Fantastical vs Timestripe: Comprehensive 2024 Comparison

What is Fantastical

Fantastical is a renowned calendar application that has earned a strong reputation among Apple device users for its innovative features and user-friendly design. Known for its natural language processing capabilities and aesthetic interface, Fantastical offers a blend of traditional and advanced functionalities, making it a popular choice for those deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem.

This app not only excels in calendar management but also integrates several smart features to enhance the overall experience of planning and scheduling. Here’s a detailed look at the features that define Fantastical and its place in the realm of productivity tools.

Key Features of Fantastical

• Multilingual Support: Accessible in multiple languages for a wide range of users.
• Flexible Viewing Options: Offers daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly views for different scheduling needs.
• Attractive Interface: Known for its visually engaging design.
• Natural Language Input: Create events and reminders easily using everyday language.
• Calendar Syncing: Supports iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange, and more for seamless integration.
• Reminders and Task Management: Integrates Apple’s Reminders for efficient event and task handling in one app.

What is Timestripe

Timestripe is a goal-oriented planner and calendar application that enables users to plan their lives extensively, including daily productivity and long-term goals, through a user-friendly interface. It offers unique features like horizons for planning life goals, daily plans integrated with calendars, climbs for habit formation and goal achievement, and guides for learning new skills. Despite its benefits, some may find its future-focused planning too intense, and there’s a learning curve involved. Timestripe offers a Pro version at $5 per month, billed annually, with a promotional discount available. It’s recommended for those seeking a holistic approach to goal and task management beyond traditional to-do lists.

Key Features of Timestripe

• Horizons for Life Goals: Timestripe’s Horizons feature enables users to set and visualize long-term life goals. It offers a unique perspective on goal planning, encouraging users to think about their broader life ambitions and how daily actions contribute to these goals.
• Integrated Daily Plans with Calendars: This feature allows for seamless integration of daily tasks with calendar views. It helps users to efficiently manage their time by merging to-do lists with calendar events, ensuring a holistic view of their schedule.
• Climbs for Habit Formation: Timestripe incorporates Climbs, a tool designed to help users build and track new habits or work towards specific goals. This feature supports incremental progress, making daunting tasks more manageable.
• Guides for Learning New Skills: The application offers Guides, resources that provide users with structured paths to learn new skills or knowledge areas. This feature is invaluable for personal development and continuous learning.
• Proactive Future Planning: Timestripe emphasizes forward-thinking by encouraging users to plan not just days or weeks ahead but years into the future. This long-term planning aspect is a standout feature that differentiates it from other planning tools.
• Personal Growth Tracking: Beyond task management, Timestripe offers tools for tracking personal growth and achievements, reinforcing its role as a comprehensive life management solution. This feature allows users to reflect on their progress and adjust their goals as needed.

Fantastical vs Timestripe: Features

Features	Fantastical	Timestripe
Integrations	Syncs with multiple calendar services and task managers like Todoist and Google Tasks.	Nothing mentioned on their site
Calendar	Offers customizable views and “Calendar Sets” for managing different groups of calendars.	Yes
Platforms	iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch	macOS, iOS, Android, Web
Task Management	Integrates with task managers to display tasks within the calendar.	Offers labels, tags, and recurring tasks
Natural Language Processing	Yes	No
Time Blocking	Available	Yes
Analytics	No	No
Meeting Scheduler	Yes	No
Time Zones	Yes	No
Reminders	Yes	Yes
Customer Support	Average	Average
1:1 User Onboarding	No	No
Pricing	$4.75 per month, paid annually	Free, Pro: $5/mo, Team: Custom

Fantastical vs Timestripe: Pricing

Fantastical Pricing

Fantastical offers both a free plan with basic features and a premium plan with additional capabilities. The pricing for the premium plan varies depending on the number of users:

(i) Individual Premium Plan: $4.75 per month when billed annually. This plan includes features like home screen widgets, notifications, multiple time zone scheduling, customizable templates, and Apple Watch support.

(ii) Family Premium Plan: $7.50 per month for 5 users when billed annually. This plan offers the same features as the Individual plan but accommodates multiple users, making it suitable for family or small team usage.

Timestripe Pricing

Timestripe offers several pricing tiers, including a free Basic plan and paid Pro and Team plans. The Pro plan, aimed at individual users seeking advanced features, is priced at $5 per month when billed annually. For teams looking for collaboration tools, the Team plan’s pricing is customized based on the team’s size and specific needs. Each tier provides different levels of access to Timestripe’s features, with the paid plans offering more comprehensive tools and functionalities.

Fantastical vs Timestripe: Reviews

Fantastical Review

Fantastical is appreciated for its user-friendly experience and robust features, including effective task and time-blocking capabilities, and natural language input for event addition. However, its premium version is required for full functionality, and it may not be as rapidly evolving as some AI-integrated calendar apps. Moreover, its focus on the Apple ecosystem limits its cross-platform utility. Despite these drawbacks, Fantastical remains a solid choice for Apple users seeking a reliable and well-designed calendar app.

Timestripe Review

Timestripe is praised for its innovative approach to goal planning, offering a visually appealing and intuitive interface for managing daily tasks and long-term objectives. Its unique features, such as life planning horizons and habit tracking, cater to individuals seeking a holistic overview of their productivity and progress. However, some users might find its focus on extensive future planning overwhelming, and there’s a learning curve to utilizing its full potential. Additionally, while the Pro version unlocks valuable features, the cost may deter some users.

Which One Should You Pick

Consider Fantastical if

1. You Want an Intuitive Calendar Interface: Choose Fantastical if you’re seeking an easy-to-use calendar app that works seamlessly across various Apple devices.
2. You Need Light Task Management: If you require basic task management integrated with your calendar, Fantastical’s ability to combine tasks with time-blocking features might suit your needs.
3. You Prefer Natural Language Inputs: Fantastical is ideal for those who appreciate the convenience of adding events using natural language, making scheduling faster and more intuitive.

Consider Timestripe if

1. You seek a visually-driven planning tool: Timestripe suits those who prefer a visual approach to planning life goals and daily tasks, though it might lack the depth in analytics some users desire.
2. You’re focused on long-term goals: Its unique horizons feature is great for setting far-reaching objectives, but users looking for quick, simple task management might find it overly complex.
3. You value self-improvement and habit tracking: While Timestripe offers innovative features for personal growth, the Pro version’s cost and the platform’s learning curve could be deterrents for some.

Best Fantastical and Timestripe Alternative

Akiflow: Akiflow is a time management app offering time blocking, task scheduling, and integrations with various tools. It focuses on productivity and organization through a unified task and appointment interface.

Akiflow Price: $19 per month, paid annually