What World Time Buddy does

World Time Buddy is a privately held, bootstrapped utility company operated by Helloka, LLC, founded in 2011 in Berkeley, California. It operates a web-based time zone converter and meeting scheduler that allows users to compare multiple time zones simultaneously via an hour-tile visualization and to schedule and share meeting times through integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal, and Gmail. The underlying platform relies on industry-standard TZDATA for timezone offsets and DST rules, enriched with the open GeoNames database, providing coverage of 20,000+ locations including fractional-hour offsets (e.g., India +5:30, Nepal +5:45). The product portfolio extends beyond the core web application to include embeddable world clock and event widgets for third-party websites, mobile apps for iOS and Android with device calendar integration, and a Chrome webapp.

The company serves a horizontal, self-serve user base primarily composed of frequent international business travelers and remote workers, individuals with international personal connections, and forex traders tracking global market hours. Distribution occurs entirely through organic search (leveraging a sitemap of hundreds of specific timezone converter URLs), word-of-mouth referrals, and the embeddable widget footprint on external websites. The original 2011 launch received prominent coverage from Hacker News and Lifehacker, which established durable brand recognition.

World Time Buddy has operated without external funding and has remained at a 1-10 employee scale since inception. In May 2022, the company discontinued its paid subscription offering and made all features free, transitioning to a fully ad-supported revenue model. There is no evidence of enterprise contracts, API monetization, AI capabilities, or active expansion initiatives; recent product activity has been limited to maintenance updates such as the November 2025 timezone handling fix.

Name

World Time Buddy

Legal name

Helloka, LLC

Website

https://worldtimebuddy.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

World Time Buddy is a bootstrapped web-based time zone converter and meeting scheduler, operated by Helloka, LLC, that helps international business travelers, remote workers, and individuals with global connections compare time zones and schedule meetings via Google Calendar and iCal integrations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Advertising: Third-party advertising displayed on the website. The privacy policy mentions third-party companies serving ads and collecting anonymous information.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

World Time Buddy is a web-based world clock, time zone converter, and online meeting scheduler that lets users compare multiple time zones at a glance via a signature hour-tiles interface. It supports scheduling conference calls, webinars, and international meetings with calendar integration (Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal, Gmail), DST handling, and 20,000+ location entries. Complementary embeddable widgets and mobile apps extend the core service to external websites and on-the-go users.

Product overview

World Time Buddy is a unified web-based time zone management platform consisting of a core web application and several complementary products. The core platform (World Time Buddy Web Platform) provides visual time zone conversion and meeting scheduling with hour-tile visualization. This core product integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook/iCal, and Gmail for seamless calendar management. The product portfolio includes two embeddable widget products: the World Clock Widget for website integration and the Event Widget for event time communication. A mobile app (iOS and Android) extends functionality to mobile users with device calendar integration. Additionally, a Chrome webapp provides browser-based access. All products share the same underlying time zone database (TZDATA) and location data (GeoNames).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• World Time Buddy Web Platform Web-based time zone converter and meeting scheduler that compares multiple time zones at a glance using hour-tiles visualization, supports scheduling of conference calls, webinars, and international meetings, and integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook/iCal, and Gmail. Used by individuals coordinating across time zones.
• World Clock Widget Embeddable world clock widget that detects each visitor's time zone in a 'Your Time' row and shows signature hour-tiles for at-a-glance time conversion. Customizable with background colors and location renaming. Used by website owners to display time across multiple cities.
• Event Widget Embeddable event widget that communicates webinar and online event times to international audiences by auto-detecting each visitor's local time zone and displaying time in their native hour-format (AM/PM or 24-hour). Used by event organizers and marketers promoting online events globally.
• World Time Buddy Mobile App (iOS and Android) Mobile application available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that provides visual world clock, time zone conversion, and meeting scheduling on smartphones and tablets, with native device calendar integration and iPad support.
• Chrome Webapp Chrome browser extension version of World Time Buddy providing time zone conversion functionality directly in the browser.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Google (Login/Calendar)coreTechnology or IntegrationGoogle integration for OAuth sign-in (Sign in with Google) and Google Calendar overlay to find open slots when scheduling meetings. Allows users to sign in using Google accounts and overlay their Google Calendar within WTB.
• Outlook / iCalcoreTechnology or IntegrationCalendar integration allowing users to export scheduled meeting times to Outlook/iCal formats, Gmail, and clipboard for sharing.
• GeoNamescoreTechnology or IntegrationOpen geographic database used to enrich timezone data with location names. Primary data sources are TZDATA (for timezone offsets and DST rules) and GeoNames (for location names).

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Google Calendar: The dominant free calendar product with native multi-timezone event creation, world clock side panel, and meeting scheduling. Indirectly competes by bundling timezone tooling into a broader workflow surface used by most of WTB's target audience.
• Microsoft Outlook Calendar: Enterprise-standard calendar with built-in multi-timezone display and FindTime/Polly scheduling add-ins. Competes by offering timezone features embedded in the email/calendar workflow rather than as a standalone tool.

Emerging players

• Doodle: Group scheduling and polling platform that surfaces overlapping meeting times across participants in different zones. Competes for the same meeting-scheduling use case but emphasizes group polling rather than visual zone comparison.
• Calendly: Automated scheduling tool that handles cross-timezone meeting booking via link sharing. Overlaps with World Time Buddy's scheduling use case but is positioned upstream — users find a time slot via WTB, then often move to Calendly to actually book it.

Direct peers

• Every Time Zone: Visual time zone comparison tool focused on a single horizontal time strip for multiple zones. Competes for the same at-a-glance timezone conversion use case as World Time Buddy.
• 24timezones.com: World clock, time zone converter, and meeting scheduler offering similar functionality to World Time Buddy, including a meeting planner for finding overlapping business hours.
• World Clock (piliapp.com/world-clock): Free web-based world clock and time zone converter. Directly competes for the same 'compare multiple time zones' use case with similar visual row layout.
• timeanddate.com: The largest dedicated world clock, time zone converter, and calendar site on the web. Closest direct competitor to World Time Buddy with overlapping features (time conversion, meeting planner, widgets) and a broader content footprint.
• Savvy Time: Web-based time zone converter with meeting planner, world clock, and event widgets — direct functional overlap with World Time Buddy's core product and widget offerings.
• The World Clock (theworldclock.com): Long-running world clock and time zone converter site serving the same core need as World Time Buddy with a similar text-and-table layout.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/worldtimebuddy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about World Time Buddy