BusyCal vs Nota
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BusyCal
This app offers a highly customizable calendar and task management solution. It integrates with popular services, supports natural language input for event creation, and provides various views and widgets for efficient scheduling. Manage events, tasks, and journals with advanced features like travel time calculation and password protection.
- Natural language input for events
- Customizable calendar views (Month, Week, Day, List, Year)
- Integrated to-do list and journal entries
- Meeting scheduling and travel time calculation
- Syncs with iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, and more
- Password protection for calendar sets
- Multiple widget options
Read full descriptionHide full description
BusyCal is a calendar and task planner built for busy schedules. It connects to every account you already use, shows your events and tasks side by side, and bends to the way you work: pinch to see more days or weeks, type events the way you would say them, and keep everything in sync with BusyCal for Mac. One-time purchase. No subscription. YOUR CALENDAR, YOUR WAY • Day, Week, Month, Year and List views, plus a dedicated Task list • Pinch to zoom: 2 to 14 days per week and 2 to 8 weeks per month, with separate portrait and landscape layouts • Customize colors, text size, weekend shading, week numbers and working hours, or show a Chinese, Hebrew, Islamic or Japanese calendar alongside • Year view as a wall planner or heat map, with Highlights that reveal your busiest months, top calendars and meeting stats TYPE IT THE WAY YOU WOULD SAY IT • Type "Lunch with Sam next Tuesday at noon" or "Standup every weekday at 9:30" and BusyCal fills in the date, time and repeat as you type • Understands alarms, time zones, calendars (/work) and links, in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese TASKS IN YOUR CALENDAR • Dated, timed and undated tasks appear right in your calendar and carry forward until done • Priorities, repeats, and a Task list you can sort by due date, priority, calendar, tag or by hand • Works with Apple Reminders, iCloud, Google Tasks, Todoist and Fastmail EVERY ACCOUNT, ONE APP • iCloud, Google Calendar, Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, Exchange, Yahoo, Fastmail, Fruux and any CalDAV server, plus WebDAV subscriptions for holidays and sports • Push updates where your server supports them, and accounts you add once are offered to your other devices • Syncs with BusyCal for Mac, Apple Calendar and any other app on the same accounts MEETINGS AND INVITES • Invite attendees, and accept, decline or reply Maybe straight from the Inbox • Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex and GoTo links become one-tap join buttons, and you can create Zoom and Teams meetings from inside the app • Block time on a second calendar in a couple of taps, with or without the details WIDGETS, WATCH, SIRI AND SHORTCUTS • Home Screen widgets for what is next, your agenda, the week, two weeks, three weeks, and tasks you can complete from the widget • Lock Screen widgets and Control Center buttons for new events and tasks • Apple Watch app with calendar, today, up next and tasks views, plus complications for your watch face • Siri: "Add lunch with Sam tomorrow at noon", "What's coming up", "When am I free" • Shortcuts actions to find, create, move, defer and complete items, and a Focus filter that switches calendar sets TRAVEL TIME, MAPS AND TIME ZONES • Add travel time to an event and get a leave-now alert based on real driving or walking time • Maps inside event details, with directions in Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze, Citymapper or TomTom GO • Favorite time zones, and events that start and end in different zones TAGS, CALENDAR SETS AND PRIVACY • Color-coded tags to track projects, people and priorities across calendars • Calendar sets: named groups of calendars, each with its own default calendars and preferred view, synced across your devices • Lock the app, or just certain calendar sets, with Face ID or Touch ID AND MORE • Weather and moon phases on your calendar • Birthdays and anniversaries from Contacts, with age and years • Search titles, locations, notes and tags across past and future BusyCal has been trusted by Mac users for more than a decade. The iPhone and iPad app is its full-featured companion, made by the same team. Questions? Visit busymac.com/docs or write to us from within the app.
Nota
Capture thoughts and ideas while listening to audio content like lectures or audiobooks. This app allows for audio-aligned note-taking, organized storage, and quick definition lookups. It offers a distraction-free environment for staying productive and insightful.
- Audio-aligned note-taking with timestamps
- Structured note organization by tags and categories
- Instant definition lookup via Wikipedia/AI
- Cloud sync for cross-device access
- Flexible freeform note input
- Private and secure data storage
Read full descriptionHide full description
Nota is your dedicated companion for capturing thoughts while listening to audiobooks, lectures, podcasts, or documentaries. Designed for focused, on-the-go note-taking, Nota helps you preserve ideas without disrupting your listening flow. Whether you’re studying for class, researching a topic, or reflecting on a story, Nota gives you the tools to stay organized, insightful, and productive. Key Features: * Audio-Aligned Note-Taking Take notes seamlessly while listening. Timestamp and tag entries to revisit key moments. * Structured Note Organization Categorize your notes into books, topics, and custom tags for easy retrieval. * Smart Definitions Instantly look up definitions and terms using built-in Wikipedia integration or AI-generated summaries. * Cloud Sync Keep your notes backed up and available across devices (optional with account login). * Flexible Input Type, edit, and reorganize notes the way you think — fast, freeform, and distraction-free. * Private by Design Your thoughts are yours. Data is securely stored and never shared without your consent. Ideal for: * College students capturing key ideas from lectures * Audiobook lovers reflecting on passages and themes * Researchers or podcast listeners collecting quotes and facts * Lifelong learners building a personal knowledge archive Stay present. Stay curious. Take smarter notes with Nota.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Nota at 100% against BusyCal's 67%. Nota also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and price ($5.99 vs $9.99). BusyCal's advantage is ratings volume (4.5K vs 2) and chart position (#25 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
BusyCal costs $9.99 and Nota $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Nota holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BusyCal has 4.5K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of BusyCal's written reviews are positive against 100% of Nota's.
| Parameter | BusyCal | Nota |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $5.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (4.5K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.5K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #25 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 133 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Busy Apps FZE | United Futures llc |
Customer experience
BusyCal
Nota
Bugs and requests
BusyCal
Reported bugs
4 issues- Badge icon not working correctly
- Syncing issues with Exchange and Office 365 calendars
- Crashes and freezes on certain iOS versions
- Reminders not syncing properly after Apple updates
Requested features
9 requests- Add support for custom repeating events
- Add ability to change font size
- Add support for widgets
- Add Apple Watch app
- Improve natural language event creation
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Add ability to show event times in month view
- Add ability to tap/hold on screen to create events
- Add support for custom task prioritization and sorting
- Improve integration with third-party apps like Todoist
Nota
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
BusyCal
No in-app purchases
Nota
No in-app purchases









