Calendar Libraries Compared: fullcalendar vs react-big-calendar vs vue-cal

When you need to add a calendar to your app—whether for scheduling meetings, showing availability, or tracking deadlines—the choice of library has long-term consequences for maintainability, performance, and user experience. Let’s compare fullcalendar, react-big-calendar, and vue-cal through the lens of real-world engineering trade-offs.

🧱 Architecture & Framework Integration

fullcalendar is built as a core JavaScript library with optional framework-specific wrappers. This means the same underlying engine powers its React, Vue, and Angular versions. You interact with it through component props and callbacks, but under the hood, it manages its own internal state.

// React + fullcalendar
import FullCalendar from '@fullcalendar/react';
import dayGridPlugin from '@fullcalendar/daygrid';

function App() {
  return (
    <FullCalendar
      plugins={[dayGridPlugin]}
      initialView="dayGridMonth"
      events={[{ title: 'Meeting', date: '2024-06-15' }]}
    />
  );
}

react-big-calendar is written entirely in React and follows React’s declarative model. It expects you to manage event data externally and pass it in as a prop. Everything—from styling to interaction—is customizable via React components and hooks.

// react-big-calendar
import { Calendar, momentLocalizer } from 'react-big-calendar';
import moment from 'moment';

const localizer = momentLocalizer(moment);

function App() {
  const events = [{ title: 'Meeting', start: new Date(2024, 5, 15), end: new Date(2024, 5, 15) }];
  return (
    <Calendar
      localizer={localizer}
      events={events}
      startAccessor="start"
      endAccessor="end"
      defaultView="month"
    />
  );
}

vue-cal is a Vue-only component with no external dependencies. It uses Vue’s reactivity system directly and exposes props and events in a way that feels native to Vue developers.

<!-- vue-cal -->
<template>
  <vue-cal :events="events" :active-view="'month'" />
</template>

<script>
import { VueCal } from 'vue-cal';
import 'vue-cal/dist/vuecal.css';

export default {
  components: { VueCal },
  data() {
    return {
      events: [{ title: 'Meeting', start: '2024-06-15' }]
    };
  }
};
</script>

🎨 Customization: How Deep Can You Go?

All three let you customize event appearance, but they differ in flexibility.

fullcalendar supports custom rendering via eventContent (a render prop) and also allows complete control over day cells, headers, and more through dedicated hooks.

// fullcalendar custom event rendering
<FullCalendar
  eventContent={(arg) => (
    <div style={{ backgroundColor: arg.event.extendedProps.color }}>
      {arg.event.title}
    </div>
  )}
/>

react-big-calendar uses render props extensively. You can replace nearly every visual part—events, date cells, toolbar—with your own React components.

// react-big-calendar custom event
<Calendar
  components={{
    event: ({ event }) => (
      <div className="custom-event" style={{ borderLeftColor: event.color }}>
        {event.title}
      </div>
    )
  }}
/>

vue-cal offers scoped slots for customizing event content and day cells, which aligns with Vue’s slot-based composition model.

<!-- vue-cal scoped slot -->
<vue-cal :events="events">
  <template #event="{ event }">
    <div class="my-event" :style="{ background: event.bg }">
      {{ event.title }}
    </div>
  </template>
</vue-cal>

🖱️ Interaction & Advanced Features

Need drag-and-drop? Recurring events? Time zones?

fullcalendar includes these out of the box via plugins:

• @fullcalendar/interaction enables drag-and-drop and resizing.
• rrule plugin handles recurring events.
• Built-in time zone support with named zones (e.g., America/New_York).

// fullcalendar with drag-and-drop
import interactionPlugin from '@fullcalendar/interaction';

<FullCalendar
  plugins={[dayGridPlugin, interactionPlugin]}
  editable={true}
  events={events}
  eventDrop={(info) => console.log('Dropped:', info.event.start)}
/>

react-big-calendar does not include drag-and-drop by default. You must implement it yourself using external libraries like react-dnd or handle mouse/touch events manually. Recurring events require preprocessing your event list before passing it to the calendar.

// react-big-calendar — no native drag support
// You’d need to wrap events in draggable containers yourself

vue-cal provides basic click and navigation events but no drag-and-drop, no recurring event logic, and limited time zone support (relies on browser-local dates). It’s focused on display, not complex scheduling.

<!-- vue-cal — only basic event clicks -->
<vue-cal @event-click="handleEventClick" />

🌍 Localization & Accessibility

fullcalendar ships with 70+ language packs and full keyboard navigation support. You load locales as plugins.

import esLocale from '@fullcalendar/core/locales/es';

<FullCalendar locales={[esLocale]} locale="es" />

react-big-calendar requires you to provide a “localizer” (e.g., using moment or date-fns) for date formatting and labels. Accessibility is decent but not as comprehensive as fullcalendar.

// Uses moment or date-fns under the hood
const localizer = momentLocalizer(moment);

vue-cal supports multiple languages via a locale prop and includes translations for common UI strings. However, it lacks advanced ARIA labeling and keyboard shortcuts found in more mature libraries.

<vue-cal locale="fr" />

⚙️ Bundle Impact & Dependencies

fullcalendar is modular—you only import the plugins you use. The core is ~30KB gzipped, and adding dayGrid or interaction increases size incrementally.

react-big-calendar depends on either moment (large) or date-fns (smaller). If you already use one of these, the incremental cost is low. Otherwise, it adds significant weight.

vue-cal has zero dependencies and is extremely lightweight (~8KB gzipped), making it ideal for performance-sensitive Vue apps.

🛠️ Real-World Decision Guide

Use fullcalendar when:

• You need drag-and-drop, recurring events, or resource timelines.
• Your app must support multiple time zones accurately.
• You’re working in a multi-framework environment or may switch frameworks later.

Use react-big-calendar when:

• You’re all-in on React and want maximum control over rendering.
• You already use date-fns or moment and don’t mind wiring up interactions yourself.
• Your design system requires deep visual customization that matches your app’s look exactly.

Use vue-cal when:

• You’re building a Vue app and need a simple, fast-loading calendar.
• You only need to display events and navigate dates—no complex interactions.
• Bundle size is critical (e.g., mobile-first or PWA).

📊 Summary Table

💡 Final Thought

These libraries solve different problems. fullcalendar is a full-featured scheduling platform disguised as a component. react-big-calendar is a React-native canvas for building your own calendar logic. vue-cal is a lean, opinionated widget for showing dates and events in Vue apps. Match the tool to your actual requirements—not just today’s, but six months from now when stakeholders ask for “just one more feature.”