Fantastical
Timely
| Feature | Fantastical | Timely |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $6.75/mo | From $11/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | apple-users, professionals, freelancers, busy-professionals | consultants, agencies, freelancers, remote-teams |
| Founded | 2011 | 2014 |
| Natural Language | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar Sets | ✓ | ✗ |
| Weather | ✓ | ✗ |
| Time Zones | ✓ | ✗ |
| Proposals | ✓ | ✗ |
| Widgets | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automatic Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Memory Timeline | ✗ | ✓ |
| Project Budgets | ✗ | ✓ |
| Team Dashboard | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Billable Hours | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Fantastical Pros
- Natural language input
- Beautiful design
- Weather integration
- Multiple calendars
✗ Fantastical Cons
- Apple only
- Expensive
- Free version limited
✓ Timely Pros
- Fully automatic time capture
- Beautiful interface
- Memory timeline feature
- Privacy-focused
✗ Timely Cons
- No free plan
- AI capture needs training period
- Mobile tracking less reliable
The Verdict
Fantastical is built for apple users and professionals, with a focus on natural-language and calendar-sets. Timely targets consultants and agencies and leads with automatic-tracking and memory-timeline.
Pricing is close: Fantastical starts at $6.75/mo versus $11/mo for Timely — not a deciding factor on its own.
Fantastical has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Timely requires a paid subscription from day one.
Both tools are a solid fit for freelancers — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.