Cal.com vs Cupola
Two Productivity products side by side.
| Cal.com | Cupola | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Open-source scheduling you can self-host | Apple Calendar, Reminders and Notes in your Mac's notch |
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Categories | Productivity, Business | Productivity |
| Tags | Scheduling, Self-hosted, Open Source | macOS, Privacy-first, Local-first, Scheduling, Notes |
| Score | 36%14 votes | 50%8 votes |
| Website | cal.com | trycupola.com |
| Founder | Not listed | Not listed |
| Listed | Sep 12, 2025 | Oct 3, 2026 |
Which should you pick?
- If price decides it, start with Cal.com: it is listed as free with paid plans, while Cupola is paid with a free trial.
- Voters lean towards Cupola so far: 50% said launch from 8 votes, against 36% from 14 votes for Cal.com.
- Only Cal.com is tagged Self-hosted and Open Source.
- Only Cupola is tagged macOS, Privacy-first and Local-first.
Positioning is from each listing, not an endorsement.
About Cal.com
Cal.com handles meeting scheduling: availability rules, calendar sync, buffers, routing forms and team round-robin.
Unlike most scheduling tools it is open source, so it can run on your own infrastructure with your own calendar data.
About Cupola
Cupola is a native Mac app that puts Apple Calendar, Reminders and Notes together in one place. Hover over the MacBook notch to open a panel with four tabs: your week's calendar, reminders you can tick off, your real Apple Notes with checklists, and a focus timer you set by dragging a dial. Click "View all" to open the full app, which has day, week, month and agenda views, reminder lists and tags, and a home screen showing today's events, reminders and recent notes. On Macs or displays without a notch, a small pill at the top of the screen opens the same panel.
You can type entries in plain language, like "dentist next tuesday 4pm", and Cupola works out the date and time and adds the item to Calendar or Reminders. It reads from and writes to Apple's own apps, so there's nothing to import and no account to create. Changes made in either place show up in the other, and on your iPhone through iCloud. Your calendars, notes and reminders are never uploaded. The app only goes online to check for updates, verify your license and send crash reports, which you can turn off.
Cupola isn't on the Mac App Store. You install it with a one-line Terminal command. It needs Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. There's a 7-day free trial with no card required, then a $20 one-time lifetime license with a 14-day refund window.