Comparison
Awning vs Itsycal
Itsycal is free, very good, and the reason this category exists. It is also built to be adjusted, where Awning is built not to need it — and there are three things Awning does that Itsycal does not. Here is the honest version.
Checked against mowglii.com, 20 October 2026
Use Itsycal if
You want a tiny, free, deeply configurable calendar in your menu bar. Or if your Mac is not on macOS 26 yet, because Itsycal runs back to macOS 11 and Awning does not. That alone decides it for a lot of perfectly good Macs.
Use Awning if
You would rather not configure anything. One gesture, sensible defaults, a short Settings pane, and it is finished when you open it. $0.99, once.
Awning
$0.99
once, on the Mac App Store
Itsycal
Free
direct download
Side by side
| Feature | Awning | Itsycal |
|---|---|---|
| Requires | macOS 26+ | macOS 11+ |
| Where you get it | Mac App Store | Direct download |
| Month grid in the menu bar | ✓ | ✓ |
| Agenda under the month | Resizable | Fixed |
| Join a video meeting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create events | Plain English | A form |
| Location autocomplete | ✓ | — |
| Search your events | ✓ | — |
| Change an event in place | ✓ | — |
| Alert before a meeting | ✓ | — |
| ISO week numbers | — | ✓ |
| Vim keyboard motions | — | ✓ |
| Hourly chime | — | ✓ |
| Replaces the system clock | — | ✓ |
Where we were wrong
An earlier version of our homepage said Awning adds “joining, event creation and the two-month drag” over Itsycal. That was written from memory of an older Itsycal and it is not accurate. Itsycal joins virtual meetings, creates events, and shows up to two months at a time. We have corrected it, and we are leaving this paragraph here rather than quietly deleting the claim.
The real difference is not a feature
Itsycal is built to be adjusted. Font sizes, the menu bar format, week numbers, the chime, keyboard motions with repeat counts. It rewards a person who enjoys setting things up, and it has earned a devoted following for exactly that.
Awning is built to not need adjusting. The divider between the month and the agenda is the only control that matters, and dragging it is the whole interaction: up for a week, down for a month. It remembers how much room you gave it, per display.
Some people want a panel of switches. Some people want one handle. That is a preference, not a verdict.
Two things that genuinely differ
Typing an event instead of filling a form
In Awning you press a shortcut and type lunch with Dana Friday 1pm. It reads the
day, the time and the title, shows you what it understood so you can correct it, and offers
address autocomplete if you add a location. Itsycal creates events too, through a more
conventional form.
Finding the link when it is buried
Both apps put a Join button on meetings. Awning looks in the URL field, the location and the notes. That is where a lot of Teams and Webex invitations actually hide the link, several paragraphs down.
What Itsycal does that we do not
ISO week numbers, vim motions, the hourly chime, multiple font sizes, and replacing the system menu bar clock entirely. If any of those are on your list, Itsycal is the better choice and we would rather you were happy than $0.99 poorer.
Try Itsycal first. It is free. If you find yourself wishing it were quieter, that is what Awning is.
Click the date. That’s the whole thing.
$0.99, once. No subscription, no account. Requires macOS 26 or later.
Awning is a Mac app. Open this page on your Mac to install.