If you use Gmail, you probably also use Google Calendar. It’s free, available on your phone and the web, and does the basics right. But if you do anything more than keep tabs on expiry dates and bill payments, Google’s offering is, again, very basic.
Fantastical is an excellent Google Calendar alternative and shines in areas where Google’s offering feels lacking. It works seamlessly with all your existing calendars, including Google, iCloud, Exchange, and reminders and to-do apps. But it also adds natural language processing to quickly add events and offers advanced calendar features that make Google Calendar look ancient.
- OS
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macOS, Windows, iOS, watchOS
- Price model
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Premium
Fantastical is a feature-rich calendar app for Apple and Windows devices, offering powerful calendar sets, Focus Mode filters, natural language event creation, custom widgets, and seamless family or work calendar management for superior organization.
Fantastical offers a beautiful interface
An intuitive, functional interface
The first thing you’ll notice about Fantastical is the user interface. The “ticker view” puts your week up top with an expandable month view and scrolling days below. You can quickly jump between days, weeks, months, and years. In comparison, the multiple view modes in Google Calendar feel a little clunky.
Click the app icon in the system tray on your PC, and it shows a compact calendar widget that shows your day at a glance. This way, you don’t need to open a separate app window just to check what’s next or add an event. The iOS widget also shows useful information instead of making you tap through the full app.
On my PC, the menu bar calendar shows dots for event density, which is a subtle but useful way to see busy days at a glance. The agenda view lists your events with useful details, not just colored blocks. And when you need to add something quickly, just start typing and Fantastical will fill in the details for you (more on this later).
Excellent third-party app integration and sync
Syncs with Google Calendar, Outlook, and task management apps
Fantastical works with whatever calendars you already use, including Google, iCloud, Exchange, Office 365, or any CalDAV server. While your underlying setup remains the same, Fantastical offers a better interface to manage it all.
The sync works without issues and updates across apps instantly. Add an event in Fantastical, and it appears in Google Calendar immediately. Similarly, when you accept a meeting invite in Outlook, it shows up without delay. All the new invites and meeting schedules appear on top of the window. Click the Inbox icon, and you can respond by clicking Accept, Decline or Maybe.
Task integration is another area where Fantastical excels. It pulls in tasks from Apple Reminders, Google Tasks and Todoist, showing them alongside your calendar events. You can check off tasks directly from the calendar view, create new ones with due dates, and see everything in one unified timeline.
The app handles multiple accounts without a fuss. I have my personal Google Calendar, work Exchange calendar, and my wife’s shared iCloud calendar all in one view. You can color-code them to know which is which, and use calendar sets that let you quickly switch between them to see events from only a specific calendar.
Fastest way to add new events and schedule meetings
Quickly add events with natural language parsing and send openings
You can use Cal.new to quickly add new calendar events in Google Calendar, but Fantastical makes it even easier to add new events and block your schedule. To add a new event, simply describe the event in natural language, and the app is smart enough to do the rest. For example, type “Amy’s wedding on the 25th at 2 PM at St. Mary’s Church” and Fantastical creates the event with all the details filled in correctly. The date, time, and location all parse automatically.
The natural language parsing understands context, too. Type “lunch with John every Tuesday” and it creates a recurring event. Add “alert 2 hours before” to any event description, and the reminder gets set. It even recognizes time zones when you type something like “call with the London office at 9 AM GMT.”
With the Openings feature, Fantastical doubles as a meeting scheduler app. Instead of endless emails asking about availability, you share a link that shows your free time slots. Others can book directly into your calendar, similar to what Calendly offers, but built right into your calendar app.
There’s also a clever feature for managing invites you’re unsure about. Instead of declining and potentially offending someone, or accepting and cluttering your calendar, you can hide events. They stay on your calendar for reference, but don’t show up in your daily view.
Tons of customization
Customize event visibility, show maps, share calendars
Calendar sets are Fantastical’s answer to context switching. Create a “Work” set that shows only your professional calendars, a “Weekend” set for personal stuff, and a “Family” set for shared calendars. You can easily switch between them with a keyboard shortcut or automate switching based on the location.
Weather integration is another clever touch that makes planning your day easier. On the left side of the calendar, it shows the weather forecast for the next 10 days right in the calendar view. Location maps appear inline with event details, so you know exactly where you’re going without opening another app.
It’s not without fault
Limited free version, expensive subscription, and not available on Android
Fantastical’s biggest limitation is platform availability. There’s no Android app, which makes it useless if you’re not in the Apple ecosystem or using an iPhone with a Windows PC.
The pricing stings, too. At $57 per year, Fantastical costs more than many streaming services. The free version is limited, doesn’t get full sync, one calendar set, and lacks most productivity, collaboration, and scheduling features that make it worth using. When Google Calendar offers most functionality for free, this subscription feels steep.
A calendar app done right
Fantastical is an incredible piece of software that has no flaws in how it works, especially if you are in the Apple ecosystem. Its natural language input, intelligent sync, and thoughtful interface make managing a busy schedule easier. Even if you use a Windows PC and an Apple phone, and are tired of fighting Google Calendar’s limitations, Fantastical offers something better.
While I like what Fantastical has to offer personally, I find the $57/yearly price tag a bit too steep for how much value it adds to my current workflow. While the value is there for power users, casual calendar users will struggle to justify the cost.