A Cozi alternative for families who have more to do than time.
Cozi is a shared family calendar with lists attached. Helg is a shared family to-do list with a weekly decision attached: everyone captures what needs doing, and once a week one person decides what actually fits, against the hours the week really has. If your problem is knowing where everyone needs to be, Cozi fits. If it’s that too much lands on one person and the week is always over-promised, Helg is built for that.
| What | Helg | Cozi |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | A to-do list and a weekly decision | A shared family calendar |
| How the week gets planned | A weekly pass: each captured task is decided once — this week, later, someone else, or let it go | Events and to-dos are added to the calendar and lists |
| Overcommitting | A weekly hours budget shows when the week holds more than it can | Not a focus |
| Getting things off one person’s plate | Family members send things up; tasks and single steps can be handed to someone | Shared lists everyone can edit |
| Grocery list | Shared buy list by store, with share links and running-low reminders | Shared shopping lists |
| Calendar | Publishes dates to Apple, Google or Outlook through a calendar feed | Its own shared calendar |
| Platforms | Web on any device; iPhone app in beta | iOS, Android and web |
Where Cozi is the better fit
If the hard part of your family’s week is the calendar — who’s driving to practice, which night is the school concert — a calendar-first app like Cozi is the right shape. Its strength is one shared view of everyone’s appointments, with shopping lists and meal planning next to it.
Where Helg is the better fit
Most families don’t run out of calendar. They run out of hours, and one person ends up remembering everything. Helg is built around that: anyone in the household can capture a task the moment it comes up, and it waits in an Inbox instead of in someone’s head. On a pass day you choose, you go through it once and decide each thing.
The week has a budget — 11 hours by default, because life still happens — and Helg shows when what you’ve committed to is more than that. Long-runway jobs get a start-by date as well as a due date, so the passport renewal starts in April, not the week before the trip.
- Family members send things up rather than reminding you.
- Hand a whole task, or one step of it, to someone; they see only what’s theirs.
- A co-pilot can run your week when you can’t.
- Dates flow to the calendar you already use; you don’t need a second one.
Using both
Plenty of households keep a shared calendar for appointments and use Helg to decide the to-do side of the week. Helg’s calendar feed puts its dated tasks into Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook, so everything due still shows up where you look.
Questions
What is a good alternative to Cozi?
It depends on why you’re leaving. For a calendar-first family app, other shared calendars do the same job. If the problem is that one person carries the household’s to-do list and the week is always over-promised, Helg is built for that: shared capture, a weekly decision and an hours budget.
Is Helg free?
Helg is free for one person. For a household it’s US$14 a month for 4 people including you, plus US$3.50 a month for each extra person, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed.
Can I keep using my calendar with Helg?
Yes. Helg publishes its dated tasks as a calendar feed you can subscribe to in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook.
Read next
Try Helg freeFree for one person. No card needed for the 14-day family trial.
Last reviewed October 2026.