The short version
Gather
gather.guru
- What you buy
- Nothing to buy. Use any screen with a browser.
- What you keep paying
- Gather Plus $9.99/mo or $79/yr. Free trial, nothing to buy.
- Best for
- Families who want the calendar on a screen they already own, whatever it is, an invite that lands on the calendar from a photo, and chores that pay real allowance into a jar.
Cozi
Cozi, an OurFamilyWizard company
- What you buy
- Nothing to buy. Phone app and web; no display mode.
- What you keep paying
- Free with ads. Cozi Gold $39/yr removes them; Cozi Max $79.99/yr adds imports and meal ideas.
- Best for
- Families who just want a free shared calendar and shopping list on their phones and do not need a wall or chores that pay.
Where each one is ahead
A clear yes on one side and not on the other, from the table below. Rows where both do it, or neither does, are left out; what the table has no row for, such as the price, is said in words.
Gather is ahead on
- Try it before you pay. A free trial on a screen you already own, card on file, cancel anytime. Nothing to ship back.
- No ads. Never.
- A parent’s work calendar shows as one "at work" band. A work calendar collapses to one "at work" or "away" band per day. Each calendar can be full, busy-only or private.
- Month, week, day. The Wall view zooms from the month down to the hour with a pinch, and a flick turns it to the next day. Week, day and agenda too.
- Tomorrow, delivered every evening. The evening brief: each member gets tomorrow’s schedule, dinner and to-dos by email; a kid’s lists theirs and the family’s. Gather Plus.
- Add an event from a photo or a forwarded email. Gather it: snap the invite or paste the words, check what we found, put it on the calendar. The RSVP goes on the counter and the gift on the List. Forwarding an email is not here yet.
- Something at the end of the chore. Every job has a value, in dollars or in house coins.
- Real allowance, in a ledger you can trust. The Family Bank: jobs pay into Give, Save and Spend jars, and every dollar is a ledger line. Gather Plus.
- Savings goals with a parent match. A kid names a goal; parents can match what goes in. Gather Plus.
- The family votes on what sounds good. "What sounds good?" Everyone reacts, even from the screen in the kitchen, and a parent puts the winner on the menu.
- Remembers what the house keeps. The Pantry: what is on hand, what is always on hand, and "we’re out" in one tap.
- Kids without an email address. Kids are personas: no email, no password. A kid’s own login opens a kid-sized home: their jobs, their jars, today and this week, and the List.
- A shared screen that asks "Who’s this?". A household device shows the family’s faces. A kid taps theirs and gets the same kid home as on their own phone; parent actions ask for a PIN.
- Find anything in the house. One box, or Cmd+K on a laptop: events, to-dos, jobs, goals, dinner ideas, the List, the Pantry, people. Type the words of an invite instead and Gather it reads them.
- Photos when nobody is looking at the calendar. Photos the family puts on the fridge, or a public-domain painting, after a quiet stretch; a tap brings the calendar back.
- Try it, and send it back. A free trial, then cancel anytime. There is nothing to send back.
Cozi is ahead on
- Price. Cozi is free with ads, and Cozi Gold is $39 a year. Gather Plus is one paid plan with a free trial; there is no ad-supported Gather.
- The app stores. Cozi is an app you install from the store. Gather opens in a browser and you add it to the home screen, where it opens like an app.
- Two homes. Cozi is owned by OurFamilyWizard and built with co-parenting across two households in mind. Gather is built around one table.
The verdict
Cozi is the free shared calendar a lot of families started with, and for a phone calendar and a shopping list it still works. The free plan has ads and only takes events thirty days ahead; Gold fixes both for $39 a year. There is no wall mode, no kid profiles, and the chores have no rewards.
Gather has no ads and no thirty-day limit, one plan with a free trial, and it is built for the wall: any screen you already own, from the tablet on the counter to the TV in the living room, and it knows who is tapping. If your family lives in their phones and nobody wants a screen in the kitchen, Cozi is fine. If you want the calendar where everyone can see it, and chores that pay, Gather.
Side by side
“Plus” and “Membership” in a cell mean that part needs the paid plan. Gather's own prices come from the same catalog as checkout, so they cannot drift. See all four side by side.
| Feature | Gathergather.guru | CoziCozi, an OurFamilyWizard company |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | ||
| A screen on the wall | PartlyAny screen you already own, opened in a browser: the tablet on the counter, the TV in the living room, the old laptop in the drawer. We do not sell a frame. | NoPhone and web only. No display mode. |
| Works with nothing to buy | YesYes. Sign up in a browser and you are on the wall tonight. | YesYes. Free app and website. |
| On your phone, and on every other screen | YesAnything with a browser, phone included; add it to the home screen and it opens like an app. | YesiPhone, Android and the web. |
| Try it before you pay | YesA free trial on a screen you already own, card on file, cancel anytime. Nothing to ship back. | PartlyA free plan with ads to try, and the free calendar only takes events for the next 30 days. |
| No ads | YesNever. | PartlyAds on the free plan. Gold removes them. |
| On the wall: the calendar | ||
| Shows your Google, Apple and Outlook calendars | YesAll three, plus any school or team calendar link. Refreshes every hour and when you open the page. | YesAny calendar link: Google secret address, iCloud, Outlook. |
| Edits on the wall flow back to Google or AppleThe honest line: two of the four do this, and Gather is not one of them yet. | NoNot yet. Imported calendars are read-only; edit them where they live and the wall follows within the hour. Events you add in Gather stay in Gather. | NoCalendar links come in; a read-only link goes out. |
| Each person's own color | YesYes, and each imported calendar gets a category too: school, work, sports, and so on. | YesColor per member, with attendee dots. |
| Who’s going, on every eventSo a kid sees their own things and the family’s, not a parent’s dentist appointment. | YesPick who’s going; nobody picked means everyone. Kids see theirs and the family’s, on the wall and in their brief. | YesTag attendees on an event; filter the calendar by person. |
| A parent’s work calendar shows as one "at work" bandSo the wall does not fill with meetings the kids do not need to see. | YesA work calendar collapses to one "at work" or "away" band per day. Each calendar can be full, busy-only or private. | NoShows every event, or you leave the calendar off. |
| Month, week, day | YesThe Wall view zooms from the month down to the hour with a pinch, and a flick turns it to the next day. Week, day and agenda too. | PartlyAgenda is free. Month and 3-day views on the phone need Gold. |
| Tomorrow, delivered every evening | YesThe evening brief: each member gets tomorrow’s schedule, dinner and to-dos by email; a kid’s lists theirs and the family’s. Gather Plus. | Partly"Cozi Today" in the app shows the day; nothing arrives by email. |
| Add an event from a photo or a forwarded emailThe invite on the fridge becomes the event, and the RSVP and the gift come with it. | YesGather it: snap the invite or paste the words, check what we found, put it on the calendar. The RSVP goes on the counter and the gift on the List. Forwarding an email is not here yet. | PartlyEvent Import. Max only, phone only. |
| On the board: chores, and what they pay | ||
| Chores kids check off themselves | YesThe Job Board. A kid starts a job on the shared screen, finishes it, and a parent settles it. | YesCozi Chores, added in 2025: assign, repeat daily or weekly. |
| Something at the end of the chore | YesEvery job has a value, in dollars or in house coins. | NoNo points, stars or rewards. |
| Real allowance, in a ledger you can trustMoney in and out, never edited, so nobody argues about the balance. | YesThe Family Bank: jobs pay into Give, Save and Spend jars, and every dollar is a ledger line. Gather Plus. | NoNo money. |
| Savings goals with a parent match | YesA kid names a goal; parents can match what goes in. Gather Plus. | NoNo. |
| In the kitchen: dinner and the list | ||
| The week's dinners on the menu | YesThe Kitchen: tonight and the week’s menu. | YesMeal planner and recipe box, free. |
| The family votes on what sounds good | Yes"What sounds good?" Everyone reacts, even from the screen in the kitchen, and a parent puts the winner on the menu. | NoNo. |
| One shopping list for the house | YesThe List. Tap "Got it" and the item moves into the Pantry. | YesShared shopping lists, free. Shopping Mode needs Gold. |
| Remembers what the house keeps | YesThe Pantry: what is on hand, what is always on hand, and "we’re out" in one tap. | NoNo. |
| For the kids | ||
| Kids without an email address | YesKids are personas: no email, no password. A kid’s own login opens a kid-sized home: their jobs, their jars, today and this week, and the List. | NoEach kid signs in with their own email and the shared family password. |
| A shared screen that asks "Who’s this?"Kids tap their face to act as themselves; parents unlock with a PIN. | YesA household device shows the family’s faces. A kid taps theirs and gets the same kid home as on their own phone; parent actions ask for a PIN. | NoNo shared-screen mode. |
| The rest | ||
| Find anything in the houseOne box for the event, the job, the goal, the dinner idea, the thing on the list. | YesOne box, or Cmd+K on a laptop: events, to-dos, jobs, goals, dinner ideas, the List, the Pantry, people. Type the words of an invite instead and Gather it reads them. | PartlyCalendar Search finds past and future events, with their notes. Gold. |
| Photos when nobody is looking at the calendar | YesPhotos the family puts on the fridge, or a public-domain painting, after a quiet stretch; a tap brings the calendar back. | NoNo. |
| Where you can get it | YesAnywhere with a browser. | YesApp stores worldwide, in English. |
| Try it, and send it back | YesA free trial, then cancel anytime. There is nothing to send back. | PartlyFree plan to try. Paid purchases are final. |
What three years costs
Hardware once, plus the yearly plan each maker's site steers a new family toward, at list price on September 27, 2026.
| What you would buy | Hardware | Per year | 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| GatherGather Plus, yearly, on a screen you already ownYearly billing. Monthly is $9.99. | $0 | $79 | $237 |
| CoziCozi Gold, yearlyCozi Max is $79.99 a year. The free plan with ads is $0. | $0 | $39 | $117 |
Questions parents ask
Is Gather a Cozi alternative with a wall mode?
- Yes. Cozi lives in the phone app and on the web and has no display mode. Gather’s Wall view puts the week on any screen with a browser, the tablet on the counter or the TV in the living room, and a household device asks "Who’s this?" when someone taps, so a kid sees their own things and the family’s without a parent’s phone. Cozi is free with ads; Gather is one plan with a free trial and never shows an ad.
Can I move from Cozi to Gather without losing my calendar?
- Yes, and you do not have to move it all at once. Cozi’s Settings, under Shared Cozi Calendars, give you a read-only link for your Cozi calendar; paste that link into Gather and the Cozi calendar shows on the wall beside your Google, Apple or Outlook calendars, refreshing every hour. Keep adding events in Cozi while the family gets used to the wall, then add new ones in Gather when you are ready. Gather it reads a photo or the pasted words of an invite, so the ones on the fridge land too.
What does Cozi do that Gather does not?
- Cozi is free, with ads, and it is in the app stores; Gather has no ad-supported version and opens in a browser, which you add to the home screen so it opens like an app. Cozi has a recipe box with its own grocery list and a long history of families who know it; Gather’s Kitchen remembers the usual items for each dinner instead. Cozi is owned by OurFamilyWizard and built for co-parenting across two homes; Gather is built around one table.
Which is cheaper over three years, Cozi or Gather?
- Cozi. At list prices Cozi Gold is about a hundred and twenty dollars for three years and the ad-supported version is nothing. Gather Plus is a little over two hundred for three years on a screen you already own. The difference buys the wall, kid profiles, who’s going on every event, the Job Board and the Family Bank, the Kitchen and the Pantry, and no ads. The table on this page has the exact figures.
Can I use my own tablet, or my TV, as a family wall calendar?
- With Gather, yes, and any other screen with a browser: the smart TV already in the living room, a spare monitor, the laptop nobody uses. Open gather.guru on it, enroll it as a household device from Settings, and prop it on the counter, mount it on the wall, or leave it on the TV. It shows the Wall view, asks "Who’s this?" when someone taps, and lets kids check off jobs without a parent unlocking anything. Skylight and Hearth only work on the display they sell. Cozi has no wall mode.
Which one tracks real allowance?
- Only Gather. Skylight and Hearth reward chores with stars you trade for rewards you define. Cozi has chores but no rewards at all. Gather’s Family Bank pays each finished job into a kid’s Give, Save and Spend jars, and keeps every dollar as a ledger line that nobody can edit after the fact. That part is in Gather Plus.
Which is cheapest over three years?
- At list prices: Gather Plus on a screen you already own is a little over two hundred dollars for three years. Cozi Gold is about a hundred and twenty. Skylight’s 15-inch frame with Plus is a little over five hundred. Hearth’s display with a membership is a little under a thousand. The table above has the exact figures and what each one leaves out.
Is Cozi really free?
- Yes, with ads, and the free calendar only takes events for the next thirty days ahead. Cozi Gold removes the ads and opens the month view and the full calendar for a yearly fee. It is a good phone calendar and shopping list; it has no wall mode, no kid profiles and no rewards.
Can my kid see just their own events, without mine?
- Yes. Every event in Gather has a “Who’s going”; if nobody is picked, it is the whole family’s. A kid’s calendar, their home on the shared screen and their evening brief show the events that name them plus the family’s, and leave out a parent’s dentist appointment. Skylight puts each event on one or more Profiles and Hearth gives each member a column, so both can do this on the display; Cozi tags attendees in the phone app.
How do I find one thing in all of that?
- One search box, from the header on a phone or Cmd+K on a laptop. It finds events, to-dos, jobs, goals, dinner ideas, things on the List, things in the Pantry and people, and the line under each result says where it is sitting: on the counter, up in the air, we’re out. Pick one and the page opens with it highlighted. Type the words of an invite instead and the same box hands them to Gather it. Skylight’s phone app has a search for calendar events; Cozi’s Calendar Search needs Gold.
Where these facts come from
- Gather: Pricing · Live demo
- Cozi: Compare plans · Cozi Gold · Cozi Max · Using Cozi with other calendars · Cozi Chores · FAQ
Cozi is a trademark of its owner. Gather is not affiliated with it. Prices are in US dollars and change; the links above are the live source.
Also compared: Gather vs Skylight Calendar · Gather vs Hearth Display · All four · Turn an old iPad into the wall