🗓️ switching from cozi
your family calendar
shouldn't show you ads.
Cozi has been the default family organizer for years, and its free plan pays for itself by putting ads in front of your family's schedule. So we're rolling out the welcome mat instead. beanies.family captures all the same stuff - calendars, to-dos, meals, and more (even finances) - but your data lives with you, on your storage. I never see it, so I can't read it, lose it, or delete it. Which is, IMHO, the way it should be.
- 🔒 end-to-end encrypted
- 📂 your file, your storage
- 🚫 no ads, ever
- 🆓 free (for now)
the short version
the facts, for those in a hurry
🗓️ → 🫘 the cozi moving guide
the ad thingFree-with-ads means the app's real customer is the advertiser. beanies has no ads and no advertisers, so you're the customer, full stop.
the paywall thingThere are two paid tiers now: Gold at $39/year and Max at $79/year. The month view on your phone is one of the paid bits. In beanies, everything's included. There is no gold tier. There's barely a bronze one.
where beanies keeps your dataIn one encrypted file on your own storage (Google Drive or local). Not on my servers. I don't have servers with your data on them.
what it costsIt's free. Yes, really. Probably not forever, but no ads for life is the beanies guarantee. And that one I mean.
side by side
cozi vs beanies, honestly
Now, here comes the pitch, so get ready. You knew this was coming.
| feature | 🗓️ cozi | 🫘 beanies |
|---|---|---|
| shared family calendar | ✓ | ✓ |
| shopping lists & meals | ✓ | ✓ |
| to-dos & chores | ✓ | ✓ |
| family finances & budgets | no | ✓ |
| ads in the free app | yes | no ads at any price |
| month view on your phone | paid tiers only | ✓ |
| premium paywall | gold $39/yr, max $79/yr | everything's included |
| where your data lives | their servers | your storage |
| can the company read it? | yes | no. can't. encrypted. |
the part where i'm honest
i'm not here to dunk on cozi
Cozi has been around forever, it's stable, and millions of families run on it, and you don't last that long by being bad at this. If the ads genuinely don't bother you and paying to remove them feels fair, carry on. No hard feelings.
But a family calendar knows a lot about you: where your kids are after school, when the house is empty, what you're saving for. That always felt like the wrong thing to build an ad audience around. So I built the version where nobody's watching, including me.
"why do we allow one person to carry all the mental load at home, when we wouldn't accept that at work?" - me, in an actual interview, sounding smarter than usual
The whole point of a shared family organizer is sharing the load. beanies just does it without an ad department in the room.
have your cake, and eat it too
private doesn't mean less anymore
the bit most family apps ask you to give up, and the bit you don't have to give up here.
🙈 encrypted means encrypted
Most apps encrypt your data on their servers, with their keys, which is a security feature. beanies encrypts it before it leaves your device, with your key, which is a privacy feature. I can't read it, sell it, or lose it, because I never had it in the first place.
📂 one file, yours
Everything lives in a single encrypted .beanpod file on your Google Drive or device. Lose your password? I can't help you. That's kinda the whole point.
🤷 nothing to steal
Even if a hacker wanted to poke around our dark corner of the internet, there's nothing there except code and app configuration. Good luck finding anything to leak.
moving day
three boxes and you're in
get your stuff out of cozi
Bring your calendar and lists across. It's your data, so take it with you, and the guide covers the fiddly bits.
set up your pod
Create your family pod in about two minutes: pick a PIN, save your Recovery Kit, add your beans. No password. No account on my servers.
unpack & put the kettle on
Invite the family, connect Google Calendar if you use it, and get on with your week. You're home. And nobody's showing you ads about it.
fair questions
things cozi folks actually ask
no ads really means no ads?
Really. There are no advertisers to answer to, because there are no advertisers. The business model is you, someday, paying a fair price if you want more, not your attention sliced up and sold.
okay but what if YOU shut down?
No matter what happens to beanies.family in the future, your data is always yours. It belongs to you, and it's sitting on your own device or storage. Which is kind of the whole point.
is it hard to switch?
It's just a few minutes to set up. You can go through the onboarding, which makes importing your data dead simple. Our wizard walks you through every step.
why is it free?
Right now, I cover the costs myself; someday there'll be a fair price for families who want more, and I promise it won't burn a hole in your wallet. What there won't be, ever: ads. Or popups. Or anybody reading your family's data besides you, and your family. Which is the way it should be for your precious beans.
the welcome mat is out
every. bean. counts.
even the ones arriving from cozi.
start counting beans 🫘peace out, my beans.
greg
ps. stuck mid-move? come yell at me (nicely) on the discord.