Print Google Calendar vs Canva Calendar Maker: Which Makes a Better Printable Calendar?

Searching "print Google Calendar" usually means one of two things: you want a paper copy of your real schedule, or you want a good-looking calendar to hang on a wall, give as a gift or put in a planner. Those are different jobs, and Google Calendar's built-in print and the Calendar Maker app for Canva are good at different ones. This is a fair side-by-side.

Quick answer #

Verdict: print from Google Calendar when the point is the information. Build in Canva when the point is the calendar as an object. Many people end up doing both: designed 12-month calendar on the wall, Google print for the week's real appointments.

Where Google Calendar's print wins #

• Your real events are already there. Meetings, birthdays, school pickups show up automatically, with no retyping.
• It is quick. Open the settings menu, choose Print, pick day, week, month or schedule view, and send it to your printer or save as PDF.
• It stays accurate. Reprint next week and the changes are included.

If you need a one-page copy of this month's commitments for the fridge, this is the right tool and you should not overthink it.

Where it falls short #

• Design options are very limited, so it looks like a printout, because it is one.
• You cannot add photos, decorative borders, themed pages or a custom layout.
• It does not make a 12-month wall calendar with one month per designed page.
• Gifts, classroom calendars and branded calendars for clients are not what it is for.

Where Calendar Maker wins #

Calendar Maker generates the date grid inside the Canva design you already have open, so you skip drawing a table and typing 31 numbers per month.

• Three calendar types: a monthly grid, a weekly table (handy for timetables) and a custom range with a start and end date, up to 150 days.
• All 12 months at once, with an option to put each month on its own page named like "March - 2027".
• Real design control: choose any Canva font, bold/italic, alignment, size and color for headers and numbers, plus header-bar and alternating-row colors.
• 30+ ready-made color palettes and about 14 decorative page templates (botanical, watercolor, minimal Scandi, vintage postcard and more).
• Week starts Monday or Sunday, and month and weekday names follow your language.
• Saved setups: your style is remembered so the next calendar takes seconds.

Because the result is a regular Canva design, you can add photos, borders, stickers, a QR code or your logo and then print or download it like any other design.

Honest caveats #

• Calendar Maker does not import your Google Calendar events. You type events into the Canva design.
• Adding a calendar to a design needs the Pro unlock in the app, so factor that in if you only need one calendar.
• Page templates are sized for their own layouts, so after adding one you may need to nudge elements if your design size differs.

How to make a designed calendar in 5 steps #

1. Open a new Canva design in the size you want (A4, Letter, or a wall calendar size).
2. Open Calendar Maker from the Apps panel.
3. On the Month tab pick the month and year, or switch on "Add all months".
4. Choose a color palette and, if you like, a page template. Check the live preview.
5. Click Add to design, then add photos, notes and holidays in Canva and print or download.

Which should you pick? #

• Fridge copy of this week's schedule: Google Calendar print.
• 12-month wall calendar or gift: Calendar Maker in Canva.
• Classroom, family or small-business calendar with branding: Calendar Maker.
• Meeting-heavy week on one page: Google Calendar print.
• Both: design the monthly calendar in Canva and write the important dates on it by hand, then print the weekly view from Google Calendar for the details.

Related: Canva monthly calendar: template vs table vs Calendar Maker and Google Sheets and Excel vs Calendar Maker.