ROUNDUP: 24 Popular Planners for 2017

I’m in search of a planner.

I’ve eagerly clicked on links in Facebook and Pinterest to see if maybe *this* planner is my missing piece. I’ll share my final choice in another post, but wanted to highlight these all in once place in case someone else is looking for one as well.

First, I went through my three Facebook groups and searched for “planner”. The results showed people sharing their planners, sharing blog posts about planners, and people commenting on said blog posts and FB posts about their planners. I jotted down the planner mentioned and then asked 5 questions about each planner to compare them.

So below, I’ve listed the:

1. planner name with linked URL for more info/purchase
2. the price
3. the binding
4. whether it’s task-based or time-based (ie: does it list out the hours of the day to add tasks/appointments or does it give you space to just list what must be done that day?)
5. whether it’s a relatively simple agenda (calendar-based) or does it get deeper with goals, tracking stats, business planning, etc. (goal-based)
6. whether it has dates pre-printed, or if it’s undated so you add your own dates to the pages.

These are all things that are important for me, so I wanted to know where each planner recommendation fell. I’m assuming here that I’m not the only one this matters to, so listing them all here for your personal review as well!

NOTE: None of these are affiliate links and I have not personally used any of these planners. Though I’d really like to someday!

Here they are, in (of course) alphabetical order:

2017 Blog Planner
Price: Free
Binding: Digital Download
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals/Planning
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: While specifically for planning out and tracking blogs, this would work well for just agenda planning as you can print just the pages you need.

Ban.do Agenda
Price: $20+
Binding: Hardbound and Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: I love the simplicity and price, but almost too “trendy” with the quotes and stickers.

The Big Picture Planner
Price: $29 – $60
Binding: Digital Download or Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals+
Dated vs. Undated: Undated
My Thoughts: The digital and physical products seem slightly different in layouts. Designed for photographers, but could work for others too. Lots of marketing/business building info and checklists included.

Brilliant Life Planner
Price: $58
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: I love the concepts and the weekly review. Time blocking doesn’t work for me though.

Bullet Journal
Price: $24.95 or cost of notebook and pen
Binding: Thread bound or your choice
Time vs. Task: Task or your choice
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Undated
My Thoughts: Love this concept and is similar to what I’m doing now, though a bit more formal. You can use your own notebook or buy theirs to get you started.

Dailygreatness Business Planner
Price: $44.95
Binding: Flexi-bound
Time vs. Task: Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: I’ve heard great things, and might be worth it for the goals and such, but time blocking doesn’t work for me.

Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map Planner
Price: $44
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: This is almost too introspective for my analytical mind. Some great sections for achieving clarity and direction.

Day Designer
Price: $59
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: While this does have two columns, one for time and one for task, not the ideal layout for me. They do have a lot of free printables to give it a try, so that’s cool.

Dear Diary Planner
Price: 28 + 14 (UK funds)
Binding: Hard Cover
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: Some neat and unique goal setting sections, great option for UK/Europe folks, maybe not US as much.

The Epic Blog Strategy Guide & Planner
Price: Free
Binding: Digital Download
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Both
My Thoughts: Awesome for strategy, plan to really use next year when I have some numbers to compare. Will review for this year to get off on the right foot.

Erin Condren Life Planner
Price: $55+
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Either (two options for task, one for time)
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda (mostly)
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: I’m very tempted on this one as love the vertical layout. Price seems steep, esp. since my track record with USING a planner isn’t great.

The Focused Blog Business Planner
Price: $16.99
Binding: Digital Download
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals/: Goals/Tracking
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: Love the download feature, really like the planning sheets. Week is Sun – Sat, which I’d rather Mon – Sun, but that’s me.

Get to Work Book
Price: $55
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: A simple concept, great layout. A bit pricey however.

Happy Planner
Price: $19.99 – $34.99
Binding: Disc
Time vs. Task: Task (with optional time inserts)
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Both
My Thoughts: Seriously tempted on this one, maybe the mini for work. Love the disc binding and all the add-ons available

Law of Attraction Success Planner
Price: $23.95
Binding: Soft
Time vs. Task: Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Undated
My Thoughts: If you’re in to the whole law of attraction, this would be a great planner for you. Personally, it’s a bit much for me.

Mama CEO Planner
Price: $97-$195
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals/Tracking
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: Not much info online, but some great bonuses with the package. Time blocking doesn’t work for me though.

Moleskine 2017 Daily Planner
Price: $17.75
Binding: Soft Bound
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: This would work great for just a simple task tracker. It’s pretty inexpensive, so could be used for specific projects.

Passion Planner
Price: $25 – $35
Binding: Soft Bound
Time vs. Task: Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda (mostly)
Dated vs. Undated: Both
My Thoughts: Price is right, would be great for student. Again, time blocking isn’t for me, but it is a simple agenda with room for notes and reflections.

Rifle Paper Company
Price: $34.00
Binding: Covered Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: Pretty basic, though the covered spiral is unique to this list anyway. Think I’d go with the Moleskine instead if I wanted basic.

Savor Daily Action Planner
Price: $14.95
Binding: Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Undated
My Thoughts: Each one is for 30 days, which means you go super deep. Love this concept and may try for later in the year**

Simplified Planner
Price: $40 – $58
Binding: Soft or Spiral
Time vs. Task: Task or Time
Agenda vs. Goals: Agenda
Dated vs. Undated: Dated
My Thoughts: Two versions, weekly and daily, both very different in layouts. For the price, I’d go with other options personally.

Volt Planner
Price: $40.00
Binding: Hard
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Both
My Thoughts: I think this is the first one I liked, but was unsure it would work for me. Reviewing again, I liked it more! May try a couple others, but expect I’ll come back to this one. Price is on the high side though, and not sure about the hard binding. They say it lays flat, but I’d like to find more reviews.

Wonderlass’ Blog + Life Planner
Price: $47.00
Binding: Hard Cover
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Undated
My Thoughts: Looks like a fun, quirky option. Some good planning sections and lots of space for tasks.

WriteMind Planner
Price: $19.99 – $26.99
Binding: Digital and Disc
Time vs. Task: Task
Agenda vs. Goals: Goals
Dated vs. Undated: Undated
My Thoughts: This is a bit different, as it’s specifically for authors. But super cool concept and might get for hubby (so he can finally finish his book!)

Whew! What a list. So to sum it up, I’ve discovered that I prefer:

• spiral or disc bound
• task oriented layouts
• focus more on agenda than introspective goals
• dated

So my top three?

1. Happy Planner
2. Erin Condren Life Planner
3. Volt Planner

However, I really have to weigh the cost investment against what I expect to get out of the planner. If I truly used it and lived out of it, then I can easily justify the cost. But I know myself and how I tend to start something “cool” and then fizzle out. May try a less expensive option first and see how 2017 goes. If you have used any of the above planners, please leave a comment and tell me what you thought and share some pros and cons about the planner. The more info we have, the better our choice becomes!

~R