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Google Calendar is built around each person’s diary. ManageCal is built around the organisation’s.
Most teams already have Google Calendar, and for a person’s own meetings it is hard to beat. The question is what happens when a school, a clinic or an office tries to run its rooms, rotas and resources on it. Here is where each is stronger.
| Google Calendar | ManageCal | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Each person’s calendar, shared calendar by calendar | One organisation calendar, split into sub-calendars |
| Sharing settings | Five per person on each calendar, from free/busy to managing sharing | Nine per person on each sub-calendar |
| Add without reading | Not among its sharing settings | Add Only, No Details |
| Your own event fields | A fixed set of details: title, time, guests, location, description | Nine field types you define and filter by |
| Rooms and equipment | Resources set up by a Google Workspace administrator | Any sub-calendar can refuse double bookings |
| Editing one repeat | This event, this and following, or all events | This event, or every event in the series |
| Guests and video calls | Yes | No: events are schedule entries, not invitations |
| Apps | Yes | None yet; runs in a web browser |
| Price | Free with a Google Account; Google Workspace is priced per user | Per workspace |
Where Google Calendar is stronger.
- Everyone already has it
- Most people already use Google Calendar every day. Nothing to learn, no new account, and it is free with a Google Account.
- Guests and video calls
- A Google Calendar event can have guests and a Google Meet call. ManageCal events are entries on a shared schedule; they do not invite anyone.
- Apps and public calendars
- Google Calendar has apps for Android, iPhone and iPad, and can make a calendar public so people can find it on the internet. ManageCal has no app and no public calendars yet.
- This and following
- When editing a repeating event, Google Calendar offers this event, this and following events, or all events. ManageCal offers this event or every event in the series; to change the rest of a series from a date, you end it and start another.
- It adds other calendars by link
- Google Calendar can add another organisation’s public calendar from its web address. ManageCal does not import or publish calendar feeds today.
Where ManageCal is different.
- One calendar, split, instead of many calendars, shared
- In Google Calendar each calendar is shared on its own, person by person. ManageCal is one calendar split into sub-calendars, with every person’s access to every sub-calendar set in one place, so the question “who can see the meeting room?” has one answer on one screen.
- Nine levels, including add without reading
- Google Calendar’s sharing settings run from free/busy only to managing sharing. ManageCal has nine levels, including ones Google’s list does not: Add Only, where people add events but change none, and Add Only, No Details, where they add events without reading anyone else’s.
- Fields for the details your work records
- A Google Calendar event has a fixed set of details, so a job number, a headcount or a paid flag goes into the description as text. ManageCal gives each of them a typed field you can show in titles, require, keep to editors and filter the whole calendar by.
- Double booking stopped on anything
- Google Workspace rooms and equipment are resources an administrator sets up. In ManageCal any sub-calendar can refuse overlapping events: a room, a van, a court, a treatment room. Whoever runs the calendar turns it on.
- One price, not one per person
- Google Workspace is priced per user. ManageCal is priced per workspace, so adding the people who only need to read the calendar does not add to the bill.
It depends on what you are scheduling.
Choose Google Calendar if
- You are scheduling people’s own meetings and invitations.
- You need guests, video calls or an app on people’s phones.
- Your calendar has to be public, or other public calendars added to it.
- Your organisation already runs on Google Workspace and its rooms are set up there.
Choose ManageCal if
- You are scheduling shared things: rooms, vehicles, rotas and teams.
- People need different access to different parts of one calendar.
- Your events carry details you want to filter by, not bury in a description.
- Some people should see only that time is taken, and add bookings without reading others.
Everything this page says about Google Calendar was read from its own pages on 29 September 2026. Products change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
ManageCal vs Google Calendar: questions.
Can I use ManageCal alongside Google Calendar?
Yes, as separate tools: ManageCal for the organisation’s shared schedule, and people’s own calendars for their own meetings. ManageCal does not connect to Google Calendar today, so the two do not exchange events.
Does Google Calendar have a “busy only” sharing setting?
Yes: See only free/busy hides the names and details of events. ManageCal’s equivalent is the no-details levels, which also exist for people who can add events.
Can Google Calendar prevent double booking of a room?
Google Workspace has calendar resources, such as rooms and equipment, set up by an administrator. In ManageCal any sub-calendar can refuse overlapping bookings, with no separate resource set-up.
Which is cheaper?
Google Calendar is free with a Google Account, and Google Workspace is priced per user. ManageCal is priced per workspace, and its prices are indicative while it is in development: nothing is charged yet.
- ManageCal vs TeamupWhere Teamup is stronger, where ManageCal is different, and the prices side by side.
- ManageCal vs a spreadsheetWhat a shared spreadsheet does well, and where scheduling in one goes wrong.
- PermissionsNine access levels per person, per sub-calendar, including “no details”.
- Room bookingRooms, vehicles and equipment that refuse a double booking.
- Custom fieldsNine field types you define, filter by and change without losing values.
- Recurring eventsRepeating events with exceptions, ends, and daylight saving handled.
Put your whole organisation on one calendar.
Set up your sub-calendars, decide who sees what, and start scheduling.