NotePlan is a genuinely good app: daily notes, tasks and your calendar merged into one Markdown-backed timeline, with strong iOS support. People who search for an alternative usually aren't angry at it — they've noticed one of two things. Either the subscription (~$100/year, forever) is buying more app than they use, or the everything-in-one-window density has started to feel like work. The fix for both is the same: figure out which third of NotePlan you actually live in, and get that third done excellently.
If you live in the daily notes
This is the most common answer — the calendar view was nice, the task syntax was fine, but the habit that stuck was today's page. Three good homes for it:
Obsidian — free, local Markdown, and the Daily Notes + Calendar plugins rebuild most of NotePlan's note side. You'll assemble and maintain it yourself; that's either the appeal or the dealbreaker.
Logseq — free and open source, opens on today, everything is an outline. Wonderful if you think in nested bullets; friction if you don't.
Hejour — our app, built on exactly this slice: every day is a page, todos carry forward, nothing to assemble. More below.
If you live in the tasks
If your NotePlan is really a todo app with a diary attached, a dedicated task manager is calmer. Things 3 is the Mac classic — one-time purchase, beautiful, with a Today list that does what NotePlan's references did. Apple Reminders has quietly become good enough for most people, and it's free. Pair either with any notes app and you've replaced NotePlan for less than one year of its subscription.
If you live in the calendar
Honestly? If time-blocking in a calendar-and-notes grid is the part you'd miss, stay with NotePlan — that merge is its real moat, and no alternative does it as completely. Agenda is the nearest neighbor: date-aware notes attached to calendar events, with a generous free tier and one-time feature purchases instead of a subscription. It organizes notes around events rather than merging the two views, which some people end up preferring.
Where Hejour fits
Hejour keeps the parts of NotePlan most people actually touch and deletes the rest. Every day is a page and the app opens on today. [] makes a real todo; unfinished ones follow you to tomorrow. Write call at 15:00 and it reminds you at 15:00 — full-screen, if you want reminders you can't miss. Your calendar's events appear on the day's page, and clicking one drops a meeting heading. @ writes a note onto a future day; #tags pull a topic through all your days; ⌘P searches everything. Notes are plain local files, optionally synced over your own iCloud.
The pricing difference is structural: Pro is a one-time $19 — roughly two months of a NotePlan subscription, once. And the move is unusually soft: Hejour imports directly from NotePlan — point it at your notes folder and calendar notes land on their days, todos stay todos, with a backup taken first. The honest trade-offs: it's Mac-only (NotePlan's iOS app is a real loss if you plan on your phone), there's no week view, and reference notes have no folder home — days are the only structure.
At a glance
| App | Best if you live in | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| NotePlan | The calendar | ~$100/yr | Mac, iOS, web |
| Obsidian | Daily notes (DIY) | Free; paid sync | Mac, Windows, Linux, mobile |
| Logseq | Daily notes (outlines) | Free | Mac, Windows, Linux, mobile |
| Hejour | Daily notes (zero setup) | Free; Pro $19 once | Mac |
| Things 3 | Tasks | $50 once (Mac) | Mac, iOS |
| Apple Reminders | Tasks | Free | Apple devices |
| Agenda | Notes on events | Free; one-time unlocks | Mac, iOS |
The short version
- Daily notes person, likes building: Obsidian.
- Daily notes person, thinks in outlines: Logseq.
- Daily notes person, wants it to just work: try Hejour — free download, imports your NotePlan history in a minute.
- Tasks person: Things 3, or Apple Reminders for free.
- Notes-on-events person: Agenda.
- Time-blocking person: stay with NotePlan — it's the best at it.