Best Syllabus-to-Calendar Apps (2026): What Each One Actually Charges For
Every "syllabus to calendar" app makes the same promise: drop in your PDF, get your deadlines. I'm Riley, a student at Michigan and one of the people building DormWay, and I went and actually checked all of them — because the promise is the easy part. The real differences are three things nobody puts on the landing page: how *deeply* it reads your syllabus, whether it syncs your actual LMS, and — the one that bites you in week three — what it charges for once you have more than one class. This is the honest, pricing-first breakdown.
The short version
Most of these apps are free *to try* and then charge you the moment you have a real course load, or the moment you want the syllabus reading to actually work. A few are genuinely free but barely read your syllabus at all. And the "all-in-one student OS" apps gate the good stuff behind a one-course wall.
DormWay is the one where the part that matters — read-only Canvas/Blackboard/Moodle sync plus AI that reads your syllabus (assignments, exam dates, grading weights, *and* late policy) — is free for students, with no per-course cap. (We're planning some pro features later, so this is "free for students," not a "free forever" promise — but everything here is free today.) The closest genuinely-free competitor is Wick; I'll give it real credit below.
What each one actually charges for
These are the apps that read your syllabus into a calendar (prices as of 2026 — verify before you pay):
| App | What's free | What it costs | Reads your syllabus? | LMS sync |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **DormWay** | The whole planner: LMS sync + syllabus reading, no course cap | Pro features planned (core stays free) | Yes — assignments, exams, **grading weights + late policy** | Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle (read-only) |
| **Wick** | Everything (genuinely free today) | Nothing yet | Yes — dates/assignments | Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L + Google Cal |
| **Shovel** | 7-day trial only — no free planner | $9.79/mo or $35/yr | Yes — tasks/events (dates) | Canvas, Brightspace, Moodle, Google Classroom |
| **Due Gooder** | Limited free tier | $8.99/mo or $49.99/yr | Yes — dates/assignments/exams | "Canvas + more" (method undisclosed) |
| **UpAhead** | Free base app | $9.99/mo, $74.99/yr, or $199.99 lifetime | Yes — photo/PDF → dates | ICS calendar feed only |
| **Syllabuddy** | Trial: up to 8 classes, no signup | $4.99/mo (to *keep* your data past trial) | Yes — dates | Canvas (method undisclosed) |
| **SyllySync** | Free base | Premium $4.99, Scholar $9.99, + AI credits $9.99–$34.99 | Yes — dates | None (syllabus → Google Calendar) |
| **StudiGems** | **1 course only**, 10 flashcards, 5-question quizzes | $4/mo or $48/yr | Yes — dates | None (manual upload + calendar) |
| **Sylly** | 2 classes, 10 AI generations/mo | ~$130/yr (CAD) | Yes — dates + weights | None (file upload) |
The pattern jumps out: the only two apps where the real planner is free with no course cap are DormWay and Wick. Everything else either has no free planner (Shovel), walls it at one course (StudiGems), meters the AI (SyllySync), or charges $5–$10/month (Due Gooder, UpAhead, Syllabuddy).
Free *and* automatic: the rare combo (DormWay, Wick)
Wick deserves real credit — it's free, it syncs Canvas/Moodle/Blackboard/D2L, it reads your syllabus for dates, and it texts you reminders. If you want a free, no-frills, multi-LMS deadline planner, it's a legitimately good pick, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
Where DormWay goes further: depth and context. DormWay doesn't just pull dates — it reads the grading weights and the late policy out of your syllabus, so you know the Thursday quiz is worth 15% and the homework is worth 2%. And it plans your day around your *world*: your academic calendar (finals, breaks), campus events, and even the weather — not just a flat list of due dates. Wick gives you the dates; DormWay gives you the dates, the stakes, and a plan. Both free for students.
Reads your syllabus, but you pay for it (Shovel, Due Gooder, UpAhead, Syllabuddy, SyllySync)
These genuinely read your syllabus — and genuinely charge for it.
- Shovel is the most full-featured: its "Cushion" estimates whether you have enough hours to finish everything, which is deeper time-budgeting than DormWay does. But there's no free planner — it's a 7-day trial, then $9.79/mo. Full comparison.
- Due Gooder ($8.99/mo) and UpAhead ($9.99/mo) both turn a syllabus PDF into dated tasks, but extraction is dates-only (no grading/late-policy depth I could verify), they're Apple-only, and UpAhead connects to Canvas only through an ICS feed.
- Syllabuddy ($4.99/mo) is a clean web extractor, but you're paying mostly to *keep* your semester data after the trial.
- SyllySync gives you a free base, then charges for its AI quiz generator and *meters* the AI with consumable credits — a sign of where this is going.
The "Student OS" bundles — and the one-course wall (StudiGems, Sylly)
StudiGems and Sylly pitch themselves as your whole academic operating system: syllabus planning *plus* AI flashcards, practice quizzes, and study guides. It looks like more for your money — until you read the free tier. StudiGems' free plan is one course (a demo); a normal 4–6 course load forces you onto $4/mo, which gates *both* extra courses *and* the real study-tool volume. Sylly's free tier caps you at 2 classes and 10 AI generations a month before its ~$130/yr Pro.
Worth knowing: neither syncs your LMS — both rely on you uploading files manually. DormWay's read-only Canvas/Blackboard/Moodle sync is the live source of truth they don't have, and it's free.
Free — but they don't read your syllabus (Coursicle, Canvo, Luna.List, Task Forge, Tasks for Canvas)
A whole category is free because it does *less*: it shows you what your professor already typed into the LMS, and stops there.
- Coursicle is the heavyweight — great for class registration and seat alerts — and it syncs a lot of LMSs. But it deliberately won't read your syllabus (it argues AI scanners are unreliable), and its free tier tracks roughly one class before ~$9.99/semester. Full comparison.
- Canvo and Luna.List are free, well-made, Apple-only Canvas to-do apps — but no syllabus reading, Canvas-only, and Canvo needs you to paste a Canvas API token.
- Task Forge (free) and Tasks for Canvas (free Chrome extension) clean up your Canvas to-do list. Useful, but they only know what's already in Canvas — which is exactly the stuff buried on page 6 of the syllabus that they *can't* see.
Manual planners & general tools (MyStudyLife, myHomework, Power Planner, Notion, Google Calendar)
The classics. MyStudyLife is a great free manual planner — but its actual Canvas sync is a paid feature (MSL+, $4.99/mo), and it reads your *timetable*, not your syllabus. myHomework ($4.99/yr) and Power Planner ($4.99 one-time) are cheap and reliable but manual. Notion can be molded into anything (and students get Plus free), but it has no native LMS sync and no syllabus parser — you build and maintain it yourself. Google Calendar is free and universal, but it can only import a raw ICS feed; it can't read a syllabus or tell you what's important.
Who should use what
- Want it free, automatic, and actually deep? DormWay — Canvas/Blackboard/Moodle + full syllabus reading (grading + late policy) + a plan around your week, free for students.
- Want free and simple, one LMS, just the dates? Wick is a solid free pick.
- Your real problem is *time*, and you'll pay? Shovel's hour-budgeting is the most developed.
- You want a registration tool with seat alerts? Coursicle, and pair it with a planner.
- You want AI flashcards/quizzes too? StudiGems or Sylly — just know you're paying past one or two courses.
The honest bottom line
If you're shopping on price, the question isn't "is it free" — almost all of them are free *to start*. It's "what does it cost once I have a real schedule, and how much does it actually do for free?" On that test, DormWay is the one that reads your whole syllabus, syncs your real LMS, and plans your week — free for students, no per-course wall, and we don't sell your data.
Upload a syllabus or connect Canvas and see your semester build itself. [Get started free](https://dormway.app)