Google Calendar vs SavvyCal

Google Calendar is the official calendar app that comes with your Google account (along with Google Workspace and Gmail). You can schedule events, set task reminders, and share your calendar with others, all the stuff you'd expect from a calendar.

For most people, Google Calendar is more than enough. But the truth of the matter is, it’s built for the masses, which means the interface is cluttered and it's less thoughtfully designed than newer purpose built calendar apps. It has looked the same for the past 6+ years, but it's because they are building the web app, Android app, and iOS app for billions of users. With that, they can't be that innovative without upsetting tons of their users. Move one button and the whole world is up in arms.

Its biggest strength is being the universal backbone of some of the best calendar apps and best daily planner apps on the market.

• Works on desktop, iOS, and Android
• Deep integration with Gmail and Google Workspace
• Allows multiple calendars in one place
• Serves as the backbone for most third-party calendar apps
• Excellent mobile app experience

• UI feels built for the masses (can feel cluttered)

Many calendar apps on this list rely on Google Calendar as a foundation for syncing, permissions, and event management. If you upgrade to another calendar app later, you'll still be using Google Calendar underneath.

While Google Calendar is a great foundation, it's not the nicest-looking calendar app out there.

Google Calendar is the most feature-rich calendar you can get, and they've done a great job of integrating natively with Gmail, Google Meet, and Google Workspace. So that means it's easy to create events directly from emails, gaining it some productivity points. You can also attach Meet links automatically and share calendars across teams, essentially locking you into their ecosystem.

Google Calendar’s mobile app is one of the best free calendars. It almost seems like they put more care and effort into the mobile app because the UI is very clean and responsive compared to desktop or web.

• Free: For those who have created a Google account
• Included in Google Workspace plans (Business Starter, Standard, Plus, Enterprise — pricing varies by tier)

SavvyCal is well-suited for teams that value personalized scheduling and a user-friendly interface, offering thoughtful features like allowing someone scheduling with you to drag times on your calendar instead of clicking available slots.

However, when it comes to workflows and API capabilities, SavvyCal falls short. It’s not as powerful as something like Calendly or our top pick, Cal.com (check out our Cal.com review). If your scheduling needs are heavy or complex, SavvyCal won’t be able to meet those demands effectively.

Adding to this, SavvyCal doesn’t offer a free plan—not even for a single scheduling link—leaving us questioning why you’d pay for it when Cal.com offers free scheduling on their individual tier.