Comparison

ByDesign

Ellie Planner

ByDesign vs Ellie Planner

Ellie plans your day. ByDesign plans the goal behind it, and shares it.

Ellie is a daily planner: day columns on a Calendar Kanban, a Timebox calendar with Google and Outlook sync, a brain dump, recurring tasks, a Pomodoro timer with time tracking, and an AI assistant that can timebox your day, on web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad. ByDesign starts from the goal: AI builds the plan from it, and habits with streaks, goal pages, Hub courses, a year-to-day canvas, sharing, chat and an Android app come with it.

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What you get with ByDesign that Ellie Planner doesn’t offer

A plan from the goal
Say a goal and get tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines on your calendar, with a preview you approve. Ellie’s AI, a Pro feature in beta, adds tasks from a sentence and can “Timebox my day” around your events; a goal-to-plan step isn’t part of it.
Habits, goals and courses
A habit tracker with streaks and stats, goal pages with progress, and Hub courses you can schedule. Ellie has recurring tasks, daily rituals and task templates; there are no habit streaks, goal pages or courses.
Your whole year on one canvas
Year, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface, with sticky notes, images and pinned pages. Ellie shows day columns plus a Timebox calendar by day, week or month, with no year view.
Shared, chatted, and on Android
Share pages, assign tasks, chat in the app, add seats on a team plan, and use it on Android with two-way Apple Calendar sync. Ellie is a personal planner, has no Android app “right now”, and overlays Apple Calendar without two-way sync.

ByDesign vs Ellie Planner, feature by feature

Only the differences. What both apps do the same is listed underneath.

Included
Limited
Not available

Feature	ByDesign	Ellie Planner
AI planning
AI goal plans	Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans	Not available: Tasks and subtasks from a sentenceNo plan built from a goal
AI scheduling with a preview you approve	Included: Preview, then acceptConflicts shown; nothing saves until you say so; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: “Timebox my day” with confirmationAI schedules your day around events and preferences on Pro, and can ask before changing anything; no plan built from a goal to preview
Auto-schedule around your hours	Included: Rules you setWork hours, breaks, buffers, max hours a day, split long tasks	Limited: Workday threshold and AI on requestA capacity setting plus the AI assistant’s timeboxing
Voice control	Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Siri and dictationSiri adds tasks; dictate to the AI assistant
Calendar and views
Two-way calendar sync	Included: Google and AppleEdit events in either place; Outlook and ICS subscriptions too	Limited: Google and Outlook, optional two-wayApple Calendar is overlay only: two-way sync “is not supported at this time”
Year-to-day planning canvas	Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Day, week and monthDay columns on the Calendar Kanban and a Timebox calendar; no year view
Kanban boards	Included: Custom columnsMain board plus boards per page	Limited: Calendar KanbanColumns are days, not statuses
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar	Included: Yes	Not available: No
Customisable dashboard	Included: Drag-and-drop widgetsScore board, tasks, habits, inbox, pinned pages, Kanban	Limited: AnalyticsA breakdown of how you spend your time
Habits, goals and learning
Habit tracker	Included: Check-ins and streaksSkip a day, stats, habits with friends	Not available: Recurring tasks and daily rituals instead
Goals with progress	Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable	Not available: No
Notes and pages	Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web	Limited: Rich task notesNo standalone pages
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub	Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar	Not available: Task templates and productivity guides
Collaboration and platforms
Share pages and assign tasks	Included: View, comment or editAssign tasks; @mention in comments	Limited: Shared lists in invite-only betaNo assigning or chat
Built-in chat	Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls	Not available: No
Team plans	Included: Per seatAdd or remove members in settings	Not available: No
Apps	Included: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android	Limited: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad“There is not an Android app right now”, per its pricing page

AI planning

AI goal plans
ByDesign
Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans
Ellie Planner
Not available: Tasks and subtasks from a sentenceNo plan built from a goal
AI scheduling with a preview you approve
ByDesign
Included: Preview, then acceptConflicts shown; nothing saves until you say so; AI and AI Plus plans
Ellie Planner
Limited: “Timebox my day” with confirmationAI schedules your day around events and preferences on Pro, and can ask before changing anything; no plan built from a goal to preview
Auto-schedule around your hours
ByDesign
Included: Rules you setWork hours, breaks, buffers, max hours a day, split long tasks
Ellie Planner
Limited: Workday threshold and AI on requestA capacity setting plus the AI assistant’s timeboxing
Voice control
ByDesign
Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans
Ellie Planner
Limited: Siri and dictationSiri adds tasks; dictate to the AI assistant

Calendar and views

Two-way calendar sync
ByDesign
Included: Google and AppleEdit events in either place; Outlook and ICS subscriptions too
Ellie Planner
Limited: Google and Outlook, optional two-wayApple Calendar is overlay only: two-way sync “is not supported at this time”
Year-to-day planning canvas
ByDesign
Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans
Ellie Planner
Limited: Day, week and monthDay columns on the Calendar Kanban and a Timebox calendar; no year view
Kanban boards
ByDesign
Included: Custom columnsMain board plus boards per page
Ellie Planner
Limited: Calendar KanbanColumns are days, not statuses
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar
ByDesign
Included: Yes
Ellie Planner
Not available: No
Customisable dashboard
ByDesign
Included: Drag-and-drop widgetsScore board, tasks, habits, inbox, pinned pages, Kanban
Ellie Planner
Limited: AnalyticsA breakdown of how you spend your time

Habits, goals and learning

Habit tracker
ByDesign
Included: Check-ins and streaksSkip a day, stats, habits with friends
Ellie Planner
Not available: Recurring tasks and daily rituals instead
Goals with progress
ByDesign
Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable
Ellie Planner
Not available: No
Notes and pages
ByDesign
Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web
Ellie Planner
Limited: Rich task notesNo standalone pages
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub
ByDesign
Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar
Ellie Planner
Not available: Task templates and productivity guides

Collaboration and platforms

Share pages and assign tasks
ByDesign
Included: View, comment or editAssign tasks; @mention in comments
Ellie Planner
Limited: Shared lists in invite-only betaNo assigning or chat
Built-in chat
ByDesign
Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls
Ellie Planner
Not available: No
Team plans
ByDesign
Included: Per seatAdd or remove members in settings
Ellie Planner
Not available: No
Apps
ByDesign
Included: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android
Ellie Planner
Limited: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad“There is not an Android app right now”, per its pricing page

Ellie Planner column based on guide, AI assistant, Timebox, Apple Calendar, Calendar Kanban, task timer, MCP and API, pricing and changelog on October 26, 2026. If something has changed, email info@bydesign.io.

Both apps cover the basics

An AI assistant you can talk to
Natural-language task entry
Time blocking by drag
Tasks with estimates, subtasks, labels, priorities and recurring schedules
A brain dump inbox
Pomodoro timer
Time tracking
MCP access for AI assistants
Home-screen widgets
Dark mode

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Why people switch from Ellie Planner to ByDesign

Say the goal. Get a scheduled plan.

Tell ByDesign what you want to achieve. It asks a few questions, then builds the tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines and schedules them around the life you already have. Replan in one message.

Ellie Planner: Ellie’s AI assistant adds a task with subtasks from a sentence and can timebox your day around your calendar events, on Pro. Nothing turns a goal into a plan with milestones and courses.

ByDesign AI goal plan with tasks, tags and durations

Habits, goals and focus, built in

Track habits with streaks and stats, keep goal pages with progress, run a Pomodoro and track time on any task. Open ByDesign in the morning and it already works.

Ellie Planner: Ellie has a Pomodoro timer and tracks actual time on tasks, with daily planning and shutdown rituals. There is no habit tracker with streaks and no goal pages.

ByDesign reminders, habits and deadlines on iOS

Your whole year on one surface

The planning canvas zooms from the full year down to a single day. Pin goals, notes and milestones where they belong, drag anything, and the plan keeps up.

Ellie Planner: Ellie’s Calendar Kanban scrolls day by day, and its Timebox calendar shows a day, a week or a month. There is no year view or canvas.

ByDesign planning canvas showing a full year of plans

A workspace your team can live in

Share pages with view, comment or edit access, assign tasks, @mention people in comments and chat without leaving the app. Add seats from the app on a team plan.

Ellie Planner: Ellie is a personal planner. Its current guide describes no sharing, assigning or chat; a shared-lists beta appeared in its 2025 changelog but isn’t in the docs.

Don’t take our word for it.

From Petey M.
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 adsm1993
Omg I downloaded the app and this is MY DREAM! Is like an easier onenote/word/calendar/notes in ONE🙏
From N
First off, let me say: ByDesign’s clean, minimal UI is one of the loveliest I’ve used. The overall visual clarity helps me stay focused, and honestly? I find myself oddly fond of it. Also, this might sound funny, but one of the reasons I felt drawn to ByDesign is something you once wrote: that you’re a “productivity app addict.” As someone who’s tried nearly every productivity app under the sun... I felt so seen. That’s when I knew: Okay, this one’s made by someone like me. With love (and a very biased eye) from your fan, Narae 😊💜

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Make the switch in three steps

No setup project. Start free, connect the calendar you already use, and give ByDesign your first goal.

Start your free trial. No credit card.
Connect your Google, Apple or Outlook calendar.
Say your first goal and watch the plan land on your calendar.

Ready to plan the goal, not just the day?

Start free. No credit card. Tell ByDesign a goal and watch the plan land on your calendar.