The strongest The Events Calendar alternative for most sites is My Calendar, which is fully free, accessibility-focused, and manages recurring events without paywalling core tools. For built-in bookings and tickets at no cost, Events Manager is the best free pick, while Event Organiser suits sites that want tight custom post type integration. We ranked these from our index of 55,000+ WordPress plugins.

Why people switch from The Events Calendar

• The Events Calendar reserves recurring events and views behind its paid add-ons, so people move to My Calendar or Events Manager for those free.
• Sites wanting built-in ticketing and RSVPs without extra plugins move to Events Manager.
• Some find The Events Calendar heavy, so they move to My Calendar or Event Organiser for a lighter footprint.
• Users needing strong accessibility move to My Calendar.

My Calendar – Accessible free events

My Calendar, maintained by Joe Dolan, is a fully free event manager with a strong focus on accessibility and standards-compliant markup. Against The Events Calendar, it handles recurring events and multiple calendar views without pushing you toward a paid tier. The honest drawback is that its admin interface is functional rather than modern, so setup feels less polished than commercial calendars.

Choose My Calendar if you want a free, accessible calendar that handles recurrence out of the box.

Event Organiser – Custom post type events

Event Organiser builds on WordPress custom post types and taxonomies, so events fit naturally into your existing content model. Against The Events Calendar, it gives developers clean integration and flexible template control. The honest drawback is that development activity has slowed, so it feels dated and some pro add-ons are needed for bookings and frontend submission.

Choose Event Organiser if you want events built cleanly on native custom post types.

Events Manager – Free bookings and tickets

Events Manager is a long-standing plugin that includes event registration, bookings, and locations in its free version. Against The Events Calendar, it bundles RSVPs and ticketing without the paid add-ons the subject relies on. The honest drawback is that its interface is dense and dated, and the many options can overwhelm users who just want a simple calendar.

Choose Events Manager if you want free bookings and ticketing without buying add-ons.

modern-events-calendar-lite – Visual calendar layouts

Modern Events Calendar, by Webnus, focuses on modern, visually rich calendar and event layouts with many display styles. Against The Events Calendar, it offers more design variety in how events appear on the front end. The honest drawback is that most of the useful views and booking features are locked to the pro version, leaving the free tier limited.

Choose modern-events-calendar-lite if you want polished, varied event layouts and design flexibility.

all-in-one-event-calendar – iCal and syncing

All-in-One Event Calendar, by Time.ly, centres on calendar syncing and importing events via iCal and Google Calendar feeds. Against The Events Calendar, it makes pulling in external event feeds straightforward. The honest drawback is that it relies on Time.ly’s hosted service for some features and has seen slow updates, which can raise reliability concerns.

Choose all-in-one-event-calendar if you want to import and sync events from external calendar feeds.

When to stay on The Events Calendar

Stay on The Events Calendar if you value its polished interface, large add-on ecosystem, and the reassurance of an actively maintained plugin from a major developer. Its free core covers listing and single events well, and its Events Tickets and recurring add-ons integrate cleanly. If you are already invested in that ecosystem, switching means rebuilding events and losing those integrations.

How we ranked these

Every plugin here is scored by the WPS Score, a single 0 to 10 rating built from 21 signals covering maintenance, support responsiveness, compatibility, performance, and ratings quality across our index of 55,000+ plugins. Rankings are derived from that data, not editorial preference, and no plugin author can pay to change a score. How the WPS Score works.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free alternative to The Events Calendar?

My Calendar and Events Manager are the best free alternatives to The Events Calendar. My Calendar excels at accessibility and recurring events, while Events Manager includes bookings and ticketing in its free version, both without the paid add-ons The Events Calendar uses.

Does The Events Calendar support recurring events for free?

The Events Calendar limits recurring events in its free version and unlocks full recurrence through its paid Pro add-on. If recurring events are essential and you want them free, My Calendar and Events Manager handle recurrence in their core plugins.

Which events plugin includes ticketing?

Events Manager includes bookings and ticketing in its free plugin, and The Events Calendar offers ticketing through its separate Events Tickets add-on. For paid or RSVP-based events, both can sell or manage tickets, though Events Manager needs no extra purchase.

The verdict

The best all-round The Events Calendar alternative is My Calendar for its free, accessible feature set, while Events Manager wins for built-in bookings and Event Organiser for developer-friendly custom post types. If you rely on The Events Calendar’s ecosystem and polished admin, staying on The Events Calendar remains a solid choice.