7 Best Sunsama Alternatives in 2026

Sunsama is a beautifully designed daily planner. Its guided planning ritual, time tracking, and calm aesthetic have earned it a loyal following.

But at $22/month ($17/month billed yearly, or $204 a year), Sunsama is one of the more expensive planning tools on the market. There’s no free plan and no lifetime deal, only a 14-day free trial that doesn’t ask for a card.

If you love Sunsama’s approach but can’t justify the price — or if certain limitations are holding you back — here are the best alternatives to consider.

Why people look for Sunsama alternatives

Before we dive into options, here are the most common reasons people leave Sunsama (based on Reddit discussions, app reviews, and community feedback):

See exactly what it costs in our Sunsama pricing guide, or compare Sunsama vs Motion and Sunsama vs Todoist.

• Price. $17–22/month is steep for a personal planning tool, especially for students, freelancers, and anyone on a budget.

• Per-person pricing. Every person in a Sunsama workspace is billed at the same rate, so planning alongside one teammate costs $44 a month ($34 a month billed yearly).

• Guided ritual feels slow. Some people find the daily planning ritual too structured. They want to open their planner and start working, not go through a guided flow every morning.

• No free plan. The 14-day trial is generous, but there’s no way to use Sunsama long-term without paying.

• Access ends with the trial. When the 14-day trial ends without an upgrade, you lose access to the workspace, and after a paid subscription is cancelled, Sunsama deletes the workspace’s data 30 days later.

Prices from each app’s pricing page, checked November 4, 2026. Sunsama: $17/mo billed yearly ($204/yr) or $22 monthly.

The alternatives

1. Ellie — Best overall Sunsama alternative

Price: $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr, or $299.99 for lifetime, with a 7-day free trial ($4.99/mo or $49.99/yr with the education discount) Platforms: web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPad (no Android app) Calendar integration: Google, Apple, Outlook

Ellie desktop demo data, captured September 19, 2026.

Ellie is the closest match to Sunsama’s daily planning philosophy, at well under half the yearly price.

Like Sunsama, Ellie is built around a daily planning workflow — not project management, not team collaboration, just helping you figure out what to do today and when to do it. The flow works like this:

1. Brain Dump everything on your mind into a single column

2. Drag tasks to specific days on a visual weekly kanban board

3. Timebox tasks onto your calendar by dragging them into time slots

Where Ellie differs from Sunsama: planning starts from a Brain Dump and a weekly Calendar Kanban, and the guided Daily Planning and Daily Shutdown rituals are optional. You turn them on in Power Features, and they run in Ellie on the web, Mac and Windows, not on iPhone or iPad.

What you get that Sunsama has: Calendar integration (Google, Apple and Outlook), a guided daily planning and shutdown review, timeboxing, a task timer that records actual time, and a focus mode for today. What you don’t get: An Android app. Ellie’s integrations are also narrower: it connects to Notion, Todoist, Slack and Zapier, so check that the work tools you rely on are covered.

Bottom line: If Sunsama’s core value for you is “I need a daily planner that shows my tasks on my calendar,” Ellie delivers that for less than half the price ($9.99/mo vs. $22/mo, or $99.99/yr vs. $204/yr).

2. Motion — Best for AI auto-scheduling

Price: Pro AI $19/mo billed yearly or $29 monthly; Business AI $29/mo billed yearly or $49 monthly (free trial, no free plan) Platforms: Web, Mac and Windows desktop apps, iOS, Android Calendar integration: Google, Outlook, iCloud

Motion is Sunsama’s opposite in philosophy. Where Sunsama guides you through making your own plan, Motion’s AI builds the plan for you. Add tasks with deadlines and time estimates, and Motion schedules them around your meetings automatically.

Best for: People who find planning itself stressful and want an algorithm to handle it. Also teams that need AI-powered scheduling across multiple calendars. Not great for: Budget-conscious users (it costs more than Sunsama), people who want to stay in control of their schedule, anyone whose calendar isn’t Google, Outlook or iCloud.

3. Todoist — Best for pure task management

Price: Free; Pro $5/mo billed yearly ($60/yr) or $7 monthly Platforms: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android Calendar integration: Google Calendar or Outlook

Todoist isn’t a daily planner — it’s a task manager. But it’s the best task manager available, and if your main need is capturing, organizing, and completing tasks (rather than calendar-based planning), Todoist might be all you need.

Best for: People who want fast task capture with natural language input, robust recurring tasks, and a large library of integrations. Works well alongside Google Calendar or Outlook. Not great for: Visual planners who want to see tasks on a calendar timeline, people who need time tracking, anyone looking for a guided daily planning experience.

4. Reclaim.ai — Best for protecting focus time

Price: Free (Lite); Starter $10/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) Platforms: Web, plus a Google Calendar add-on Calendar integration: Google Calendar, Outlook

Reclaim takes a different approach: instead of being a planner you work inside, it sits on top of Google Calendar and automatically protects time for your tasks, habits, and focus time. It’s particularly good at defending your calendar from meeting creep.

Best for: People with meeting-heavy calendars who need help protecting deep work time. The habit scheduling feature (automatically finding time for exercise, lunch, learning, etc.) is uniquely valuable. Not great for: People who want a standalone daily planner interface, anyone whose calendar isn’t Google Calendar or Outlook.

5. TickTick — Best budget all-in-one

Price: Free; Premium $49.99/year (~$4.17/mo) Platforms: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android Calendar integration: Built-in calendar view

TickTick bundles more features into a cheaper package than almost any competitor: tasks, calendar view, habit tracking, Pomodoro timer, Eisenhower matrix, and note-taking — all for about $4.17 a month on the US$49.99 annual plan.

Best for: Budget-conscious users who want the most features per dollar. The built-in calendar view makes it more of a planner than Todoist, and the habit tracker is genuinely useful. Not great for: People who want deep calendar integration (TickTick’s calendar is built-in, not synced with Google/Outlook as a primary feature), teams, anyone who prefers minimal tools.

6. Notion — Best for building a custom system

Price: Free; Plus $10/mo annual Platforms: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android Calendar integration: Built-in calendar database view

Notion can be configured to replicate almost any productivity system — including something that resembles Sunsama’s daily planning flow. With a database, calendar view, and some template building, you can create a daily planner, habit tracker, and project manager in one workspace.

Best for: People who enjoy building systems and want maximum customization. Also great if you need tasks, docs, wikis, and databases in one tool. Not great for: People who want something that works out of the box (Notion requires significant setup), anyone who finds blank-canvas tools overwhelming, people with ADHD (the infinite customization can be a trap).

7. Google Calendar + Tasks — Best free option

Price: Free Platforms: Web, iOS, Android Calendar integration: It IS the calendar

If you’re leaving Sunsama primarily because of price, Google Calendar with Google Tasks is the simplest free replacement. Create tasks, assign them times, and see them on your calendar. It’s basic but functional.

Best for: People who want a free solution with zero setup, anyone already deep in the Google ecosystem. Not great for: People who need kanban views, brain dumping, or any planning workflow beyond basic calendar events and a task list.

Sunsama Pro: US$17 per month billed yearly, or US$22 billed monthly. Captured September 19, 2026. Source.

Quick comparison table

The bottom line

Sunsama is a great product — its daily planning ritual and calm design are genuinely valuable. But at $17-22/month with no free tier, it’s not for everyone.

If the daily planning workflow is what you value most, Ellie is the most direct alternative at a fraction of the price. If you want AI scheduling, Reclaim.ai does it for $10-12/month (vs $19-29 for Motion’s Pro AI plan). And if you realize you mainly need task management rather than daily planning, Todoist and TickTick are excellent and far cheaper.

The right choice depends on what Sunsama was actually doing for you — and whether you were using all of it or just the core daily planning features.

Frequently asked questions

Is Sunsama free?

No. Sunsama has a 14-day free trial with no card, then costs $22 a month or $17 a month billed yearly.

What is the best free Sunsama alternative?

Google Calendar with Google Tasks is completely free. Todoist, TickTick and Reclaim also have permanent free plans.

Is Sunsama good for ADHD?

Its guided daily planning helps some people with ADHD commit to less each day. Others find the ritual slow; a simpler planner with a brain dump may suit them better.