Embedding Google Calendar on WordPress comes down to three methods: the native iframe, a calendar plugin, or Revisual. Each solves a different problem and comes with different trade-offs. This guide walks through all three honestly — including a side-by-side comparison table — so you can choose the right approach for your organisation.
Embedding Google Calendar on WordPress is straightforward — but which of the three available methods is right for your organisation depends on what you actually need your calendar to do. The native Google iframe, a WordPress calendar plugin, and Revisual each solve a different problem, and most guides skip over the trade-offs that make that distinction matter.
This article walks through all three methods honestly. By the end you’ll know which option suits your situation — and what each one cannot do.
If you’re in a hurry: jump straight to the comparison table to see the three methods side by side.
Method 1: Embedding Google Calendar on WordPress using the native (free, 5 minutes)
Google Calendar includes a built-in embed feature. You copy an iframe code from your calendar settings and paste it into your WordPress page — no plugin required, no account to create, nothing to maintain. For many organisations, embedding Google Calendar on WordPress this way is enough to get started.
Here’s how to do it:
- Open Google Calendar and click the Settings gear in the top right.
- Under ‘Settings for my calendars’, select the calendar you want to embed
- Scroll to ‘Access permissions for events’ and tick ‘Make available to public.’
- Scroll further to ‘Integrate calendar’ and copy the iframe embed code.
- In WordPress, open the page where you want the calendar. Add a Custom HTML block and paste the code. Save.
The result: a live calendar that updates automatically whenever you edit events in Google Calendar. It works. But it looks exactly like Google Calendar — grey header, Google’s default fonts, no brand colours, no event images. On a professionally designed website, it reads as an afterthought.
It’s also not mobile-friendly by default. The iframe renders at a fixed width, which means it either overflows on small screens or appears shrunk. There are CSS workarounds, but they require some technical knowledge. Google’s own documentation for the embed feature covers the available parameters in detail.
Read more: Google Calendar Embedding documentation
When the native embed is the right choice: you need something up today, your audience is internal or accustomed to the Google Calendar interface, and visual branding is not a priority.
Method 2: Embed Google Calendar in WordPress using a plugin (free or paid, 30-60 minutes)
WordPress has dozens of calendar plugins that can display Google Calendar events with more design control than the native embed. The most commonly used options are Simple Calendar, The Events Calendar (with a Google Calendar add-on), and Elfsight.
The general workflow is similar across plugins: install and activate, connect your Google Calendar (usually via an API key or OAuth), configure display settings, and embed using a shortcode or block. Google’s instructions for creating a Calendar API key are available in the Google Cloud Console documentation.
Read more: Google Cloud Console documentation
Plugins give you more layout options – month view, list view, agenda view – and some control over colours and typography. They’re a meaningful step up from the raw iframe.
The trade-offs worth knowing before you commit:
- Most free plugins are limited. Month view only, no event images, minimal styling. Useful features – agenda view, recurring event display, event detail pages – are usually in paid tiers.
- Plugin maintenance is ongoing. Calendar API changes, WordPress core updates, and plugin conflicts are real. A plugin you install today may stop working after a WordPress update six months from now.
- Even Google-connected plugins store events in WordPress. Most plugins that use Google Calendar as a data source work by importing your events into the WordPress database on a schedule – typically every few hours. This means your database grows over time, sync delays can cause outdated information to show on your site, and you effectively have two places where event data lives. If you edit an event in Google Calendar, your website will not reflect it until the next sync runs. You have not eliminated duplication – you have just automated it.
- Google Calendar is still just the data source. The plugin manages display in WordPress, but your events have no presence outside WordPress – no shareable link, no QR code, no email integration.
- Setup is not always straightforward. Some plugins require a Google API key, which means visiting Google Cloud Console, enabling the Calendar API, and creating credentials. For non-technical users, this is a meaningful barrier.
When a WordPress plugin is the right choice: you want more visual control than the native embed, you’re comfortable with ongoing plugin maintenance, and your event communication lives entirely on your website.
Method 3: Embed Google Calendar on WordPress with Revisual — and beyond (free plan available,10 minutes)
Revisual takes a different approach. Rather than replacing how you manage events, it adds a professional presentation layer on top of your existing Google Calendar. You keep using Google Calendar exactly as you do now. Revisual reads from it and generates a branded, embeddable widget that you place on your WordPress site.
The practical difference from a plugin: Revisual is a cloud service, not a WordPress plugin. The widget is a small embed script, similar to embedding a YouTube video. This means it works on any page builder – Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi, or plain HTML. There’s nothing to update, no API key to manage, no plugin conflicts.
What Revisual adds that neither the native embed nor a plugin provides:
- Event images displayed on the calendar cards – pulled from the image you set in Google Calendar, displayed properly on the widget.
- A hosted event page for each event – a shareable link that works independently of your website.
- Auto-generated QR codes – one per event, always pointing to current details. Print them on posters, flyers, or screens without reprinting when details change.
- Mailchimp integration – send an email campaign that links to your live calendar or individual event pages.
- Full brand control – match your site’s fonts, colours, card layout, and corner radius through a visual builder. No CSS required.
Setup on WordPress takes around 10 minutes. Revisual provides a WordPress plugin (available free on the WordPress plugin directory) that handles the embed via a Gutenberg block or shortcode. Alternatively, you can paste a single script tag into your theme’s header – a one-time step that makes all your Revisual widgets available across the site.
Read more: Revisual on WordPress plugin directory
Revisual has a free plan that covers the essentials. Paid plans unlock higher view limits, and custom branding domains.
Comparison: which method suits your situation
Here’s a side-by-side overview of the three options across the factors that matter most for organisations using WordPress to communicate events:
| Native Google embed | WordPress plugin | Revisual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 5 minutes | 30-60 minutes | 10 minutes |
| Visual quality | Basic – Google’s UI | Varies by plugin | Fully branded |
| Brand control | None | Limited | Complete – fonts, colours, layout |
| Auto-updates | Yes | Yes (with sync) | Yes |
| Mobile-friendly | Poor | Usually yes | Yes |
| Event images | No | Depends on plugin | Yes – via Google Calendar |
| QR codes | No | No | Auto-generated per calendar and event |
| Hosted event page | No | No | Yes – shareable link |
| Email/Mailchimp | No | No | Yes – direct integration |
| Free tier | Yes (always free) | Often limited | Yes – free plan available |
A note on the ‘free tier’ row: the native Google embed is completely free and always will be. Revisual’s free plan is genuinely useful for smaller organisations – events up to a certain view count, full visual customisation, and all the core features. The paid plans are for organisations with higher traffic or multiple widgets.
Which should you choose?
The native embed is the right starting point if you need something working today with zero setup friction, and your audience isn’t expecting a polished visual experience.
A WordPress plugin makes sense if your event communication is entirely website-based, you want more layout options than the native embed offers, and you’re prepared to manage the ongoing maintenance that comes with any plugin.
Revisual is worth considering if your events need to reach beyond your website – if you want the same event information appearing on your site, in email campaigns, on printed materials via QR code, or on a hosted page you can share directly. The distinction is less about how the calendar looks on your site, and more about whether your site is the only place your events need to exist.
For most schools, venues, NPOs, and public institutions we work with, the website is one channel among several — and maintaining separate event information in multiple places is where the real time cost lies. The value of having one Google Calendar update everything else isn’t visible until you’ve experienced the alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — for all three methods. The native iframe pulls live data from Google Calendar every time the page loads. Revisual also reads directly from Google Calendar at display time, so any change you make in Google Calendar appears on your site immediately. WordPress plugins that sync from Google Calendar update on a schedule — typically every few hours — so there may be a short delay between editing an event and seeing the change on your site.
Yes. Google Calendar provides a built-in iframe embed code that you can paste into any WordPress page using a Custom HTML block — no plugin required. Revisual also works without a dedicated WordPress plugin: a single script tag added to your theme header is enough to make all your widgets available across the site. A plugin is only required if you prefer the Gutenberg block or shortcode approach.
It depends on the method. The native Google iframe requires no API key — you copy the embed code directly from your calendar settings. Revisual also requires no API key; it connects to your Google Calendar through a standard OAuth authorisation flow during setup. WordPress calendar plugins vary: most require either a Google API key or OAuth. Setting up an API key means visiting Google Cloud Console, which is a meaningful extra step for non-technical users.
The native Google iframe does not adapt to small screens by default. It renders at a fixed width and will either overflow or appear very small on mobile devices. CSS workarounds exist but require technical knowledge. WordPress plugins vary — most modern ones are responsive. Revisual widgets are fully responsive and adapt automatically to any screen size.
Not with the native iframe or most WordPress plugins. Google Calendar does not display event images in its standard embed. Revisual reads the image you attach to a Google Calendar event and displays it as a card image in the widget — this is one of the more visible differences between the three methods.
The native iframe adds minimal load — it is a single external request to Google’s servers. Revisual loads via a lightweight script and renders the widget client-side, with a similarly small performance footprint. WordPress plugins vary more: heavier plugins that import events into your database and run additional queries on page load can affect performance, particularly on shared hosting. If site speed is a concern, check the plugin’s documentation for its load approach before installing.
Yes for all three methods. With the native iframe, you can embed multiple calendars by generating a separate iframe code for each, or by combining calendars in a single embed using Google Calendar’s multi-calendar option. Revisual supports multiple calendars per widget and multiple widgets per site — each can show a different calendar or a combined view. WordPress plugins generally support multiple calendar sources, though this is sometimes a paid feature.
Revisual is a cloud service, not a WordPress plugin. It works independently of WordPress — the same widget can be embedded on a WordPress site, a Wix site, a custom-built site, or anywhere else that accepts a script tag. For WordPress users, Revisual provides an optional plugin available on the WordPress plugin directory that adds a Gutenberg block and shortcode for convenience. But the plugin is a wrapper, not the product itself — removing it does not affect your Google Calendar data or your Revisual account.
Getting started
If you’re trying Revisual: create a free account at revisual.io, connect your Google Calendar, and your first widget can be embedded on WordPress within about ten minutes. The WordPress plugin is searchable directly from your Plugins screen – search ‘Revisual’.
If you want to explore further before committing: the how-to for the native embed is documented in full on Google’s support pages. For plugin options, the Simple Calendar plugin is the lightest-weight starting point for Google Calendar specifically.
Either way, the underlying principle is the same: your Google Calendar is already doing the hard work of keeping your events organised. The only question is how much of that work reaches your audience.
Related reading
About the author
Piotr Pozniak
Piotr’s is the cofounder of Revisual, a dedicated tool for seamlessly sharing events. With over six years of experience developing the platform, he brings extensive expertise in streamlining business processes through technology solutions. Work with partners across industries has honed his ability to optimize event workflows and enhance data accessibility.
