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ByDesign

Comparison

ByDesign
Motion

ByDesign vs Motion

Motion schedules your tasks. ByDesign plans your life.

Motion is an AI scheduler built for work: tasks, projects and meetings arranged around your calendar automatically. ByDesign is built for your whole life: goals, habits, notes and a year canvas, with AI that drafts the plan and shows it to you before anything saves.

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What you get with ByDesign that Motion doesn’t offer

  • You approve before it moves

    AI scheduling is drafted on a preview of your calendar with conflicts shown. Accept, or undo step by step. Motion reshuffles your schedule automatically as things change; a locked task holds its slot unless it isn’t done within 60 minutes of it.

  • Goals, habits and courses, not just tasks

    Say a goal and get a plan with tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines. Track habits with streaks and friends. Keep goal pages with progress. Motion has recurring tasks and project progress.

  • Your whole year on one canvas

    Year, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface, with sticky notes, images and pinned pages. Motion plans in a calendar, with Kanban boards and Gantt charts for projects.

  • Tasks that sync both ways

    Edit a task or an event in ByDesign or in Google or Apple Calendar and it updates everywhere. In Motion, events sync both ways, but tasks only push out to Google and Outlook, and changes made there don’t flow back.

ByDesign vs Motion, feature by feature

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

  • Included
  • Limited
  • Not available

AI planning

  • AI goal plans

    ByDesign

    Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans

    Motion

    Limited: AI project templatesDescribe a project to get stages and tasks; no goals, courses or habits

  • AI scheduling with a preview you approve

    ByDesign

    Included: Preview on the calendarConflicts shown; accept, or undo step by step; AI and AI Plus plans

    Motion

    Limited: Automatic reshuffleMoves tasks as things change; a locked task holds its slot unless it isn’t done within 60 minutes

  • Voice control

    ByDesign

    Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans

    Motion

    Limited: Siri on iOSAI Chat has no voice commands

Planning views

  • Year-to-day planning canvas

    ByDesign

    Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans

    Motion

    Limited: Calendar, list, Kanban and GanttNo year view

  • Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar

    ByDesign

    Included: Yes

    Motion

    Not available: No

Notes, habits and goals

  • Habit tracker

    ByDesign

    Included: Built inStreaks, skip a day, stats, habits with friends

    Motion

    Not available: Recurring tasks only

  • Goals with progress

    ByDesign

    Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable

    Motion

    Not available: Project progress only

  • Courses and roadmaps from the Hub

    ByDesign

    Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar

    Motion

    Not available: Tutorial sessions only

Time

  • Pomodoro timer

    ByDesign

    Included: Built in25/5/15 cycles with a floating timer

    Motion

    Not available: No

Calendar and integrations

  • Two-way task sync

    ByDesign

    Included: Tasks and eventsEdit either in ByDesign or in Google and Apple Calendar

    Motion

    Limited: Events onlyTasks push one way to Google and Outlook; changes there don’t flow back

  • MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants

    ByDesign

    Included: YesClaude Desktop, Claude Code and ChatGPT guides

    Motion

    Not available: API and Zapier instead

Collaboration and platform

  • Built-in chat

    ByDesign

    Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls

    Motion

    Not available: Comments on tasks and docs

  • Languages

    ByDesign

    Included: 12 languagesThe assistant answers in your language

    Motion

    Not available: English only

Motion column based on help centre, auto-scheduling, calendars, AI Chat, FAQ, task states and pricing on October 23, 2026. If something has changed, email info@bydesign.io.

Both apps cover the basics

  • Auto-scheduling around your working hours
  • AI assistant chat
  • Tasks with priorities and deadlines
  • Recurring tasks
  • Lock a task so it stays put
  • Email to task and attachments
  • Time tracking on tasks
  • Docs with sub-docs and public links
  • Kanban boards and calendar views
  • Templates
  • Dashboards
  • Google, Apple and Outlook calendars
  • Assign tasks, comment and @mention
  • Per-seat team plans
  • Web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps
  • Dark mode
  • Keyboard shortcuts
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Why people switch from Motion to ByDesign

Preview the week before it saves

Say “plan my week” and ByDesign drafts the changes on a preview of your calendar, conflicts included. Accept, or undo step by step. Nothing is saved until you say so.

Motion: Motion auto-schedules and reshuffles as your day changes. There is no preview step; a locked task holds its slot unless it isn’t done within 60 minutes of it.

ByDesign week view with the planning assistant previewing changes

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.

Motion: Motion’s “Create with AI” turns a project description into stages and tasks. There are no goals, courses or habits.

ByDesign AI goal plan with tasks, tags and durations

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.

Motion: Motion plans in a calendar, with Kanban and Gantt views for projects. There is no year view.

ByDesign planning canvas showing a full year of plans

Calendar sync that goes both ways

Connect Google, Apple and Outlook at the same time. Tasks and events sync in both directions with Google and Apple, so a change in either place shows up in the other.

Motion: Motion syncs events both ways with Google, Outlook and iCloud. Tasks push one way to Google and Outlook for visibility; changes made there don’t flow back, and iCloud doesn’t get tasks at all.

Google, Microsoft and Apple calendars syncing with ByDesign

Don’t take our word for it.

  • From E

    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 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 TuneOutlyson003

    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!

See All The Love →

Make the switch in three steps

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

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

Ready for AI that asks before it moves your day?

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

Try ByDesign free