9 Best Embeddable Calendars

It’s one thing to say, “Oh yeah, I’m going to a conference in about five days.” It’s quite another to look at a monthly calendar, and have those five days put into context. There’s something about seeing that classic calendar format that puts my brain into gear, and forces me to think a bit more carefully about my plans.

Well that’s me, in any case. Given the popularity of the monthly calendar format, I suspect many others feel much the same way. It’s no wonder, then, that we like putting calendars on websites. It can give our users that exact same context, that mental image of the amount of time they have to work with.

“Oh, the 24th is a Wednesday, I can do that.” That’s what we’re looking for. Add in a few calendar features like reservations or ticket sales, and you’re good to go. So how do you put a calendar on your site? Well, you could start by checking out the list of options below.

Google Calendar

There’s not a lot to say. I mean, it’s Google Calendar! If you have any Google-related services, you’ve probably at least seen it. It’s a solid product, with all of the basic features you’d expect. What’s more, it makes use of Google’s extensive collaboration features, and integration with all other Google products.

It’s free, with a business option that starts at $5 USD per month available through G Suite. If you want to know how to put a Google Calendar on your website, look no further.

Bravenet Calendar

Bravenet Calendar has some upsides and downsides. On the upside, it’s free, and generally full-featured. You can theme it to match the rest of your site, and you’re good to go. However, the free version is ad-supported. And you can’t properly embed it.

No, what you get is a link to your calendar, which acts as a standalone page/app, with a link back to your main site. But, if all you need is a basic calendar on a budget, it’s free. And the paid version starts at $3 USD per month.

Availability Calendar

This calendar service is designed for one very specific purpose: letting people know when your rentable property (or “Holiday Home”) is available for rent. That’s it. It does one thing, and does it pretty well. It’s compatible with just about every CMS, as you can just embed it right on your site. It can also sync with services like AirBnB.

At $15 USD per year, it’s not a bad product, if you need to do this one very specific thing.

The Events Calendar

Billing itself as The Events Calendar, this product seems rather self-confident. The main product is a free WordPress plugin, which you can download, install, and manage yourself. It looks good, and is pretty feature-complete. So if you use WordPress, give it a go.

The pro version starts at $89 USD per year, and comes with extra calendar formats, search options, shortcodes, and more.

UpTo

UpTo offers embeddable calendars primarily for events. They are customizable, of course, and you can use a variety of calendar formats. Some relatively large brands like People Magazine, TechCrunch, and the Detroit Lions are using them, so that speaks well of the service’s ability to handle large amounts of traffic. They also offer applications for iOS, Android, and Google Chrome to help you manage your own calendar, and even follow other people’s calendars (provided they’re public).

There is no free version, but there is a fourteen-day free trial. The basic plan starts at $9 USD per month.

Localendar

Localendar is a event calendar service designed specifically for small businesses, sports teams, churches, non-profits, and pretty much any other small, local organization that needs one. The feature list is pretty extensive: extensive enough to compete with a few enterprise-level solutions I’ve found.

And yeah, there’s a free plan. It’s ad-supported, but it’s pretty good. Paid plans start at $45.95 USD per year.

Timely

Timely advertises beautiful calendars. And they are pretty good-looking. On top of that, there’s a lot of integrated functionality for signing up to events, selling tickets, and more. Plus you can import events from Facebook, sell recurring tickets, and all of that is available in the free plan. You can embed your calendars, or use their own WordPress plugin.

The paid plans start at $9 USD per month, and the feature list just gets longer from there.

Occasion

Occasion is one of the pricier options on this list at $249 per year. They do offer a “free sample calendar”; but it’s just that: a free sample. That said, it’s a pretty well-rounded app, so if you need a calendar for your business, it’s worth looking at.

You can sell tickets, and there are themes designed for different types of businesses. There’s a whole bunch of integration options, including social media sites, email marketing apps, deal and coupon sites, payment gateways, and CMSs, of course.

Tockify

Tockify is all about clean, modern-looking calendars that can be integrated into just about any design. Feature-wise, it’s fairly simple, but offers a pretty detailed visual customizer to match your calendar to your website. There’s also a mini-calendar option if you’re working with limited space.

They offer a pretty well-rounded free plan with unlimited events. The paid plans start at $8 USD per month.

Ezequiel Bruni is a web/UX designer, blogger, and aspiring photographer living in Mexico. When he's not up to his finely-chiselled ears in wire-frames and front-end code, or ranting about the same, he indulges in beer, pizza, fantasy novels, and stand-up comedy. More articles by Ezequiel Bruni
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