What is Notion Calendar?
Notion acquired a company called Cron and then re-named it Notion Calendar. We loved Cron and when the acquisition happened, we had some mixed emotions...
It was very much a 5 stages of grief situation, it was a great calendar, obviously built by people who obsess over UX, so it was hard to think that Notion was going to make a ton of changes. We actually ended up deleting it for well over a year.
But over a year later, we were pleased to see that Notion kept most of it the same. They did start to plug their own products within the calendar, adding in subtle pushes to integrate your calendar with Notion and Notion Mail, which we're not huge fans of. But that aside, the calendar itself is arguably the most thoughtfully designed calendar app on the market.
It's not really that the Notion Calendar does anything revolutionary, it's not going to suddenly make you more productive or help you manage your time. It just has… excellent design.
It’s fast. It’s minimal. It feels like someone was picky about the details. For most people, Google Calendar is more than enough. But if you're just looking for a free, user-friendly calendar to replace Google Calendar, it's an easy recommendation!
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The most thoughtfully designed calendar UI available
- Extremely fast and responsive
- Excellent keyboard shortcuts
- Smooth multi-timezone support
- Smart natural language event creation
Cons
- Constant subtle push toward Notion ecosystem
- No natural language event creation
Key Features
Thoughtful UI Design
Every interaction feels intentional. You could be dragging events, resizing blocks, or even switching views and still experience the same visually polished interface.
The design team definitely obsessed over micro-interactions. With most calendars prioritizing functionality, it's really refreshing to see one that also values design!
Flexible Multi-Day Views
Something calendars don't always get right is the level of customization. Too much customization and it starts to feel overwhelming. Too little and it feels restrictive. Notion calendar found that Goldilocks zone, and it's easy to see with things like the multi-day view.
It's as easy as pressing a number on your keyboard (1–9), and it instantly customizes how many days you see, with one press.
You can horizontally scroll through time, which makes it feel like you’re navigating an ongoing timeline, so really it's the little things that change how the app feels.
Edit Shared Events
Like every third-party calendar built on Google, it inherits API constraints.
For example:
If someone else owns an event, you often can’t directly modify it, even if they’ve granted permission.
Most calendar apps just stop there and say, "Not our problem."
But Notion Calendar dug deeper. They created a clever workaround that allows you to temporarily hide your own calendar and directly adjust the shared calendar instead. It’s not perfect, but it’s a thoughtful layer most competitors either didn't think to implement or just didn't feel like adding.
They’re pushing the API as far as it can go, and to us, that speaks volumes.
Keyboard Shortcuts
For power users, this is where the app really shines.
Press C to create an event.
Press T to jump back to today.
Use natural language like “8 weeks” and jump directly to that date.
It makes for a seriously straightforward, fast experience that helps you to just get it done.
Pricing
- Free: Best for individuals & students wanting a clean, usable calendar.
- Paid: Best for Notion users who want to unlock advanced database features and team functionality.
