Calendar & Time Management · ranked shortlist
Best Calendar & Time Management software for Freelancers in 2026
20 approved calendar & time management listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed. Freelancers are buying one seat, so per-seat pricing works in their favour and the free tiers are worth taking seriously. Read the bottom of every price ladder on this page first.
- Tools ranked
- 20
- Entry price range
- $5-$500
- Publish a $0 plan
- 11 of 20
How this ranking is derived
The sort key
Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.
Where the ratings come from
No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.
What the pool is
Approved calendar & time management listings, capped at 20 per page; 20 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the calendar & time management category page.
The ranking
Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.
- #1
Amie
Highest rated hereThe joyful productivity app
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $10 a month.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- calendar, todos, design, joyful
- #2
Apple Calendar
The calendar app built into every Apple device
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- calendar, apple, Free, native
- #3
Assistant.to
The easiest way to schedule meetings
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $5 a month.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- scheduling, gmail, simple, email
- #4
BusyCal
The most powerful calendar app for Mac
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $39.99 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $49.99.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- calendar, mac, power-users, customizable
- #5
Cron Calendar
The next-generation calendar for professionals
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- calendar, notion, keyboard-shortcuts, modern
- #6
Fantastical
The calendar app you'll love to use
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $56.99 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $89.99.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- calendar, apple, design, natural-language
- #7
Google Calendar
Smart scheduling for the modern workforce
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $7 a month.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- calendar, scheduling, google, Free
- #8
Google Tasks
Simple task management from Google
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- tasks, google, Free, simple
- #9
Harvest Forecast
Simple visual resource planning
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $5 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- resource-planning, scheduling, harvest, visual
- #10J
Jibble
Free time clock and time tracking app
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- freemium
- #11
Kronologic
AI-powered meeting scheduling for sales
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $500 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $1,000.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- scheduling, sales, ai, automation
- #12M
Microsoft To Do
Your personal task management app
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- tasks, microsoft, Free, to-do
- #13
OmniFocus
Professional-grade task management for power users
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $74.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $149.99.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- tasks, gtd, power-users, apple
- #14
Outlook Calendar
Professional calendar management for Microsoft 365
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $6 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $99.99.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- calendar, microsoft, Enterprise, scheduling
- #15
Resource Guru
The fast, simple way to schedule people and resources
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $5 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $12.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- resource management, scheduling, teams, capacity-planning
- #16
Rise Calendar
The modern calendar for Mac
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $16 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- calendar, mac, native, minimal
- #17
SavvyCal
Scheduling that puts your recipients first
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $12 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $40.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- scheduling, booking, personalized, professional
- #18
Skedda
Online booking and scheduling for spaces
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $99 a month.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- scheduling, spaces, rooms, facility-management
- #19
Teamup
Shared calendar for groups and businesses
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $12 a month.
- 5 published tiers, topping out at $125.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 5 tiers
- Tags
- calendar, shared, teams, business
- #20T
TidyCal
Simple calendar management and booking
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- one-time
What calendar & time management software costs
Counted from the published pricing of the 20 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $5Assistant.to
- Median entry price
- $12across 14 priced
- Dearest entry price
- $500Kronologic
- Publish a $0 plan
- 11of 20
Paid calendar & time management plans in this set start anywhere from $5 a month for Assistant.to to $500 for Kronologic. The median entry price across the 14 tools that publish one is $12, half of them start below that figure and half above it.
Entry price is not the ceiling. The dearest published tier anywhere in this category is Kronologic's at $1,000 a month, 2× the highest entry price on the page. Read the top of each ladder as well as the bottom, because that is where you land after two years of growth.
11 of 20 publish a $0 plan, and 2 of those charge nothing at all. 5 tools have no free tier of any kind.
How these vendors bill
The billing model each of the 20 calendar & time management listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.
- freemium
- 4
- subscription
- 3
- free
- 2
- one-time
- 1
What comes as standard, and what you pay extra for
Every capability named in a published pricing tier by any of the 16 calendar & time management tools here that break their plans down, counted once per vendor. This measures what vendors choose to advertise as a selling point, not everything the software does, an absence below is silence, not a missing feature.
Named most often
- Advanced features , 3 of 16
- Scheduling links , 3 of 16
- Basic scheduling , 2 of 16
- Calendar sync , 2 of 16
- Priority support , 2 of 16
Named by fewer
- Team scheduling , 2 of 16
Named by exactly one vendor: Ad-free email, Basic analytics, Custom workflows, Menu bar access, Payment collection, Timesheets. Those are differentiators rather than table stakes.
What “Calendar & Time Management” covers in practice
The subject tags that recur across these 20 listings, with the number of tools carrying each. A category label is a filing decision; this is the closer read of what is actually filed under it.
- calendar9
- scheduling9
- Free4
- apple3
- productivity3
- simple3
- tasks3
- booking2
- design2
- Enterprise2
- gmail2
- google2
Carried by a single tool: ai, capacity-planning, gtd, keyboard-shortcuts, notion, permissions, resource management, shared. If one of those is the reason you are here, the category page is the wrong lens, go straight to that product.
How to choose between them
Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.
Start with the free tiers if there are enough of them
11 of 20 calendar & time management tools here publish a $0 plan, which is enough to run a real trial without a purchase order. A free tier is worth more than a free trial when you are evaluating: a trial expires on the vendor's schedule, a free plan expires when you outgrow it. The thing to check before you commit is which of the capabilities below sit above the free line, starting with advanced features, the single most frequently named capability in this category's published tiers.
Read the spread before you read the features
$5 to $500 is a $495 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $500 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.
Check which tier you actually land on
7 of 20 tools here publish three or more tiers, and the median vendor in this category ships 2 of them. The advertised price is the first rung, and the things teams tend to need, advanced features, scheduling links, basic scheduling, are named in higher plans far more often than in entry ones. Price your shortlist at the tier that contains what you need, not at the tier on the pricing page's left edge.
The billing model matters more than the headline number
This category splits across 4 billing models: freemium on 4 listings, subscription on 3, and 2 other arrangements across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.
Compare calendar & time management tools directly
Every pairing below is a full comparison: the same checklist applied to both, so a gap in one is a gap in the other.
- Amie vs Apple Calendar
- Apple Calendar vs Assistant.to
- Assistant.to vs BusyCal
- BusyCal vs Cron Calendar
- Cron Calendar vs Fantastical
- Fantastical vs Google Calendar
- Google Calendar vs Google Tasks
- Google Tasks vs Harvest Forecast
Go straight to the numbers
- Amiepricingalternatives
- Apple Calendarpricingalternatives
- Assistant.topricingalternatives
- BusyCalpricingalternatives
- Cron Calendarpricingalternatives
- Fantasticalpricingalternatives
Questions people ask about calendar & time management software
Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.
- How is this calendar & time management ranking decided?
- Mechanically. The 20 approved calendar & time management listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
- Is this list re-ordered for freelancers?
- No, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. The catalogue records no data about which team sizes or roles each tool suits, so the ranking is the same published-rating order as the unsegmented list. What the freelancers framing changes is which of the figures below matter most. Freelancers are buying one seat, so per-seat pricing works in their favour and the free tiers are worth taking seriously. Read the bottom of every price ladder on this page first.
- How much does calendar & time management software cost?
- Across the 20 calendar & time management tools listed here, paid plans start between $5 and $500 a month, with a median entry price of $12. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $1,000 a month (Kronologic). 11 of 20 also publish a $0 plan.
- What is the cheapest calendar & time management software?
- 2 of the 20 tools listed here cost nothing at all. Among the ones that charge, Assistant.to has the lowest published entry price at $5 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
- Is there free calendar & time management software?
- Yes, 11 of 20 tools in this category publish a plan priced at $0. 2 of them are free outright, with no paid tier above. A tool is only counted as free here when it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence, or a starting price of zero, a free trial does not count.
- What features should calendar & time management software have?
- Judging by what vendors put in their own published pricing tiers, the most frequently named capabilities in this category are advanced features (3 of 16 tools that publish plan detail), scheduling links (3) and basic scheduling (2). Treat those as the category baseline. Anything named by only one vendor, such as ad-free email or basic analytics, is a differentiator rather than a standard, so it is worth deciding whether you need it before it narrows your shortlist to one.
- How is calendar & time management software usually billed?
- freemium (4), subscription (3), free (2), one-time (1), counted across the 20 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not.
- What does calendar & time management software actually cover?
- The 20 tools on this page do not describe themselves the same way. The subject tags they carry most often are calendar (9), scheduling (9), free (4), apple (3), productivity (3). That spread is the honest answer to what the category means in practice: it is not one product shape, and two tools filed under calendar & time management may overlap on very little.
- How many pricing tiers do calendar & time management tools offer?
- 16 of 20 tools here publish a plan breakdown, and the median one has 2 tiers. 7 of 20 publish three or more. More tiers is not generosity, it usually means the capability you are buying for sits two rungs above the advertised price, so price your shortlist at the tier that contains it.
- How many calendar & time management tools are listed on Softwr?
- 20 approved calendar & time management listings appear on this page, including Amie, Apple Calendar, Assistant.to, BusyCal. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/calendar-time-management, which ranks the same set by published rating.
Keep reading
More on Calendar & Time Management
Neighbouring categories
- HR & Recruiting
- Scheduling & Booking
- Customer Success
- Project Management
- Software Development
- Remote Work
- Education & E-Learning
- E-commerce
Adjacent in the same taxonomy, not a ranking.