Brite vs Ellie Planner: Comprehensive Comparison

Francesco
Francesco
Francesco
Francesco

2

minutes reading
December 22, 2025

Overview

In today's fast-paced world, choosing the right productivity tool can make all the difference. This comprehensive comparison between Brite and Ellie Planner will help you understand which tool best fits your workflow and productivity needs.

⚡ Quick Summary

Aspect

Brite

Ellie Planner

Best For

All-in-one productivity app with task management, calendar, habit tracking, and collaboration tools

A minimalist daily planner app focused on time-blocking with drag-and-drop task scheduling and calendar integration.

Pricing

Free with limits, Premium from $3.29/mo

Free Plan available. Pro: $9.99/month, $99.99/year, or $299.99 lifetime.

Platforms

iOS, Android, Mac, iPad, Windows, Smartwatches

Web, iOS, Mac, Windows

What is Brite?

Brite is an all-in-one productivity app that combines task management, calendar, habit tracking, notes, projects, and collaboration tools into a customizable daily planner. It includes features like mood tracking, budget management, ambient sounds, and AI-powered text processing for natural input.

Visit Brite →

🌟 Key Features of Brite

  • ✦Task management with prioritization, difficulty levels, reminders, and kanban boards

  • ✦Calendar with day, week, month views and event scheduling

  • ✦Habit tracker with 80+ presets and progress monitoring

  • ✦Projects and collaboration with groups, messaging, and file sharing

  • ✦Notes with markdown editor, daily notes, and templates

  • ✦Goals tracking, mood diary, budget tracker, and ambient sounds

What is Ellie Planner?

Ellie Planner is a minimalist daily planner and time-blocking app that combines tasks and calendar events to help users plan and visualize their day. It features drag-and-drop task scheduling, a brain dump area for quick capture, and built-in time tracking with analytics. The app includes AI assistant capabilities for task organization and scheduling optimization.

Visit Ellie Planner →

🌟 Key Features of Ellie Planner

  • ✦Time Blocking with Drag-and-Drop: Core feature allowing users to drag tasks from a Kanban-style list directly into their calendar view for visual time blocking and day planning.

  • ✦Brain Dump & Task Management: Quick capture inbox area combined with comprehensive task management including lists, priorities, due dates, labels, subtasks, and recurring tasks.

  • ✦Built-in Timer and Analytics: Time tracking capabilities with analytics on how you spend your time, providing insights into productivity patterns and time allocation.

  • ✦AI Assistant: AI-powered features for bulk task creation, smart organization, time estimation, automated scheduling, finding free time, and priority guidance (Pro feature).

  • ✦Calendar Integration: Syncs with Google, Apple, and Outlook calendars to provide a unified view of appointments and tasks in one interface.

  • ✦Cross-Platform Access: Available on web, iOS, Mac, and Windows with native apps and browser-based access for flexible planning anywhere.

📊 Feature Comparison

Feature

Brite

Ellie Planner

📅 Calendar Integration

✓ Yes

✓ Yes

✅ Task Management

✓ Yes

✓ Yes

⏰ Time Blocking

◐ Limited

✓ Yes

🗣️ Natural Language Processing

✓ Yes

✓ Yes

🔔 Notifications

✓ Yes

✓ Yes

🌍 Time Zones Support

✗ No

📆 Scheduler

✓ Yes

✓ Yes

📈 Analytics

◐ Limited

✓ Yes

🔗 Integrations

Brite

Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook Calendar

Ellie Planner

Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Slack, Notion, Zapier

💰 Pricing Comparison

Brite

Free with limits, Premium from $3.29/mo

Free plan with feature limits. Premium: $3.29/month billed annually or $4.50/month billed monthly. Unlocks all features and removes limits.

Ellie Planner

Free Plan available. Pro: $9.99/month, $99.99/year, or $299.99 lifetime.

Free Plan: $0 with unlimited tasks and braindump. Ellie Pro: $9.99/month, $99.99/year, or $299.99 one-time lifetime purchase.

💡 Things to Consider

When Choosing Brite

  • →Free plan has significant feature limits including caps on projects, reminders, and tracking features

  • →Premium subscription required to unlock unlimited projects, habits, calendar views, and full feature set

  • →Multiple pricing tiers and family/AI add-ons available through mobile app stores with regional pricing variations

When Choosing Ellie Planner

  • →You Value Visual Time-Blocking: Ellie Planner excels at drag-and-drop task scheduling into calendar views, making it ideal if you prefer visual daily planning over text-based task lists.

  • →You're Willing to Pay for Core Features: The free plan is quite limited, so you'll need Pro ($9.99/month) for time-blocking, calendar integration, and most useful features - consider if this fits your budget.

  • →You Use iOS/Web/Desktop: Best experience is on iOS and web platforms. Skip if you need Android support or prefer fully native desktop applications over web-based interfaces.

⭐ User Reviews

Ellie Planner

"Ellie Planner is praised for its intuitive, minimalist interface and effective time-blocking capabilities with drag-and-drop functionality. Users appreciate the brain dump feature, calendar integration, and responsive indie developer support. However, the free plan is quite limited, pricing is considered high compared to alternatives, there's no Android app, and it offers fewer advanced features than comprehensive tools like Sunsama. Best suited for individual users who prioritize visual time-blocking and simplicity over complex workflows."

🎯 Conclusion

Both Brite and Ellie Planner are excellent productivity tools with their own strengths.

Brite excels in Task management with prioritization, difficulty levels, reminders, and kanban boards, while Ellie Planner shines with Time Blocking with Drag-and-Drop: Core feature allowing users to drag tasks from a Kanban-style list directly into their calendar view for visual time blocking and day planning.. 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.

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Try Akiflow now for a 10x productivity boost
7 days free with Aki. Cancel anytime.
Try Akiflow now for a 10x productivity boost
7 days free with Aki. Cancel anytime.
Try Akiflow now for a 10x productivity boost
7 days free with Aki. Cancel anytime.