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ByDesign

Comparison

ByDesign
Sunsama

ByDesign vs Sunsama

Sunsama plans your workday. ByDesign plans your life.

Sunsama is a calm daily ritual for work: pull tasks in from your work tools, timebox the day, shut down on time. ByDesign is the planner for all of it: goals, habits, notes and a year canvas, with AI that builds the plan and shows it to you before anything saves.

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What you get with ByDesign that Sunsama doesn’t offer

  • A plan for the year, not just today

    Year, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable canvas, with goal pages that track progress. Sunsama plans day by day, with a weekly planning ritual, a Calendar View and weekly objectives for the week ahead.

  • AI that builds the plan

    Say a goal and get tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines, scheduled around your calendar. Sunsama’s assistant, Sunny, creates, estimates and timeboxes the tasks you already have.

  • Habits, goals and courses built in

    A habit tracker with streaks and friends, goal pages with progress, and Hub courses you can schedule. Sunsama’s own tips say it isn’t designed for habit tracking and suggest keeping long-term goals in another tool.

  • Built for working together

    Share pages with view, comment or edit access, assign tasks, @mention in comments and chat in the app. Sunsama’s shared workspace covers tasks, assignments and comments; there are no shared pages and no chat.

ByDesign vs Sunsama, 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

    Sunsama

    Limited: SunnyCreates, estimates and timeboxes tasks; no goal plans or courses

  • 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

    Sunsama

    Limited: Placed straight awayAuto-schedule with the X key or Sunny; overcommit prompts, no preview

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

    Sunsama

    Limited: Day columns and a calendar viewPlan the week ahead in Calendar View; month and year views aren’t documented

  • Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar

    ByDesign

    Included: Yes

    Sunsama

    Not available: No

  • Customisable dashboard

    ByDesign

    Included: Drag-and-drop widgetsScore board, tasks, habits, inbox, pinned pages, Kanban

    Sunsama

    Limited: Daily highlights and workload counters

Notes, habits and goals

  • Notes and pages

    ByDesign

    Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web

    Sunsama

    Limited: Notes on tasks and eventsPlus a daily reflection; no standalone pages

  • Habit tracker

    ByDesign

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

    Sunsama

    Not available: “Not designed for habit tracking”, per Sunsama’s tips

  • Goals with progress

    ByDesign

    Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable

    Sunsama

    Limited: Weekly objectives“Not the place for a large list of your goals”, per Sunsama’s guide

  • Courses and roadmaps from the Hub

    ByDesign

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

    Sunsama

    Not available: Email courses and video tutorials

Collaboration

  • Built-in chat

    ByDesign

    Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls

    Sunsama

    Not available: Comments on shared tasks

Sunsama column based on help centre, Sunny, auto-scheduling, weekly objectives, task pro-tips 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 with voice input
  • Tasks with subtasks, priorities and planned time
  • Recurring tasks
  • Email to task
  • Pomodoro, focus mode and time tracking
  • Kanban board and calendar views
  • Google, Apple and Outlook calendar sync
  • MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT
  • Team workspaces with assignments and comments
  • Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android apps
  • Dark mode
  • Keyboard shortcuts
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Why people switch from Sunsama to ByDesign

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.

Sunsama: Sunsama plans in kanban day columns, a Calendar View for the week ahead, and weekly objectives. Month and year views aren’t documented.

ByDesign planning canvas showing a full year of plans

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.

Sunsama: Sunny can create, edit and timebox tasks and organise a braindump into your backlog. It doesn’t turn a goal into a plan with courses and deadlines.

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.

Sunsama: Sunsama has Pomodoro, focus mode and time tracking too. For habits it suggests checkboxes in task notes, and for long-term goals it points you to another tool.

ByDesign reminders, habits and deadlines on iOS

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.

Sunsama: Sunsama’s shared workspace puts teammates on one bill and lets them see, assign and comment on tasks. Plans go out to Slack or Teams; there are no shared pages and no chat.

ByDesign team workspace

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 Daniel

    Honestly, Notion was really exhausting for me... Your product works in the simplest way. I’m a product designer, and I’d love to share my feedback with you after using it more :)

  • 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 to plan the year, not just the workday?

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

Try ByDesign free