What is the best digital planner app?

TickTick, for most people. Its free plan keeps your tasks, reminders, five habits and a basic calendar on every phone and computer. If you plan by hand on an iPad, Goodnotes is the better pick.

What is the best digital planner app for iPad?

Goodnotes, if you write with an Apple Pencil: it's free for three files and US$11.99 a year for unlimited. Noteshelf 3 has more planner templates and stickers, and Structured suits you if you'd rather drag tasks along a timeline than write.

What is the best free digital planner app?

TickTick. The free plan gives you 9 lists, 2 reminders on each task, 5 habits and a basic calendar view, synced between your devices. Structured's free timeline and Todoist's free list come next.

Is a PDF planner better than a planner app?

Only if writing by hand matters more to you than reminders. A PDF planner gives you the pen and a page laid out your way, but it won't remind you of anything. Plenty of people keep both: the PDF for a weekly spread, an app for anything with a time.

Is there a digital planner app you can pay for once?

Yes. Structured sells Pro as a lifetime purchase, listed at US$99.99 on the US App Store, and Noteshelf 3's upgrade is a one-time purchase on Android.

Which digital planner apps work on Android?

Most of them do. TickTick, Todoist, Structured, Artful Agenda and Sunsama all have Android apps, and if you write with a stylus on an Android tablet, Goodnotes and Noteshelf 3 both run there.

9 best digital planner apps in 2026, for iPad and phone

How we chose

The best digital planner app is the one you still open a week later, so we judged each pick on how it shows your day and whether it fits the device already in your hand. A planner you set up with care and forget within days costs you more than its price.

Every app here had to answer six questions:

Does it show your day as a list, as a timeline you can see, or as a page you write on with a pen?
Will it run on the phone or tablet you already own?
Does it remind you?
Can your appointments from Google or Outlook sit beside your tasks, so you aren't keeping two diaries?
With a stylus, does writing on it feel like paper?
What's missing from the free version, and what does paying cost?

This list is built from each app's own website, pricing page and app store listing, read on 30 October 2026. We didn't test the apps by hand, so you won't find star ratings or scores below. Prices are in US dollars as of October 2026, and app stores outside the US charge their own.

The 9 best digital planner apps

Three kinds of planner made the list. TickTick, Todoist and Sunsama start from your tasks. Structured and ActivityTracker show your day as blocks of time. Goodnotes, Noteshelf 3 and Artful Agenda look and feel like paper, and Notion is a kit you build your own from.

1. TickTick: best free planner app for most people

TickTick puts a to-do list, a calendar and a habit tracker in one app, with a Pomodoro timer for working through the list. Type "dentist Friday 3pm" and it picks out the day and the time. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux and the web.

The free plan gives you 9 lists of up to 99 tasks, 2 reminders on each task, 5 habits, a basic calendar view and sync between your devices. The paid plan costs US$49.99 a year and adds more calendar views, task lengths, 299 lists and reminders by email.

Pick it if you want one free app for your tasks, your habits and your week, on every device you own. Skip it if you want to drag tasks into blocks of time without paying, because task lengths and the fuller calendar views come with the paid plan.

2. Goodnotes: best for a handwritten planner on iPad

Goodnotes is a notebook you write in with Apple Pencil. Import a PDF planner and you fill in its pages by hand, the way you'd fill in a paper diary. It can search your handwriting and turn it into typed text. It runs on iPad and Mac, and on Android tablets and Chromebooks.

The free plan holds 3 files. That's one planner and two notebooks. Essential lifts the limit for US$11.99 a year and lets you record as much audio as you like, while Pro, at US$35.99 a year, adds sync across your devices and the AI features, and you can try either one free for 7 days before you're charged.

Pick it if you own an iPad and a pencil and you plan better when you write. Skip it if you need an alert before each appointment: its plans sell pens, files, sync and AI, not reminders, so you'll still want a calendar app on your phone.

3. Structured: best for seeing your day as a timeline

Structured lays every task, event and routine along one timeline, so you can see what 3pm holds and how much of the day is left. You drag tasks to move them, colour-code them, and park loose ideas in an inbox until you give them a time. It has a Pomodoro timer as well, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android and the web.

All of that is free. Structured Pro pulls in your calendars and Apple Reminders, repeats tasks and routines, drafts a day plan with AI and moves tasks you missed to a new slot. Pro is sold by the month, by the year or for life, and the US App Store prices the lifetime purchase at US$99.99.

Pick it if you think in hours more than in lists. Skip it if you want your calendar or a repeating morning routine in it for free, because both need Pro.

4. Todoist: best for a plain to-do list for each day

Todoist is a to-do list first and a planner second. Its Quick Add reads dates as you type them, so "tomorrow at 4 PM" or "every other Tuesday" lands on the right day. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Apple Watch and Wear OS.

Beginner is free. You get 5 personal projects and reminders, and Quick Add works on it too, with your tasks shown as a list or as a board you drag cards across. Pro is US$5 a month billed yearly (US$60), or US$7 month to month, for the calendar layout, task lengths and up to 300 projects.

Pick it if your day is a list of things to get done rather than a timetable. Skip it if you want to see your week on a calendar for free, because the calendar layout is part of Pro.

5. Artful Agenda: best for a paper planner look with your calendar synced in

Artful Agenda is a digital calendar dressed as a paper agenda. You pick a cover, a handwriting font and colours, add stickers, and it syncs with Google, Apple and Outlook calendars, so your appointments land on the page without being copied across. The daily page has room for a to-do list and the day's meals. Groceries and gift ideas get lists of their own. It works with Apple Pencil and other tablet styluses, and has apps for Apple and Android phones and tablets.

It costs US$39.99 a year after a free trial, and there's no free plan to stay on.

Pick it if you loved a paper planner but kept forgetting to copy dates into it. Skip it if you want a planner that costs nothing.

6. Noteshelf 3: best for a decorated planner, paid once on Android

Noteshelf 3 is a handwriting app with a stationery cupboard built in: 200+ templates for planners, journals, diaries and trackers, 500+ stickers, 100+ covers, and washi tape and sticky notes for the margins. It runs on iPad, iPhone and Mac, on Android tablets and phones, and on Windows.

You get up to 3 notebooks free, with the core pens and paper. Pay, and the notebooks and templates have no limit, your handwriting can be read as text, and your notebooks back themselves up. On Android that's a one-time purchase you keep for life. On the App Store it's sold by the week, the month or the year, and the listing shows your country's price.

Pick it if stickers and a ready-made planner page are what get you to open it each morning. Skip it if you move between an iPad and an Android phone: Noteshelf syncs Apple devices with each other and Android with Windows, and sync across both sides is still in the works.

7. Notion: best for building your own planner

Notion gives you blank pages and databases, and you make the planner yourself, or copy one from its template gallery and change it to suit you. The free Notion Calendar shows items from your Notion pages next to events from Google, Outlook or iCloud calendars, on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.

The Free plan is for one person organising their projects and life, and it costs nothing. Plus, for small teams, costs US$10 a seat a month.

Pick it if you enjoy setting things up and want your planner, notes and reading list in one place. Skip it if you want to start planning five minutes after you download it, or if you plan on an iPad, where Notion Calendar has no tablet version yet.

8. ActivityTracker: best for routines and goals around your day

We build ActivityTracker, and its timetable shows your day as colour-coded blocks. A day that works can be copied to every weekday, Monday to Friday, in one go. Type a task as one line, like "swim tomorrow 7am", and it gets its day and time. Then Plan my day fits the tasks still open into the free gaps inside your work hours.

Routines and goals sit next to the timetable. Give a routine a time, say a 9pm stretch, and if it isn't ticked off when that time comes, the assistant nudges you on Telegram or WhatsApp. A goal with a target and a deadline, such as 24 books by December, shows how many each month needs.

It costs SGD 34 a month for one person, plus a one-time setup that includes your first month. It runs in your phone's browser, and on an iPhone its reminders ring only after you add it to your Home Screen.

Pick it if you want today's plan, your routines and this year's goals in one app. Skip it if you want a free planner, or one you write on with a pencil.

9. Sunsama: best for a guided plan at the start of each workday

Sunsama walks you through planning each morning. You choose today's tasks, trim the list to what fits and block time for them on your calendar. When something new turns up, you pull it in. Come evening, it records what you finished. It runs in the browser and on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux.

There's a 14-day free trial with no card needed, then one plan at US$17 a month billed yearly, or US$22 month to month.

Pick it if your workday is full of meetings and you want a set routine to start and finish it. Skip it if you're planning home life or study on a budget, because it's priced and built for work.

What each one costs

Prices are in US dollars as of October 2026, except ActivityTracker's, which is in Singapore dollars.

App	Free version	Paid from	Runs on
TickTick	9 lists, 5 habits	US$49.99 a year	Phone, tablet, computer
Goodnotes	3 files	US$11.99 a year	iPad, Mac, Android tablet
Structured	Timeline, no repeats	Monthly, yearly or once	Phone, tablet, Mac, web
Todoist	5 projects	US$5 a month, yearly	Phone, tablet, computer
Artful Agenda	Trial only	US$39.99 a year	Phone and tablet apps
Noteshelf 3	3 notebooks	Once on Android	Tablet, phone, computer
Notion	For one person	US$10 a seat a month	Phone, computer, web
ActivityTracker	No	SGD 34 a month	Phone browser
Sunsama	14-day trial	US$17 a month, yearly	Phone, tablet, computer

Four of the nine let you plan a whole week without paying a cent: TickTick, Structured, Todoist and Notion. Goodnotes and Noteshelf 3 are free for three files or notebooks, which holds one planner but not a year of journals beside it.

Handwritten planner or planner app?

"Digital planner" means two different things, and it pays to know which one you're buying.

One is a PDF planner: a file with a page for each month, week and day, and tabs down the side that jump between them. You buy or download it, open it in Goodnotes or Noteshelf 3, and write on it with a stylus. It looks like paper because it's a picture of paper.

The other is a planner app such as TickTick, Structured or Todoist. You type, it files things by date, it reminds you, and the plan follows you from phone to laptop.

The trade is simple. A PDF gives you the pen and a page laid out your way, but it won't ping you before an appointment or move Tuesday's task when Tuesday gets away from you. An app does both, and gives up the feel of writing. Artful Agenda sits between the two: a paper look, with your calendar's events already on the page.

Plenty of people keep one of each. The PDF holds a weekly spread they write on Sunday night, and a free app on the phone holds anything with a time attached.

The best planner app for your device

Start with what you carry, then pick how you like to plan.

An iPad with an Apple Pencil: Goodnotes for writing, Noteshelf 3 for stickers and ready-made planner pages, or Artful Agenda if you want your calendar on the page. More picks are in our list of productivity apps for the iPad.
An iPad without a pencil: Structured, whose free version syncs across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.
An iPhone: TickTick for free, or Structured if you'd rather see hours than a list.
An Android phone: TickTick or Todoist, both free to start.
An Android tablet with a stylus: Goodnotes or Noteshelf 3, or one of the note apps built for an Android stylus if you write more notes than plans.
A computer for most of the day: Sunsama for workdays, or Notion if you'd like to build your own.
An iPad and an Android phone together: TickTick or Todoist, which run on both. Leave Noteshelf 3 out of this one.

Set up a digital planner in one sitting

Most people decide on the first evening whether they'll still be opening the app in week three, so spend that evening on these six steps. They work in any of the nine:

Put the fixed things in first, the hours you can't move. TickTick, Artful Agenda, Notion Calendar and Structured Pro can bring them in from the calendar you already keep, so you type nothing twice.
Add what repeats, like the gym on Mondays or bin night. If habits are the main thing you want to plan, a routine app keeps the streak for you.
Write three things for tomorrow and no more, because twelve is a wish list you'll still be carrying on Thursday.
Give each of the three a time, because a task with an hour beside it gets done far more often than one marked "sometime". The time blocking apps are built for this.
Set one reminder to plan tomorrow, at the same time every evening. TickTick has a daily reminder for exactly this job, and Structured can send a morning planning reminder instead if you're up early.
On Sunday, look back at what got done and what moved twice. Drop one thing. If the week serves something bigger, a goal tracking app shows whether you're on pace.

In ActivityTracker you type a task in one line and it gets its day and time, then Plan my day fits it into a free gap in your timetable.

See how tasks work

Maya's first two weeks with a digital planner

Made-up example: Maya is in her second year of a nursing course, works two evening shifts a week at a cafe and is training for a 10k in December. She bought a pretty PDF planner, filled in her first week on her iPad in Goodnotes, then missed a shift swap she'd agreed to by text, because the page never told her.

On Sunday she splits the job in two. Her shifts, lectures and three runs a week go into TickTick on her phone, each with a reminder an hour before.

The Goodnotes planner stays for the parts she likes writing by hand: the weekly spread on Sunday night, her study topics and how each run felt.

At 9pm each evening TickTick reminds her to plan tomorrow. She writes three things, gives each a time and stops there.

Two weeks in, she has planned 14 days and kept 11 of them. Both shift changes reached her phone. She stays on the free plan, because she uses 4 of her 9 lists.