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Lyven is a household app for couples that gives every job a single owner, weighted by real effort, so the work is actually split fairly rather than just written down somewhere both of you can see it. Cozi is a shared family calendar. The two solve different problems, and it matters which one you actually need.
Verified live 28 July 2026, checked against Cozi's own App Store listing.
Every job in the house, from the school forms to the bins to who remembers the dentist, gets one owner. Not shared, not rotated. That owner carries the noticing and the planning as well as the doing, weighted by how much real effort the job takes, not how it looks from the outside. The split is fused with the shopping list and the meals, so it is something you run the week on, not a chart you check once and forget. There is no scoreboard and no points. Free while in beta.
Cozi has been the shared family calendar for over 20 years, the major player in this category by a wide margin, and a lot of households genuinely just need "we can both see what's happening and what we need from the shops". Cozi does that.
What it does not do is show whose job something actually is. There is no ownership, no weighting for effort, no sense of who is carrying the noticing and planning behind an event rather than just attending it. Two parents can look at the same shared calendar for years and one of them is still the one who actually remembered to put everything on it. Cozi shows the load. It does not split it. That is the whole gap Lyven is built to close.
Cozi's parent company is OurFamilyWizard, which took a growth investment from the private equity firm Spectrum Equity in 2020 and acquired Cozi in 2022 from its previous corporate owner, Dotdash Meredith. Before that, Cozi passed through Time Inc. Four owners in two decades is not unusual for software this size, and it is worth knowing who is actually deciding the product roadmap.
Lyven is built and owned by two parents running their own home in Melbourne, with no outside investors.
Cozi is free with ads by default. As of July 2026, per Cozi's own App Store listing, the free tier limits viewing and adding calendar events to 30 days ahead. Cozi Gold, US$39 a year for the whole household across every device, removes that limit along with the ads, and adds month view, calendar search, more reminders per event, and a birthday tracker. It is a real, specific cap, not a vague "some features are locked" line, and it is the kind of change that tends to show up once a long standing free product changes hands. Lyven is free while in beta with no such cap, though the exact free tier boundary once beta ends is still being finalised. The quickest way to see Lyven's own free system is the Split Check, a two minute, no sign up look at how your own household's work actually divides right now.
| Lyven | Cozi | |
|---|---|---|
| Core purpose | Splitting household work fairly, one owner per job | A shared family calendar, shopping and to do lists |
| Fairness concept | Single owner per job, weighted by real effort | None. Shows the load, does not assign it |
| Platform | Web / PWA, any phone or computer | iPhone, Android and web |
| Price | Free while in beta, full system | Free with ads, capped at 30 days of calendar ahead. Cozi Gold US$39/yr removes the cap |
| Track record | New, in beta | 20+ years, the major player in the category |
| Ownership | Built and owned by two parents running their own home. No outside investors | Owned by OurFamilyWizard, growth equity backed by Spectrum Equity since 2020 |
Curious how your own household actually splits?
Find your fair →A single owner per job, weighted by real effort, fused with the shopping list, the meals and the running list of what the home needs, so the split is something you live in rather than something you check on.
A shared family calendar with colour coded events, shopping lists, to do lists and a recipe box, simple enough for every generation in the family to use.
Lyven gives every piece of household work a single owner, weighted by real effort, and shows how the load currently divides. Cozi is a shared calendar, shopping list and to do list. It has no concept of whose job something actually is. If you want the work split fairly and kept that way, Lyven. If all you need is a calendar everyone can see, Cozi does that.
No. Cozi shows a shared calendar and shared lists, so both partners can see what is happening, but it does not assign ownership or weigh who is actually carrying the work. It shows the load. It does not split it.
As of July 2026, Cozi's free tier limits viewing and adding calendar events to 30 days ahead, per Cozi's own App Store listing. Cozi Gold, US$39 a year for the whole household, removes that limit along with ads, and adds month view, calendar search, more reminders per event, and a birthday tracker. Lyven is free while in beta with no such cap.
Cozi's parent company is OurFamilyWizard, which took a growth investment from the private equity firm Spectrum Equity in 2020 and acquired Cozi in 2022 from its previous corporate owner, Dotdash Meredith. Before that, Cozi passed through Time Inc. Lyven is built and owned by two parents running their own home in Melbourne, with no outside investors.
Lyven is free for the whole beta. After that, the plan is to keep a generous free tier for the core split and the daily habit, with paid tiers adding extra depth such as projects and outsourcing rather than gating the basics. The exact boundary is still being finalised.
Yes. Lyven is private by design with Australian hosting. The Split Check requires no account, and beta data is handled under Lyven's privacy policy.
Two minutes, ten cards, no sign up. See how the work in your home actually divides today, on any phone.
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