Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) vs. Google Calendar

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
iCal
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
The Apple iCloud Calendar (formerly iCal), is the calendar tool associated to Apple's productivity product suite.N/A
Google Calendar
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service, from Google, available as part of its productivity tool suite.N/A
Pricing
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)Google Calendar
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
iCalGoogle Calendar
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)Google Calendar
Considered Both Products
iCal
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
I prefer iCal for it’s overall design. Many of my colleagues use Google Calendar because it is more common across other organizations. I’ve also used Calendly in the past, which can tie into other calendar systems to help schedule appointments. The overall experience with iCal …
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
Apple calendar with family share allows me to communicate my work schedule with my family's various activities to prevent scheduling conflicts. Because all of our calendars are synced among all of our devices, we are able to plan accordingly without the need of scheduling, …
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
For our Mac and IOS users, the use of the native iOS calendar and the cloud associated with it was an obvious choice for us, especially with the distribution of Apple products to our teams out in the field. For android users, it is easy to access the same services using the …
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
apple ical has the tools i need at work to schedule everything and now i can sync my Google Calendar there to manage my accounts in one app.I used to miss meetings or be late for a conference because I had my calendars from different email accounts in separate managers and that …
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
I use Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) over Google Calendar because I'm a full Apple user. I use Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) over Calendly because my clients are not booking their meetings with me. I'm setting the meetings up.
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) is more user friendly for me and for the other employees that I have because we are usually Mac based so being able to use something that coordinates with all of our devices is a major game changer in our industry.
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
As a native app for Apple devices, it is great - but I think that Google Workspace (and Calendar) is better, especially as the Meet default for a video call is built in. I have and do use Office 365 - and with Teams you can schedule a video or Teams call too, but I don't like …
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
The both work just great. Still, having a iOS device based company, iCal has been of great ease of use throughout. Also, the interphase with the user is a bit more comfortable to us.
Chose Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)
Google Cal and Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) are comparable. I like the ability to add Google Meetings easily within that app.
Google Calendar
Chose Google Calendar
Google Calendar is much easier to use than iCal in my experience simply because it is more reliable. It particularly seems to work better with the Microsoft suite of products as some of my coworkers who lean on iCal occasionally miss meeting invites as they don't sync correctly …
Chose Google Calendar
There are a lot of overlapping similarities between iCal and Google Calendar, which made it difficult to land on one at first. Ultimately, since we have some folks in Apple environments and some in Microsoft environments, Google was the best option to bridge those workspaces. …
Chose Google Calendar
Google Calendar is more ubiquitous. So many people use it, and it integrates with other calendar apps so easily that it was the obvious choice. We use it for everything, and it's never a problem for people using other calendar apps. Because it doesn't cause any headaches for …
Chose Google Calendar
Apple Calendar is a lot harder to use and is much less collaborative. It's harder to set up multiple calendars and invite guests, let alone add on a video conferencing link. It doesn't mesh well with mail apps the way Google does, too. I can add an event to my calendar on …
Chose Google Calendar
Google is available across different platforms and is also very user-friendly. If your colleagues use a Google service, Google Calendar will be very easy to implement and use.
Chose Google Calendar
I've used Apple Calendar before, and it's ok for my phone, but for doing things on my computer, I trust google calendar much more.
Chose Google Calendar
Notion is great for organizing personal tasks, which Google Calendar isn't the best for. However, Google Calendar is the best for co-working due to its direct Google Meets links, simplicity, and ability to view other people's schedules. Google Calendar is also better to access …
Chose Google Calendar
Google Calendar seems much cleaner and easily syncs to multiple devices. I like that there are multiple views available at a time so as to not have to switch back and forth between daily/weekly/monthly views. The fact that it syncs with Google Meet makes it very easy to not …
Best Alternatives
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)Google Calendar
Small Businesses
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
CoSchedule Marketing Suite
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Google Calendar
Google Calendar
Score 9.4 out of 10
Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)Google Calendar
Likelihood to Recommend
5.4
(13 ratings)
9.3
(25 ratings)
Usability
5.9
(2 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal)Google Calendar
Likelihood to Recommend
Apple
Especially if they use apple devices, I would recommend this over other cloud based calendars for its tight integration with apple devices. You can generally add events by simply highlighting the relevant information and adding to the calendar. Or Apple mail will often automatically detect an event and give to the option to add it to your iCal with a single click of a button.
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Google
I think it's appropriate for everyone that meets with customers, meets with people within their businesses. I even put my personal calendar on my work calendar. I'm just looking at it every day, so I think everyone could use it.
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Pros
Apple
  • Perfectly syncs between all devices
  • It allows me to set multiple reminders before a meeting
  • When I add an address it automatically links to Apple Maps so I can see where i am going and also how long it will take me. I can easiy click on the link and it will start navigation for me, pretty cool
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Google
  • Enables the creation of designated Focus Hours
  • Enables users to set their "working hours" and others can see if they are setting up a meetings a moon symbol next to their name to show it is outside of that invitees working hours
  • Allows you to easily create scheduled tasks directly on your Google Calendar
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Cons
Apple
  • I would love it to have more visualizations and not just the classic one in a common calendar and that it could be customized
  • You have the possibility to have a face-to-face call by sharing a link that, in my opinion, could be improved by creating groups of only contacts and limiting access to the meeting.
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Google
  • The booking page is really helpful for external people who want to chat with me, but so few people use it, that it makes it more frustrating. The solution exists but nobody is using it. It needs to be highlighted more
  • You have to switch between email accounts or set up additional calendars to schedule work events vs personal events
  • integrations with other calendars don't update quickly, so sometimes a coworkers vacation doesn't show up in the calendar until much later
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Usability
Apple
I am sure there is something that could be improved - if I had any suggestion it would be that users are able to integrate their calendar with others that do not have an iPhone to be able to make it more usable to everyone.
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Google
The platform itself is pretty user friendly even if you don't have a technical background. You can easily schedule meetings, block out focus time, update your time off, and add meeting notes. The settings are easily mapped out in terms of functionality and if you need help you can easily search for an answer on Google search
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Alternatives Considered
Apple
For our Mac and IOS users, the use of the native iOS calendar and the cloud associated with it was an obvious choice for us, especially with the distribution of Apple products to our teams out in the field. For android users, it is easy to access the same services using the web-based client, and iCal allows various account types to be added to calendar invites. The iCal application allows the addition of 3rd party email and calendar accounts allow to be seamlessly integrated. All of the calendar accounts can be overlayed along with the native iCloud accounts. Google Calendar by comparison struggled to do all of these things as well, preferring their google Meet as the conference software and preferring Gmail accounts over all other types.
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Google
Most of the other services we would use don't have the same integration with other Google services that Google Calendar has. The ability to view and set things from your email is very convenient. So is the ability to have your notifications automatically show up on an Android phone as a reminder.
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Return on Investment
Apple
  • Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) has caused me to miss meetings because it didn't sync up properly with my Microsoft Exchange/Outlook calendar
  • Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) has caused me frustration because it will often show duplicate events that aren't duplicated in my Microsoft Exchange/Outlook calendar.
  • Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) has caused my headaches and wasted my time by causing me to have to manually re-sync my Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) calendar with my Microsoft Exchange/Outlook calendar. Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) offers no easy way to do this automatically.
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Google
  • Very significant improvement in employee productivity (more than 10%), because people spend much less time arranging meetings.
  • Essential tool to develop remote work within the company during Covid.
  • No need to build an email infrastructure (significant cost reduction in IT infrastructure).
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ScreenShots