Calendar planning apps compared: Reclaim, Sunsama, Motion and Tiimo

What should a calendar planning app do?

A calendar planning app should put your tasks into real time slots on the calendar you already use, so an empty afternoon does not look free when it is full of work nobody scheduled. Check these before you pick one.

• Which calendars it reads. Reclaim and Sunsama both list Google Calendar and Outlook. Neither pricing page lists Apple's iCloud calendar; Morgen's lists iCloud alongside both. If you use a work Outlook and a personal Google calendar, Reclaim's free plan connects two.
• How much it decides for you. Reclaim and Motion place tasks automatically and move them when a meeting lands. Sunsama asks you to drag tasks into the day yourself. Tiimo and Todoist leave the placing to you entirely.
• Free plan or trial. Reclaim and Todoist have free-forever plans. Tiimo has a free version on phones. Sunsama, Motion, Morgen and Akiflow are trial then paid.
• Monthly cost after the trial. Expect $17 to $22 a month for Sunsama and $19 a month for Motion on monthly billing. Tiimo starts at about £6.49 and Todoist Pro at about £6.99. Most are priced in US dollars, so the pound price shifts.
• Where your tasks live now. If you already keep tasks in Todoist, Asana or Notion, check the integration is on the plan you will pay for. On Reclaim, Todoist and Asana links need a paid plan.
• Platforms. Tiimo runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Mac and the web. If you plan on a Windows laptop, a web app matters more than a phone app; Morgen has desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Reclaim vs Sunsama vs Motion vs Tiimo

Automatic scheduling or planning it yourself?

Choose automatic if the hard part is finding time, and choose a guided planner if the hard part is deciding what matters today. They suit different problems.

Automatic (Reclaim, Motion). You tell the app a task takes two hours and is due Thursday. It finds a gap, books it, and moves it when someone drops a meeting on top. Reclaim does the same for habits such as lunch or a walk, so they appear as real blocks that other people see as busy. The risk is a calendar that fills itself to the edge. If you look at a packed week and freeze, auto-scheduling can make that week look worse, not better.

Guided (Sunsama). Every morning Sunsama asks what you want to do, pulls in tasks from tools such as Todoist, Asana, Trello or Notion, and warns you when the list is longer than the hours you have. Nothing moves unless you move it. It depends on you doing the routine, and it costs money from day 15.

Visual (Tiimo). Tiimo shows the day as coloured blocks with icons and a timer on each, so you can see how long is left in what you are doing and what comes next. It is made by a Danish company for neurodivergent people and is the only app here designed with that in mind. It does not rearrange things for you.

List plus calendar (Todoist). If a separate planner feels like one more app to forget, Todoist can show your Google or Outlook events next to your tasks on every plan, and put tasks onto your calendar. Events stay read-only in Todoist.

If money is tight

Start free and only pay once you have used something for two weeks.

• Reclaim Lite is the most capable free option: auto-scheduling, habits, two calendars, one scheduling link.
• Todoist Beginner is free with five personal projects, reminders and the calendar view.
• Tiimo's free version runs on iPhone and Android.
• Paper costs nothing to switch off. A desk pad like the Papier week-to-view at about £16 never asks you to log in.

Pay annually only after the monthly trial has survived a bad week. Morgen and Sunsama both halve or cut the price for yearly billing, which is money lost if you stop using it in March.

Things to know

• We have not tested these apps. Prices, limits and features are from the makers' own pricing and help pages on 11 September 2026. Reclaim showed a new-user discount banner on the day we checked, so the price you see may differ.
• Dollar pricing. Reclaim, Sunsama, Motion, Morgen and Akiflow list prices in US dollars. Your bank may add a foreign transaction fee.
• Motion's credits. Motion's plans include a monthly allowance of AI credits (7,500 per seat on Pro AI), with extra credits charged on top. Check what uses them before relying on it.
• Work calendars. Connecting a work calendar to an outside app may need IT approval. Some employers block it outright, so ask before you connect and find your calendar disconnected a week later.
• Other people see your blocks. Auto-scheduled tasks and habits show as busy time. That is useful for protecting time, but name blocks with care if colleagues can see the titles.