I’m a sucker for a great planner. They organize my day, bring order to my chaotic mind and help me destress and focus. So, as a result, I’ve tried dozens. Genuinely—dozens, from traditional agendas and productivity planners to wellness logs and bullet journal-inspired ones. Here are some of the best planners I’ve tested, so you can reach your full potential in 2024 (no matter your goals or organizational style).
And, just to make things even easier, we’ve noted the best prices we can find for each one, because you shouldn’t have to spend a fortune to get your life in order. (*Insert TV infomercial sales voice*) But wait! That’s not all—we’ve also included some recs at the bottom to help you determine the best planner for your needs, based on questions we’ve gotten from readers.
Without further ado, here are…
The Best 2024 Planners—Out of the 12+ I’ve Tested:
1. Best Overall Planner: Papier
This is the best planner I’ve found for organizing all aspects of your life. The Daily Planner includes the week at a glance, with detailed entries for each day, as well as weekly meal planning pages and room for notes. I’ve heard some people complain there isn’t enough space in the daily section, but you’re given a whole page (!), with areas to break down your schedule hour by hour, list your top 3 tasks to achieve and have room for general to-dos and notes. The book would have to be larger to provide more space for notes, which would make it bulkier (like the Priority Planner, which is nearly the size of a textbook and not so easy to tote around).
Another pro: The customizable covers make it feel extra special, making it a great gift for college-bound students (or anyone who needs to get their lives together).
- Best Discount: Score 10 percent off when you sign up to receive emails from Papier.com
2. Best Dateless Planner: Brass Monkey Hidden Agenda
Meant to start your planner on January 1st…and forgot? You can pick this one up anytime. It’s loaded with fun facts and playful snark to make you smile on even the most stressful days. There’s decent room to track the day’s agenda, and each month ends with few pages dedicated to listing to-do’s, taking notes or following the brand’s creative prompts.
- Best Discount: 10 percent off through the brand’s site if you sign up for emails, but you only score free shipping on orders of $30+. Score free shipping on the planner if you order through Amazon and are a Prime member.
3. Best School Planner: Blue Sky 8.5″x11″ Planner
Despite all of the bells and whistles my other planners have, I find that outside of Papier, this is the planner I use the most day-to-day for work. Why? Every three days is a full page, giving you plenty of time to jot down the day’s meetings and tasks, yet the planner itself is very slim and portable. It slips easily into a laptop sleeve with my MacBook, making it easy to take on the go.
- Best Discount: N/A, but one-day shipping is available via Amazon Prime
4. Best Planner for Entrepreneurs: My PA 2024 Planner
When people first saw this planner, they thought it was a Bible. Once you start using it, it’ll become your bible—for building a business. The planner opens with a year in review, before doing a deep dive into helping you assess what you want from the next year, five years and decade of your life, then helping you create a business and marketing plan for the 12 months ahead, with weekly and monthly check-ins to keep you on track. That’s all in addition to the standard planner features (to-do lists, daily time blocking, water and exercise tracking, etc.). So yes, it’s $45, and yes, it weighs 2.29 pounds, but if you’re trying to launch or scale a company, it’s a great way to stay on track. (Psst: Check out our full review here.)
While some complained that the softcover feels flimsy for the price point, I liked that it was a bit more flexible. A hardcover would make it harder to lug around and feel more like a textbook IMO.
- Best Discount: N/A
5. Best Wellness Planner: Silk & Sonder Annual Subscription
Calling Silk & Sonder’s spiral-bound book a planner is an understatement. Yes, you can use it to track your to-do’s and manage your calendar, but each planner lasts for a month and includes meal, habits and mood trackers. If you subscribe to their service, you can also access workshops and guided audio reflections for getting your thoughts out on the page. Check out our full review here.
- Best Discount: Use code FREEMONTH to score one month free on an annual subscription.
6. Best Tiny Planner: The Home Edit 5″x8″ Planner
Leave it to decluttering gurus The Home Edit to come up with a sleek, streamlined planner in a tidy, tiny package. This flexible little datebook still has fairly spacious spots for each day’s tasks, yet it’s small enough to fit in a purse. Plus, it includes a section to list your goals and brainstorm what you want to get out of the year ahead.
- Best Discount: N/A
7. Best Planner for Crafty Types: The Happy Planner Daily, 12-Month Planner
This planner lasts the longest of the bunch and is the most customizable (there are all kinds of dividers, pockets and stickers you can buy to trick out your Happy Planner). It’s great for crafty types, who like to bullet journal or vision board just as much as they like tracking their to-do’s. It is a bit bulky though, and I found I rarely decorated its pages, even though I aspire to that level of *aesthetics.*
- Best Discount: Free shipping on Amazon for Prime members
How to Pick the Best Planner for You:
Ask yourself:
What do you need the most help organizing and tracking? Is it your to-do list? Do you prefer an hour-by-hour breakdown of the day ahead, because you’re in a ton of meetings or appointments?
How much space do you need for a day’s tasks? (And how much writing do you actually like to do?)
How portable do you want your planner to be? Do you want something slim and bendy, like a folder? Something small that can stash in a purse? Something big enough that you can jot down every stray thought—and bulk doesn’t really matter, because you’ll be keeping it in one place for the most part?
The Main Types of Daily Planners:
- Annual or Yearly Planners span one calendar year (January through December). They often pop up in stores around November or December, with pages pre-printed with the dates for the year ahead. They’re helpful for keeping track of dates at a glance, and they’re often clearanced out of stores by mid-February.
- Academic or Mid-Year Planners usually start at the end of summer and run through the school year. Some can be 18 months long, allowing for more long-term planning.
- Multi-Year Planners are often intended for goal setting, as they span multiple years and let you track your progress over time. They’re a rare find.
- Undated Planners are great for starting fresh at any time of the year, because you write in each day’s date. That can make them a little annoying for long-term planning, unless you take the time to jot every date of the year in ’em in advance, but they’re also nice if you stop using it for a few weeks then pick things back up—no pages wasted.
Is a Paper Planner Worth It?
It really depends on your organizational style. I love them for the ability to brain dump everything that’s on your mind (especially since a University of Tokyo study found that you’re more likely to remember things when you physically write them down), and I use a digital calendar to alert me to meetings, so I don’t miss them. It’s that one-two punch that helps me stay on top of things.
Why Trust Our Planner Recommendations?
While I’ve tried a few other big name brands, I didn’t include them on this list simply because many felt too bulky, or overly simplistic, or straight-up pricey (for what you get) to include. If there’s a brand you love that I didn’t include, I’d love to hear it. DM me @lifebetweenweekends.
A previous version of this story included Rachel Hollis’s Start Today Priority Planner. Since the planner itself has sold out and has been discontinued (and it’s rare to find on eBay), we’ve removed it from this list.