I tested 6 daily planners for business productivity,
and rated them by
– Exterior (e.g. color of the cover, back pocket, pen loop…)
– Productivity (e.g. Long/Mid/Short-term planning & review system)
– Organization (e.g. layout, page structures, unique format …)
– Customization (e.g. free space availability)
From the wide range of paper planners available,
I selected those that fulfill the following requirements for this test:
– Daily Planner
– Undated
– 3-month duration
In this article, I will share my test result to help you find the best productivity planner for your business professional life.
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate link.)
You can refer the test result details from here.
–> Daily planner test result
1. Self Journal (by BestSelf )
The Self Journal (B5) is developed by the founder who has ADHD trying to focus and achieve the tasks. Within this planner, there are plenty of tricks and hacks to keep you on the track. Read full review
Exterior (Score : 7/10 – avg.7)
The exterior is scored 7 out of 10, which is the average in this test.
Productivity (Score : 26/31 – avg.21)
The productivity is scored 26/31, which is the highest score in this test.
Not just Daily and Weekly reflection systems, but also Pomodoro Technique is included in this planner for productivity improvement.
Organizations (Score : 11/12 – avg.8)
The organization scored 26/31, which is the highest score in this test.
Not just habit trackers and monthly calendars, page structures are also well-organized such as weekly planning and weekly reflection page can be done easily by looking side by side, and skipped days never be visible as unused, and so forth..
Customization(Score : 6/7 – avg.6)
The organization scored 6/7, which is the average in this test.
Overall Score: 50 out of 60 and Rank 1 out of 6 planners. Productivity and Organizations are the highest scores. You won’t regret trying this planner.
2. FullFocus Planner (by Full Focus)
The FullFocus planner(B5) is developed by the business coaching professional. This planner is helpful for your annual planning and performance review for both work and private. Read Full Review
Exterior (Score : 9/10 – avg.7)
The exterior scored 9 out of 10, which is the highest in this test. The appearance of this planner is not just very professional, but also various options are provided to fit to your personal preference such as … coil binding vs regular binding, fabric vs vegan leather, and so forth.
Productivity (Score : 22/31 – avg.21)
The productivity is scored 26/31, which is the 2nd highest score in this test.
The main difference b/w this and Self Journal (by Bsstself) is that this planner is missing a pomodoro technique marker.
Organizations (Score : 9/12 – avg.8)
The organization scored 26/31, which is the 2nd highest score in this test.
Not only business tricks – Rituals, Project timeline calendar, Habit trackers, this planner explicitly suggests business professionals to take care outside the work activity to be successful
Customization (Score : 7/7 – avg.6)
The organization scored 6/7, which is the highest in this test. There are enough blank pages for your creative use.
Overall Score: 47 out of 60 and Rank 2 out of 6 planners. This planner is well-crafted both internally and externally. If you are a leader at corporation, it is worth to try.
3. Planner Daily Pro (by Clever Fox)
The Daily Planner Pro (A4) provides a comprehensive approach incl. Lifelong goal setting to the daily execution with plenty of free space for creativity. Read Full Review
Exterior (Score : 7/10 – avg.7)
The exterior scored 7 out of 10, which is the average in this test. There are plenty of color options of Vegan leather cover.
Productivity (Score : 21/31 – avg.21)
The productivity is scored 21/31, which is the average score in this test.
This planner provides Life Goal setting (20 years, 10 years…) opportunity as well as daily and weekly planning and reflection with great prompts to help you to grow yourself.
Organizations (Score : 5/12 – avg.8)
The organization scored 5/12, which is the lowest score in this test. The reason is mainly because this planner is balanced out by the minimal approach. Instead, it provides the plenty of blank pages throughout the planner to be flexible enough to your preference.
Customization(Score : 7/7 – avg.6)
The organization scored 7/7, which is the highest score on this test. As it is mentioned above, this planner provides the most amount of the free blank pages that you can mimic bullet journals. Not only because of the A4 size, but also this planner provides 60 pages for total in the back of the planner. Whereas other planners provide a max of 20 pages.
Overall Score: 40 out of 60 and Rank 3 out of 6 planners. This planner provides the comprehensive approach to success in your life, and there are plenty of the customizable spaces for your creativity.
4. Productivity Planner (by Intelligent Change)
The Productivity Planner (B5) provides both psychological approach (Gratitude) and technical approach (pomodoro technique) to enhance productivity. Read Full Review
Exterior (Score : 5/10 – avg.7)
The exterior scored 5 out of 10, which is the lowest in this test, due to the missing elastic band and back pocket. The appearance of this planner is very professional and 100% organic incl. bookmark ribbons.
Productivity (Score : 21/31 – avg.21)
The productivity is scored 21/31, which is the average score in this test.
This planner is misses long/midterm Goal settings and reflections, but focuses more on Weekly and Daily goal settings and reflections.
Organizations (Score : 6/12 – avg.8)
The organization scored 6/12, which is lower than the average in this test. The reason is mainly because this planner has a minimal design. Habit tracker, gratitude, monthly calendar ..yes. Project calendar, remaining week counter, rituals, additional uniqueness …no.
Customization(Score : 6/7 – avg.6)
The organization scored 6/7, which is the average score in this test. There are enough blank pages for your creative use, except for the last pages in the planner.
Overall Score: 38 out of 60 and Rank 4 out of 6 planners. This planner focuses heavily on the productivity enhancement on an hourly/daily term.
5. Daily Planner (by Passion Planner)
The Daily Planner (A4) provides a hybrid approach where minimal is provided by default and the additional layouts are provided through their website where you can print out for free.
Exterior (Score : 7/10 – avg.7)
The exterior scored 7 out of 10, which is the average in this test. There are plenty of color and design options for its cover.
Productivity (Score : 17/31 – avg.21)
The productivity is scored 17/31, which is the lowest score in this test. The reason is that it requires you to print out the key productivity formats such as weekly plan & review.
Organizations (Score : 7/12 – avg.8)
The organization scored 5/12, which is lower than the average score in this test. They provide plenty of creative and unique layouts online, but it needs to be printed out before you utilize.
Customization(Score : 5/7 – avg.6)
The organization scored 5/7, which is lower than the average score in this test.
This planner provides A4 and provides a 1 full blank page every day, which is awesome; However, as far as productivity is concerned, it is important to have free space on the weekly review page that is missing.
Overall Score: 36 out of 60 and Rank 5 out of 6 planners. This planner weighs on monthly planning/reflection and daily executions. “Weekly” plan/review is missing.
6. 3-month Panda Classic (by Panda Planner)
The 3-month Panda Classic (B5) is the all-in-one planner where all viral planner techniques (gratitude, affirmations, task prioritization, weekly review etcetera…) are included such that you can experience them and see if any of them you will like. Read Full Review
Exterior (Score : 7/10 – avg.7)
The exterior scored 7 out of 10, which is the average in this test. There are plenty of color and design options for its cover.
Productivity (Score : 18/31 – avg.21)
The productivity is scored 18/31, which is lower than the average score in this test. This planner provides basic, but yet covers the key productivity concept such as monthly/weekly/daily plan and review.
Organizations (Score : 7/12 – avg.8)
The organization scored 5/12, which is lower than the average score in this test. Again, this planner provides only basic and minimal.
Customization(Score : 3/7 – avg.6)
The organization scored 5/7, which is the lowest score in this test.
Because this planner is of the B5 size and provides all types of planner technique, there is not much free space provided for your creativity.
Overall Score: 35 out of 60 and Rank 6 out of 6 planners. This planner covers a variety of the basic trendy approaches for productivity and life organization.
Conclusions:
After testing 6 popular undated daily planners, it’s clear that each offers unique strengths. Ultimately, the best planner for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. Consider which features are most important to you, and choose the planner that best aligns with your goals and work style.