About Melanie

• Owner of Adcock Creative and WP Churchsites

• Website Design since the 90’s

• WordPress since 2010

• Specializes in Churches, Ministries, and Retirement Communities

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Let’s Look At The Contenders

• The Events Calendar and The Events Calendar Pro

• Modern Events Calendar Lite and Modern Event Calendar

• All in One Events Calendar

• Event On

• Sugar Calendar Lite and Sugar Calendar

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Ask The Right QuestionsDo you need a calendar to show everything or just featured events? Do you need to connect it to a google calendar or other hosted calendar? Do you need frontend submissions? Do you have recurring events? On recurring events do you want only the first to show? Do you need to have people register for events? Do they need to pay for events? Do we need to integrate it into an online store? Do you need to collect any information beyond name and address for events? Do you need that information for every attendee? What kind of layouts do you want? Monthly, Weekly, list, grid, category, etc?

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

The Events Calendar/ Pro

• By Modern Tribe - theeventscalendar.com

• Free and Pro Version

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The Events Calendar• Additional Addons: Event Tickets (Free and Plus), EventBrite, Filter Bar,

Community Events, Event Aggregator, plus 3rd party addons

• It has a large extension library for customization and a documentation library for event more customization. You can override templates by adding files to your theme folder. There are also some free extensions in the WordPress Repository.

• Love-hate relationship with this plugin. It works great 99% of the time. When it fails it can be epic. (Related to Ticketing)

• Currently my default plugin for events with ticketing

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

The Events Calendar

• Well documented.

• Recurring settings are robust (Pro Version).

• Works on Multisite ($349 more).

• It can show only one instance of a series of upcoming events.

• Integrates with Beaver Themer.

• Event Tickets Plus addon integrates with Woocommerce.

• Requires Pro version for recurring events.

• Layouts are dated looking (new just released with v. 5)

• Slow support.

• Pricey for lots of sites but does have an unlimited plan.

PROS CONS

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Modern Events Calendar

• By Webnus -webnus.net/modern-events-calendar/

• Lite and Full Version - just had a major price increase

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Modern Events Calendar• Additional Addons: Woocommerce, Elementor Shortcode Builder, Elementor

Form Builder, Elementor Single Builder, Elementor Bundle, Event API, Multisite Sync, User Dashboard

• One of my favorite new calendar plugins. Beautiful layout options even on the free version (47). Can also show a single instance of recurring events on some layouts. Best Demo site to show all the options

• Works on Multisite!

• One of my favorite event plugins

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Modern Events Calendar

• Most layouts options of all the plugins.

• Beautiful modern appearance

• It can show only one instance of a series of upcoming events

• Decent support.

• Lifetime purchase.

• Integrates with Woocommerce and Elementor

• It can be pricey for lots of sites. No unlimited plan

• Shows a single instance of recurring events on some layouts but not all

• Support disappearing act

PROS CONS

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

All In One Events Calendar

• By Time.ly - time.ly

• Free, Extended, and Hosted Calendars

• Been around forever

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

All In One Events Calendar• Additional Addons: Extended Views for Photo and Stream layouts

• Robust recurring events in the free version.

• Pushing their hosted calendar solution

• Import Feeds

• Recently changed pricing structure of add-on to yearly from Lifetime.

• New activation system doesn’t work on Multisite

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

All In One Events Calendar

• Well documented.

• Recurring settings are robust in free version.

• Has shortcode options

• Imports Feeds

• Difficult to create custom layouts

• Layouts are dated looking

• Very Slow support.

• Shows all instances of recurring events

• Not for Multisite

PROS CONS

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

• By myeventon.com

• AddOns: A Huge List including Tickets, Bookings, layouts, and more

EventOn Calendar

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

EventOn Calendar• Lots of features in base version

• Additional Addons: Sold Separately and in Bundles.

• Modern layout options

• Priced per site

• Related events

• Works on multisite

• Seats add-on to sell specific seats at an event

• Importer

• Subscribe

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

EventOn Calendar

• Well documented.

• Recurring events

• Add-ons galore.

• Appears to have good support

• Has shortcode options

• Easy to copy events

• Paypal in base version

• Multisite compatible

• Priced per site

• Need a license for each multisite

• Addons $$

PROS CONS

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

• By Sandhills Development, LLC

• Free “Lite” Version and Paid Version

Sugar Calendar

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Sugar Calendar• Simple Event Management

• Beautiful Admin Interface

• Ajax Enabled Calendar View

• Events Custom Post Type

• Event Calendar Custom Taxonomy

• Simple Event Configuration

• Easily Set Event Dates

• Easily Set Event Start and End Time

• Events Archive, Listed by Start Date

• Widgets for displaying calendars and event filters

• Shortcode for showing the calendar of events

• Large and small calendar views

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Sugar Calendar

• Well documented.

• Unlimited Site pricing not bad

• Appears to have good support

• Recurring events on paid version only

• Not many add ons

PROS CONS

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

Other Contenders

• WP - Event Manager

• Calendarize It

• My Calendar

• Tockify Events Calendar

• Event Calendar WD

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

How Can I Remember This?

#WCMIA @melaniegadcock

The Resources

@melaniegadcock

Download Slides and Event Calendar Showdown

Comparison Chart wpchurch.me/wcmia2020