9 Best Family Calendar Apps for 2026, Compared

Google Calendar, Skylight, Cozi, TimeTree, FamilyWall, Hearth, Sense, Kinmory and Parendipity compared on price, sharing, and how events actually get onto the calendar.

Short answer: For most families, the best free option is Google Calendar with a shared family calendar. If you want a screen on the kitchen wall, pick Skylight or Hearth. If you want lists, meals and a calendar in one simple app, Cozi or FamilyWall. And if your real problem is that school, sports and activity schedules arrive by email and someone has to type them in, choose an app that builds the calendar for you: Parendipity (connects to Gmail) or a forward-to-an-inbox tool like Sense, Cozi Max or Kinmory.

We make Parendipity, so we've tried to be especially careful to be fair. Prices and features below were checked against each company's own site or App Store listing in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.

How we compared them

We looked at the things that decide whether a family calendar actually gets used:

Sharing: can every parent and caregiver see and edit it?
Getting events in: do you type everything, or can it pull events from emails, flyers and team apps?
Platforms: iPhone, Android, web, wall display
Price: what you pay for the features most families end up needing
The catch: the limitation you will run into first

Quick picks

Best free: Google Calendar
Best wall display: Skylight
Best all-in-one organizer: Cozi
Best for big, busy households: FamilyWall
Best for separate groups (family, extended family, carpools): TimeTree
Best for turning school and sports emails into events automatically: Parendipity
Best forward-an-email option: Sense or Cozi Max

Google Calendar

What it is: Google's free calendar. When you set up a Google family group, it creates a shared "Family" calendar everyone in the group can edit.

Best for: Families who already use Gmail and Android or are happy with a Google app on iPhone.

Price: Free.

Getting events in: Mostly by hand. Gmail adds some events on its own, like flight, hotel and restaurant reservations, but not ordinary school or coach emails. Gemini in Gmail can suggest an "Add to calendar" button on mobile, but you still tap it for each email, and it needs a paid Google AI plan or certain Workspace plans.

The catch: Nobody is notified when someone else adds, moves or deletes a family event, and someone still has to read every email and type it in.

Skylight

What it is: A touchscreen calendar for your wall or counter, plus a companion app.

Best for: Families who want the week visible in the kitchen, especially with younger kids.

Price: Displays start at $149.99 for the 10-inch model. Calendar Plus, which unlocks features like Magic Import, is $79 a year.

Getting events in: Skylight syncs Google, Apple, Outlook and other calendars. With Calendar Plus you can forward emails, PDFs and screenshots to your Skylight's email address and it tries to create events from them. It doesn't connect to your inbox, so someone has to forward each one.

The catch: Skylight shows whatever is on the calendars it follows. If those calendars are out of date, so is the screen. Pairing it with something that keeps Google Calendar current (like Parendipity) is how many families put their Skylight on autopilot.

Cozi

What it is: A long-running family organizer with a shared calendar, shopping lists, to-dos and recipes.

Best for: Families who want calendar, lists and meal planning in one simple app.

Price: Free with ads. Cozi Gold is $39 a year. Cozi Max, which adds AI features, is about $79 a year.

Getting events in: On Cozi Max, each member gets an email address you can forward emails, PDFs and flyer photos to, and Cozi's AI creates events from them. Cozi doesn't connect to your inbox directly.

The catch: The useful AI features are on the most expensive tier, and the free version is limited and ad-supported.

TimeTree

What it is: A shared calendar app built around separate groups, so you can have one calendar for the family, another for grandparents, another for a carpool.

Best for: Families coordinating with several different groups of people.

Price: Free with ads. Premium is $4.49 a month or $44.99 a year.

Getting events in: By hand. TimeTree's Event Scan can read events from a photo or screenshot on supported devices, but it doesn't take emails.

The catch: No email import, so school and sports emails still get typed in.

FamilyWall

What it is: A family organizer that covers calendar, lists, messaging, location sharing and budgets.

Best for: Larger households that want one app for nearly everything.

Price: Free version available. Premium is $7.99 a month or $44.99 a year on the App Store.

Getting events in: Premium gives each family circle an email address. Forward an email or attachment and FamilyWall's AI creates the events.

The catch: Lots of features means a busier app, and email import still depends on someone forwarding each message.

Hearth

What it is: A 27-inch wall-mounted touchscreen with a companion app.

Best for: Families who want a big shared command center on the wall and are willing to pay for it.

Price: The display lists at $699, plus a required membership of $9 a month (discounts for paying yearly).

Getting events in: Syncs Google, Outlook and Apple calendars. Hearth Helper can turn a photo of an invite, flyer or schedule into events.

The catch: The most expensive option here, and it has to be mounted.

Sense

What it is: An AI family calendar app, with an optional wall tablet setup.

Best for: Families who are happy to forward things to an AI inbox.

Price: Free tier with a small monthly allowance of AI actions. Premium is roughly $6 to $7 a month (its website and App Store listing show slightly different prices).

Getting events in: Forward emails, screenshots, PDFs or WhatsApp messages to Sense and it creates events. Sense says it only sees what you share with it; it doesn't connect to your inbox.

The catch: Someone still has to notice and forward every email.

Kinmory

What it is: An AI family calendar app that can also run on a tablet or TV.

Best for: Small households that want AI capture from photos, screenshots, voice and email.

Price: Free for one member. AI Plus is $6.99 a month for two members; AI Group is $16.99 a month for up to eight.

Getting events in: Forward emails, or connect a mailbox and choose which senders it watches. You approve events before they're saved.

The catch: Member limits on each plan, so bigger families pay more.

Parendipity

What it is: An iPhone app for parents that connects to Gmail, watches for schedule emails from schools, coaches, leagues and team apps, and keeps one family calendar current for both parents.

Best for: Families with kids in school, sports and activities who are tired of reading every email and typing events in.

Price: $7.99 per child per month, capped at $19.99 for the whole family. 30 days free, no credit card.

Getting events in: You connect Gmail once. Parendipity monitors your inbox for schedule-related emails, extracts events, deadlines and changes, and syncs them to Google Calendar, so anything that follows that calendar (like a Skylight) stays current too. Anything it misses, you can forward.

Also does: A shared view for co-parents, assigning every pickup and dropoff, carpool coordination with other families, and a Sunday Planner for the week ahead.

The catch: iPhone only today, it works with Gmail, and it isn't a wall display (it keeps the calendar your display already follows up to date).

A note on Maple

Maple, another family organizer, has announced it is shutting down at the end of 2026. If you use it, now is a good time to move your calendar somewhere else.

Which one should you pick?

You just need everyone on the same calendar, for free: Google Calendar.
You want the schedule on the wall: Skylight (or Hearth if budget isn't a concern). Keep the calendar behind it current and the screen takes care of itself.
You want lists, meals and calendar together: Cozi or FamilyWall.
You coordinate with lots of different groups: TimeTree.
Your schedule mostly arrives by email: Parendipity if you'd rather not forward anything, or Sense, Cozi Max or Kinmory if you don't mind forwarding.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free family calendar app?
Google Calendar. A Google family group gives everyone a shared, editable family calendar at no cost. Cozi and TimeTree also have free versions with ads.

Which family calendar app works on both iPhone and Android?
Google Calendar, Cozi, TimeTree, FamilyWall and Sense all work on both. Parendipity is iPhone only today, but because it syncs to Google Calendar, an Android co-parent can still see everything there.

Can a family calendar app pull events from school emails?
Some can. Parendipity connects to Gmail and picks them up automatically. Skylight (with Calendar Plus), Cozi Max, FamilyWall Premium, Sense and Kinmory let you forward emails to an address that turns them into events.

What's the best family calendar app to use with Skylight?
Skylight displays the calendars it's connected to, so the best companion is whatever keeps those calendars accurate. Parendipity keeps Google Calendar current from your inbox, and your Skylight follows it. More in our guide to the best apps to use with Skylight Calendar.

What's the best shared calendar app for co-parents?
Any shared calendar works if both parents actually use it. Parendipity gives both parents the same view and lets you assign who's handling each pickup and dropoff.

Related guides

Try it free for 30 days: Download Parendipity on the App Store