TL;DR
Aftertone: £20/mo or £100 lifetime. macOS productivity system — tasks, time blocking, Focus Screen, behavioural AI, weekly reports.
Planny: Free (basic) or ~$12/yr. Simple day planner for Apple devices — daily tasks, calendar integration, reminders, Apple Watch. iOS, macOS, Apple Watch.
Key difference: Planny is a gentle daily planner. Aftertone is a structured productivity system with AI and analytics.
Planny is a simple, friendly daily planner for Apple users. Add tasks, set times, integrate with Apple Calendar, and get reminders on Apple Watch. The design is clean and approachable — no overwhelming features.
For people who want a light daily planner that connects to their Apple ecosystem, Planny is pleasant. But there's no Focus Screen, no AI, no weekly reports.
Aftertone adds execution depth: time blocks, Focus Screen, behavioural AI, weekly improvement reports. More structured, more analytical.
Side-by-Side
Feature | Aftertone | Planny |
|---|---|---|
Pricing | £20/mo or £100 lifetime | Free (basic). Pro: ~$12/yr. |
Platform | macOS (iOS/Android coming) | iOS, macOS, Apple Watch |
Task management | Native — keyboard shortcut capture, project tags, filtering | Daily tasks, reminders, Apple Calendar integration |
Time blocking | Visual time blocks with daily structure | Simple time-based task scheduling |
AI | Silent behavioural AI — tracks patterns, weekly insight reports | None |
Focus mode | Focus Screen — context-aware, current task, overdue flags, 1-2-3 shortcuts | None |
Weekly reports | Automated, AI-generated, personalised | None |
Where Aftertone pulls ahead
The Focus Screen
Planny shows your day as a timeline — tasks and events in sequence. When it's time to work, you're still looking at Planny's interface with everything else visible: future tasks, calendar events, reminders, the whole picture. Aftertone's Focus Screen strips all of that away. It shows your current task and nothing else. If something goes overdue mid-session, it surfaces. Finish early and you get your next three tasks as options — tap one and your calendar updates automatically. Planny helps you see your day. Aftertone helps you work through it.
Behavioural AI and weekly reports
Planny has no analytics at all. You plan your day, you work through it, you plan again tomorrow. There's no record of whether you stuck to the plan, no analysis of which tasks you keep postponing, no insight into your work patterns over time. Aftertone tracks all of this automatically. At the end of each week, you get a personalised report: stalled tasks, time drift, energy patterns, and specific suggestions for next week. Use Planny for six months and you have six months of completed days. Use Aftertone and you have six months of documented improvement.
Execution depth
Planny covers one phase: planning your day. You see what needs to happen and roughly when. Aftertone covers four connected phases — plan your day with time blocks, execute inside a Focus Screen that adapts, evaluate what happened with automated analysis, improve based on AI-generated weekly suggestions. Each stage feeds the next. The system compounds over time in a way that a planning app alone can't.
Where Planny is the better fit
Planny's simplicity is genuine. There's no methodology to learn, no configuration required, no features to ignore. You open the app, see your day's tasks and calendar events, and get to work. For people who want a light daily planner — not a productivity system — that directness is a real strength.
Apple Watch support means tasks and reminders appear on your wrist. If you rely on your watch for quick glances throughout the day, Planny integrates with that workflow. Aftertone doesn't have a watch app.
Native Apple Calendar integration keeps Planny in sync with your existing events without setup. For people who already use Apple Calendar for meetings and want tasks displayed alongside them, Planny is the most frictionless option.
At around $12 per year, Planny is one of the cheapest planners available for Apple users. If you want something simple and affordable that works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, the value is clear.
3-year cost comparison
Aftertone costs £100 once. Planny costs approximately $12 per year — that's $36 over three years. By the end of year one, Planny already costs more than Aftertone's lifetime price. Over three years, you'd spend 0.4× more on Planny. Both are independently built tools. Only one lets you stop paying.
Who should choose Planny
If you need cross-platform support beyond macOS, Planny may be the better fit today. If you rely heavily on integrations with other tools in your stack, check whether Planny connects to what you use daily. And if Planny's specific approach — its unique features and design philosophy — matches how you prefer to work, it's worth trying.
But if you want a productivity system that goes beyond planning into execution, evaluation, and optimisation — with behavioral AI that learns your patterns and a Focus Screen that protects your attention — Aftertone goes deeper. And it costs less to own forever than most competitors charge per year.
Frequently asked questions
Is Planny better than Aftertone?
It depends on what you need. Planny has its own strengths — particularly if you need broader platform support or specific integrations. Aftertone is stronger on execution: its Focus Screen, behavioral AI, and weekly reports create a four-phase productivity system (plan, execute, evaluate, optimise) that most competitors don't attempt.
Does Aftertone work on Windows or Linux?
Not yet. Aftertone is currently macOS-only, built as a native Mac app for performance and deep OS integration. iOS and Android apps are in development. If you need Windows or Linux support today, Planny may be a better short-term choice.
Can I use Aftertone with Google Calendar?
Yes. Aftertone syncs with Google Calendar via two-way sync. Your time blocks, events, and schedule changes appear in both apps. Aftertone adds the productivity layer — tasks, Focus Screen, AI insights — on top of your existing calendar.
Is Aftertone's lifetime plan really one payment?
Yes. £100 once, then it's yours. No annual renewals, no price increases, no feature gates behind higher tiers. Every feature — behavioral AI, Focus Screen, weekly reports, unlimited projects — is included.
What if I'm switching from Planny to Aftertone?
Aftertone syncs with Google Calendar, so any events you have there will appear automatically. For tasks, you'll need to recreate them in Aftertone — but the keyboard shortcut capture makes this fast. Most users are fully set up within a day.
Related reading
For more context on how Aftertone compares in the broader productivity landscape, see Best Mac Calendar Apps for Time Blocking (2026) and Productivity Methods Compared.
Bottom line
Planny is a gentle daily planner for Apple users who want simplicity. Aftertone is the system you move to when planning isn't enough — when you need structured focus, AI that learns your patterns, and weekly improvement reports that compound over time. Try Aftertone free at aftertone.io.
