Disclaimer: This review contains an affiliate links for Sugar Calendar. Other than those links, I have received zero compensation for this review. This review is based on my real world usage of the plugin and comparable plugins.
Back in April 2019 I wrote a review about a little known calendar/events plugin for WordPress called Sugar Calendar. In fact when you go to the plugin homepage, you'll see a quote they've posted of my review.
Well it's been over a year now since I wrote that review, and felt it's only fair that I do a follow up on it. More so to answer some questions such as:
- Do I still feel the same about this calendar plugin?
- Have the features improved?
- What are the pros/cons for this plugin?
- Are there any major changes such as UI/UX?
Let's get started on these questions and more.
Do I still feel the same about Sugar Calendar?
Last year I made a few bold statements such as
"It has the potential to be one of the best, if not the best, events calendar plugin ever."
"When you take an overall look at the Sugar Events Calendar, you can see a masterpiece in the works."
Code Vertical Review
So do I still feel the same now, a year later? Yes.
I still feel the same because Sugar Calendar continues to be a contender and the development of it continues to be consistent. In fact over the past year they have been active with releasing premium add on's that build upon the Sugar Calendar plugin foundations. So this leads into my next question.
Have the features improved?
Very much so. While the core plugin itself has had minute updates, there has been a ton of progress on premium features via Pro Add-ons. Shortly after my original review, in July 2019 they released their first Pro Add-on, Calendar Feeds. Since then they've release Event Ticketing (Stripe only), Event URLS, and Front End Submissions. Plus there's free add-ons and now 3rd party add-ons.
For those wondering why they don't just add these pro features to the Sugar Calendar plugin its self, I would surmise it's to keep the core light weight. This allows you to add the exact features you need without any unnecessary bloat from features you don't need.
What are the pros/cons for this plugin?
Here's the list of immediate pros:
- The plugin itself is still light weight and very easy to use.
- The price hasn't changed and there's still a lifetime deal option (LTD) for it.
- There's a free Sugar Calendar (Lite) version available in the WordPress Repository.
- There's several nice pro add-ons plus a new 3rd party add-on page.
and now on to the cons:
- You have to have either the Professional or Ultimate plan in order to get the pro add-ons.
- List view and month view of events pulls styling from your theme, so if you're using a minimalist theme or something like Oxygen Builder, it may look a little wonky. (I've got a tutorial on how to style the month view and will be doing a tutorial on the list view soon).
Honestly that's the biggest issues I see currently. All things considered, that's not that big of a deal and if you're looking for a light weight event/calendar plugin, Sugar Calendar is your ticket.
Are there any major changes such as UI/UX?
Not that I'm aware of. Sugar Calendar has stayed pretty much the same in the UI/UX area. That's great though, because it's an easy to use events calendar because of this.
Final Thoughts
I really like the direction they are going and the development seems to be on a pretty consistent course. This means the plugin is being well supported and hopefully that more people are switching over to it.
I've been testing out the Event URLS and Frontend Event Submissions add-ons, and really like these two features. While the Frontend add-on is a little more work and testing, I like the fact that owners and others can easily add events without having to log in. The Event URLS is great as I can now easily redirect the event to any URL of my choosing.
I stand by my initial review and HIGHLY encourage anyone using an event/calendar plugin to consider switching to this plugin, more so I would recommend going all in with the LTD before it ends. Here's a link to this plugin one more time: Sugar Calendar.
If you appreciate this review or found it helpful, please share it. More folks need to know about this gem of a plugin.