Comparison

Google Calendar vs GroupCal

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Google Calendar

This official app helps you manage your schedule and stay organized. It automatically adds events from Gmail, syncs across devices, and allows for shared calendars. You can also create tasks, customize views, and integrate with Google Meet for collaboration.

Highlights
  • Automatic event import from Gmail
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Shared calendars for collaboration
  • Task management alongside events
  • Customizable views and themes
  • Google Meet integration
Features
Read full description

The official Google Calendar app helps you stay organized and plan your day with easy event creation, multiple calendars, customizable views, widgets, and tasks. With Google Calendar, you can: • Get events automatically added to your Calendar from Gmail, including flight, hotel, concert, and restaurant reservations. • Go from using Calendar on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch to your computer without missing a beat when you’re logged into the same Google account. • Consolidate and view Google Calendar events side-by-side with other calendars on your device, including Exchange and iCloud. • Keep family, friends, and colleagues in the loop with shared calendars, so they can view, add, or modify events. • Quickly switch between month, week, and day views. • Stay on top of to-dos by creating and managing tasks alongside your events in Calendar. • Personalize your Google Calendar with light or dark mode or by color-coding your events • Always know what's next while on the go with Google Calendar on Apple Watch by customizing your watch face with Calendar complications or adding widgets. Google Calendar is part of Google Workspace, allowing you and your team to easily connect, create, and collaborate across all your favorite Google tools. You can: • Collaborate in a hybrid work environment by adding a Google Meet video call to an Calendar event • Get access to professional booking pages to easily book clients and customers*. • Schedule meetings with teammates by checking their availability or layering their calendars in a single view • Add your working location to your calendar to make it easier for your teammates to schedule meetings with you*. • Keep everyone on track for a meeting by attaching meeting notes, pre-read materials, and other documents directly to a calendar event. • Use Google Calendar with confidence knowing it’s supported by Google’s enterprise-level privacy, user safety and data security. * Requires a Google Workspace or Google One AI Premium subscription

About

GroupCal

Easily create and share calendars for families, teams, or any community. Invite members via phone number or link and receive real-time updates on events. Integrates with existing calendars for a unified view.

Highlights
  • Create multiple shared calendars
  • Invite via phone number or link
  • Real-time event updates and notifications
  • Integrates with existing calendars
  • Public calendars for businesses and communities
  • Color-coded calendars and customization
  • Event attendance tracking
Features
Read full description

GroupCal is the most powerful platform for individuals and businesses, to share calendars with groups, families, customers, followers and any community. Inviting members to a shared calendar is quick and easy. Simply send a link to members, or invite them using their phone numbers from your contact list. They will be able to instantly view the calendar on any device. Members of shared calendars get real time updates when events are added or updated. GroupCal is free, easy to use, and available on any mobile device. ==== GroupCal - Main Features ==== SHARED CALENDARS FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES People use GroupCal to create shared calendars such as: • Family calendar for parents and children • Calendar for businesses with all activities and events • Calendar for teams to share meetings, projects and schedule • Calendar for students, teachers and classes • Calendar for a group of friends • Calendar for a group with a common interest • Public calendar for universities, clubs, bands and brands - anyone can search and join it CREATE MULTIPLE SHARED CALENDARS EASILY Create multiple shared calendars for different topics and groups. Each calendar is used for its own topic and with its own members. INVITE USING PHONE NUMBERS. NO NEED FOR EMAIL ADDRESS Invite members using their phone numbers, right from your contact list, or by sending a link via Email, Messenger, WhatsApp, or SMS. No need to have email addresses of the members. ALL YOUR CALENDARS IN ONE PLACE Your Existing Calendars are also in GroupCal. Your private schedule from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook is presented in GroupCal, side by side to the shared calendar you create or join using GroupCal. You get a unified view of all your calendars on one screen and in one place. BUSINESSES - CREATE PUBLIC CALENDARS Set calendars as “public” to have them visible to anyone around the world. Public calendars are searchable by GroupCal users. REAL TIME NOTIFICATIONS Members of shared calendars get real time updates and notifications when they are added to the calendar, and when events are added or updated. JOINING SHARED CALENDARS IS SO EASY Either click on a link a member sent to you, or join an existing public calendar on GroupCal by using the search option: discover your University's schedule, Yoga class schedule, your favorite band’s concerts and more. COLOR CODED CALENDARS AND SPECIAL CUSTOMIZATION Select a color and a photo for each calendar to easily distinguish between calendars and their events. KNOW HOW’S ATTENDING Get a better visibility about each event: see when the event was delivered per member, and who accepted or declined participation. MINIMALIST DESIGN & USER FRIENDLY GroupCal has a simple and clear design that makes it super easy to use. It’s built to be very user friendly and intuitive. Features in the app are accompanied with short explanations so you don’t have to spend much time to learn and get used to it. ADD REMINDERS AND TASKS TO CALENDAR EVENTS Use advanced features such as recurrence to events, multiple reminders for each event, or notes and subtasks which are assigned to events. ADVANCED CALENDAR PERMISSIONS Choose the permission level for each shared calendar. Assign admins, set whether the calendar’s name and photo can be changed, who is allowed to add or update events, and whether members can add other new members to the calendar. CROSS PLATFORM GroupCal is available worldwide for all major platforms.

Screenshots

Google Calendar4 screens
GroupCal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: GroupCal at 78% against Google Calendar's 35%. GroupCal also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Google Calendar's advantage is ratings volume (132K vs 799) and chart position (#16 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Google Calendar sells 22 in-app purchases, starting at $0.89 per month and GroupCal sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

GroupCal holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Calendar has 132K ratings behind it against 799, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 35% of Google Calendar's written reviews are positive against 78% of GroupCal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Google Calendar ships an update weekly, GroupCal fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Google Calendar versus GroupCal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoogle CalendarGroupCal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (132K ratings)4.7 (799 ratings) — better
Positive reviews35.1% of reviews78.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings132K — better799
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#16 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size284 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoogle24me

Customer experience

Google Calendar

All ratings131,976 ratings
Positive89.0%
Neutral3.6%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews1,499 reviews
Positive35.1%
Neutral15.7%
Negative49.2%

GroupCal

All ratings799 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral3.5%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews324 reviews
Positive78.4%
Neutral5.6%
Negative16.0%

User reviews

Google Calendar

From 132K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Keeps me organized
  • 🎨 Customizable colors
  • 📅 Integrates with email and other calendars
  • 🔔 Helpful reminders
  • 🤝 Ability to share calendars

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🕰️ Slow loading times
  • 📆 Date on app icon doesn't change
  • 🔀 Difficulty editing and managing events
  • 🌈 Limited color options

GroupCal

From 799 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Efficient scheduling and coordination
  • 💡 Helpful for families and small businesses
  • 🙌 Great for shared calendars and event planning

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔒 Concerns about privacy and data access
  • 💸 Limited features in free version

Bugs and requests

Google Calendar

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Events not syncing properly between app and web versions
  • Incorrect time zone changes for events
  • New events automatically added to wrong calendar

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow recurring events on specific days (e.g. 2nd Wednesday of the month)
  • Add ability to set reminders for event end times
  • Integrate with more email/calendar providers beyond Gmail
  • Provide more customization options for event colors and icons
  • Display the current date on the app icon

GroupCal

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to delete shared calendars
  • Calendar events not syncing properly
  • Phone number verification issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Color-coding for individual calendars
  • Improved recurring event scheduling
  • Integration with other calendar apps

In-app purchases

22 purchases

Google Calendar

Subscriptions22
  • 30 GB1 Month trial$0.891 Month
  • 30 GB$0.891 Month
  • 100 GB2 variants$1.991 Month
Show 19 more
  • 100 GB1 Month trial2 variants$1.991 Month
  • 200 GB1 Month trial2 variants$2.991 Month
  • 200 GB2 variants$2.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (400 GB)$4.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (2 TB)1 Month trial2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Google AI Plus (2 TB)2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Google AI Pro (5 TB)2 variants$19.991 Month
  • 100 GB1 Month trial$19.991 Year
  • 100 GB$19.991 Year
  • 100 GB1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Google One AI Premium (2 TB)$19.991 Month
  • 5 TB$24.991 Month
  • 200 GB1 Year trial$29.991 Year
  • 200 GB$29.991 Year
  • 20 TB$99.991 Month
  • 2 TB1 Month trial$99.991 Year
  • 2 TB$99.991 Year
  • Google AI Ultra (30 TB)$249.991 Month
  • 5 TB2 variants$249.991 Year
9 purchases

GroupCal

Subscriptions9
  • Pro7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Pro$14.991 Month
  • Business7 Days trial$74.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • GroupCal Pro1 Year trial2 variants$119.991 Year
  • GroupCal Pro7 Days trial$119.991 Year
  • Business +7 Days trial$224.991 Month
  • GroupCal Business1 Year trial$599.991 Year
  • Business7 Days trial$599.991 Year
  • Business +7 Days trial$1000.001 Year

Questions

Is Google Calendar free?
Google Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is GroupCal free?
GroupCal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Google Calendar or GroupCal?
GroupCal is rated higher. Google Calendar averages 4.5 out of 5 from 132K ratings, while GroupCal averages 4.7 from 799 ratings.
Do Google Calendar or GroupCal have ads?
Neither Google Calendar nor GroupCal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Google Calendar or GroupCal?
Google Calendar ships an update weekly, and GroupCal fortnightly. Most recently, Google Calendar was updated on September 24, 2026 and GroupCal on September 24, 2026.

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