10 Best WordPress Calendar Plugins: Compared + How to Choose One (2024)

When building a WordPress website, you can expand its functionality by installing plugins. There are over 59,000 plugins listed on the WordPress plugin directory, giving you more than enough options to customize your website.

Depending on the website’s niche, you might need to install a plugin for event management and booking systems. As there are plenty of WordPress calendar plugins to choose from, picking one best suited to your needs can be challenging.

To help narrow down the options, we tested some of the most popular calendar plugins and compiled a list of the best ones. When reviewing these choices, consider each plugin’s features and price points to determine whether it’s the right fit for your needs.

How to Choose the Best WordPress Calendar Plugin

In the following sections, we review the best calendar plugins based on the following factors:

• Features ‒ the chosen WordPress plugins on this list offer different benefits catering to various website types. We tested each plugin’s tools to ensure they provide value to WordPress users.
• Compatibility ‒ all plugins listed in this article are compatible with the most recent WordPress and PHP versions.
• Credibility ‒ we take each plugin’s number of downloads and user reviews into account. All of them are available either via WordPress’ official plugin directory or reputable marketplaces.
• Support ‒ the plugin must have been updated within the last three months and offer some form of customer support.

Top 10 WordPress Calendar Plugins

Here are our picks of the ten best WordPress plugins to add a calendar function to your website. If you need help activating the chosen plugin, check out our article on how to install a plugin.

1. Sugar Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Rating: 5/5
• Best for: membership websites, event websites, WooCommerce stores, community websites
• Price: $49–$199/year or $449 for a one-time payment

Sugar Calendar is our top pick for the best WordPress calendar plugin for several reasons. It has a simple admin interface within the WordPress dashboard and comes with filtering functionality. The calendar widgets enable clients and site admins to display a list of past and upcoming events based on different event categories.

It’s also possible to customize the events’ date and time formats. Enabling Visitor Conversion mode instantly updates an event page to display in each visitors’ time zones. This lightweight calendar plugin is also translation-ready, making it even more suitable for websites with an international audience.

Adding a calendar to your WordPress site’s front-end is easy using the plugin’s shortcode. You can then customize it with category and size parameters. Custom coding is also supported for advanced personalization.

Key Features

• Gravity Forms and Ninja Forms integration via free add-ons
• Recurring events functionality
• Calendar application integration, including Google Calendar
• Event ticketing functionality through Stripe
• Custom event links
• Zapier integration
• Front-end event submissions by website visitors

Cons

• Advanced functions like recurring events and event ticketing are available as premium add-ons for Professional and Ultimate plan users only
• Premium add-ons cannot be purchased separately
• The plugin has no free option

[DOWNLOAD]

2. The Events Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 800,000+
• Rating: 4.7/5
• Best for: event websites, fundraising websites, business websites, community websites
• Price: freemium (paid version starts from $99/year/license)

The Events Calendar is one of the best WordPress calendar plugins that lets you manage all of your in-person and online events. Month, list, and day views are available for Free plan users while week, photo, map, and summary views are exclusive to Pro plan users.

This WordPress event calendar plugin helps showcase events to drive engagement and increase attendance. The iCalendar and Google Calendar integration lets site visitors subscribe to event updates. Additionally, the plugin’s code is designed to be developer-friendly for advanced customization.

All the calendar designs provided by The Events Calendar are fully responsive and compatible with major themes like Divi and Avada. AJAX loading, keyword search function, Google Maps integration, and time zone support are also available.

Key Features

• Recurring events functionality
• Shortcodes and blocks
• Advanced widgets, such as a mini calendar events grid view, upcoming events, and event countdowns
• Location search
• Events manager
• Event location search
• Venue and organizer pages

Cons

• The free version only offers basic calendar and event management functionality
• No more than one calendar per website

[DOWNLOAD]

3. Timely All-In-One Events Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 90,000+
• Rating: 4.7/5
• Best for: event websites, business websites, community websites
• Price: free (premium add-ons start from $98/year)

Timely’s All-In-One Events Calendar is an excellent free WordPress calendar plugin designed for all types of websites. It’s lightweight, mobile-friendly, and search engine optimization (SEO)-ready – convenient for beginners.

This event calendar plugin offers easy event creation and publishing for single, never-ending, and recurring events. Users can filter them based on tags, categories, organizers, and venues, ideal for websites that frequently hold virtual and in-person events.

You can import and export events with other calendar applications like Google Calendar and iCalendar. Additionally, event creators can show events in their own or visitors’ time zones.

Key Features

• Multilingual dashboard
• Customizable calendar and event themes
• Week, month, and agenda views
• Event duplication
• Color-coded events based on category
• Media library
• Social share buttons
• Calendar subscription

Cons

• Limited support and knowledge base for users

[DOWNLOAD]

4. Modern Events Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 100,000+
• Rating: 4.6/5
• Best for: event websites, business websites, community organizations, accommodation websites, eLearning websites
• Price: freemium (starts from $75/license)

Modern Events Calendar is a versatile plugin for WordPress that comes with over 50 beautifully designed layouts. Multiple view modes are available, all of which are perfectly responsive, mobile-friendly, and cater to different needs.

This calendar plugin offers booking and ticketing features with a date-based pricing system for websites selling event tickets or accommodation. It also has a QR code module and geolocation feature to make event information more accessible to attendees.

The shortcode generator tool allows you to display events across web pages, which you can then track via the reporting dashboard.

Recurring events, multi-day events, as well as search and filtering features are included in the Free version. Upgrading to the Pro version gives you access to advanced features, lifetime auto-updates, and one-year premium support.

Key Features

• Front-end event submission
• Booking and ticketing systems
• Facebook Events import
• Google Calendar and Google Maps integration
• WooCommerce and PayPal integration
• Schema-ready
• User profile pages with ticket status and download functionality
• Form builder

Cons

• Users cannot import .ics files in the free version
• Ticketing and booking systems are only accessible in the Pro version

[DOWNLOAD]

5. JetEngine Dynamic Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Rating: 4.9/5
• Best for: marketplaces, event websites, directory sites, eCommerce stores, and community websites
• Price: $43–$888/year or $750–$999 for a one-time payment

JetEngine is a WordPress plugin for creating dynamic websites. Its calendar widget is a versatile tool you can use to display various information about events, such as images, dates, locations, and prices.

The calendar widget comes with extensive customization options, so you can tailor it to your preferences. It’s possible to set the weekday format and start the calendar from any month you need. The navigation arrows, caption, and weekday labels can also be styled to add a personalized touch to the calendar.

Additionally, events can be clickable to redirect visitors to a landing page, map, or booking form. Multi-day events can also be displayed, while past events can be hidden.

The dynamic calendar widget by JetEngine has a responsive design suitable for mobile devices, letting you set calendar visibility rules and add filtering tools to sort events.

Key Features

• Display different metadata in the calendar
• Add a map for additional event details
• Filter events
• Configure dynamic visibility
• Sort and order the events

Cons

• JetEngine has no free version
• Users may need some time to figure out how to use the plugin, but there are tutorials available

[DOWNLOAD]

6. WP Simple Booking Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 10,000+
• Rating: 4.6/5
• Best for: service-based businesses, accommodation websites
• Price: freemium (starts from $39/month/license)

WP Simple Booking Calendar is one of the top WordPress calendar plugins for businesses, complete with an online booking system. It has a user-friendly interface and a responsive calendar layout, as well as legend items and month names that have been translated into over 30 languages.

This WordPress calendar plugin allows you to combine multiple schedules into one integrated interface. Upgrading to a premium version gives you access to a bulk date editor and lets you sync calendars to websites, such as Booking.com and Airbnb.

For a better user experience, site owners can allow visitors to edit specific calendars and access additional event information by hovering over certain dates. A search widget and changeover days are also available to make the booking process easier.

Key Features

• Unlimited calendar creation
• User management
• Tooltips on mouse hover
• Custom legend item creation
• WordPress Multisite support
• Backup and restore functionality
• iCalendar import and export

Cons

• Calendars don’t work in custom post types
• Some essential functions are only accessible in premium versions

[DOWNLOAD]

7. My Calendar

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 30,000+
• Rating: 4.5/5
• Best for: blogs, business websites, community websites
• Price: freemium (starts from $59/license/year)

My Calendar is one of the best WordPress calendar plugins due to its simplicity and ease of use. The plugin’s function is relatively straightforward, allowing you to create custom calendars and display them by categories, locations, or authors.

This calendar plugin lets you schedule recurring events, while custom templates and several widgets are provided to ensure a great user experience. You can even create custom views of the plugin using the shortcode generator.

Upgrading to the Pro version allows WordPress site visitors to submit events, which you can then monetize. Publish a blog post directly from the event editor to boost engagement and attendance. Users can also import events from .ics or .csv formats via file or URL.

Key Features

• Event submission by visitors
• Google Maps integration
• Advanced event search function
• Schedule events import
• Multisite support
• Shortcode generator

Cons

• Limited support resulting in unpredictable response times
• The free version doesn’t include responsive mode

[DOWNLOAD]

8. Calendarize it!

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 12,000+
• Rating: 4.5/5
• Best for: blogs, event websites, business websites, eCommerce sites
• Price: $29/license

Having an extensive library of add-ons makes Calendarize it! one of the best premium calendar plugins for WordPress websites. The plugin integrates with popular page builders like WPBakery, making building templates easier. It also works with translation plugins like Weglot to create multilingual calendars.

Once you purchase the license, you can access free add-ons to scale the plugin. Some of the most notable features include the accordion upcoming events widget, advent calendar, author filtering, event countdown, and ratings and reviews.

Premium add-ons are targeted at WordPress websites looking to sell tickets online. Available individually as separate products, these add-ons provide more advanced features for managing ticket sales, accepting payments, and advertising upcoming events.

While this event calendar plugin doesn’t have a free version, it does offer a demo for users to test. Buying the license gives you access to six months of support and future updates.

Key Features

• Visual CSS editor with over 800 Google Fonts
• Custom taxonomy labels
• Events map view
• Social sharing panel
• Event tickets by WooCommerce and Eventbrite
• External event sources
• RSVP events
• Multiple payment options

Cons

• Premium add-ons are sold separately between $10 and $89 each

[DOWNLOAD]

9. EventON

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 58,000+
• Rating: 4.5/5
• Best for: blogs, event websites, eCommerce sites, business websites
• Price: freemium ($25/license)

EventON is an excellent addition to your WordPress website if you prioritize customizability and aesthetics. This event calendar plugin lets you create unlimited events with or without end dates or times and presents them in a minimal, clutter-free list.

The event calendar plugin offers tons of features to support virtual and in-person events, such as Zoom and Jitsi integration, an events attendance mode, and event status reports with a Live Now animation. Furthermore, EventON provides an interactive card interface where you can organize event data with intuitive controls.

The shortcode generator and multiple repeating event options make customizing your calendar easier. You can even enable auto-deletion of past events to keep the calendar clean and up to date. Other notable features include a reusable event organizer widget, health protocol guidelines, multi-day events, and right to left (RTL) language support.

Key Features

• Featured image for events
• Single and multiple day events
• Event attendance modes
• Zoom and Jitsi integration
• Shortcode generator
• Repeating event options
• Pluggable functions for developers
• Social share icons

Cons

• There have been reports of bugs on websites using themes with popup functions

[DOWNLOAD]

10. Events Manager

Plugin Stats:

• Downloads: 100,000+
• Rating: 4.3/5
• Best for: blogs, event websites, accommodation websites, business websites, community websites, eCommerce sites
• Price: freemium ($75/website)

Events Manager is one of the best WordPress calendar plugins for handling online events. Manage recurring and multiple-day event registrations hassle-free using the bookings management tool, which allows you to approve and reject submissions as well as export CSV data.

With BuddyPress support, this event calendar plugin can handle group events in different time zones, accept event submissions by visitors, and monitor event activities. Plenty of template tags and shortcodes are available to add calendars and registration forms to your pages and posts.

Purchasing the Events Calendar Pro version grants you access to all the premium features and add-ons. It lets you accept payments via popular gateways like PayPal and Stripe, integrate with WooCommerce, and create coupon codes and custom booking forms.

Pro users can get faster support via the exclusive Pro forum. One year of updates is also included in the paid license.

Key Features

• Easy event registration
• Recurring and long events creation
• Bookings management
• BuddyPress and Google Maps support
• iCal feed for all events
• Data privacy and WordPress GDPR compliance
• Multiple payment options

Cons

• WooCommerce add-on is a limited-time offer only

[DOWNLOAD]

Conclusion

Installing a WordPress calendar plugin on your website makes managing events hassle-free. Depending on the plugin, site owners can sell tickets for events, keep track of attendees’ information for performance analytics, and increase their businesses’ marketing efforts.

If you’re looking for a free calendar plugin, we recommend checking out Timely’s All-In-One Events Calendar. Those with a bigger budget can opt for one of our top three picks for the best premium WordPress calendar plugins – Sugar Calendar, The Events Calendar, or Modern Events Calendar.

Regardless of your choice, make sure the plugin meets your needs and is cost-effective. Avoid overspending on a premium plugin if you won’t use it to the fullest extent.

We hope you find this list helpful. Good luck!