Bento vs Friday: Comprehensive Comparison
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Overview
In today's fast-paced world, choosing the right productivity tool can make all the difference. This comprehensive comparison between Bento and Friday will help you understand which tool best fits your workflow and productivity needs.
⚡ Quick Summary
Aspect | Bento | Friday |
|---|---|---|
Best For | ADHD-friendly focus timer with three-task limit and zen sessions | Friday was a work hub designed for team alignment on goals, communication, and activity reporting, but is no longer operating as an active product. |
Pricing | Free, Premium from $24.99/year | Free, Team $8/user/mo, Enterprise custom |
Platforms | iOS | Web |
What is Bento?
Bento Focus is a focus timer and task app designed for ADHD-friendly, low-stress productivity. It limits you to working on three tasks at a time (small, medium, large) and includes Pomodoro-style focus sessions with zen mode and themed backgrounds.
🌟 Key Features of Bento
✦Three-task Focus Box (one small, medium, large task)
✦Focus timer with Pomodoro sessions and zen mode
✦Preset and custom routines (Deep Work Flow, Procrastination Breaker)
✦Focus Score analytics and ADHD Brain Insights
✦Gentle design with non-disruptive notifications
✦Achievement badges and progress tracking
What is Friday?
Friday was a productivity and communication hub for teams designed to streamline async communication, daily standups, status updates, and planning so distributed teams could stay aligned and track work more easily. However, public information indicates Friday.app as a former/legacy product that is no longer operating as a standard end-user product.
🌟 Key Features of Friday
✦Team Check-ins: Friday provided configurable playbooks for daily standups, status updates, weekly reviews, and 1:1s to keep distributed teams aligned and reduce meeting overhead.
✦Progress Tracking: With built-in reporting and analytics, Friday helped teams track work progress and performance on updates and tasks for better visibility.
✦Async Communication: Friday streamlined internal communication with messaging-style updates designed to reduce meeting and communication chaos for distributed teams.
✦Feedback Management: The platform included feedback collection and management features to facilitate team improvement and communication.
✦Calendar Integration: Friday offered calendar-related workflows for planning and cadences, though current integrations cannot be confirmed for the legacy product.
✦Configurable Playbooks: Teams could customize their check-in processes and workflows through configurable playbooks for different types of updates and reviews.
📊 Feature Comparison
Feature | Bento | Friday |
|---|---|---|
📅 Calendar Integration | ✗ No | ◐ Limited |
✅ Task Management | ◐ Limited | ◐ Limited |
⏰ Time Blocking | ◐ Limited | ✗ No |
🗣️ Natural Language Processing | ✗ No | ✗ No |
🔔 Notifications | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
🌍 Time Zones Support | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
📆 Scheduler | ◐ Limited | ✓ Yes |
📈 Analytics | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
🔗 Integrations
Bento
None documented
Friday
Google Calendar, Slack, Teams, Todoist, Asana, Trello, Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do, ClickUp, Jira, GitLab, GitHub
💰 Pricing Comparison
Bento
Free, Premium from $24.99/year
Free with Bento Premium: $4.99/mo, $12.99/3mo, $19.99/6mo, $24.99/year
Friday
Free, Team $8/user/mo, Enterprise custom
Free: Core features. Team: $8/user/mo. Enterprise: Custom pricing.
💡 Things to Consider
When Choosing Bento
→iOS only - no Android, Mac, Windows, or web versions available
→Minimal task management compared to full-featured to-do apps
→No calendar integration or traditional time-blocking features
When Choosing Friday
→Product Status: Friday.app is indicated as a former/legacy product that is no longer operating as a standard end-user product, so availability and ongoing support cannot be confirmed.
→Focus on Communication Over Tasks: Friday was more focused on team communication rituals and updates rather than comprehensive task management, making it less suitable for teams needing full project management capabilities.
→Limited Current Information: Since the product appears to be discontinued, current pricing, features, and integrations cannot be reliably verified, and users should seek alternative solutions for team productivity needs.
⭐ User Reviews
Bento
"Users praise the ADHD-friendly design and three-task limitation for reducing overwhelm. The focus timer and zen mode features are highlighted as effective for maintaining concentration. Achievement system and gentle notifications help build sustainable productivity habits without stress."
Friday
"Friday was designed as a productivity and communication hub for distributed teams, focusing on async updates and team alignment rather than full project management. While it offered useful features for team check-ins and progress tracking, the product is no longer operating as an active end-user service."
🎯 Conclusion
Both Bento and Friday are excellent productivity tools with their own strengths.
Bento excels in Three-task Focus Box (one small, medium, large task), while Friday shines with Team Check-ins: Friday provided configurable playbooks for daily standups, status updates, weekly reviews, and 1:1s to keep distributed teams aligned and reduce meeting overhead.. The best choice depends on your specific needs, workflow preferences, and budget.
We recommend trying both tools to see which one fits better with your productivity style.
