Gather vs Skylight Calendar

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.

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.

Questions parents ask

Is there a Skylight Calendar alternative that does not need the frame?

Gather is one. It puts the same shared family calendar on any screen with a browser, with the chores, dinner and the shopping list on the same screen, and it costs nothing to try tonight. Skylight’s calendar only runs on the frame Skylight sells, from $149.99 for the 10-inch to about $570 for the 27-inch Max. Gather Plus is one plan, with a free trial and nothing to ship back.

Can I put Gather on a screen I already have instead of buying a Skylight?

Yes. Open gather.guru in the browser on it, sign in, and under Settings choose Household Devices and tap "Use this device". The screen becomes the family’s: it shows the Wall view, asks "Who’s this?" when someone taps, and lets kids check off jobs without a parent unlocking anything. There is a step-by-step guide for the old iPad in the drawer at gather.guru/wall/old-ipad; the TV in the living room and the laptop nobody uses take the same steps.

What does Skylight do that Gather does not?

Four things, honestly. Skylight writes edits you make on the frame back to Google and Apple; Gather shows your calendars but does not write to them yet. Skylight takes a forwarded email in Magic Import; Gather it reads a photo or pasted words, not a forwarded email, yet. Skylight ships a finished frame with a 120-day return; Gather sells no hardware. And Skylight Plus has Disney backgrounds for the screensaver; Gather shows the family’s own photos or a public-domain painting.

Which is cheaper over three years, Skylight or Gather?

At list prices, Gather Plus on a screen you already own is a little over two hundred dollars for three years. Skylight’s 15-inch Calendar 2 with Calendar Plus is a little over five hundred: the frame once, then $79 a year. The 10-inch frame brings Skylight down by $150; the 27-inch Max roughly doubles it. The table on this page has the exact figures.

Is Gather a Skylight Calendar alternative without the frame?

Yes, that is the idea. Gather puts the same shared family calendar on any screen you already own, in a browser, with chores and dinner on the same screen. Skylight sells a frame with its calendar built in and adds a yearly Plus plan for meals, rewards and photos. If there is a tablet in a drawer, an old laptop, or a TV with a browser in the house, Gather costs nothing to try tonight.

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.

Do changes I make in Gather show up in Google Calendar?

Not yet. Gather reads your Google, Apple and Outlook calendars and shows them on the wall, refreshing every hour and whenever you open the page, but it does not write back to them. Edit an imported event where it lives and the wall follows. Events you create in Gather stay in Gather. Skylight writes back to Google and Apple; Hearth writes back only through a separate calendar it adds to your Google account.

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.

Do I need Skylight Plus or a Hearth membership?

Skylight’s calendar, chore chart and lists work without Plus; meal planning, star rewards, the photo screensaver and adding events from a photo need it. Hearth’s calendar works without a membership, but routines, lists, the phone app and future updates need one. Gather has one plan with everything in it, the calendar, the Job Board, the Kitchen, the List, Gather it, the Family Bank and the evening brief, and a free trial to start.

Can Gather add an event from a photo of an invite?

Yes. Tap Gather it, snap the birthday invite, the team schedule or the school flyer, or paste the words from an email or a text from another parent. We show you what we found, one card per event, with the day, the time and the place filled in and anything we were unsure about marked. You check it and put it on the calendar. If the invite asks for an RSVP, that lands on the counter as a to-do; if a gift is expected, a gift task and a line on the List come with it. The photo and the words are never stored. Skylight and Hearth do this too, on their paid plans. Forwarding an email straight to Gather is not here yet.

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.