5 World Time Buddy Alternatives Worth Trying in 2026

World Time Buddy is the default answer to “how do I compare time zones?” It is useful, widely known, and free at the basic tier. It is also increasingly cluttered, gated behind a paywall for core features, and web-only. If you have started looking around, the alternatives are genuinely good — and in some cases better suited to specific workflows.

This article evaluates five options against the same set of criteria. World Time Buddy is included as the reference point. TimeHopper is included because it is our product — but it is evaluated on the same terms as everything else. If a competitor outperforms it on a criterion, this article says so.

What to look for in a time zone tool

Before comparing products, it helps to agree on what matters. The six criteria used throughout this article:

Ease of use. How quickly can you get an answer from a cold start? Fewer clicks is better. Requiring an account before anything works is a signal worth noting.

Calendar integration. Can the tool connect to Google Calendar or show your actual events alongside time zones? This is the difference between a converter and a coordination tool.

Time zone conversion accuracy and DST handling. All five tools handle UTC offsets correctly. DST transitions are where errors creep in. A good tool accounts for upcoming transitions automatically, not just current offsets.

Platform availability. Web tools work everywhere. Desktop apps or browser extensions require a specific environment. Knowing which platform a tool targets tells you whether it will fit your stack.

Price. Free means free — no trial, no feature gate. Noted when a key feature requires a paid plan.

Best for. A summary of the use case where a tool genuinely excels.

At a glance: comparison table

ToolPlatformCalendar integrationDST awareFree tierBest for
World Time BuddyWebPartial (import only)YesLimitedQuick visual comparisons
Every Time ZoneWebNoneYesYes (full)Scanning all zones at once
Time Zone Converter (timeanddate.com)WebNoneYesYes (full)Precision lookup + historical data
ClockermacOSmacOS CalendarYesYes (full)Always-visible menu bar clock
TimeHopperChrome (web)Google Calendar overlayYesYes (full)Google Calendar users on Chrome

1. World Time Buddy

World Time Buddy is the incumbent for a reason. Its drag-to-compare slider is genuinely fast, and the visual overlap view is hard to beat for scheduling across 3-4 zones.

You load the page, add cities, and drag a block across the timeline to find overlap windows. The interface is quick to understand. Many teams use the shareable links to communicate meeting proposals without requiring the other person to have an account.

The limitations are real. The free tier caps the number of locations you can save. The interface has accumulated promotional elements over the years. Calendar integration exists but is one-directional — you can export to Google Calendar, but World Time Buddy does not read your existing events to show you where you actually have availability. The mobile app requires a subscription for full functionality.

For occasional use or introducing time zone thinking to a team, World Time Buddy is still a reasonable starting point. For daily use with a heavy scheduling load, the free tier constraints become friction.

Pros

Cons

Platform: Web, iOS, Android Price: Free (limited); paid plans from $3.99/month Chrome Web Store: Not applicable (web app)

2. Every Time Zone

Every Time Zone (everytimezone.com) does one thing and does it well: it shows all major time zones on a single scrollable timeline with a clear visual indicator of working hours.

The tool is completely free. No account required. You load it, see the current time across dozens of cities, and can drag the indicator to see what any moment looks like everywhere at once. The design is minimal — almost intentionally so. There are no saved lists, no calendar export, no meeting-planning features. What it does is give you an immediate global snapshot.

This is the right tool when you are not planning a specific meeting but rather developing a general sense of where time zones overlap. It is also good for sharing a moment in time with someone: “Here is what 9 AM Eastern looks like for the rest of your distributed team.”

The weakness is the flip side of the strength: because it does nothing extra, it cannot do anything extra. If you want to save a set of cities, plan a recurring meeting, or see your calendar alongside the timeline, you will need a different tool.

Pros

Cons

Platform: Web Price: Free URL: everytimezone.com

3. Time Zone Converter by timeanddate.com

Timeanddate.com’s time zone converter is the most technically complete option in this list. It handles historical dates, future dates, DST transitions, and obscure zones that other tools get wrong.

If you have ever needed to confirm what time a call was in UTC-3:30 during a specific DST transition in 2019, timeanddate.com is where you go. The depth of data here is unmatched. The tool also provides a meeting planner that lets you add multiple cities and find overlap — similar to World Time Buddy but with more precision on edge cases.

The cost is usability. The page is dense. Navigation requires knowing what you are looking for. New users often bounce before finding the meeting planner because there is so much else on the page. It is the right tool for people who need to trust the output completely, not for people who want a fast answer.

For teams that operate across zones with complex DST rules — or that schedule events months in advance — timeanddate.com is worth the friction. For day-to-day scheduling, it is more tool than necessary.

Pros

Cons

Platform: Web Price: Free URL: timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

4. Clocker (macOS)

Clocker lives in your macOS menu bar and shows the current time in multiple zones at a glance, without opening a browser tab.

The core value proposition is persistence. World Time Buddy, Every Time Zone, and timeanddate.com all require you to open a tab. Clocker sits at the top of your screen and answers the “what time is it there right now?” question without any context switching. You set up your list of cities once during onboarding, and the clocks are always visible.

Clocker also integrates with the native macOS Calendar app. It can show upcoming events from your calendar alongside the time zone display, which brings it closer to a coordination tool than a pure clock. The integration is read-only — you cannot create events from Clocker — but seeing your next meeting in the menu bar alongside a world clock is genuinely useful.

The hard constraint is the platform. Clocker is macOS only. If your team is mixed OS, you cannot recommend it as a standard tool. It is also not useful for quick link-sharing or async scheduling with people outside your machine.

Pros

Cons

Platform: macOS Price: Free (open source, available on Mac App Store) Mac App Store: Clocker on the Mac App Store

5. TimeHopper

TimeHopper is a Chrome extension that overlays time zone information directly on Google Calendar. It is purpose-built for Google Calendar users who want to see multiple time zones without leaving the calendar view.

The core feature is a converter that lives in the Chrome toolbar. You can convert a specific time across zones in a few clicks, without navigating away from whatever tab you are on. For Google Calendar users, the extension also adds a visual indicator showing how your calendar events map to other zones — useful for spotting double-bookings or confirming that a proposed time is outside someone’s working hours.

Being honest about the trade-offs: TimeHopper does not have the visual overlap-finding UI that World Time Buddy is known for. If you need to drag a block across a timeline to find an open window, World Time Buddy is better at that specific interaction. TimeHopper is faster for quick conversions and for people who live in Google Calendar and do not want to open a separate tool.

It is also free with no feature gating. The extension requires Chrome (or a Chromium-based browser). It does not work on Safari, Firefox, or macOS-native apps.

If you are evaluating Chrome extensions more broadly, the criteria covered in what to look for in a Google Calendar extension apply here — particularly the questions around permissions and UI readability.

Pros

Cons

Platform: Chrome (Chromium-based browsers) Price: Free Chrome Web Store: TimeHopper on the Chrome Web Store

Decision rule: if you need X, use Y

These are not all competing for the same user. Most people reading this will have a clear fit after seeing the table.

If you need a fast visual overlap tool for scheduling across 3-4 zones and you are willing to tolerate a paid plan for heavy use: World Time Buddy.

If you want a zero-friction global snapshot with no account and no setup: Every Time Zone.

If you are scheduling across complex DST transitions or unusual zones and precision matters more than speed: timeanddate.com.

If you are on macOS and want always-visible clocks without opening a browser tab: Clocker.

If you use Google Calendar and Chrome and want time zone context without switching apps: TimeHopper.

If none of these fit neatly, the problem is likely not the tool — it may be that your workflow needs a different kind of solution. The time zone converter for meetings guide covers the broader scheduling workflow, including what to use when no single tool covers everything.

For teams deciding between browser extensions and Calendar-native add-ons, the Google Calendar add-ons vs Chrome extensions comparison lays out those trade-offs in detail.

If you want to do a quick conversion right now without installing anything, the TimeHopper converter tool works in-browser.

FAQ

Is World Time Buddy free?

World Time Buddy has a free tier that allows basic time zone comparisons and shareable links. Saving more than a small number of locations, using the mobile app fully, and removing advertising require a paid plan. The current pricing starts at approximately $3.99/month. For occasional use, the free tier is sufficient. For daily scheduling use, the limitations add friction.

What is the most accurate free time zone converter?

For raw accuracy on DST transitions and historical dates, timeanddate.com is the most reliable free option. It is maintained by a company whose primary business is time data. All five tools in this list handle current UTC offsets correctly; the differences show up at transition boundaries and edge cases.

Do any of these tools integrate with Google Calendar?

World Time Buddy allows one-way export to Google Calendar. Clocker reads from macOS Calendar (not Google Calendar directly, though the two can sync). TimeHopper overlays time zone information on Google Calendar in-browser and provides a converter accessible while Google Calendar is open. Every Time Zone and timeanddate.com have no calendar integration.

Does a Chrome extension slow down Google Calendar?

A well-built extension adds negligible overhead. The relevant factors are what permissions the extension requests and whether it injects code into every page or only activates on specific sites. Extensions that run on all URLs have a larger surface area than those that activate only on calendar.google.com. Reviewing the permissions before installing is worthwhile — the evaluation framework for Google Calendar extensions includes this as a specific criterion.

Sources

Read Next

How to Calculate Time Differences Across Time Zones

A precise, step-by-step guide to calculating time differences between any two time zones — including DST, half-hour offsets, and crossing the Date Line.

World Time Zone Map: Every Zone Explained

A complete reference to world time zones — how UTC offsets work, which countries break the rules, DST status, and a full zone table from UTC-12 to UTC+14.

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