Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a free web and mobile calendar that keeps personal, family and work schedules in one place and ties them to a Google account. It is mainly used to book meetings, share availability and set reminders for events and tasks.
#2 in Productivity ToolsCalendar AppsFree plan
Who it's for
Best for
Families managing shared appointments, reminders and school or medical dates
Colleagues scheduling meetings through Google Workspace
Not for
Self-hosters keeping CalDAV calendars outside Google, which sync unevenly
Android owners who want a non-Google calendar as the system default
Features
Appointment booking
The Calendar for work page lists appointment booking as part of its scheduling section, beside organizing and collaboration options.
Meet collaboration
Collaborate with Meet appears on the Calendar for work page as one of the listed ways to run calendar-based meetings.
View customization
The Calendar for work page lists a view customization option alongside scheduling, appointment booking, organizing and collaboration sections.
Included with Google Workspace
Calendar sits in the included applications list alongside Gmail, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Vids, Forms, Sites, Keep and Tasks.
Google Account sign-in
Access starts at a Google Account sign-in screen for email or phone, with guest mode and a private browsing window named as alternatives.
What users say
Pros
- A to-do list kept inside Google Calendar holds tasks across devices, sends reminders and shares lists with family and work calendars.
- Shared calendars show a household or team the whole schedule, with working hours shaded so colleagues know when to call.
- Work meetings and personal events live in one calendar that colleagues and family already use, avoiding a second scheduling app.
- The web interface loads a few megabytes of script and stays faster to use than heavier self-hosted calendar pages.
- Single events can take their own colour, so work, family and personal entries stay distinguishable in one busy calendar.
Cons
- Daylight-saving and time-zone changes leave appointments displaying an hour off on the phone.
- Search results in the mobile app hide the newest entries until the list is scrolled to the bottom and held there.
- Calendar sharing is reachable only through the desktop site, and the mobile app has no equivalent control.
- Creating an event on the web means scrolling through every calendar each time, with no default to set.
- On Android, events added by other apps land in the Google calendar and the default calendar cannot be changed.
- Some events show on the phone and never appear on the desktop, leaving the shared schedule out of step.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 1k
Alternatives
Rank#2 in category#6 in category#42 in category
Free planYesYesYes
ProFree and cross-device, good for shared and work calendarsCalendar sets, merged events, task sidebar, Exchange syncCross-platform calendars, four time zones, more event colours
Better forPulling Notion database dates and attached pages into one view with Google and Apple calendars