Cozi vs TimeTree for UK families (2026)
The two most-recommended shared family calendars, compared on the twelve things that matter to a UK household with children at school. Prices, the free tiers, what each is bad at, and when neither is the answer.
By The AskBobbie team · 28 September 20264 min read
If you ask a group of parents what they use for the family calendar, Cozi and TimeTree are the two names that come back most. Both are genuinely good at the thing they set out to do. They are not the same thing, and one of them has changed a great deal in the last year.
This page asks the same twelve questions of each, the questions we ask of every app on the compare pages, and says plainly where each one falls short. We make a competing product; we have tried to be fair, and the comparison table is factual rather than starred. Prices are what the apps quoted in September 2026.
The short answer
- Choose TimeTree if you want a free shared calendar with comments and nothing else. It is one of the few in this space that is usable without paying.
- Choose Cozi if you want the calendar plus shopping lists, to-dos and meal plans in one app, and you are happy to pay for it, because the free version is now a trial in all but name.
- Choose neither if the problem you are trying to solve is the school letters themselves. Both are places to put dates once you know them. Neither reads a letter.
The twelve questions
| Cozi | TimeTree | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Free tier | Calendar limited to the next 30 days; ads | Full calendar, free; ads in the feed |
| 2. Paid tiers | Gold $39/year; Max $79/year | Premium about $4.49/month; removes ads, adds file attachments |
| 3. Shared by everyone in the house | Yes, one login per family | Yes, each person their own account |
| 4. Colour per person | Yes | Yes |
| 5. Comments on an event | No | Yes, a thread per event, the feature people love |
| 6. Shopping and to-do lists | Yes, good | No |
| 7. Meal planning | Yes (Gold and up) | No |
| 8. Reads emails or letters | Max only: paste or forward text to "AI event import" | No |
| 9. Google and Apple calendar sync | Two-way with Google; Apple via subscription link | Two-way with Google and Apple on paid; import on free |
| 10. Reminders by WhatsApp or email | Email digest; push | Push only |
| 11. Children's own access | No child accounts; they share the family login | Any account can be invited |
| 12. UK-aware (term dates, school systems) | No | No |
Where Cozi wins
Cozi is the established all-rounder, and the lists are the reason. The shopping list syncs instantly, the recipe box feeds the meal plan, and the to-dos can be assigned. If your family already runs on shared lists, Cozi puts them next to the calendar and that is worth something.
The catch is the free tier. Cozi used to be free with ads and a full calendar. Its free calendar now shows only the next 30 days, which for a family planning a term is not a calendar. Treat Cozi as a paid product, at $39 a year for Gold or $79 for Max, and judge it on that.
Where TimeTree wins
TimeTree does one thing and does it well: several people share one calendar they can all see and edit, and every event carries its own comment thread. That thread is where "who's picking up?" and "did you pay?" get answered, and it is the reason couples and small families keep recommending it.
It is also properly free. You can run a family on the free tier for years. What you give up is everything else: no lists, no meals, no reading of anything, and a design that was built for two people rather than a household of five.
Where both fall short for a UK school family
Neither app knows what a school is. Term dates, INSET days, non-uniform days, trip money, consent forms, ParentPay, Arbor and ClassDojo are all things you find out about elsewhere and type in by hand. The work of reading the letter, spotting the date, working out which child it is for and remembering the money is still yours.
That is the gap AskBobbie is built for: give the school one email address, or forward what you get, and the letter becomes the calendar entry. It is a different kind of tool, and if a shared calendar is all you need, TimeTree is the better recommendation.
Prices and pounds
Both apps quote prices in dollars in their own material, and the UK App Store price varies with the exchange rate and Apple's rounding. Check the price on the store page before you decide, and note that Cozi's yearly plans renew automatically.
Sources: NestBoard, "Best family calendar apps in 2026"; TextConcierge, "Cozi vs TimeTree vs Google"; Sense, "Best family organiser apps UK 2026". Prices as shown by the apps in September 2026; corrections to [email protected].
Questions people ask
- Which is better for a family that just wants one shared calendar?
- TimeTree. It is free without a catch, everyone can see and edit the same calendar, and each event has its own comment thread, which is where "who's picking up?" gets settled. Cozi does more, but its free calendar now only shows the next 30 days.
- Does either read school emails?
- Not TimeTree. Cozi Max has an "AI event import" that reads text you paste or forward, but it is the top tier and it does not know what a school letter looks like. Neither connects to ParentMail, Arbor or ClassDojo. That is the gap AskBobbie is built for.
- Do they work in the UK?
- Both work anywhere, but both are American and Japanese products priced in dollars, with dates and terms that occasionally show it. Neither knows about term dates, INSET days or UK school systems.