Free Planner Website: Best Online Planning Tools

Okay so I’ve been testing free planner websites for like three months now because honestly my bullet journal was getting ridiculous and I needed something I could access from my phone without taking a photo of every page.

Google Calendar but Make It Actually Useful

Look, I know everyone already has Google Calendar but hear me out because most people are using like 10% of its features. I was doing a workshop last week and realized half my clients don’t even know about the Tasks integration which is honestly wild.

The thing with Google Calendar is you gotta set up multiple calendars within your account. I have one for work appointments, one for personal stuff, one for content deadlines, and one called “maybe stuff” for things I’m considering. You can color code them and toggle them on and off which sounds basic but when you’re staring at a packed week it’s the difference between panic and actually knowing what’s happening.

The Tasks feature is where it gets good though. You can create tasks right in the calendar view and they stick to the top of your day until you check them off. They roll over automatically if you don’t finish them which is either motivating or depressing depending on your personality type. Oh and another thing, you can set goals in there too which blocks out time for stuff like “exercise 3x per week” and it’ll automatically find slots in your schedule.

Notion Is Chaos But Productive Chaos

This is gonna sound weird but I avoided Notion for a full year because everyone on YouTube made it look so complicated with their aesthetic templates and color coding systems. Then my dog ate my physical planner and I was like fine, let’s do this.

Notion is free for personal use and it’s basically like if a word processor, spreadsheet, and database had a baby. You can build literally anything which is overwhelming at first. I started with their template gallery and grabbed a simple weekly planner template just to see how it worked.

Here’s what actually makes it useful: databases. You can create a master task database and then view it as a calendar, a list, a kanban board, whatever. So I have all my tasks in one place but I can look at them different ways depending on what I’m doing. Writing day? Kanban board view. Planning week? Calendar view.

The learning curve is real though not gonna lie. I spent like three hours one night setting up a content calendar and my cat kept walking across the keyboard so I had to start over twice. But once you get it, you GET it. The mobile app works pretty well too which was my main concern.

Notion Tips Nobody Tells You

• Start with ONE template and use it for a week before customizing anything
• The slash command is your friend – just type / and it shows you everything you can add
• Linked databases are confusing at first but they let you show the same info in multiple places
• Don’t try to migrate everything at once or you’ll burn out

Trello for Visual People

Wait I forgot to mention Trello earlier because I was testing it while watching that new Netflix show and I kinda got distracted. Trello is the one that looks like sticky notes on boards. It’s free for up to 10 boards which is plenty unless you’re managing like multiple businesses.

The whole system is boards, lists, and cards. So you might have a board called “Life Planning” and then lists for “This Week,” “This Month,” “Someday Maybe,” whatever. Each card is a task and you drag them between lists. Super satisfying if you’re the type of person who likes physically checking things off.

I use Trello for content planning mostly because I can see my whole editorial calendar at once. Each card is a blog post and I move it through stages like “Ideas,” “Researching,” “Writing,” “Editing,” “Published.” You can add due dates, labels, checklists within cards, attach files, all that.

The power-ups are where Trello gets interesting. The free version lets you have one power-up per board and the Calendar power-up is essential. It shows all your cards with due dates in an actual calendar view. There’s also a Butler automation power-up that can do stuff like automatically move cards or create recurring tasks but I haven’t fully figured that out yet.

Todoist Is Stupid Simple and That’s Good

Okay so funny story, I recommended Todoist to a client who was overwhelmed by all the fancy planners and she’s still using it two years later. It’s just a task list but done really really well.

The free version gives you up to 5 projects and 5 collaborators which is enough for personal planning. Projects are basically categories so you might have Work, Personal, Home, whatever. Then you just add tasks. The natural language input is chef’s kiss though – you can type “call dentist tomorrow at 2pm” and it automatically sets the due date and time.

What I love about Todoist is the priority levels and the karma system. You can mark tasks as priority 1, 2, 3, or 4 and they show up in different colors. The karma system is gamification done right – you get points for completing tasks and maintaining streaks. It shouldn’t work on a 40-year-old woman but here we are.

The quick add feature is clutch. There’s a keyboard shortcut and a mobile widget so you can dump tasks in there the second you think of them. My ADHD brain appreciates this because if I don’t write it down immediately it’s gone forever.

Where Todoist Falls Short

No calendar view in the free version which is annoying. You can see tasks by date but not in an actual calendar layout. Also the collaboration features are pretty limited unless you pay. And honestly the project limit of 5 can feel restrictive if you like to organize things into tiny categories.

Any.do Is Like Todoist’s Prettier Cousin

I tested Any.do right after Todoist because they’re similar and I wanted to compare. Any.do has a cleaner interface in my opinion and the free version includes a calendar view which immediately wins points.

The daily planning feature is actually useful – it pops up every morning and makes you review your tasks for the day. Forces you to be realistic about what you can accomplish which as a productivity coach I’m always telling people to do but don’t always do myself.

There’s also a grocery list feature built in which seems random but is actually handy. You can share it with family members and it has common items already categorized. My client canceled so I spent an hour comparing the grocery list features across different apps and Any.do’s was the most intuitive.

The voice entry works surprisingly well too. You can just speak your tasks and it figures out what you mean most of the time. Better than Google Tasks voice entry in my testing.

TickTick Does Everything But Maybe Too Much

TickTick is what happens when developers can’t decide what features to cut so they just include everything. It’s got tasks, habits, a pomodoro timer, a calendar view, notes, and probably more stuff I haven’t found yet.

The free version is actually generous compared to others. You get all the basic features plus 2 calendar subscriptions and 1 custom smart list. The habit tracker alone makes it worth considering because most habit apps either cost money or are super limited.

I’ve been using the pomodoro timer integration which lets you start a focus session right from a task. It tracks how much time you spend on different projects which is eye-opening when you realize you spent 4 hours on something you thought took 30 minutes.

The timeline view is unique – it shows your tasks laid out across time so you can see gaps in your schedule. Good for people who need to visualize their whole day not just what’s on their task list.

TickTick Quirks

The interface is a little cluttered because there’s so much going on. Takes some getting used to. Also some features feel half-baked like they added them just to say they have them. The notes feature is basic compared to actual note-taking apps.

Cozi Is for Families But Works Solo Too

Wait this is gonna sound weird but Cozi is technically a family organizer and everyone overlooks it for personal planning. It’s completely free with ads which is rare these days.

You get a shared calendar, shopping lists, to-do lists, and a family journal. Even if you’re not using it for a family the shared calendar concept works great for seeing multiple people’s schedules in one place. I use it to coordinate with my assistant and it’s way simpler than Google Calendar for that specific purpose.

The shopping list auto-categorizes items by store section which is more useful than it sounds. And the meal planning feature lets you plan dinners for the week and automatically add ingredients to your shopping list. Again sounds basic but it’s the execution that matters.

The mobile app is solid and the widget options are better than most planning apps. You can see your whole week at a glance from your home screen.

Microsoft To Do Is Underrated

Everyone sleeps on Microsoft To Do because it’s Microsoft and that’s not sexy but it’s actually really good if you’re already in the Microsoft ecosystem. Free, no limits on projects or tasks, syncs everywhere.

The My Day feature is similar to Any.do’s daily planning – you manually add tasks from your lists into My Day which forces you to choose what actually matters today. There’s something psychological about that manual selection that makes you more intentional.

It integrates with Outlook tasks if you use Outlook which none of the other apps do. Also works with Microsoft Planner if your workplace uses that. The list sharing works well for simple collaboration.

The interface is clean without being boring. The background images are actually nice unlike some apps where the customization options are ugly. And the smart lists filter your tasks automatically by stuff like “assigned to me” or “important.”

What Actually Matters When Choosing

Okay so after testing all these here’s what I tell people: pick based on what you’ll actually open every day. The best planner is the one you use, not the one with the most features.

If you’re visual and like moving things around, go Trello. If you want simple and fast, Todoist or Microsoft To Do. If you need everything in one place and don’t mind a learning curve, Notion. If you want built-in calendar, Any.do or TickTick. If you’re coordinating with other people, Cozi or Google Calendar.

I personally use Google Calendar for appointments, Notion for content planning, and Todoist for daily tasks. Yeah I know that’s three apps but they each do their specific thing better than any all-in-one solution I’ve tried. The key is they all sync to my phone so I can access everything mobile.

Oh and another thing, whatever you pick, use it for at least two weeks before deciding it doesn’t work. Every app feels clunky at first. Your brain needs time to adjust to the system. I’ve seen so many people bounce between apps every few days and never actually get organized because they’re always in setup mode.

Also consider what you’re already using for other stuff. If you live in Google Workspace, Google Calendar and Tasks make sense. If you’re on Microsoft 365, use Microsoft To Do. If you’re already taking notes in Notion, add planning to it. The fewer apps you juggle the better.

The mobile experience matters more than people think. Test the app on your phone not just desktop because that’s where you’ll be checking it most of the time. Some apps have terrible mobile versions that defeat the whole purpose.