Blipcal vs Dato
Two one-time-purchase menu bar calendars for Mac compared: world clocks, next event in the menu bar, event editing, minimum macOS and where to buy.
Dato is the better pick if you want the deepest world clocks, fullscreen meeting alerts, widgets and Shortcuts, and you are on macOS 26. Blipcal is the better pick if you want to add and edit events in the menu bar, use plain-English entry, or you are on macOS 14 or 15. Both are one-time purchases at about the same price.
Facts checked 6 November 2026: sindresorhus.com/dato and the Mac App Store listing.
Blipcal vs Dato at a glance
| Blipcal | Dato | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once | $18 once |
| Where it is sold | Direct download | Mac App Store and Setapp |
| Macs per license | 2 | All Macs on your Apple account |
| Trial | 14 days, every feature, updates itself | Trial zip: a buy reminder every 12 hours, no automatic updates |
| Minimum macOS | 14 | 26 (frozen older builds for 10.14 to 15) |
| Edit existing events | Yes | No |
| Quick add in plain English | Yes | Partial |
| Next event in the menu bar | Yes | Yes |
| Countdown in the menu bar | Yes | Not checked |
| World clocks | A strip with a scrub slider | 15,000 cities with a time-travel slider |
| Fullscreen meeting alerts | Later | Yes |
| Reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Widgets and Shortcuts | Later | Yes |
| Updates | One year included, then it keeps working | Lifetime |
| Languages | English | English |
Dato 5.8.4, $18, requires macOS 26.0 or later, as listed on the Mac App Store and sindresorhus.com on 6 November 2026. "Partial" on quick add: Dato fills in the date and time from a typed title, in English only. "Later" means on the Blipcal roadmap. "Not checked" means we could not verify it and will not guess.
Where Dato is ahead, and why choose Blipcal over Dato
Where Dato is ahead
- World clocks for 15,000 cities with a time-travel slider and a floating desktop clock
- Fullscreen meeting alerts, widgets and Shortcuts actions, a date calculator
- On Setapp as well as the App Store
- Shipping since 2019, from a maker with a large open-source following
- A lifetime of updates
What Blipcal adds
- Add and edit events in place, with plain-English quick add and undo (Dato cannot edit events)
- macOS 14 and 15 with every feature (Dato offers a frozen 5.4.4 for Sonoma)
- A direct download with signed Sparkle updates, outside the App Store sandbox
- A full 14-day trial that updates itself and never nags
- 2 Macs on one key, with no Apple account tie, and the grid stays free after the trial
Itsycal vs Dato, and where Blipcal fits
On their own: Itsycal is free and open source but cannot edit events, has no time zones and now needs macOS 27 for its current build; Dato costs $18, adds world clocks and the next event in the menu bar, and needs macOS 26. Neither edits events. That is the gap Blipcal sits in.
| Itsycal | Dato | Blipcal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $18 once | $19 once |
| Minimum macOS (current build) | 27 (11 for the frozen build) | 26 | 14 |
| Edit existing events | No | No | Yes |
| Quick add in plain English | No | Partial | Yes |
| Next event in the menu bar | No | Yes | Yes |
| Time zones | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reminders | On macOS 27 only | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | No | No |
Itsycal 0.28.0 (macOS 27) and 0.15.15 (macOS 11 to 26), Dato 5.8.4 (macOS 26), checked 6 November 2026.
Switching from Dato
Download the trial
14 days, every feature, no card.
Same calendars
Allow calendar access; your calendars are the macOS ones Dato used.
Rebuild your clocks
Add your zones in Settings under Appearance. They appear in the strip.
Dato questions, answered
Is Dato a subscription?
Does Dato run on macOS 15 or Sonoma?
Can Dato edit events?
Which has better time zones?
Can I run both?
Try Blipcal beside Dato
Today's date and your next meeting in the menu bar, a month grid and agenda one click away, and events you can add and edit in place. Pay once if you keep it.
- macOS 14 or later
- 14-day free trial
- Both can run at once