What is the best goal planner app?

Griply suits most people. Each goal gets a target, a date and a progress chart, the habits and tasks behind it sit in the same app, and the free plan covers two goals. If you only want one number and a pace line, Strides is the simpler pick.

Is there a free goal planner app?

Yes. Griply plans two goals for free and Strides tracks three, WeekPlan has a free Lite plan, Notion is free for one person, and Habitica is free with optional subscriptions.

What is the difference between a goal planner and a habit tracker?

A goal planner holds the result and its date and breaks it into steps, like a 10K race on 1 March. A habit tracker counts what you repeat to get there, like three runs a week. Griply, Strides and ActivityTracker do both in one app.

Does tracking a goal in an app help you reach it?

On average, yes. A 2016 review led by Benjamin Harkin of 138 studies found that checking progress more often helped people reach their goals, more so when the progress was recorded and when it was shared with someone.

How many goals should I plan at once?

One or two to start. Griply's free plan holds two, which suits a first season, and you add a third once the first two each have a habit running under them.

8 best goal planner apps in 2026, free and paid

How we chose

A goal planner earns its place in March, when the January plan has gone quiet. You open it and it tells you three things: what you're aiming at, whether you're on pace, and what to do this week. A to-do list can't do that, because it has no idea what the tasks are for.

We asked six questions of every app:

Does a goal hold a target and a date, or only a name?
Can you break a big goal into steps or smaller goals?
Do your tasks and habits sit under the goal they serve?
Does it show whether you're ahead or behind?
How far does the free version go before it asks you to pay?
Does it run on the phone you carry and the computer you plan on?

Every feature and price below comes from each maker's own site, help pages and App Store listing, read on 31 October 2026. We didn't test these apps by hand, so there are no scores or star ratings of our own. Prices are in US dollars as of October 2026, and ActivityTracker's are in Singapore dollars.

The 8 best goal planner apps

The first pick suits most people. Each of the other seven wins at one job: a single number, weekly check-ins, deep layers of smaller goals, a week planned around your roles, a system you build yourself, a game, or a vision for the next five years.

1. Griply: best for most people

Griply starts from the top. You write a vision for each area of your life, such as health or money, then set goals under it, then the projects, habits and tasks that move each goal. Every goal gets a progress chart, so the number you log shows up against the line you need to stay on to hit your date.

The free plan covers 2 goals, 2 habits, 5 projects and unlimited tasks, with progress charts, reminders, your Google or Outlook events and iPhone widgets. The paid plan costs US$49.99 a year, or US$149.99 once for lifetime use, and adds unlimited goals, subgoals, a goal timeline, time blocking on a calendar and habit targets. It starts with a 7-day free trial. Griply's download page lists apps for iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, plus the browser.

Pick it if you want each goal, the habits behind it and today's tasks in one place. Skip it if you'll want to split a goal into smaller goals without paying, because subgoals sit in the paid plan.

2. Strides: best for a goal you can count

Strides is built around trackers, and it has four kinds. A Target tracker holds a number and a date, like 10 kilometres by 1 March, and draws a pace line so you see at a glance whether you're on track. A Project tracker holds milestones with dates. The other two count habits and averages, such as hours of sleep. You can start from one of more than 150 templates, and the Daily Goals view filters the list down to what needs logging today.

The App Store listing says the free version is free forever, and the developer's replies there put it at three trackers. Strides Plus costs US$39.99 a year, with monthly and one-time lifetime options too. Plus adds unlimited trackers, tags, data export and sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac. Version 20.0, out on 23 October 2026, added tasks. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

Pick it if your goals are numbers you can log, like kilometres, pages or money saved. Skip it if you plan on more than one device and don't want to pay, because sync is part of Plus.

3. Amazing Marvin: best for goals with weekly check-ins

Amazing Marvin is a to-do app you shape to fit your habits, and goals are a feature you switch on. Its help page on goals splits them in two. An end goal has a finish line, like a book you publish, and if you give it a deadline Marvin tells you whether you're on track. An ongoing goal is something you keep up, like your health.

Before a goal goes live, Marvin walks you through six steps. You check the goal is worded as the result you want, add trackers, attach the projects, tasks and habits that move it, and say how much work it gets each week. Then you set a check-in, weekly, every two weeks or less often, with your own questions, and sign a commitment contract. Marvin doesn't keep old check-ins, so download them or email them to yourself if you want a record.

There's no free plan. It costs US$96 a year, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed, and students get half off. It runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.

Pick it if you want the app to ask you, every week, how a goal is going. Skip it if you want something free, or a short setup: six steps per goal is the point, and it takes a while.

4. GoalsOnTrack: best for breaking a big goal into layers

GoalsOnTrack has a form for SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. You split a big goal into smaller goals, and those into smaller ones again, as many levels deep as you like. Progress comes from the smaller goals, from the tasks, from the outcome or from a number you type. It also has habits, a calendar, timers, a goal journal, a vision board and goal templates with action plans.

It costs US$68 a year on the website, and you pay when you sign up, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The iPhone app charges US$9.99 a month or US$67.99 a year, and its last update, version 2.6.1, came out on 21 April 2022.

Pick it if you plan on a computer and want a big goal split into many layers. Skip it if you want to try first for free, or want a phone app that still gets updates.

5. WeekPlan: best for planning each week around your roles

WeekPlan runs top down: your vision, the roles you play, such as parent, friend or runner, the goals for each role, and then the week's tasks and schedule. The ideas come from Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and from OKRs, the objectives-and-results method many companies use, according to its App Store listing. It has a Pomodoro timer for short work blocks.

The free Lite plan covers the basic planner and its high-impact tasks. The paid plan costs US$8.67 a month billed yearly, or US$10.83 month to month, and adds OKRs, your own roles, Google and Outlook calendar sync, repeating tasks, an Eisenhower matrix and a journal. It runs in the browser and on iPhone and iPad.

Pick it if your weeks fill up with work and you want time for the other roles in your life planned in. Skip it if you want custom roles for free, since they're part of the paid plan.

6. Notion: best if you want to build the planner yourself

Notion is a blank workspace of pages and databases, and it's free for one person organising their own projects and life. There's no goal feature until you build one yourself or start from a template such as the free SMART goal planner by Hope Watson in Notion's gallery, then change it until it fits. A goal, its steps, your reading list and your trip budget can all live on linked pages.

The paid Plus plan starts at US$10 a seat a month. Notion has apps for Mac and Windows, runs in the browser, and has a phone app.

Pick it if you enjoy setting up your own system and already keep notes in Notion. Skip it if you want the app to tell you whether you're on pace, because you'll be the one who builds that.

7. Habitica: best if a game keeps you going

Habitica turns your goals into a role-playing game. You make a pixel-art character, then add tasks, chores and goals, and each thing you tick off in real life earns gold, experience and items. It keeps habits, dailies that repeat each day, week or month, and a one-off to-do list. Friends can join your party for accountability, and challenges give you shared task lists.

You can use all of it for free. Optional subscriptions run from US$4.99 a month to US$47.99 a year. Habitica's FAQ covers its iPhone and Android apps and the website.

Pick it if points and a party of friends would get you to the gym. Skip it if your goal is a number with a date, like money saved by June, because Habitica counts the tasks you tick and has nowhere to put the result.

8. ActivityTracker: best for yearly goals, a vision page and a weekly look back

We built ActivityTracker, and a goal in it is either a number target, like US$3,000 saved, or a list of milestones. Give a number goal a deadline and it shows what you still need each month, such as US$300 a month for 8 months, and its bar marks the progress you'd expect by now. Any milestone can go to your task list, and ticking the task there ticks the step.

Above your goals sits a vision page. It has a bucket list you tick off, a mission prompt and an Odyssey Plan, which asks where your current path leads in 5 to 10 years, then sketches an alternative path and a radical one. At the end of each week you file a short reflection, and a coach that reads all your past reflections replies with one focus for the week ahead.

It runs in your phone's browser, and one person pays SGD 34 a month with weekly reflections included, after a one-time setup fee that covers the first month.

Pick it if you want your long-range plan, this year's goals and a weekly look back in one app. Skip it if you want a free goal planner, because like GoalsOnTrack and Amazing Marvin, this one is paid from day one.

What each app costs and where it runs

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

App	Free version	Paid from	Runs on
Griply	2 goals	US$49.99 a year	Phone, Mac, PC, web
Strides	3 trackers	US$39.99 a year	Apple devices
Amazing Marvin	14-day trial	US$96 a year	Phone, Mac, PC, web
GoalsOnTrack	No	US$68 a year	Web, iPhone
WeekPlan	Lite plan	US$8.67 a month	Web, iPhone
Notion	Free for one person	US$10 a month	Phone, Mac, PC, web
Habitica	Everything	Optional	Phone, web
ActivityTracker	No	SGD 34 a month	Phone browser

Five of the eight let you plan for free with no end date: Griply, Strides, WeekPlan, Notion and Habitica. Of those, Griply and Strides are the two built around a goal with a number and a date.

Goal planner, habit tracker or to-do list?

These three get sold as the same thing, and they do different jobs.

A goal planner holds the result you want and the date, and breaks it into steps: run a 10K on 1 March.
A habit tracker counts the thing you repeat: a run three times a week.
A to-do list holds the next step: buy running shoes on Saturday.

A goal that takes months needs all three. The planner says where you're going and the habits get you there, while the list covers today. Griply, Strides and ActivityTracker keep them in one app. Love your to-do app already? Keep it, and put Strides beside it for the numbers.

The planner earns its keep when you log progress. Benjamin Harkin and colleagues pulled together 138 studies of 19,951 people, published in Psychological Bulletin in 2016, in which people were randomly given help to check their progress, or not. On average, people who were helped to check their progress more often reached more of their goals. The effect was bigger when the progress was written down, and bigger again when it was reported to someone else or made public. An app records it for you, and Strides' accountability partners and Habitica's parties cover the second part.

Goals still don't move without the habits under them, and that's where most of them stall. How to build a habit starts the habit small, and goals vs systems shows why the routine carries a goal further than the target does. If your goal starts as a picture rather than a number, a vision board app is the step before this one.

Turn one goal into a plan in 20 minutes

Whichever app you pick, set up your first goal like this:

Start with one or two goals, the number Griply's free plan holds, and add a third once the first two each have a habit running under them.
Write each one as a result with a date. "Get fit" becomes "Run a 10K on 1 March". "Save more" becomes "US$2,400 saved by 30 June".
Choose the type. A number goal gets a target and a pace. A goal that's done or not done, like booking the trip, gets three to five milestones.
Work back to a monthly pace. US$2,400 over 8 months is US$300 a month. Most of these apps work it out once you enter the target and the date.
Put the first three steps on your task list with dates, and one habit on a fixed day and time, like a run every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7am.
Book a weekly check-in, 10 minutes on Sunday evening, to log the numbers and pick next week's steps. If the app has a check-in or reflection, use it. If not, put it in your calendar.

Plan the week from your goals first, then fit the rest around them. A weekly planner app helps if your days are already packed.

In ActivityTracker a goal with a target and a deadline shows what each month needs, and any milestone can go to your task list.

See how goals work

Mei's first two months with a goal planner

Made-up example: Mei, a primary school teacher, wants to run a 10K race on 1 March and have US$2,400 saved for a trip to Japan by 30 June.

On 1 November she puts both into Griply's free plan. The run is a number goal, from 3 kilometres to 10, and the savings goal is US$2,400 by 30 June, which works out at US$300 a month. She uses her two free habits for a run on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and for cooking at home on weekdays.

In week one she adds three tasks, signing up for the race, a standing transfer to savings on payday and new shoes, and she's done with them by Friday.

Every Sunday at 8pm she logs her longest run and her savings, and reads the chart. By mid-December her longest run is 5.5 kilometres, ahead of the pace line.

The savings goal is behind: US$450 on 31 December against the US$600 the line expects. She moves the transfer up to US$330 a month for the next six months and plans one month of no clothes shopping.