Managing your schedule efficiently is a key to staying organized, and Apple iCloud Calendar is a great tool for keeping track of your appointments across all your Apple devices. 

However, it has limitations, such as a lack of advanced scheduling options, custom booking features, external app integration, and more.

This is where third-party calendar apps come in. In this article, we’ll explore 5 top appointment scheduling apps that sync with iCloud Calendar, covering their features, pros, cons, and pricing.

If your work or university uses a different calendar provider, like Outlook or Google, please read our articles on the 6 Best Outlook Calendar Apps and Tools and the Top Apps for Google Calendar.

The 5 Best Appointment Scheduling Software for iCloud Calendar

1. OneCal

Free Trial: 14-day free trial (no credit card required)

Supported Calendars: iCloud, Google, and Outlook Calendar.

Why Do You Need OneCal for Your Apple iCloud Calendar?

External Meeting Scheduling. Scheduling meetings with people outside your organization is simpler with OneCal. Using OneCal, you can simply create a scheduling link and share it with others to book time with you. This is an important advantage over Apple Calendar, which mainly focuses on internal scheduling.

Personalized Booking Links. OneCal provides customizable booking links, allowing you to add specific questions for bookers to answer before scheduling a meeting. You can collect information through short or long text fields, phone numbers, and checklists. A level of personalization that ensures you gather all necessary details upfront, making your meetings more productive.

Zoom Integration. While Apple Calendar is limited to the Apple ecosystem, OneCal offers extensive integrations with tools like Zoom. It allows you to schedule and join Zoom meetings directly from your calendar, a feature not available in Apple Calendar alone.

Unified Calendar View. It allows you to merge all your calendars into a single view. This means you can see all your meetings in one place and join them quickly, whether you are on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. Unlike Apple Calendar, which requires switching between different calendars, OneCal combines everything, making your schedule more manageable and accessible.

Multi-Way Calendar Sync. OneCal simplifies the syncing process with its multi-way calendar sync feature. Instead of setting up separate one-way syncs for each calendar, OneCal enables you to sync multiple calendars at the same time with a single configuration. This feature is useful if you manage, for example, Google and Apple Calendars, ensuring they are always in sync without the hassle of repeated setups.

Personalized Social Media Previews. OneCal improves your booking links with personalized social media previews, an option not available with Apple Calendar. You can add a cover image to your branding settings, which will be displayed when you share booking links or pages.

Team Collaboration and Roles. OneCal is a great fit for team collaboration as you can easily invite, organize, and manage your team. You can assign roles and responsibilities to your team members, and they can use Calendar Sync and Collective Booking links for better coordination.

Calendar Time Blocking. OneCal’s time-blocking feature automatically blocks time across all your calendars. This prevents scheduling conflicts and ensures your privacy by allowing you to hide or show meeting details as needed. This automation and control are much better than the manual process in Apple Calendar.

Cons

No Free Plan. OneCal does not offer a free plan, which might be a drawback for some users. However, it's important to note that free plans on other calendar apps are usually very limited, often allowing syncing with only one calendar, not offering advanced features, or having too many ads. OneCal starts at an affordable price of $5 per month (billed annually). You can visit OneCal's full pricing or read below for more information.

Pricing

• Starter Plan: $5/user/month and includes access to up to 2 calendars for each team member.

• Essential Plan: This plan costs $10 per user/month and allows up to 5 calendars per user.

• Premium Plan: $30/user/month, team members can manage up to 50 calendars each, ideal for extensive scheduling needs.

• Enterprise Plan: Contact for pricing.

OneCal also offers a custom Per-User plan. You can invite team members to your plan, and you will be charged according to your selected plan for each additional user. Starting from $5/user/month.

Here’s what's included in the per-user plan starting from $5/user/month.

• ​​Collective Scheduling

• Pay for your team members

• Intuitive team management

• Self-sign up

2. Fantastical

Free Trial: 30 days free trial.

Supported Calendars: iCloud, Google, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook Calendar

Compatibility Across Apple Devices. Fantastical is designed to work seamlessly across all Apple devices, including iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. If you're an Apple user who relies on iCloud Calendar, you'll find Fantastical integrates effortlessly with your existing setup, ensuring a smooth experience across your devices.

Advanced Scheduling Capabilities. Fantastical offers advanced scheduling features that go beyond basic calendar functions. You can share scheduling links, create available time slots for meetings, and use voting to find the best meeting times.

Task Management. Fantastical offers advanced task management features in addition to handling calendar events. You can manage your to-do lists and tasks alongside your calendar events, keeping all your scheduling needs in one place.

Cons

Subscription Cost. Despite its easy-to-use interface and solid features, Fantastical comes with a subscription fee that might seem high for a calendar app.

Integration Limitations. Although it supports many services, it may not integrate as seamlessly with all third-party booking apps compared to other tools in the list.

Pricing

For individuals: $4.75/month, billed annually

For families up to 5: $7.5/month, billed annually 

For teams: $4.75/user/month, billed annually 

3. Calendly

Free Trial: Yes, 14 days.

Supported Calendars:  iCloud, Google, and Outlook Calendar.

Main Features

Real-Time Availability. Calendly connects with major calendar systems such as Google Calendar, Outlook, Microsoft Office, and iCloud. This integration ensures that your availability is always up-to-date, preventing double bookings and streamlining the scheduling process. 

Automated Scheduling and Workflows. Calendly allows you to automatically send email or text reminders to attendees, follow up with thank-you notes, and share necessary documents post-meeting. This feature helps reduce no-shows and keeps everyone informed.

Meeting Polls. Calendly's Meeting Polls feature simplifies scheduling for groups by allowing invitees to vote on their preferred meeting times. This ensures that the chosen time works for the majority, making it easier to coordinate with multiple participants.

Integration with Popular Tools. Calendly integrates seamlessly with over 70 popular business tools, including Zoom, Webex, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Slack. This makes adding conference details to events easy and keeps all meeting activities organized in one place.

Cons

Limited features on the Free Plan. The free plan only allows one active event type and limited calendar integrations (one calendar). Advanced features such as removing Calendly branding, automated workflows, and SMS notifications are only available on paid plans​.

Pricing

• Basic (Free) Plan: Connects to 1 calendar (Google, Office 365, or iCloud)

• Essentials Plan: $8/user/month (billed annually) - Connects to 2 calendars

• Professional Plan: $12/user/month (billed annually) - Connects to 6 calendars

• Teams Plan: $16/user/month (billed annually)

• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing

4. Doodle

Free Trial: Yes,14 days.

Supported Calendars: iCloud, Google, and Outlook Calendar.

Main Features

Poll Creation. Doodle's standout feature is its ability to create polls for scheduling group meetings. You can propose multiple dates and times for an event, and participants can vote on their preferred options. 

Reminders and Notifications. Automatic reminders and notifications are sent to participants to keep everyone informed and minimize the risk of last-minute changes or oversights.

1:1 Meetings. For one-on-one meetings, Doodle simplifies scheduling by letting users share their availability, allowing the other party to pick a convenient time. This feature makes setting up individual meetings easier and cuts down on back-and-forth discussions.

Group Polls. Like Calendly, Doodle's Group Polls feature lets users propose various time slots when scheduling meetings with multiple participants. Participants can vote on their preferred times, helping quickly determine the best option that accommodates everyone’s schedule.

Video Conferencing Integration. Just like OneCal, Doodle integrates with popular video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. It automatically adds video links to scheduled meetings, facilitating virtual meetings without additional steps.

Cons

Limited Features on Free Plan. The free plan of Doodle includes basic poll creation and scheduling tools but lacks advanced features like custom branding, ad-free experience, and integrations with tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, which are reserved for paid plans​.

Ad-Supported Free Version. If you use Doodle’s free plan, you will see ads on their scheduling pages, which can distract from a professional appearance and potentially annoy users and clients. To remove ads, you need to upgrade to a paid plan.

Pricing

• Free Plan: Free - Basic scheduling tools - Integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook

• Pro Plan: $6.95/user/month (billed annually) - Syncs with multiple calendars

• Team Plan: $30/month for 5 users (billed annually)

• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing

5. BusyCal

Free Trial: 30-day trial.

Supported Calendars: iCloud, Google, Exchange, Office 365.

Main Features

Integration with Conference Platforms. With BusyCal, you can easily connect with popular conference platforms like Zoom and Webex. This feature makes scheduling and coordinating virtual meetings and events simple and efficient.

Upcoming Event Countdown. BusyCal has a menu bar app that shows a real-time countdown for ongoing and upcoming events. This menu bar app stays active even when the main app is closed, ensuring you always have access to important event information.

Calendar List & Calendar Sets. BusyCal shows a list of your calendars in the left sidebar, which includes an optional mini-month view. You can rearrange this list, show or hide calendars, rename them, change their colors, and group related calendars together.

Quick Entry. BusyCal allows you to create events and tasks quickly. As you type, BusyCal automatically recognizes and fills in details such as the event title, date and time, location, and more. You can also add contacts, set alarms, include URLs, and choose which calendar to use.

Cons

BusyCal offers many features and customization options, which can make it difficult for new users to learn at first. The interface, while powerful, may seem complex due to the variety of views, settings, and tools, resulting in a steeper learning curve.

BusyCal requires individual purchases for its macOS and iOS versions. This means if you want to use BusyCal on both your Mac and iPhone, you will need to buy each version separately​. This can be a drawback for users looking for a unified solution without additional costs for each device.

Pricing

• BusyCal: $49.99 - Purchase a new single-user 

• BusyContacts: $49.99 - Purchase a new single-user or multi-user perpetual license

• BusyCal + BusyContacts: $79.98

Next Steps: Choosing the Right Calendar App 

After evaluating the pricing and considering your budget, the next step is to try the free trials of these apps. This step will help you assess their features and ease of use since some calendar apps have a learning curve.

If you prefer a free plan, Calendly is a good option, although its free version has limited calendar syncing capabilities, which might not be ideal if you have multiple calendars. In such cases, Apple Calendar itself can be a great alternative.

For those managing multiple Apple Calendars or other personal and work calendars like Google or Outlook, OneCal is highly recommended. 

Go Beyond with OneCal Features and Plans

OneCal is an intuitive, easy-to-use, available across all your devices. Whether you're on your desktop, Android, or iPhone, OneCal keeps you connected and organized on the go. 

You can sign up for OneCal for free and schedule appointments across all your calendars, including iCloud.