
| 3-year cost, family of four | $297 Premium | $0 with ads · $539.88 ad-free 4 accounts × $44.99 × 3 years, or $646.56 billed monthly. Two ad-free parents would be $269.94. |
TimeTree prices and platform details from timetreeapp.com, support.timetreeapp.com and the App Store, checked 18 September 2026. In fairness, TimeTree’s comments, photo albums and memos on events have no equivalent in Plannie, and its flyer scanner is included in the free app.
Sources: timetreeapp.com: Premium, TimeTree App Store listing
Three things that matter on a Tuesday
Which way the events flow. TimeTree can show your phone’s calendar on your own Home Calendar, and it can copy events into a shared calendar once, after which they no longer update. Nothing goes the other way: TimeTree’s help says you cannot export events and need to copy each one by one, and the web version cannot show external calendars at all. Plannie syncs two-way with Google and Outlook, reads iCloud and ICS feeds, and syncs the events it creates back to your default calendar. The dentist typed into the kitchen tablet is in your work calendar before the kettle boils.
What the calendar is attached to. TimeTree’s strength is the social layer: comments under an event, a photo album from the weekend, a memo for the whole group, and an Event Scan that turns a photographed flyer into events without paying for Premium. It stops there. Colour per member is a label you name yourself, and there are no chores, routines, rewards or meals. In Plannie every member has a colour across every view, chores pay out in tickets, the week’s dinners sit in one grid, and the Family Inbox files a forwarded school PDF under the right child, each addition marked so you can check it.
Who pays, and who sees ads. TimeTree Premium is per account and TimeTree says there is no sharing plan, so ad-free for a family of four is four subscriptions at $44.99/year, $539.88 over three years, and the App Store label lists identifiers and advertising data used to track you. Plannie’s free plan has no ads at all, Premium is $99/year for unlimited members, data is hosted in the EU with no tracking SDKs, and kiosk mode on a tablet and personal mode on every phone are in the same plan. The open API and MCP come with Premium + MCP at $159/year.
Choose TimeTree if…
You want a free calendar that a group of any size can share on iPhone, Android and the web, with comments and photos on every event and a flyer scanner thrown in. You are fine with ads, or with paying Premium for each person who wants them gone.
Choose Plannie if…
You want the household in one view: a colour per person, chores and rewards, a weekly meal plan and a tablet on the wall, with two-way sync so the calendar you already use stays current. One $99/year plan covers everyone, with no ads on the free plan either.
Frequently asked
TimeTree vs Plannie: what is the difference?+
TimeTree is a shared calendar with a social layer: each group gets its own calendar where members comment on events, add photos and keep a shared memo. Plannie is a household planner with a calendar at its centre: everyone’s days in their own colour, chores that pay out in tickets, a weekly meal grid, shared and private lists, kiosk mode on a tablet and a Family Inbox that turns forwarded school paperwork into events. TimeTree is free with ads; Plannie is free to start and $99/year for the whole household on Premium.
Is TimeTree good for families?+
For sharing plans it is, and it runs on iOS, Android and the web at no cost. The limits show when family life gets busier: colour per member is a naming convention on a fixed label palette rather than something the app knows about, there are no chores, routines, rewards or meals, and events can come in from other calendars but cannot go out. Kids’ accounts are not documented.
Does TimeTree sync with Google Calendar?+
One way only. TimeTree can display your phone’s native calendar, including a Google Calendar synced to it, on your private Home Calendar, or import those events into a shared calendar, where they do not auto-update. TimeTree’s own help says you cannot export events from TimeTree and need to copy each one by one, and the web version cannot show external calendars at all. Plannie syncs two-way with Google and Outlook, reads iCloud and ICS feeds, and syncs events it creates back to your default calendar.
How much does TimeTree Premium cost for a family?+
TimeTree Premium is $4.49/month or $44.99/year per account, with the first month free, and TimeTree says there is no sharing plan. Ad-free for a family of four is four subscriptions: $539.88 over three years, or $269.94 for just the two parents. Plannie Premium is $99/year for unlimited members, $297 over three years, and the free plan has no ads either.
Does TimeTree have chores or a meal planner?+
No. An event can carry a to-do checklist and a day counter, and each shared calendar has a memo, but there are no chores, routines, rewards or meal planning. Plannie has chores with tickets and rewards, habits, a weekly meal grid with a recipe library, and a grocery list that fills itself from a recipe link.