Notion Calendar vs Shortwave
The ultimate side-by-side head-to-head analysis for 2026.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Notion Calendar is free, Shortwave is free tier available.
- How to start: Notion Calendar is free, Shortwave is free tier available.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. We do not publish a quality score, because we do not have one we can stand behind. They cannot tell you which tool fits your workflow — the sections below are there for that. How we score tools.
Notion Calendar
Shortwave
Category
Productivity
Productivity
Base Price
Free
Free tier
Public API
No
Yes
Mobile app
Yes
Yes
Open source / self-hostable
No
No
SSO (SAML)
No
Yes
Choose Notion Calendar if:
Notion Power Users and Modern Professionals.
Choose Shortwave if:
Heavy Gmail users drowning in threads.
Notion Calendar: pros & cons
- Seamless Notion Sync: See your Notion databases directly on your calendar.
- Blazing Speed: One of the fastest and most responsive calendars ever built.
- Aesthetic UI: A clean, professional dark-mode design that looks premium.
- Time Zone Pro: Easily manage and visualize multiple time zones simultaneously.
- Google Only: Currently only supports Google Calendar for main syncing.
- Desktop First: Mobile app is good but the desktop experience is significantly better.
- Simple Logic: Lacks the deep automation features of enterprise tools like Outlook.
Shortwave: pros & cons
- AI summaries of long threads
- Fast keyboard-driven interface
- Works on top of existing Gmail
- Gmail only
- Subscription on top of your mail account
- AI features require sending content to a model
Our verdict on Notion Calendar
The most beautiful and integrated calendar for those who live in Notion.
Our verdict on Shortwave
A real improvement over the Gmail web client. Non-Gmail users are out of luck.