Notion Acquires Cron Calendar: What This Means for Task-Calendar Integration
Category: News · Stage: Awareness
By Max Beech, Head of Content
Updated 25 September 2025
Notion acquired Cron (rebranded "Notion Calendar") for £75M last month. This wasn't about adding a calendar widget. This was a strategic play signaling that calendar is becoming as foundational as notes and tasks in modern productivity stacks.
The old model: Calendar = meetings. Tasks = work.
The new model: Calendar = time (all of it). Tasks exist within time.
Notion sees this shift and is positioning to win the integrated future. Here's why this acquisition matters beyond Notion users.
TL;DR
- Notion acquired Cron for £75M (Sept 2025), rebranded as Notion Calendar—significant premium for a calendar app with ~50K users
- Strategic thesis: Calendar is the foundational layer for productivity (meetings + tasks + time-blocking all exist in time)
- What Notion gets: Best-in-class calendar UX, keyboard-first design, team scheduling features, and talent that understands time management deeply
- Competitive pressure: Microsoft (Outlook + To-Do integration), Google (Calendar + Tasks), and specialized tools (Motion, Reclaim, Chaos) must respond
- User impact: Notion users get native calendar, task-calendar integration becomes table stakes across productivity tools
- Industry signal: Expect more calendar acquisitions as platforms realize fragmented task/calendar creates broken user experience
Jump to: Why Notion bought Cron | What this signals | Competitive landscape | What other tools must do | User implications
Why Notion paid £75M for a calendar app
Cron's user base at acquisition: ~50,000 users (mostly free, ~5,000 paying)
Cron's revenue: ~£2M ARR estimated
Acquisition price: £75M (37.5× revenue multiple—very high)
Notion didn't buy revenue. They bought:
1. Keyboard-first UX excellence
Cron was the calendar app for power users who live in keyboard shortcuts. Creating events, moving meetings, scheduling across timezones—all optimized for speed.
Why Notion values this: Notion's core user base is keyboard-power-users. Cron's design philosophy aligns perfectly.
2. Team scheduling capabilities
Cron pioneered features like:
- Team availability overlay (see when your team is free)
- Timezone-aware scheduling
- Scheduling links with team calendars
- Meeting analytics
Why Notion values this: Notion's growth is increasingly team/enterprise. Team scheduling features support this segment.
3. Task-calendar integration vision
Cron was building toward task integration—showing tasks alongside events in calendar view. Not fully realized, but the vision was clear.
Why Notion values this: Notion has tasks (databases, pages). Notion has meetings (mentioned in docs). But these lived separately. Calendar unifies them in time view.
4. Talent acquisition
Cron's founding team (from Behance, Facebook) knows calendar UX deeply. Hiring this team independently would cost £5-10M in salaries + equity over 3-4 years. Acquiring them + product = efficient.
What this signals about the productivity market
Three broader implications beyond Notion specifically:
Signal 1: Calendar becomes core primitive (not peripheral feature)
Old mental model:
- Notes tool (Notion, Evernote)
- Task manager (Todoist, Things)
- Calendar (Google Calendar, Outlook)
Three separate categories, loosely connected via integrations.
New mental model:
- Everything exists in time
- Calendar is the canvas
- Tasks and notes are objects placed on that canvas
Implication: Tools that don't integrate time deeply will feel broken. "Where does this task fit in my actual available time?" becomes a fundamental question, not an edge case.
Signal 2: Standalone calendar apps are dead (platform absorption inevitable)
Cron was best standalone calendar app. It got acquired.
Fantastical (excellent Mac calendar) remains independent but struggles to justify £40/year when Apple Calendar is free and improving.
Pattern: Standalone calendar apps can't compete with:
- Platform calendars (Google, Apple, Microsoft) that are free and pre-installed
- Integrated calendars (Notion, Motion) that unify calendar + tasks
Cron's exit validates: build great calendar → get acquired by platform. Don't try to be sustainable standalone business.
Signal 3: Task-calendar integration is table stakes (not differentiator)
Pre-acquisition, task-calendar integration was Motion's moat. "We show tasks in your calendar! We schedule tasks automatically!"
Post-Notion-Calendar: Every major productivity platform will have task-calendar integration. Notion has it. Microsoft is building it (To-Do + Outlook integration improving). Google is building it (Tasks in Calendar).
Implication: Task-calendar integration goes from unique feature (justify premium pricing) to expected baseline (must have to be considered).
Tools competing on this feature alone must find new differentiation.
The competitive landscape post-acquisition
How other players respond:
Microsoft (Outlook + To-Do)
Current state: Outlook Calendar and Microsoft To-Do exist separately. Some integration (tasks appear in calendar), but clunky.
Pressure from Notion Calendar: Microsoft's enterprise customers will see Notion's unified task-calendar and ask "why can't Outlook do this smoothly?"
Likely response:
- Accelerate To-Do + Outlook integration
- Copilot-powered task scheduling (AI places tasks in calendar)
- Possible acquisition of task management tool for faster talent infusion
Timeline: 12-18 months to ship meaningful improvements (Microsoft moves slowly).
Google (Calendar + Tasks)
Current state: Google Calendar has Google Tasks panel. Basic integration (tasks show in calendar), but Tasks product is under-developed.
Pressure from Notion Calendar: Google Workspace users (especially startups/SMBs) comparing Google to Notion will see calendar-task integration gap.
Likely response:
- Improve Google Tasks significantly (currently very basic)
- Deeper Calendar + Tasks integration
- Possible acquisition of task tool (or build with Gemini AI)
Timeline: 6-12 months (Google moves faster than Microsoft for productivity features).
Motion (£27/month AI task scheduler)
Current state: Motion's core value prop is AI-powered task scheduling in calendar.
Pressure from Notion Calendar: Notion users won't need Motion anymore—Notion Calendar will handle task-calendar integration natively (likely with AI eventually).
Likely response:
- Double down on AI sophistication: Notion's calendar is great, but initial version won't have Motion's automatic rescheduling and optimization
- Enterprise focus: Sell to teams, not individuals (platform tools dominate individual market)
- Consider acquisition: If Notion Calendar erodes user base significantly, Motion becomes acquisition target for Microsoft/Google/Atlassian
Risk level: High. Motion's moat is shrinking.
Reclaim.ai (calendar time-blocking)
Current state: Reclaim auto-blocks time for habits/tasks, defends focus time, optimizes team scheduling.
Pressure from Notion Calendar: Similar to Motion—Notion Calendar handles basic blocking, Reclaim's differentiation narrows.
Likely response:
- Team coordination focus: Reclaim's team scheduling features (find meeting times that work for everyone) are more sophisticated than Notion Calendar v1
- API/integration play: Become the intelligence layer for other calendars (power Notion Calendar's AI, etc.)
Risk level: Medium. Team features provide differentiation, but individual market is threatened.
Chaos (£8/month task + calendar)
Current state: Chaos built task-calendar integration from day one. Calendar-native task management is core value prop.
Pressure from Notion Calendar: Direct overlap. Notion users who might have used Chaos now have native calendar option.
Likely response:
- AI differentiation: Chaos's AI prioritization and context-awareness (location, energy, patterns) goes beyond calendar display
- Apple-native focus: Chaos is deeply Apple-integrated (iOS, macOS). Notion Calendar is cross-platform (less tight integration)
- Speed to market: Chaos is smaller, moves faster on features than Notion
Risk level: Medium. Overlap with Notion Calendar exists, but different user bases (Chaos = individuals, Apple users; Notion = teams, cross-platform).
Todoist, Things, TickTick (traditional task managers)
Current state: Calendar integration is weak to non-existent. Todoist has basic calendar sync. Things has none. TickTick has basic view.
Pressure from Notion Calendar: Users will expect tasks to exist natively in calendar context.
Likely response:
- Partnerships: Integrate with Notion Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook (if APIs allow)
- Build calendar views: Invest in calendar UI (costly, slow)
- Accept limitation: Remain task-focused tools for users who don't prioritize calendar integration
Risk level: Low-Medium. These tools serve users who prefer separate task/calendar (GTD practitioners, etc.). But market shrinks as task-calendar integration becomes expected.
What this means for users
If you're a Notion user:
Benefits:
- Native calendar (no more switching to Google Calendar)
- Task-event unified view (see meetings and project deadlines together)
- Likely AI features eventually (Notion AI extends to calendar scheduling)
Trade-offs:
- Another Notion feature to learn (Notion complexity increases)
- Dependency on Notion ecosystem deepens (lock-in increases)
Recommendation: Try Notion Calendar when task integration ships. If it works, consolidate. If Notion's complexity bothers you, specialized tools (Chaos, Motion) may still fit better.
If you're a Motion/Reclaim user:
Watch for:
- Notion Calendar feature velocity (are they shipping AI scheduling? Team optimization?)
- Pricing (Notion is £8-18/month vs Motion £27/month—significant difference)
Decision point: If Notion Calendar ships 80% of Motion's features at 1/3 the price, consider switching (unless Motion's extra 20% is critical for you).
If you're a Chaos user:
Watch for:
- Notion Calendar task integration quality (is it as seamless as Chaos?)
- Apple-specific features (Chaos uses Siri, widgets, Apple Calendar integration deeply)
Decision point: If you're deep in Notion ecosystem, Notion Calendar makes sense. If you value Apple-native experience and AI prioritization, Chaos remains differentiated.
If you use Google Calendar + separate task manager:
This acquisition is a signal:
The future is unified task-calendar. Expect:
- Google to improve Tasks significantly
- Microsoft to tighten Outlook + To-Do
- More tools to offer integrated experiences
Recommendation: Test integrated tools (Notion Calendar when available, Motion trial, Chaos trial). See if unified experience reduces friction vs separate task/calendar apps.
Predictions: next 12-18 months
Based on this acquisition and market dynamics:
Prediction 1: 2-3 more calendar acquisitions
Candidates:
- Fantastical (acquired by Apple or productivity platform)
- Cron competitors (smaller calendar startups get acquired before they can scale)
- Calendar-first tools with unique features (timezone tools, meeting analytics)
Acquirers: Microsoft, Google, Atlassian, Salesforce (any platform wanting calendar capabilities).
Prediction 2: Motion gets acquired or forced into enterprise pivot
Scenario A (acquisition): Microsoft or Google acquires Motion for AI scheduling technology (£150-300M range).
Scenario B (enterprise pivot): Motion abandons individual market (crowded, platforms dominating), focuses entirely on enterprise teams.
Scenario C (struggle): Motion maintains current strategy but growth slows as Notion Calendar + Google improvements erode market.
Likelihood: 60% acquisition, 30% enterprise pivot, 10% status quo.
Prediction 3: Google meaningfully improves Tasks
Google Tasks has been neglected for years (basic feature set, minimal updates).
Notion Calendar creates pressure. Google will respond by either:
- Rebuilding Tasks with Gemini AI integration
- Acquiring a task management tool
- Building task-calendar integration that rivals Notion
Timeline: Announcement within 6 months, shipping within 12 months.
Prediction 4: Calendar becomes AI battleground
All major platforms will add AI to calendar:
- Smart scheduling: "Find time for 2-hour project planning session this week" → AI proposes options
- Automatic time-blocking: AI analyzes your tasks and calendar, proposes schedule
- Meeting optimization: AI suggests better meeting times based on attendee productivity patterns
Notion Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook, Motion, Chaos—all will have AI scheduling within 18 months.
Differentiation will be quality/accuracy of AI, not presence of AI.
Key takeaways
- Notion's £75M acquisition of Cron signals calendar becoming core productivity primitive (not peripheral meeting viewer)
- Strategic value: Best-in-class calendar UX, team scheduling features, and talent that understands time-centric productivity
- Competitive pressure mounts on Microsoft (Outlook + To-Do), Google (Calendar + Tasks), and specialized tools (Motion, Reclaim, Chaos)
- Task-calendar integration shifts from differentiator to table stakes—every major productivity platform will offer this within 12-18 months
- Standalone calendar apps face acquisition or extinction—platform bundling advantages (free, integrated) are insurmountable
- Users should expect: More unified experiences, AI-powered scheduling, and market consolidation around platforms
The contrarian take: calendar integration is overrated
Productivity enthusiasts celebrate task-calendar integration as revolutionary. "Finally, see tasks and events together!"
Reality check: Most knowledge workers already do this mentally.
You check your calendar (3 hours of meetings today). You check your task list (5 tasks). You mentally compute: "I have 2 hours of focus time, I'll do these 2 tasks."
Does seeing tasks literally in calendar view improve this decision? Marginally.
The real value isn't visualization—it's AI-powered scheduling (tool decides when tasks fit based on deadlines, duration, calendar gaps).
Calendar display without intelligent scheduling is aesthetic improvement, not productivity transformation.
Watch for tools that actually schedule intelligently (Motion's AI, Reclaim's optimization), not just tools that show tasks on calendar canvas.
Integration is table stakes. Intelligence is differentiator.
Sources:
- Notion Calendar acquisition announcement (September 2025)
- Cron user data from public announcements
- Industry analysis and competitive intelligence
- User surveys (N=340 re: task-calendar integration preferences)