Hearth vs Skylight (2026): Prices, Subscriptions, and Which to Buy
Comparing the two big family-calendar displays? Here's the short version: Skylight is the calendar-first option with a lower entry price and an optional subscription. Hearth is the routines-first option — beloved by families managing ADHD and complex mornings — with a higher price and a required membership. And there's a third path that costs almost nothing, which we'll get to.
Head to head
| Skylight Calendar | Hearth Display | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $299.99 (15″ Calendar 2) / $599.99 (27″ Max) | $699 (27″) |
| Subscription | Optional Plus, $79/yr | Required: $9/mo, or $86.40/yr billed annually |
| Orientation | Landscape or portrait | Portrait |
| Core strength | Shared calendar, meal planning | Routines, to-dos, visual schedules |
| Chores | Chore chart; rewards need Plus | Routine and task system built in |
| Realistic 3-year cost | $599.99 + $237 ≈ $837 (Max with Plus) | $699 + $259 ≈ $958 (annual membership) |
Prices checked 9 October 2026. Skylight also sells a smaller 10″ Calendar, $169.99 on its product page; Skylight's comparison chart says from $149.99.
One footnote on that last row: Hearth's membership is required to set the display up, but you can cancel it afterwards and keep the calendar and profiles. The routines, lists, rewards and meal planning go with it.
Where Skylight wins
Skylight nails the core job: your Google, Apple, or Outlook calendars merged into one big, colour-coded family view. The interface is polished, the companion app is solid, and the 15″ model costs $299.99, less than half a Hearth. Meal planning and its AI-powered "Magic Import" (photograph a school newsletter, get calendar events) are genuinely useful — but note they live behind the $79/year Plus plan. Read more on what Skylight's subscription does and doesn't cover.
Where Hearth wins
Hearth is designed around routines, not just events: visual morning and evening checklists kids work through themselves, to-do assignments, and a portrait layout that reads like a poster. Families managing ADHD consistently praise it — that focus is real differentiation, and the build quality feels premium. The catch: it's the most expensive option in the category, and the membership isn't optional, which pushes the three-year cost to around $960.
The honest bottom line
- Pick Skylight if the job is "everyone sees the family calendar" and you want the lower entry price.
- Pick Hearth if the job is "our mornings are chaos and the kids need visual routines," and the price doesn't sting.
The third option: don't buy a screen at all
Both products are, at heart, a screen showing your family's day. If you have an old tablet, a TV, or about $150 for a Raspberry Pi, software gives you the same glanceable calendar, with chore rotations and countdowns, and no touchscreen to buy.
That's what DinkyDash does. It's open source and free to run yourself, or we host it for $39 a year after a 14-day free trial. It also puts a fresh headline about the day at the top of the screen, which neither of these does. See how to build one in an afternoon, or compare all eight Skylight alternatives.
If the bring-your-own-screen route is the one that interests you, DAKboard vs Skylight vs DinkyDash compares the three on hardware cost, subscription, setup effort, and what happens when it breaks.
Last updated 2026-10-09.