Vela vs Cozi: an honest comparison
Cozi is the biggest family organizer there is, and for a lot of families it is the right one. Where it wins, where it's slipping, what Vela does differently — with prices and review numbers, dated.
Two different ideas of a family organizer
Cozi is a shared calendar, shared lists, to-dos and recipes that one household keeps together, under one family account and one shared password (Cozi on Google Play, read 2026-09-21). You type things into forms, and it works the same on iPhone, Android and the web. By ratings it is the largest app in the category by a wide margin: roughly 399,000 on the App Store and 120,000 on Google Play at our last count.
Vela is a family assistant you talk to. Say or type "soccer moved to Thursday, pizza after" and she turns it into the shared calendar, lists and to-dos. A voice note, a photo of an invite or a forwarded school email all become entries without a form. It runs on iPhone first (Android after) and on Telegram, and connects two ways to the Google calendars you pick.
Cozi bets on a calendar everyone can see, kept simple. Vela bets that the typing is the problem. This page says plainly where Cozi is the better choice.
Where Cozi is better
- It's everywhere. iPhone, Android and a real web app (cozi.com, read 2026-09-21). Vela has no web app, and Android comes after iPhone.
- Recipes and a meal planner are built in (cozi.com). Vela doesn't do meals.
- Fifteen-odd years of families using it. It's known, the help articles exist, your in-laws may already have it.
- It's cheaper. Cozi Gold is $39 a year on cozi.com or $29.99 in-app on the App Store, both read 2026-09-21. Vela's Compass is $49 a year.
If your family already runs on Cozi and it works, keep it.
Where Cozi is slipping
We read the 250 newest US reviews of Cozi on Google Play on 2026-09-20. The store average is still 4.75 stars, but the newest reviews tell a more specific story.
Side by side
| Feature | Cozi | Vela |
|---|---|---|
| Shared family calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Shared shopping listsVela keeps quantities: "two dozen eggs" stays two dozen. | Yes | Yes |
| Household to-dos | Yes | Yes |
| Recipes and a meal planner | Yes | No |
| Add by saying itA sentence or a voice note becomes an event, a to-do or list items. | No | Yes |
| Photo of an invite becomes an event | No | Yes |
| A family email addressForward the school email; the dates land on the calendar. | No | Yes |
| Google Calendar | Read-only feeds, either direction, refreshed about hourly | Two-way for the calendars you pick |
| Accounts | One family account, one shared password | Each adult signs in on their own |
| Android | Yes | After iPhone |
| Web app | Yes | No |
| Ads on the free tier | Yes | No |
| Paid tier | $29.99–$39 a year (Gold); a Max tier at $79.99 | $4.99 a month or $49 a year (Compass) |
| Priced per family, never per person | Yes | Yes |
The calendar row matters most. Cozi's Google, Outlook and Apple connections are read-only feeds, checked about once an hour: you can see Google events in Cozi, but you can't edit across the line (cozi.com/using-cozi-with-other-calendars, read 2026-09-21). Vela mirrors both ways for the calendars you choose. If your family lives in Google Calendar, that row may decide it.
What it costs
| Plan | Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| CoziCozi (free) | Free, with ads | calendar, lists, to-dos, recipes and meal planner |
| CoziCozi Gold | $39/yr on cozi.com · $29.99/yr in-app | ad free, month view, birthday tracker, calendar search, up to three reminders per event, change notifications, shopping mode |
| CoziCozi Max | $79.99/yr in-app | listed on the App Store; cozi.com does not describe what it adds, so neither do we |
| VelaVela | Free | the permanent free tier — a light week of coordination |
| VelaCompass | $4.99/mo · $49/yr | per family, never per person |
| VelaAtlas | $9.99/mo · $99/yr | per family, fair-use ceiling instead of a limit |
Both charge the household, not the head. On price alone Cozi Gold wins. Vela's free tier has no ads and no time limit, and the paid plans buy a larger action budget, not a missing feature.
Your family has Android phones or wants a web app, you want recipes and meals in the same place, or Cozi already works for you.
The typing is what's not getting done. You'd rather say it, snap it or forward it, your family lives in Google Calendar, and you're on iPhone or happy to start on Telegram.
Questions we get
Can I move my Cozi calendar into Vela? Not directly, yet. Cozi can publish a read-only feed of its calendar to Google (Cozi's instructions), and Vela can watch that calendar. We haven't walked that route with a real Cozi account, so a proper "Move from Cozi" page comes once we have.
Is Vela free? Yes, permanently, with no ads. Compass ($4.99 a month or $49 a year) and Atlas ($9.99 a month or $99 a year) are for families who do more, priced per family, and you cancel through the App Store.
Where is my family's data? Vela reads only the Google calendars you pick and writes only to the one you nominate. Nothing is sold and there are no ads. The plain-language version is on our privacy page.
The short version
If you're a happy Cozi family, stay. If you're tired of typing everything in, the button below is the honest next step.