To help you find the right digital planner that syncs with Google Calendar, weāve spent 20+ hours scouring the market and ultimately curated these 9 picks! Most of them are:
- Free to start
- Available on multiple platforms and devices
- User-friendly with no steep learning curve
Each digital planner in this list comes with unique features and functionalities.
So, whatever your needs may be ā whether for personal use or team collaboration, project management or habit tracking ā we have the perfect recommendation for you.
I. Factors to Consider Choosing the Best Digital Planners with Google Calendar Sync
When looking for a digital planner that integrates with Google Calendar, consider the 4 following factors:
1ļøā£ Integration type
Check if the digital planner offers one-way or two-way integration with Google Calendar. Not all digital planners offer two-way integration.
a) One-way sync
This means events from Google Calendar are displayed in the planner, but changes made in the planner don’t reflect in Google Calendar.
Who it suits?
- Users who primarily manage events in Google Calendar & only want to view them in their digital planner.
- Users who prefer a read-only view of their Google Calendar events.
b) Two-way sync
This means changes you make in either Google Calendar or the digital planner will sync seamlessly between both platforms.
Who it suits?
- Users who want to manage and update events in both Google Calendar and the digital planner.
- Teams or collaborators who require shared calendar management with immediate synchronization.
2ļøā£ How many Google Calendar accounts can the digital planner connect with?
Determine if the digital planner allows for connecting multiple Google Calendar accounts or just one.
This is crucial if you need to manage events from multiple Google accounts or share calendars with others.
- Multiple Accounts: Best for individuals or teams who need to centralize and manage multiple calendars in one place.
- Single Account: Best for users with only one Google Calendar to sync.
3ļøā£ Color coding
If you use color-coded events in Google Calendar, check if the digital planner preserves these colors. This helps maintain consistency and easily identify different types of events at a glance within your digital planner.
4ļøā£ Features & functionalities
Make sure the digital planner offers the features and functionalities you need.
Whether it’s task management, reminders, or collaboration tools, ensure the planner aligns with your specific requirements.
Read more:
II. Which Is The Best Digital Planner That Syncs With Google Calendar? Our 9 Picks
1. TickTick
Imagine a free digital planner that takes the hassle out of organizing your personal life ā TickTick is that solution.
It offers a cohesive feature package of task lists, focus timers, and calendars to help you with task management, time tracking, and scheduling.
There are 5 views in its calendar: day, 3-day, weekly, and monthly.
Plus, you can customize these views to fit your unique needs.
For example, you can choose to show/hide completed tasks, hide certain time slots, or decide how tasks are color-coded.
TickTick offers two-way synchronization with both Google and Apple Calendar. This bridges the gap between task management and calendar scheduling, making it an indispensable tool for organizing your life.
The cherry on top?
You can access TickTick on multiple devices, including iOS and Android devices, as well as on web browsers.
Core Features
- 5 Calendar views: day, 3-day, weekly, and monthly
- Time-tracking features: Pomo timers & time-blocking
- Task reminders, tags, and labels
- Natural language processing
- Two-way sync with Google and Apple calendar
- 60+ habit tracker templates, covering multiple categories
Limitations
- Not support managing big tasks or complex projects
- Limited collaboration features
Pricing
TickTick is free to start while offering an annual subscription for $35.99 (less than $3/month).
2. Upbase
When it comes to digital planners that seamlessly sync with Google Calendar, Upbase is the undisputed champion.
Whether you’re a solo planner or part of a team, Upbase is designed to make your life easier, more organized, and more productive.
Why Upbase’s Google Calendar integration is a game-changer?
i) Deep and reliable two-way synchronization:
This means any changes made in one app are effortlessly mirrored in the other, ensuring you’re always up to date.
Besides, Upbase allows for multiple-accounts connection.
ii) Privacy and Customization
Your calendar events remain private. Your team members can’t sneak a peek unless you decide to share specific events.
You also have full control over which tasks appear on your Google Calendar and which calendars sync with Upbase.
iii) Preservation of Color Coding
Designed with your needs in mind, Upbase preserves the original color coding of your Google Calendar events.
This way, you wonāt feel overwhelmed when managing schedules across apps, enhancing productivity.
Setting up the synchronization with Upbase is a breeze. Just follow a few easy steps, and you’re ready to experience the power of a perfectly synchronized digital planner.
Explore Upbase’s Impressive Features:
Upbase isn’t just about Google Calendar integration; it’s a powerhouse of productivity tools. Let’s take a quick tour:
A. Schedule tool
This is a centralized place within Upbase where you get quick access to all planners and calendars.
The tool offers four views:
- Daily Planner
- Weekly Planner
- Weekly Calendar
- Monthly Calendar
Combining with deep Google Calendar integration, Upbase simplifies the scheduling/planning process.
You can efficiently schedule tasks to the exact date and get a holistic view of upcoming scheduled events.
B. Timer, Notepad, and Daily Notes
Boost your productivity with tools like the focus timer, “Notepad,” and the journal-like “Daily Notes.” These tools integrate seamlessly with your to-do list and daily calendar view.
Letās take a closer look!
The timer is inspired by the Pomodoro technique. However, you can adjust the durations and add ambient sounds if you want.
“Notepad” and “Daily Notes” are two private tools. They both support slash commands with various formatting options but function a bit differently.
āNotepadā is a single blank page for capturing quick thoughts, ideas, and notes that come as urgent tasks, while āDaily Notesā is for journaling. It allows you to reflect on every workday, and then organize all these journals day by day.
Click on an old journal, you can also view the task list completed that day.
A great tool for goal-tracking and stress-controlling!
But assured, if you don’t have any of these habits, you can hide the corresponding tools away from the interface, keeping it cluttered-free.
C. Project and task management
Upbase serves as your ultimate task manager.
It allows you to create unlimited tasks, and subtasks. You can then prioritize tasks, attach files, add start and due dates/times, set recurring tasks, and more.
Have so many tasks on hand?
You can organize them into project lists.
Additionally, you can customize the icons and colors of these project lists and categorize them into folders – making it more intuitive.
You can also visualize all tasks within a project list by list or Kanban board view.
If you share your workspace with others, the “My Tasks” page is a solution to save time on tracking your assigned tasks and tasks you create.
D. Communication and collaboration
Upbase offers unlimited users and doesn’t bill you for clients. Plus, it’s packed with various collaboration features.
To improve the transparency when working with others on a task, you can add notes, assignees, and watchers, or tag them in the comment box.
There’s more.
Upbase allows teams to collaborate on files and documents, embed Google Docs and Google Drive folders, create and reply to discussions, access project schedules, chat in real-time, and share links.
This is where the project lists shine bright.
They separate all these items from one project to another. This way, each project list functions like a project/team hub – enhancing team efficiency when it comes to collaboration and project data management.
But don’t worry, you can hide away these collaborative tools from those personal projects with a few simple clicks.
This also means you can work with multiple teams across different projects without them seeing your personal projects.
An easy way to create and maintain a work-life balance!
Pricing
Upbase offers one of the most generous free plans on the market. With the Free Forever plan, you get unlimited tasks, members, and storage. If you’re looking for a free planner app, give it a try!
3. Todoist
Due to its “Today” and “Next 7 Days” pages, Todoist works well as an online planner app for organizing your weekly and daily tasks.
Read Full Review: Todoist Review.
You can start using it with ease.
The interface is simple and designed for the way your brain works: key features all stay on the left menu, feature names are easily guessable, and creating new tasks is as simple as a click of a button.
The best part?
Todoist uses NLP (natural language processing), allowing you to type tasks, add due dates, or set task recurrence naturally just as you’re messaging someone.
You can also prioritize tasks, set reminders, leave comments, or delegate tasks to others.
Then, you can sync them across your devices (web, mobile, or laptop) to conveniently review the day and week ahead.
Todoist offers integrations with many dedicated calendar apps, such as Google, Apple, and Outlook calendars.
But itās worth noting that the platform itself has no native calendar feature. This means it’s a must to connect Todoist with an external calendar app if you want to schedule tasks.
Core Features
- Inbox, Today, and Next 7 Days pages
- Labels & filters
- Natural language processing
- Karma points & productivity hub
Limitations
- Limited time-tracking features
- No native calendars
- Not suitable for managing big tasks or complex projects
Pricing
4. Planner Pro
Planner Pro is best-suited for those seeking a mobile-friendly personal planner to organize their daily tasks on the go.
It’s available for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Android devices, free to download, and also shows all of your calendars: Google, Mac, and iOS calendars.
You can organize tasks, events, and notes easily in this free digital planner app.
For example, you can break down big tasks into subtasks, add deadlines, set reminders, or choose from 25+ priorities.
You can also create unlimited notes, sketch directly on them, and attach audio files. Schedule tasks in day, week, and month views, and add time slots to each.
Core Features
- Digital calendar with day, week, and month views
- Deadlines & time slots for time-tracking
- Task priorities, reminders, and deadlines
- Notes
Limitations
- No web version
- Syncing with Google Calendar on the iPad is frustrating
- Not suitable for managing projects
Pricing
5. GoodNotes
GoodNotes is known as a note-taking app primarily designed for iPhone, iPad (including iPad Pro), and Mac devices. But you can also turn it into your digital planner using a variety of input methods:
- Typing
- Handwriting with Apple Pencil
- Importing a digital planner template.
You can easily find a bunch of GoodNotes planner templates and sticker packs on any digital stationery. From all-in-one planners with hour time slots for time tracking to daily pages interlinked with Google Calendar reminders.
These templates are also compatible with other PDF annotation apps. The price ranges are varied, too.
After making a purchase, just set it as the main digital planner on GoodNotes, and you can start using it.
This method eats time, obviously! However, its redeeming feature -the digital handwriting – helps those familiar with the traditional approach not feel overwhelmed when changing from paper planners.
In comparison, handwriting on a digital planner is much more convenient than that on a paper planner.
Take some examples.
You can rename tasks how many times you like – just by clicking on the Apple pencil icon. Drag and drop tasks to reschedule them. Or, add digital stickers to your GoodNotes planner.
But it’s worth noting that these digital planners don’t sync with Apple and Google Calendar by default. So, you have to download a shortcut file to set up Google Calendar links to your GoodNotes planner.
It’s important to note that this setup only allows for connecting either Google or Apple Calendar app to the daily pages.
Core Features
- Handwriting recognition
- Pen and Highlighter Tools
- Notebooks, folders, and tags
- Audio-recording
Limitations
- Time-consuming to use
- Require a complex process to connect with Google Calendar
- No web app or Android app
Pricing
6. Trello
Trello is not a dedicated online planner app, but you can transform it into one by taking advantage of its premade planner templates, integration options, and Power-Up inventory.
Just select your favorite planner template, create new tasks or pull tasks from other existing tools, then start organizing them.
Read Full Review: Trello Review.
You can sprinkle some Power-Up magic on tasks to enhance control. For example, you can add multiple work logs to specific tasks using the Time Tracking and Reporting power-up.
Ultimately, sync up these scheduled tasks to other calendars – such as Google, Apple, Outlook, and more in just a few simple clicks, making it more visual to track schedules.
Core Features
- Kanban boards & task cards
- Various planner templates
- Search functionality
- Power-Ups
- Automation, aka Butler
Limitations
- No native planner pages or calendars
- No timers
Pricing
7. Notion
One of the best free digital planners with seamless integration with Google Calendar, Notion stands out for its unparalleled versatility.
It doesn’t confine you to one-size-fits-all templates, but lets you craft a digital planner from scratch that mirrors your unique needs.
But that’s not all.
Beyond organizing your to-do lists and calendars, you can build custom databases, collaborate effortlessly, and streamline project management with ease.
The freedom and creative control that Notion offers make it the top pick for those who want a digital planner that’s truly their own.
Core Features
- Rich planner template gallery
- Pages with various capabilities and high customizabilities
- Slash commands with numerous formatting options
- Web Clipper
- Automation
Limitations
- Overwhelming to learn
- It may be difficult to navigate due to nested features
- Lack of some collaboration features
Pricing
8. Sunsama
Unlike other digital planners in this list, Sunsama doesn’t offer a free version. But you can try its 14-day trial before making an informed decision.
Sunsama is an aesthetic personal planner app that allows you to gather tasks and events from everywhere into a centralized place, making it more efficient to manage, organize, and keep track.
In short, it makes your life easier.
Sunsama’s main workspace is an aesthetic Kanban-style weekly planner where you can easily create a to-do list for each date.
Read Full Review: Sunsama Review.
To enhance transparency, you can then add channels, deadlines, and attachments to these tasks.
What sets Sunsama apart from other digital planners is its dedicated features to maximizing your focus – the Today View and the Focus Mode.
The Today View looks like a simpler version of Upbase’s Daily Planner page, showing your daily to-dos and a daily calendar, while the Focus Mode is a minimized view that only shows the task you’re currently working on.
Besides, Sunsama offers planned and actual time features for time-tracking.
Core Features
- Channels and contexts
- Planned and actual timers
- Focus Mode
- Today View
- Daily Planning Rituals
Limitations
- No free version
- Expensive pricing, compared to other counterparts
- Not for complex project management
Pricing
9. Artful Agenda
Artful Agenda is among the best free digital planners for those seeking an artistic touch to their organization.
It effortlessly syncs with Google Calendar, elevating your planning game.
What makes Artful Agenda truly exceptional is its dedication to visual customization, offering an array of themes, fonts, and color options to craft a personalized planner that’s uniquely yours.
Artful Agenda doesn’t just manage to-do lists and appointments; it fosters goal-driven planning and provides a supportive community for motivation.
With shared calendars, you can seamlessly coordinate with your team or family.
And the web-based accessibility of Artful Agenda means your schedule is always at your fingertips, no matter where you are.
If you appreciate the beauty in planning and the convenience of Google Calendar integration, Artful Agenda is your go-to choice, bringing style and substance to your organizational needs.
Core Features
- Customizable layouts, with various themes, colors, and fonts
- Task management: priorities, subtasks, due dates and times, and reminders
- Goal tracking
- Note-taking
Limitations
- Complex setup and integration process
- Limited free version
Pricing
Artful Agenda subscription costs $35/year.
Upbase – The Best Digital Planner That Syncs With Google Calendar
After exploring 9 top digital planners that sync with Google Calendar, one clear winner emerges: Upbase.
It’s not just a planner; it’s your productivity partner.
With flawless Google Calendar integration, two-way synchronization, and the unique ability to preserve event color-coding, Upbase streamlines your planning process.
But it doesn’t stop thereāit excels in project management, task tracking, and collaboration.
Why settle for less when you can have the best? Make the switch to Upbase today. Sign up for an Upbase account now, and experience a seamless, organized, and productive life.
Say goodbye to cluttered schedules and hello to efficiency with Upbase as your go-to digital planner.
