How Kitchenboard compares
Families looking for a calendar on the kitchen wall usually choose between a few kinds of thing: a purpose-built touchscreen frame (Skylight and Hearth Display are two), a family calendar app on phones (Cozi is one), a shared Google or Apple calendar on a tablet, a paper planner, or Kitchenboard, which runs on a screen you already own. Each is a fair choice. Here is what makes them different.
| Kitchenboard | A touchscreen calendar frame | A family calendar app | Paper planner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you need | A screen with a web browser, such as a TV, a tablet or an old iPad, and a phone for each adult. Some TVs need a streaming stick or a browser; see the screens guide. | The frame, sold by the maker, and their app on your phone. | Your phones. For a wall you would stand a tablet up yourself. | The planner and a pen. |
| What it costs here | Free: one screen, four people, planning a week ahead, without repeats or outside calendars. Plus: A$4.99 a month or A$39 a year; the 14-day trial takes a card and charges the plan you chose unless you cancel first. | The frame up front; most makers also sell an optional or required subscription. Check the maker's Australian pricing and delivery. | Usually a free tier and a paid tier. Check the app's own pricing. | A dated planner each year. |
| Where it lives | On the wall, and on everyone's phone. | On the frame, and in the maker's app. | On phones, and often on the web. | On the wall only. |
| Touch | No. The wall is read; phones do the adding. | Yes, on the frame. | On the phone or tablet. | Pen. |
| Google, Outlook, iCloud | Shown read-only on the wall (Plus). Kitchenboard never writes into them. | Varies by maker; some connect two-way with some calendars. | Varies by app; many subscribe to or publish calendar feeds. | Copy by hand. |
| Kitchenboard in your own calendar | Yes (Plus): each person subscribes their calendar app to their own feed, one-way. How often it refreshes, and whether alerts fire, is up to that app. | Check the maker's help pages. | Check the app's help pages. | No. |
| Kids | Names on the wall, no accounts. Chores and events by colour; no rewards or star charts. | Profiles and reward features are common; which ones need a subscription varies. | Usually one shared family account. | Whatever you draw. |
Questions worth asking yourself
- Do you already own a screen? A TV in the kitchen, a spare TV with a streaming stick, or a retired iPad on a stand is what Kitchenboard uses. If you would rather buy one purpose-built object, a frame is that object.
- Do you want to touch the wall? Kitchenboard's wall is read, and phones do the adding, on purpose. The frames have touchscreens.
- Where do you want to add things from? Kitchenboard gives every adult their own sign-in on their own phone, and kids are names on the wall without accounts.
- Do you live in Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar? On Plus, Kitchenboard shows those calendars on the wall read-only, and publishes each person's Kitchenboard events to their own calendar app.
- Where should the data live? Read the privacy policy before you decide, ours and theirs.
- What is the total cost over three years? Add any hardware, delivery and currency conversion to the subscription for each option, on the same billing period, and compare like with like.
What Kitchenboard does not do
We have not tested the frames or the apps ourselves, and this page is not a review of them. Kitchenboard has no chore rewards, star charts, photo screensaver or touch on the wall, and it asks a little more of you at the start: a screen to set up and phones to install on. If a frame is what you want, buy the frame.
Where to check
- Skylight Calendar: au.myskylight.com
- Hearth Display: hearthdisplay.com
- Cozi: cozi.com
Try the other way. Free needs no card and no purchase, and if it is not for you, export your data and delete the household from Settings.
Start free See pricing