Artful Agenda vs TimeBlocks

Artful Agenda

• Paper-planner fans who want covers, stickers and fonts on a digital calendar
• Seeing Google, iCloud and Outlook calendars in one decorated planner
• Planning meals, lists and tasks next to the week's events

TimeBlocks

• People who like to decorate a calendar the way they would a paper diary
• Keeping events, to-dos, habits and memos in one phone app
• Friends, couples and families sharing a group schedule

Artful Agenda

• There is no free plan. After the trial it costs $39.99 a year, and only annual subscriptions are offered.
• The habit tracker, drawing mode, sticker uploads and custom color palette require Artful Plus at $49.99 a year.
• Microsoft Exchange calendars cannot be synced, and calendar sharing is set up in Google, iCloud or Outlook, not in the app.
• The US App Store listing shows the standard plan at both $39.99 and $44.99, so in-app pricing may differ from the website.

TimeBlocks

• The free version carries ads. Removing them is a Premium function, as are auto sync, search across all periods and file attachments.
• The US App Store also lists coin packs from $1.99 for 10 coins to $13.99 for 200 coins, separate from the Premium subscription.
• The vendor's site has no price list, so the prices here come from the US App Store listing and the web calendar may be priced differently.
• The vendor lists phone, tablet and web versions but no separate Mac or Windows app. Its landing page defaults to Korean, with English, Chinese and Japanese in a language menu.

Artful Agenda

Calendar sync

Shows Google Calendar, Apple iCloud and Outlook calendars together in monthly, weekly and daily views, with repeating events and push reminders.

Paper-planner styling

Pick a cover design and a handwriting-style font, color code calendars and decorate pages with sticker packs. Some premium covers are sold in the app for $1.99.

Tasks and priorities

Monthly, weekly and daily task lists can be reordered by drag and drop and crossed off, with repeat, rollover and snooze options and task alarms.

Daily page extras

The day view includes meal planning, a water intake tracker and custom categories for tasks, notes or journaling, and it stays in step with the weekly and monthly views.

Custom lists

A lists section holds things like groceries, packing and gift ideas, with headings, check-off items and drag-and-drop ordering.

Artful Plus tools

The higher tier adds a habit tracker with streaks, uploads of your own sticker images, a saved color palette and stylus drawing on iPad and Android tablets.

TimeBlocks

Drag-and-drop monthly calendar

Events are entered from a quick input window on the calendar screen and moved by dragging. The month view expands as the number of events grows.

To-do, habit and memo lists

Unfinished to-dos roll over to the next day, habits are logged on a mini calendar, and memos hold plans that have no time yet, organized by month.

Connections to other calendars

Links to Google, Apple and Naver calendars, Google Keep and Apple Reminders. Support for all connections is listed among the Premium functions.

Group schedules

A schedule can be shared with friends or family, with a different access level for each participant and real-time alerts when something changes.

Themes, stickers and fonts

An in-app store offers themes, stickers, date backgrounds and fonts for decorating the calendar. The vendor's site counts more than 1,000 items.

Widgets

Home screen widgets include a monthly calendar, a weekly calendar, today's list, a habit list and a to-do list. The vendor's site counts 7 kinds.

Artful Agenda

• Artful Agenda$39.99

  per year, annual subscription only

  The standard plan: calendar sync, monthly, weekly and daily views, tasks, lists, meal planning, covers and stickers.

• Artful Plus$49.99

  per year, annual subscription only

  Everything in the standard plan, plus a habit tracker, your own uploaded stickers, a custom color palette and drawing mode on tablets.

TimeBlocks

• Free$0

  The calendar, to-do, habit and memo features with ads, without the functions on the Premium list.

• Premium Account (Monthly)$2.99

  per month

  Removes ads and adds auto sync, to-dos and habits on the calendar, search across all periods, file attachments, color labels and all connections.

• Premium Account (Annual)$29.99

  per year

  The same Premium functions billed once a year.

Artful Agenda

• Other savings

  Referral credit of 10%

  Sharing your referral code earns you 10% of each referred friend's first payment as credit toward future subscription fees paid through the website.

TimeBlocks

• Annual discount

  About 16% less on the annual Premium plan

  The US App Store lists Premium Account at $2.99 monthly and $29.99 annually. Twelve monthly payments would come to $35.88.