Apple Calendar vs MeetingBar

Apple Calendar

• People with an iPhone, iPad or Mac who want a calendar at no cost
• Seeing iCloud, Google and Exchange calendars side by side
• Families and friends sharing an iCloud calendar

MeetingBar

• People with back-to-back video calls who want one click to join
• Mac users who need a visible countdown to the next meeting
• Teams that prefer free, open-source utilities with no data collection

Apple Calendar

• Apple's setup guide covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and iCloud.com, with Windows handled by syncing to Outlook through iCloud for Windows. No Android app is listed.
• Calendar on iCloud.com needs a tablet or computer; Apple's guide says it cannot be used from a phone browser.
• Editable sharing is limited to iCloud calendars and people with iCloud accounts. Everyone else can only view a public, read-only calendar.
• Time-to-leave alerts are not sent for destinations more than three hours away, and travel time does not update when an event's location changes.

MeetingBar

• Mac only, and it requires macOS 12.0 or later.
• It is a meeting launcher more than a full calendar: the menu lists events from today and tomorrow only.
• Only two calendar sources are supported: the macOS Calendar app and a direct Google Calendar connection. Exchange and Office 365 go through Calendar.app.
• Development is community-supported through donations; there is no paid plan or paid support.

Apple Calendar

Several accounts in one calendar

Add iCloud, Google, Microsoft Exchange and other CalDAV accounts and see their events together in List, Day, Week or Month view, with a color for each calendar.

Natural-language event entry

On Mac, typing a phrase such as "Football Game on Saturday from 11 am - 1 pm" creates the event with its date and time filled in. Siri can add or change events by voice.

Travel time and time-to-leave alerts

Adding a location attaches a map and weather, and Calendar sends an alert when it is time to leave, based on traffic or transit conditions. Travel time can be added to the event's duration.

Shared and public calendars

Share an iCloud calendar with other iCloud users as view-only or editable, or turn on Public Calendar so anyone with the link can view and subscribe to it.

Reminders next to events

Scheduled reminders from the Reminders app appear on the calendar, where they can be created, edited and marked complete.

Invitations and video call links

Send and answer invitations through iCloud, Exchange and other accounts. Events can carry a video call link, a FaceTime call on Mac, attachments and notes.

MeetingBar

Next meeting in the menu bar

The status bar shows the current or next meeting with its title, time, countdown or service icon, and long titles can be shortened. The menu lists events from today and tomorrow.

Join in one click or keystroke

Join the current or next online meeting from the menu or with a global keyboard shortcut. Links can open in a chosen browser or in the service's own app, set per service.

More than 50 meeting services

Detects meeting links in calendar events for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Discord, Jitsi, Slack Huddle, FaceTime and many others.

Notifications and full-screen reminders

Sends macOS notifications ahead of meetings and can show a full-screen reminder when one starts. All-day, declined, tentative, pending or linkless events can be filtered out.

Create meetings and bookmarks

Starts an ad-hoc meeting in your preferred meeting service, and keeps bookmarks for recurring meeting links so they can be opened quickly.

Shortcuts and AppleScript

Works with Apple Shortcuts and AppleScript, and can run a custom script when you join a meeting, for example to pause music. Raycast script commands are available.

Apple Calendar

• Free$0

  Every feature of the app on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, plus Calendar on iCloud.com with an Apple Account.

MeetingBar

• MeetingBar$0

  Every feature, installed from the Mac App Store, Homebrew or a DMG from GitHub. The in-app patronage purchases are optional.