Google Calendar vs Timestripe: Comprehensive 2024 Comparison

What is Google Calendar

Google Calendar is free-to-use calendar application that excels in event planning, appointment scheduling, and integrating seamlessly with Google’s suite of services including Docs, Meet, and Tasks. It boasts features such as easy event scheduling, comprehensive integration with other Google services, sharing and collaboration tools, mobile access, automatic syncing across devices, customization options, and support for recurring events. Additionally, it offers functionalities like invitations and RSVP tracking, reminders, time management tools, search capabilities, holiday calendars, and weather integration for upcoming events.

Key Features of Google Calendar

• Seamless Integration with Google Services: Google Calendar is tightly integrated with Google’s ecosystem, including Gmail for event invitations, Google Meet for video conferencing directly from calendar invites, and Google Tasks for task management. This integration enhances productivity by keeping all tools in one accessible location.
• Easy Event Scheduling and Sharing: The platform enables users to quickly add events, set reminders, and share their calendars with others. This feature is designed to facilitate collaboration and ensure that scheduling meetings or events is a hassle-free process, making it ideal for both personal and professional use.
• Customizable Views and Event Colors: Users can customize their calendar views (day, week, month, or year) and assign colors to different events, making it easier to manage and visually distinguish between various types of appointments or tasks at a glance.
• Recurring Events and Reminders: Google Calendar supports the creation of recurring events and configurable reminders, which can be set to notify users via email or pop-up messages. This ensures that important dates are not missed and helps in establishing routines.
• Mobile Accessibility and Offline Support: With its mobile app, Google Calendar offers the convenience of accessing and managing your schedule on the go. Additionally, offline support means you can view your calendar and receive notifications even without an internet connection.
• Time Zone Support and Working Hours: This feature is particularly useful for those working across different time zones, as it automatically adjusts meeting times accordingly. Setting working hours also helps in managing availability, preventing meetings from being scheduled outside of these times.

What is Timestripe

Timestripe is a goal-oriented planner and calendar application that enables users to plan their lives extensively, including daily productivity and long-term goals, through a user-friendly interface. It offers unique features like horizons for planning life goals, daily plans integrated with calendars, climbs for habit formation and goal achievement, and guides for learning new skills. Despite its benefits, some may find its future-focused planning too intense, and there’s a learning curve involved. Timestripe offers a Pro version at $5 per month, billed annually, with a promotional discount available. It’s recommended for those seeking a holistic approach to goal and task management beyond traditional to-do lists.

Key Features of Timestripe

• Horizons for Life Goals: Timestripe’s Horizons feature enables users to set and visualize long-term life goals. It offers a unique perspective on goal planning, encouraging users to think about their broader life ambitions and how daily actions contribute to these goals.
• Integrated Daily Plans with Calendars: This feature allows for seamless integration of daily tasks with calendar views. It helps users to efficiently manage their time by merging to-do lists with calendar events, ensuring a holistic view of their schedule.
• Climbs for Habit Formation: Timestripe incorporates Climbs, a tool designed to help users build and track new habits or work towards specific goals. This feature supports incremental progress, making daunting tasks more manageable.
• Guides for Learning New Skills: The application offers Guides, resources that provide users with structured paths to learn new skills or knowledge areas. This feature is invaluable for personal development and continuous learning.
• Proactive Future Planning: Timestripe emphasizes forward-thinking by encouraging users to plan not just days or weeks ahead but years into the future. This long-term planning aspect is a standout feature that differentiates it from other planning tools.
• Personal Growth Tracking: Beyond task management, Timestripe offers tools for tracking personal growth and achievements, reinforcing its role as a comprehensive life management solution. This feature allows users to reflect on their progress and adjust their goals as needed.

Google Calendar vs Timestripe: Features

Features	Google Calendar	Timestripe
Integrations	ClickUp, Google Tasks, Zoom, Slack, Salesforce, Google Docs	Nothing mentioned on their site
Calendar	Yes	Yes
Platforms	macOS, iOS, Android, Web	macOS, iOS, Android, Web
Task Management	NA for Calendar	Offers labels, tags, and recurring tasks
Natural Language Processing	Yes	No
Time Blocking	Yes	Yes
Analytics	No	No
Meeting Scheduler	Yes	No
Time Zones	Yes	No
Reminders	Yes	Yes
Customer Support	Average	Average
1:1 User Onboarding	No	No
Pricing	Free to use	Free, Pro: $5/mo, Team: Custom

Google Calendar vs Timestripe: Pricing

Google Calendar Pricing

Free to use

Timestripe Pricing

Timestripe offers several pricing tiers, including a free Basic plan and paid Pro and Team plans. The Pro plan, aimed at individual users seeking advanced features, is priced at $5 per month when billed annually. For teams looking for collaboration tools, the Team plan’s pricing is customized based on the team’s size and specific needs. Each tier provides different levels of access to Timestripe’s features, with the paid plans offering more comprehensive tools and functionalities.

Google Calendar vs Timestripe: Reviews

Google Calendar Review

Google Calendar is praised for its seamless integration with Google’s ecosystem, offering easy scheduling, comprehensive reminders, and mobile accessibility. It excels in simplicity and functionality, fitting both personal and professional use. However, it might lack advanced project management features found in dedicated tools, and some users may find its interface less customizable compared to specialized calendar apps.

Timestripe Review

Timestripe is praised for its innovative approach to goal planning, offering a visually appealing and intuitive interface for managing daily tasks and long-term objectives. Its unique features, such as life planning horizons and habit tracking, cater to individuals seeking a holistic overview of their productivity and progress. However, some users might find its focus on extensive future planning overwhelming, and there’s a learning curve to utilizing its full potential. Additionally, while the Pro version unlocks valuable features, the cost may deter some users.

Which One Should You Pick

Consider Google Calendar if

1. You seek simplicity and integration with Google’s suite for straightforward scheduling needs, though it may lack the depth in task management features found in more specialized tools.
2. Your workflow benefits from easy access and sharing capabilities across devices, though it might not offer the advanced customization options of some competitors.
3. You value the convenience of mobile access and automatic syncing, keeping in mind that users looking for comprehensive project management tools may find it limiting.

Consider Timestripe if

1. You seek a visually-driven planning tool: Timestripe suits those who prefer a visual approach to planning life goals and daily tasks, though it might lack the depth in analytics some users desire.
2. You’re focused on long-term goals: Its unique horizons feature is great for setting far-reaching objectives, but users looking for quick, simple task management might find it overly complex.
3. You value self-improvement and habit tracking: While Timestripe offers innovative features for personal growth, the Pro version’s cost and the platform’s learning curve could be deterrents for some.

Best Google Calendar and Timestripe Alternative

Akiflow: Akiflow is a time management app offering time blocking, task scheduling, and integrations with various tools. It focuses on productivity and organization through a unified task and appointment interface.

Akiflow Price: $19 per month, paid annually