Notion Calendar vs Calnio: what's the difference
Notion Calendar is a free calendar app from Notion that shows your Notion databases beside your Google, iCloud and Outlook events. Calnio is a sync that writes your Notion dates into Apple Calendar as real iCloud events. If you want a new app to check your day in, Notion Calendar covers it. If you want your Notion dates in the Calendar app you already open, that needs Calnio or another sync.
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What Notion Calendar does
Notion's product page says you can get Notion Calendar for free, and lists apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. It connects Google, iCloud and Outlook calendars, and Notion's help page says iCloud needs an app-specific password.
You can add a Notion database that has a date property, and edit its items inside the app: title, date and time, and several other property types. Formula dates and created or edited time dates are read-only. Adding a database works only on desktop or web.
The limit is on Notion's help page: you can only view your Notion database in Notion Calendar, not in Google or iCloud calendar. The dates stay inside the Notion Calendar app, so the iPhone's own Calendar app never sees them.
What Calnio does
Calnio writes each dated page of a Notion database into an iCloud calendar over CalDAV, the protocol Apple Calendar uses. The events show in the iPhone's Calendar app, and on iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, with no app to install. It copies the title and the date and nothing else.
The free plan is one database, one way, from Notion to the calendar, checked every 30 minutes. The paid plan is $3.99 a month, with two-way sync, every database, Todoist, and checks every 15 minutes or as often as every 5. The first 7 days are free with no card.
Where they differ in practice
Speed is the first difference. Notion Calendar is Notion's own app, and you edit your database items inside it. Calnio checks on a timer, so a change reaches the other side after the next check, within 5 to 30 minutes depending on your plan.
The second is where you look. If you open Apple Calendar to see your day, only a sync puts the database there. If you already open Notion Calendar for that, Calnio adds nothing you would use.
The third is price. Notion Calendar costs nothing. Calnio is free for one database one way, and paid for the rest. If you only need to see the dates, start with Notion Calendar.
Using both
A calendar Calnio creates is an ordinary iCloud calendar, and Notion Calendar shows iCloud calendars, so the events appear there too. If you also add the same database to Notion Calendar directly, you see each date twice, so use one route per database.
For a side-by-side table of price, setup and limits, see Calnio vs Notion Calendar. If Notion Calendar is not what you need, Notion calendar sync options lists the other tools and which calendars each reaches.