Finalist vs LiveIt

Finalist

• People who rely on Apple Calendar and Reminders and want one page per day
• Paper-planner users who want a journal and habit tracker beside their tasks
• Obsidian users who want dated tasks in Markdown files to show up in a planner

LiveIt

• People who want planner, journal, notes and habits in one personal app
• Planning without a connection: it is built to work fully offline
• Buyers on a small budget, with Pro at $19.99 a year

Finalist

• Apple platforms only: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. The site lists no web, Windows or Android version.
• The App Store listing says full functionality needs a subscription or the lifetime purchase, and does not say what works without one.
• The Apple Watch app requires watchOS 26, and the 4.1 release notes say Siri and Plan My Day need iOS 27.
• Prices are the US App Store in-app purchase amounts; the vendor's own site does not publish a price list.

LiveIt

• End-to-end encryption, the built-in timer, video attachments, subtasks and the task backlog are Pro features.
• Text data is stored on the vendor's server for syncing; files and media use your own Google Drive or iCloud storage, which sets the attachment limit.
• It is designed for individuals, not teams: there is no family plan and each person needs their own account.
• There is no Linux app; the vendor points Linux users to the web version.

Finalist

Daily page

Tasks, calendar events, reminders, habits, weather and journal entries share one page per day, in two designs with a layout editor and saved presets.

Timeline time blocking

Drag untimed tasks onto an hourly grid as tentative blocks, resize or move them, then tap Accept to write the times into the tasks. Free time collapses into bands.

Apple Calendar and Reminders

Events and reminders appear in the day and can be managed from either app. A task can be converted into a reminder or an event and back.

Notes and Markdown folders

A Notes tab has notebooks, tags and search. A folder of Markdown files, including an Obsidian vault, becomes a notebook, and tasks in those files become Finalist tasks.

Habits and journal

Habits repeat automatically with streaks and a yearly heatmap. The journal takes photos and daily goals and reads activity data from Apple Health.

Capture and Plan My Day

Capture turns a photo, screenshot or pasted text into dated tasks, and Plan My Day drafts a schedule on the timeline. Both run on Apple's on-device models.

LiveIt

Planner with time blocks and day themes

Named blocks such as Morning or Deep Work hold reminders, habits and calendar sessions, and a day theme like Work Day applies a preset set of blocks.

Tasks, goals and schedulers

Tasks move through a five-stage workflow. Attaching a scheduler to a task or goal creates its recurring calendar sessions in the planner automatically.

Habits and trackers

Habits appear in the daily plan with per-day targets, up to 10 slots per reminder, streaks and KPIs, and can be linked to the goals they serve.

Journal and timeline

Journal entries take photos and mood tracking, and completed tasks, habits and entries flow into one chronological timeline for review.

Linked notes

Text, outline and collection notes, plus a whiteboard canvas, share bi-directional links with the rest of the app and one cross-content search.

Offline-first with optional encryption

Every platform works without a connection and syncs when back online. End-to-end encryption can be switched on with Pro.

Finalist

• Finalist Pro Weekly$2.99

  per week

  Full functionality billed weekly, as listed among the in-app purchases on the US App Store.

• Finalist Pro Monthly$4.99

  per month

  Full functionality on a monthly subscription. The vendor says one subscription covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

• Finalist Pro Yearly$29.99

  per year

  The same subscription billed once a year, as listed on the US App Store.

• Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99

  one-time purchase

  A single in-app purchase for lifetime access instead of a subscription.

LiveIt

• Free$0

  Unlimited items and entries with the planner, journal, all note types, tasks, goals, habits, attachments and sync on every platform.

• Pro$19.99

  per year, or $1.99 billed monthly

  Adds end-to-end encryption, video attachments, the built-in timer, subtasks and backlog, timeline comments and unlimited dashboard panels and KPIs.

• Lifetime$99

  one-time purchase

  All Pro features permanently for a single payment, with all future updates included.

Finalist

• Annual discount

  About 50% less on the yearly plan

  The US App Store lists Finalist Pro Monthly at $4.99 and Finalist Pro Yearly at $29.99. Twelve monthly payments come to $59.88, so the yearly plan costs about 50% less.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime access for $59.99

  Finalist Pro Lifetime is a one-time in-app purchase listed at $59.99 on the US App Store. The vendor says one license covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

• Other savings

  Apple Family Sharing supported

  The App Store listing states that Finalist supports Apple Family Sharing.

LiveIt

• Annual discount

  About 16% less on yearly billing

  Pro is $19.99 per year or $1.99 per month. Twelve monthly payments come to $23.88, so yearly billing costs about 16% less.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime access for $99

  A one-time $99 payment unlocks all Pro features permanently, with all future updates included. Purchases carry a 60-day money-back guarantee.