Best life planner apps for 2026, ranked: ByDesign and 7 more
A life planner app helps you plan more than today’s to-dos: your goals, the habits that move them and the years ahead. We looked at eight of them, from simple goal trackers to all-in-one planners.
Updated November 5, 2026. ByDesign is our app. It’s listed first, and its limits are listed the same way as every other app’s.
Most of the apps we compared help you track goals and habits. ByDesign also plans them: tell it a goal, and its AI builds a step-by-step plan with tasks and deadlines and schedules it around your calendar. It’s the only app on this list that does that.
From each app’s own pricing and help pages, checked November 5, 2026.
The best life planner apps at a glance
1
ByDesign (best overall): the only app here whose AI turns a goal into a scheduled plan, with goals, habits, tasks, notes and your calendar in one place; iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and web; no free plan (7-day trial), Pro $8 a month, AI plan $15 a month.
2
Griply: a goal-first planner where you set up life areas, goals, subgoals and habits yourself, with progress charts; web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android; free plan, Premium $49.99 a year ($5.99 monthly) or $149.99 once.
3
Timestripe: goals laid out on planning views from the day to the year, with Climbs, step-by-step programmes; web, iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac; free plan, $9 a month billed yearly ($19 monthly).
4
Notion: a workspace of pages and databases you shape into any system, with Notion Calendar as a separate app; web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android; free plan, Plus $10 per seat a month billed yearly ($12 monthly).
5
TickTick: tasks, a habit tracker, a Pomodoro timer and calendar views in one app; web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android; free plan, Premium $49.99 a year.
6
Lunatask: tasks, habits, goals, mood tracking, journaling and notes in one end-to-end encrypted app; Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android; free plan, Premium $6 a month billed yearly ($8 monthly).
7
Strides: a goal and habit tracker with SMART goals, streaks and progress reports; iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Android; free to download, Strides Plus sold in the app.
8
Amazing Marvin: a planner with more than 100 features, from goals and habits to time blocking and two-way calendar sync; web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android; no free plan, $8 a month billed yearly ($12 monthly).
How each app plans your life
Several apps here track goals and habits. ByDesign is the only one whose AI builds the plan from your goal and schedules it, with courses and roadmaps to follow, from a five-year goal down to today.
Prices in US dollars, checked on November 5, 2026. Sources are linked under each app below.
What makes a good life planner app
Goals, not just tasks
A life planner starts from what you want to achieve and breaks it down, instead of starting from a to-do list.
Habits next to goals
The routines that move a goal forward belong in the same app as the goal itself.
A view of the year ahead
You should be able to see the whole year and zoom down to this week and today.
It plans with your calendar
Goals only move when the work lands on real days, around your meetings and the rest of your life.
Help getting started
Templates, courses or AI help you turn a vague goal into concrete steps.
How we chose these apps
We included the life planner, goal and habit apps people most often compare with ByDesign, plus the all-in-one tools people use as a life system.
ByDesign is our app, so its section goes into the most detail. Everything about the other apps comes from their own websites, help centres, pricing pages and download pages, linked under each app. Prices are in US dollars, can differ by country and change over time; promotions aren’t included.
Features were checked against each app’s own pages from October 23 to 26, 2026, and prices, plans and platforms on November 5, 2026. ByDesign is our app. It’s listed first, and its limits are listed the same way as every other app’s. If anything here is out of date, email info@bydesign.io.
The best life planner apps in 2026
1. ByDesign
Best overall
Best for: Planning your life from a five-year goal down to today, with AI to build the plan.
ByDesign is a life planner and an everyday planner in one. Tell it what you want to achieve and it asks a few questions, then builds a step-by-step plan with tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines and schedules it around the life you already have. Goal pages track your progress, habits keep the routines going, and a zoomable canvas runs from the whole year down to today.
Why it’s our top pick
It’s the only app on this list whose AI turns a goal into a scheduled plan, and you can replan with one message.
Goals, habits, tasks, notes and your calendar in one app, so the plan and the progress live together.
A year-to-day canvas: see the year ahead, then zoom into this week and today.
Courses, roadmaps and a habit library in the Hub that you can schedule straight onto your calendar.
What ByDesign does
Goals that become a plan
Describe a goal, like running a marathon or changing careers, and ByDesign asks a few questions, then builds the steps: tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines, placed on your calendar. When life changes, replan with one message.
Your year on one canvas
See the year, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface, and pin goals, notes, sticky notes, images and pages where they belong. The canvas comes with the AI plan.
Habits that stick
Habits come with streaks, skip days, stats and friends to keep you going, and reminders and deadlines keep the small things from slipping.
Goal pages
Each goal gets its own page with its tasks and resources and a percent-complete score, and you can share it with the people helping you get there.
Courses and roadmaps
The Hub has courses, roadmaps and a habit library you can schedule straight onto your calendar, so you never start from a blank page.
An assistant with real context
On the AI plan, the assistant sees your calendar, goals, habits and notes and moves and reschedules items for you. Talk to it by voice, and it answers in your language.
Notes and pages
Nested pages with tables, code, embeds and backlinks, which you can publish to the web, plus Kanban boards with your own columns.
Plan with family and friends
Share pages, assign tasks and chat with your family, friends or team, in direct or group chats.
ByDesign plans and prices
Pro$8 a month or $69 a yearTasks, habits, pages, calendar sync, the apps on every device and 1,000 MCP requests a month. No AI.
AI$15 a month or $119 a yearEverything in Pro, plus AI goal plans, AI scheduling, the planning canvas and 500 AI credits a month.
AI Plus$20 a month or $199 a yearEverything in AI, plus 1,500 AI credits a month, the best available AI models, a higher-quality voice assistant and more storage.
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, no credit card. Paying yearly costs up to 33% less.
What people say
“I just wanna say that I have FINALLY found a to-do list app where I can have recurring tasks and habit/org systems in one place. This is awesome because I keep wondering if one day my autonomous self will break....this is awesome so far!”
From TuneOutlyson003
“I really like ByDesign - a lot. I was looking for something that works for me but is also simple and intuitive enough to work for my 12 yr old daughter who needs to start planning out her homework and chores around her other calendar events. I think this is it - and I have looked at a lot of your competitors - Notion, Motion, Tick Tick, To-Do, Todoist. None have the simplicity of user interface combined with the rich features (but not overly complex). love it😍”
From E
“I used to keep a calendar, a to-do list, and a project app. ByDesign replaced all of them. It’s clean, it works, and I haven’t needed anything else.”
From Petey M.
Limitations
No free plan: a 7-day free trial, then a paid plan.
The AI features and the year canvas need the AI plan ($15 a month); Pro ($8 a month) has no AI.
Two-way sync is for Google and Apple calendars; Outlook comes in as a subscription.
Platforms
iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and web
Calendars
Google and Apple (two-way), Outlook (subscription)
Bottom line: Pick ByDesign if you want AI to turn your goals into a plan and one app for everything that moves them forward.
Griply is a goal-first planner: you build your vision, life areas, goals, subgoals and tasks yourself, and track habits with streaks. Goals show progress charts, and Premium adds a Gantt timeline of your goals and projects.
Strengths
Life areas, goals and subgoals with progress charts, on a free plan.
Habits with streaks, a Gantt timeline of goals on Premium, and apps on every major platform.
Limitations
No AI: every goal, subgoal and task is set up by hand.
Calendar sync with Google and Outlook only, and no sharing or team plans.
Pricing
Free plan (2 goals, 2 habits). Premium $49.99 a year, or $5.99 monthly; Lifetime $149.99 once.
Platforms
Web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android
What ByDesign adds: AI that builds and schedules the plan for each goal, Apple Calendar sync, and sharing with family or a team.
Timestripe lays your goals out on planning views from the day to the year, so long-term plans sit next to today. Climbs are step-by-step programmes from the community or your own, and goals can carry notes, files and embeds.
Strengths
Planning views from the day to the year, with goals broken into smaller steps.
Climbs and templates to follow, plus shared workspaces.
Limitations
No AI in the app, and calendar sync is one-way to Google and Apple.
No Windows app, and sync between web and mobile isn’t real-time.
Pricing
Free plan. $9 a month billed yearly, or $19 monthly.
Platforms
Web, iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac
What ByDesign adds: AI planning, two-way Google and Apple calendar sync, and a Windows app.
Notion is a flexible workspace: you build planners, habit trackers and goal boards yourself from pages, databases and templates. Notion Calendar is a separate app, and Notion AI comes with the Business plan.
Strengths
Pages, databases and a template gallery let you build any system you like.
Strong notes and docs, sharing and an MCP server.
Limitations
Habits, goals and planning have to be built and maintained by you.
No AI scheduling, and the calendar is a separate app.
Pricing
Free plan. Plus $10 per seat a month billed yearly, or $12 monthly. Notion AI comes with Business: $20 billed yearly, or $24 monthly.
Platforms
Web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android
What ByDesign adds: habits, goal tracking, a calendar and AI scheduling built in, with no system to build or maintain.
TickTick is a task manager with a built-in habit tracker, Pomodoro timer and calendar views. Its AI assistant can break a goal into stages, tasks and habits, and it connects to Claude and ChatGPT through an MCP server.
Strengths
Tasks, habits, a focus timer and calendar views in one app.
A free plan, and Premium is $49.99 a year.
Limitations
No goal pages with progress, and no team plan.
Calendar views and the AI features need Premium.
Pricing
Free plan. Premium $49.99 a year.
Platforms
Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android
What ByDesign adds: goal pages that track progress, a year-to-day canvas, team plans, and AI that schedules a goal onto your calendar with a preview.
Lunatask is an all-in-one life tracker: tasks, habits with streaks, goals with progress, a mood tracker, journaling and notes, all end-to-end encrypted. You plan today and tomorrow by dragging tasks onto the calendar.
Strengths
Habits, goals, mood, journaling and notes in one private app.
A free plan, and Premium is $6 a month billed yearly.
Limitations
No AI, and only today and tomorrow to plan, with no week, month or year view.
No web app, and calendars flow in one way only, on Premium.
Pricing
Free plan. Premium $6 a month billed yearly, or $8 monthly.
Platforms
Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android
What ByDesign adds: a view of the whole year, not just today and tomorrow, plus AI planning, a web app and two-way calendar sync.
Strides tracks goals and habits: set a SMART goal with a target value and date, log your progress and keep streaks going. Reports show progress by week, month or year, and templates help you start.
Strengths
Goals with target values and dates, habits with streaks, and progress reports.
Templates and a free goal-setting video course to get started.
Limitations
No AI, no calendar sync and no web or Windows app.
Sharing and teamwork need Apple devices and iCloud.
Pricing
Free to download; Strides Plus is bought in the app, and Strides doesn’t publish its price on its website.
Platforms
iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Android
What ByDesign adds: goals placed on your calendar with AI planning, and apps for Windows and the web.
Amazing Marvin packs more than 100 features into one plan, from goals and habits to time blocking, Kanban and a Pomodoro timer. Goals are set up by hand, and it syncs both ways with Google and Apple calendars.
Strengths
Goals, habits, time blocking and two-way Google and Apple sync in one plan.
Over 100 features with no tiers, and a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Limitations
No AI scheduling and no plan built from a goal; everything is set up by hand.
English only, and no free plan.
Pricing
No free plan; 14-day free trial, no credit card. Marvin Pro $8 a month billed yearly ($96 a year), or $12 monthly.
Platforms
Web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android
What ByDesign adds: AI that builds and schedules the plan for each goal, and the app in 12 languages.
ByDesign is our pick for the best life planner app in 2026. It’s the only app on this list whose AI turns a goal into a scheduled plan, and it keeps goals, habits, tasks, notes and your calendar together, from a five-year goal down to today, on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and the web.
What is a life planner app?
A life planner app helps you plan beyond today’s to-do list: your goals, the habits that move them and the year ahead. Most combine goals and habits with tasks; ByDesign also adds AI that turns a goal into a scheduled plan and a canvas from the year down to today.
What is the best free life planner app?
You can try ByDesign free for 7 days, AI included, with no credit card. Free plans from other apps come with limits, such as 2 goals and 2 habits on Griply’s.
Which life planner app uses AI to plan your goals?
ByDesign. Tell it a goal and it asks a few questions, then builds a step-by-step plan with tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines and schedules it around your calendar. Griply, Lunatask, Strides and Amazing Marvin have no AI planning, Timestripe’s Climbs are pre-written programmes, and TickTick’s AI breaks a goal down in a chat.
Which life planner app is best for habits and goals together?
ByDesign keeps habits with streaks and goal pages with progress next to your tasks and calendar, with AI to plan each goal. Griply, Lunatask, Strides and Amazing Marvin also track both goals and habits, but you set each goal up by hand.
Is Notion good as a life planner?
Notion can be shaped into a life planner with templates and databases, but you build and maintain the system yourself, its calendar is a separate app, and it has no AI scheduling. ByDesign has goals, habits, a calendar and AI planning built in.
What is the best alternative to Griply?
ByDesign is the best Griply alternative if you want AI to build and schedule the plan for each goal, a calendar that syncs both ways with Google and Apple, and sharing with family or a team, none of which Griply has. Its 7-day free trial needs no credit card.
Design your life, one goal at a time
Tell ByDesign a goal and get a plan on your calendar, with the habits to keep it going. Free for 7 days, no credit card.
