Alfie vs Cozi: a Cozi alternative for Google, Outlook and iCloud families
Choose Cozi if your family is happy to keep its shared schedule inside Cozi and wants lists in the same app. Choose Alfie if each adult already lives in their own Google, Outlook or iCloud calendar and you want those calendars, work calendars included, to make up the family week in both directions.
Alfie is our product. The Cozi details on this page come from Cozi's own help and pricing pages, checked on 12 September 2026.
How each one connects to your calendars
Cozi keeps its own family calendar and can show other calendars next to it. To bring in a Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook calendar, you copy that calendar's iCal link and paste it into Cozi. The connection is read-only, and changes made in the original calendar appear in Cozi within about an hour. For Outlook, the link has to come from Outlook 365's "Publish calendar" feature (Cozi Help).
It works the same way in the other direction. You can subscribe to Cozi's calendar from Google, Apple or Outlook, but that subscription is also read-only, and Cozi notes that Google Calendar can take up to 48 hours to show changes from a subscribed link.
Alfie connects to the accounts themselves. Each person signs in to Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com, adds iCloud with an app-specific password, or enters any CalDAV server. All of these sync both ways: an event created or edited in Alfie on one of these calendars is written to that calendar, so it also appears in the person's own calendar app. Each person also has a built-in Alfie calendar, which stays in Alfie and can be subscribed to as an ICS link. Public ICS links, such as a school term calendar, are read-only.
In practice, the difference shows up when one parent adds an event. In Cozi the event lives in Cozi, and a partner who works from Google Calendar sees it through a subscription that can lag. In Alfie an event added to a connected calendar is written to that calendar, and the family week is drawn from everyone's own calendars.
What the rest of the family sees
With Cozi's imports, the family sees what the pasted iCal link contains.
Alfie sets sharing per calendar, for the whole household: Full details, Busy only, or Hidden. A calendar marked as a work calendar starts as busy only, so meetings appear as untitled blocks. The assistant follows the same rules, so it cannot tell your partner the title of a meeting you shared as busy.
What else each app does
Cozi is a family organiser as well as a calendar: its apps for iPhone, Android and the web also hold shopping lists, family to-do lists, and recipes with a meal planner (Cozi). Cozi Gold adds an ad-free experience, month view on mobile, calendar search, up to three reminders per event, calendar change notifications, a birthday tracker and a shopping mode (Cozi Gold).
Alfie is a calendar and a scheduling assistant, with no lists or meal planning. You can ask it questions such as "When is everyone free this weekend?" and it can propose new events or changes, which are written only after you confirm. It checks the next two weeks for double bookings, a child who needs a lift when no adult is free, and not enough time to get from one place to the next, and it sends each person a morning summary at an hour they choose. Children are added as profiles without an account.
Alfie runs in a web browser on a phone or a computer. Native iOS and Android apps are planned but not released, which matters if your family prefers an app from the app store.
Price
Cozi has a free version, and Cozi Gold costs $39 a year for everyone in the account (Cozi FAQ).
Alfie is free to use, including the assistant. The assistant will later come with a monthly free allowance, with a paid plan or usage packs beyond it, and the change will be announced in advance.
Which one suits your family
Cozi is likely the better fit if:
- your family is willing to enter shared events in one app,
- you want shopping and to-do lists next to the calendar,
- you want a native phone app today.
Alfie is likely the better fit if:
- the adults use different calendar services and will not switch,
- a work calendar should show the family when you are busy but not what the meeting is,
- you want an event you add to someone's connected calendar in Alfie to appear in their own calendar app.
How to do it with Alfie
Create a household, connect each adult's calendar accounts, and choose the sharing level for each calendar. Invite your partner with the invite link, which stays valid for 72 hours, and add children as profiles. If you are moving over gradually, add Cozi's calendar link to Alfie as a read-only ICS link, so events still kept in Cozi appear in the family week while you switch. Setting up takes about ten minutes, and Alfie is free to use.