In shortThere is no single best co-parenting app. OurFamilyWizard and TalkingParents are the ones to pick if you need a record a court will recognise, and both charge each parent separately. Google Calendar and Cozi are free or cheap but do not understand custody. Homedays is built for the calendar side of two homes, is priced per family rather than per parent, and has not launched yet. Below is what each is good at and what it costs for two parents.
Most “best co-parenting apps” lists are written by the app being ranked first. This one is written by us, and we make one of the apps on it, so read the Homedays section with that in mind.
What should a co-parenting app do?
Three jobs come up again and again.
- The schedule. Who has the children on which nights, filled in for weeks ahead, so nobody has to work it out from a text thread.
- The handover. When, where, and what travels with each child. The PE kit, the reading book, the inhaler.
- The record. Messages between the two homes, kept in a form that cannot be edited later, for the families who need that.
Some apps are built around the record and add a calendar. Some are built around the calendar and add messages. Decide which job matters most before you compare prices.
Two more things to check. Does the app charge each parent, or the family? And can anyone other than the two parents join, such as a grandparent who does Thursdays?
OurFamilyWizard
Good at: being the one the court knows. OurFamilyWizard has been the default for over a decade. Its records and tone tools are the reason solicitors recommend it. If a court has asked you to use a co-parenting app, this is usually the one it means.
Less good at: feeling modern. The interface has aged, outbound calendar sync is limited, and export can be gated. It is built around the two parents, so a grandparent or childminder does not get a natural place in it.
What it costs: each parent pays their own subscription, in dollars. At the time of writing that is roughly $12.50 to $25 per parent per month depending on tier. For two parents that is somewhere between $300 and $600 a year, before your bank converts it. We have written up the maths for a UK family separately, and there is a side-by-side comparison.
TalkingParents
Good at: the record. TalkingParents leans hard into an unalterable communication log, and for a high-conflict situation that is exactly what some families need. Every message is kept, timestamped and cannot be changed.
Less good at: being a calendar you enjoy opening. The accountability-first design can feel heavy if what you actually want is to know whose week it is. Like OurFamilyWizard, it stops at the two parents.
What it costs: the useful tiers are priced per parent. Check the current figures on their site, as they change. See Homedays vs TalkingParents.
AppClose
Good at: messaging and expense sharing. AppClose grew popular as a free co-parenting app, and a lot of UK families found it that way.
Less good at: staying free. In 2026 it joined the wave of apps introducing paywalls, and many families who chose it because it cost nothing are now looking again. Handovers are a calendar entry, and the wider circle is not part of the model.
What it costs: it introduced paid tiers in 2026. Check the current terms before you commit. See Homedays vs AppClose.
Cozi
Good at: running one household. Shared lists, meals, a family calendar that everyone in the house can see. If you are not split across two homes, Cozi is a friendly organiser and a lot of families are happy on it.
Less good at: two homes. Custody patterns, handovers and per-home privacy are not concepts in Cozi. Everyone sees one shared space, which is the opposite of what a separated family usually wants.
What it costs: a free tier with adverts, and Cozi Gold on top. It solves a different problem. See Homedays vs Cozi.
Google Calendar
Good at: events. It is free, almost everyone already has it, reminders arrive, and sharing a calendar with one other person takes a minute. For some families a shared Google Calendar is genuinely enough.
Less good at: knowing anything about family life. It has no idea whose week it is, what a handover is, or which adult should see which child. A shared calendar is all or nothing, so the childminder either sees everything or nothing.
What it costs: nothing. That is the honest reason to start here. See Homedays vs Google Calendar for where it runs out.
Homedays
This is ours, so here is the plain version.
Good at: the calendar side of two homes. The custody pattern fills itself in, whether that is a week each, 2-2-3 or alternate weekends. Every handover has a time, a place and a kit list. Swap requests are asked and agreed in the app. There is a per-child info bank for sizes, medication and key numbers. Grandparents, a childminder or a new partner can be invited, and each sees only what they should. It feeds into Apple and Google Calendar, and you can export everything any time.
On Family Plus the AI helpers read a school letter into calendar events, suggest friendlier wording for a tricky message, and send a morning brief and weekly digest. The AI never sees a child’s name: names are swapped for placeholders before anything reaches a model. Data is encrypted at rest. There are no child accounts.
Less good at: two things you should know. First, it has not launched yet. There is a waitlist on the home page. Second, if what you need is a record with years of court recognition behind it, OurFamilyWizard and TalkingParents have that and we do not. Homedays is a web app that installs to your home screen, with no app store listing.
What it costs: one bill per family, never per parent. Family is £4.99 a month or £49 a year. Family Plus is £8.99 a month or £97 a year. There is a 14-day free trial of Family Plus with no card. The other parent and everyone you invite join free on every plan. Full details are on the pricing page.
What does each cost for two parents?
| App | Priced per | Two parents, roughly |
|---|---|---|
| OurFamilyWizard | Parent | $300 to $600 a year at the time of writing |
| TalkingParents | Parent, for the useful tiers | Two subscriptions; check their site |
| AppClose | Paid tiers since 2026 | Check their site |
| Cozi | Household | Free with adverts, or Cozi Gold |
| Google Calendar | Nobody | Free |
| Homedays | Family | £49 or £97 a year, both parents included |
Prices change and this is not financial advice. Check each provider’s own site before you decide.
Which one should you pick?
- A court has asked for a communication record: OurFamilyWizard or TalkingParents. Budget for two subscriptions.
- You already get on and just need to see the same diary: Google Calendar, shared, is free and may be enough.
- You are one household, not two: Cozi.
- You want the schedule, the handovers and the swaps to run themselves, and you want one bill: Homedays, once it opens.
If you are weighing more than one of these, the compare pages put each app next to Homedays on the same questions, so you can see the gaps in both directions.