5 Min. Read

6 Best Daily Planner Apps to Keep You Organized

July 7, 2021

There are so many incredible tools on the world wide web to help you get your stuff together! Here are our favorites.

As a small business owner, you probably feel overwhelmed from time to time with your daily tasks. Checklists everywhere. Sticky notes on every surface. Maybe even a scribble of a later task on the back of your hand.

There are some fantastic productivity apps out there that streamline your busy life. Getting organized has never looked so good. Both work and play can plug into these simple daily planner apps to organize your time.

Here are our favorite daily planners that can change the way you work.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

1. Todoist – Best for Daily Checklists

2. Notion – Best for the Super Productive

3. Trello – Best for Visual Organizers

4. Things 3 – Best for Work-Life Balance

5. Any.Do – Best for Calendar Purists

Honorable Mention: Google Calendar

Key Takeaways

1. Todoist – Best for Daily Checklists

Price: Freemium

Available on: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, browser

Todoist is quite a powerful organizational app considering how simple it is. As a user of both the browser and mobile versions, I can tell you Todoist is beautiful in every form. The interface is easy to use. Scheduling tasks takes no time at all.

You can create different projects for different areas of your life and business. Tasks can include comments, pictures, documents and even voice notes! This is one powerhouse of an app.

Pros:

Easy to use
Intuitive scheduling
Easy to add collaborators

Cons:

Not the best for very complex projects with multiple deadlines and collaborators
The windows version can be glitchy

2. Notion – Best for the Super Productive

Price: Freemium

Available on: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, browser

Notion is the granddaddy of them all when it comes to pure productivity. If you take your efficiency seriously in life and work, Notion is for you.

This is a complex, flexible daily planner app. Extremely customizable and intuitive, you can mold Notion to fit your daily routine.

Notion will house your projects, tasks, deadlines, notes and even collaborative documents. It is great if you want to take your productivity to the next level.

Pros:

Powerful tools to keep you productive
Great for working in teams
Good price point for premium features

Cons:

More complex to get started

3. Trello – Best for Visual Organizers

Price: Freemium

Available on: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, browser

Trello is a different breed of organizational tool. This highly visual daily planner uses the kanban method to optimize your workflow. Using boards, you can map out each stage of your ongoing projects. Simply move your task card through each stage of the project until it’s complete! It works beautifully for many visual productivity junkies.

Best of all, Trello offers a fantastic free plan. Entire teams can use it seamlessly. The premium version does have its place, but you can get quite far with the free features.

Pros:

The new design is gorgeous!
Helps you view your progress very visually
The free plan is jam-packed with features

Cons:

Not everyone likes the kanban board method of organization

4. Things 3 – Best for Work-Life Balance

Price: Freemium

Available on: macOS, iOS

If you are anything like me, you end up relying on your daily planner for more than just work. But have you ever had your personal projects bleed into your work life?

Things 3 is the planner app for you.

It is very similar to Todoist. It has a minimalist interface with a checklist base.

The key difference is that Things 3 allows you to categorize the important aspects of life in a clearer way.

The integration with your calendar is also pretty amazing. On your “today” page, you’ll see your daily tasks plus your calendar appointments so it’s all together.

This would be a top choice if it were available for all operating systems.

Pros:

Beautiful interface
Simple to use
Calendar integration is extremely helpful

Cons:

Only available for Mac and iOS

5. Any.Do – Best for Calendar Purists

Price: Freemium

Available on: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Any.do is the perfect blend between Todoist and Notion. It is more integrated for business and personal life than Todoist. It is less complicated than Notion. The dream in every way.

Despite being a newbie to the game, this is a true rival to the best daily planner apps. The digital calendar feature is a huge draw. It syncs seamlessly with Google calendar. Any.Do can become the central hub for your daily tasks – personal and work.

Pros:

Integrated calendar function
Easy to use
Reliable across all platforms

Cons:

Not as pretty as some of the other apps on this list

Honorable Mention: Google Calendar

May all these checklists and project managers aren’t speaking your language. The OG Google Calendar is still an incredible daily planning tool. It takes a little more effort to diarize your tasks in Google cal. However, there is a task function with Google calendar to organize your appointments and tasks together.