Comparison

ByDesign

Reclaim.ai

ByDesign vs Reclaim.ai

Reclaim defends your calendar. ByDesign plans your life.

Reclaim is an AI layer for a work calendar: it protects time for habits and focus, adds buffers, and finds better meeting times. ByDesign is the planner itself: goals, habits, notes, tasks and a year canvas in one app, on every device, with AI that builds the plan and shows you before anything saves.

Try ByDesign free See the comparison

What you get with ByDesign that Reclaim doesn’t offer

A plan, not just protected time
Say a goal and get tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines on your calendar, with a goal page that tracks progress. Reclaim schedules the habits and tasks you already have; its goals are Focus Time hour targets, weekly and daily.
Habits you can actually check off
Streaks, skip a day, stats, and habits with friends. Reclaim’s habits are calendar blocks it moves and defends, with time analytics; by its own page it isn’t a checkbox-and-streak tracker.
Every device, every calendar
iOS, Android, Mac and Windows apps with widgets, and two-way sync with Google and Apple, plus an Outlook connection. Reclaim is a web app that supports Google and Outlook; its blocks show up in whatever calendar app you use.
Notes, a canvas and a team
Nested pages with embeds and backlinks, a year-to-day canvas, shared pages, assignments and chat. Reclaim has a notes field on tasks and habits, no pages or canvas, and its team features are a team out-of-office calendar, round-robin links and analytics.

ByDesign vs Reclaim.ai, feature by feature

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

Included
Limited
Not available

Feature	ByDesign	Reclaim.ai
AI planning
AI goal plans	Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Schedules what you already haveCreates events, habits and tasks from chat; no goal page, courses or progress
Voice control	Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans	Not available: No
Planning views
Year-to-day planning canvas	Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Calendar plannerA full calendar view with a staging area; no year view or canvas
Kanban boards	Included: Custom columnsMain board plus boards per page	Not available: No
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: Time analyticsReports on meetings, tasks and habits; weekly email
Notes, habits and goals
Notes and pages	Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web	Limited: Notes on tasks and habitsNo pages
Habit tracker	Included: Check-ins and streaksSkip a day, stats, habits with friends	Limited: Habits as calendar blocksMoved and defended automatically; time analytics, no check-ins or streaks
Goals with progress	Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable	Limited: Focus Time targetsWeekly and daily Focus goals tracked in analytics; no goal page
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub	Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar	Limited: Habit and agent templatesNo courses or roadmaps
Pomodoro timer	Included: Built in25/5/15 cycles with a floating timer	Limited: Free web timer“Not a feature of the Reclaim.ai app”, per its own page
Calendar and platforms
Apple Calendar	Included: Native, two-way	Not available: Not listed; Reclaim’s FAQ names Google and Outlook
Native mobile and desktop apps	Included: iOS, Android, Mac and WindowsWith home-screen widgets	Not available: Web app and a Google Calendar add-on; its blocks appear in your calendar app
Collaboration
Share pages and assign tasks	Included: View, comment or editAssign tasks; @mention in comments	Limited: Team calendars, OOO and insightsRound-robin links and delegated access; no shared tasks
Built-in chat	Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls	Not available: No

AI planning

AI goal plans
ByDesign
Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Schedules what you already haveCreates events, habits and tasks from chat; no goal page, courses or progress
Voice control
ByDesign
Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans
Reclaim.ai
Not available: No

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
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Calendar plannerA full calendar view with a staging area; no year view or canvas
Kanban boards
ByDesign
Included: Custom columnsMain board plus boards per page
Reclaim.ai
Not available: No
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar
ByDesign
Included: Yes
Reclaim.ai
Not available: No
Customisable dashboard
ByDesign
Included: Drag-and-drop widgetsScore board, tasks, habits, inbox, pinned pages, Kanban
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Time analyticsReports on meetings, tasks and habits; weekly email

Notes, habits and goals

Notes and pages
ByDesign
Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Notes on tasks and habitsNo pages
Habit tracker
ByDesign
Included: Check-ins and streaksSkip a day, stats, habits with friends
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Habits as calendar blocksMoved and defended automatically; time analytics, no check-ins or streaks
Goals with progress
ByDesign
Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Focus Time targetsWeekly and daily Focus goals tracked in analytics; no goal page
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub
ByDesign
Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Habit and agent templatesNo courses or roadmaps
Pomodoro timer
ByDesign
Included: Built in25/5/15 cycles with a floating timer
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Free web timer“Not a feature of the Reclaim.ai app”, per its own page

Calendar and platforms

Apple Calendar
ByDesign
Included: Native, two-way
Reclaim.ai
Not available: Not listed; Reclaim’s FAQ names Google and Outlook
Native mobile and desktop apps
ByDesign
Included: iOS, Android, Mac and WindowsWith home-screen widgets
Reclaim.ai
Not available: Web app and a Google Calendar add-on; its blocks appear in your calendar app

Collaboration

Share pages and assign tasks
ByDesign
Included: View, comment or editAssign tasks; @mention in comments
Reclaim.ai
Limited: Team calendars, OOO and insightsRound-robin links and delegated access; no shared tasks
Built-in chat
ByDesign
Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls
Reclaim.ai
Not available: No

Reclaim.ai column based on help centre, Reclaim 2.0 FAQ, AI Assistant, habits, Pomodoro timer and pricing on October 26, 2026. If something has changed, email info@bydesign.io.

Both apps cover the basics

AI assistant chat with a preview before changes apply
Auto-scheduling around your working hours
Buffers between meetings and tasks
Tasks with priorities, durations and deadlines
Time tracking on tasks
Habits scheduled on the calendar
Google and Outlook calendar sync
MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT
Team workspaces billed per seat
Works in the browser

Try ByDesign free

Why people switch from Reclaim 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.

Reclaim.ai: Reclaim’s assistant creates events, habits and tasks, finds times, resolves conflicts and reschedules. There is no goal page and no courses; progress is time logged against Focus and Habit targets.

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.

Reclaim.ai: Reclaim defends time for habits and focus on your calendar and reports on it. There are no check-ins or streaks, and its Pomodoro timer is a separate web page, “not a feature of the Reclaim.ai app”.

ByDesign reminders, habits and deadlines on iOS

On your phone, your desktop and your Apple calendar

Native apps for iOS, Android, Mac and Windows with home-screen widgets, and two-way sync with Google and Apple calendars, plus an Outlook connection.

Reclaim.ai: Reclaim runs in the browser and syncs Google and Outlook calendars. Apple Calendar isn’t on its supported list, and on a phone you see Reclaim’s blocks inside your calendar app.

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.

Reclaim.ai: Reclaim gives teams an out-of-office calendar, round-robin scheduling links and time insights. Tasks can’t be shared or assigned, and there is no chat.

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 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!
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😍

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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 for a planner, not just a calendar guard?

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