10 Best Productivity Planners in 2023 (you absolutely need one!)

You need the best productivity planners if increased productivity is one of your major goals for the year. 

image of best productivity planners

These planners will help to kick-start your productivity. According to research, paper planners are said to be better than apps or gadgets because writing down your schedules and what you want to do for the day/week makes you feel more engaged in the task at hand, than typing it out on a phone or laptop. 

So, here are some of the very best productivity planners to help you get the best out of the year. These planners have been carefully selected and they would go a long way towards keeping you on track daily. 

Related Post: Best Planner for ADHD

1. Hobonichi Techo Planner

Photo of Hobonichi Techo Planner; one of the best productivity planners

This is the Japanese most loved daily planner. This planner came into the market since 2001 and since then, it has been updated and refined every year to meet the needs of its users. 

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The Hobonichi Techo Planner has gained a lot of fans from all over the world due to its over 20 years of use. This planner is written in the English language and has supportive and obtrusive layout. 

The size of this planner is perfect and can easily fit into any bag and it is also durable. The cover is resistant to daily wear and tear and it can last all through the year. 

Each page of this planner has a light gridding that helps give each day order and also gives you space to dash off notes, doodle, or write lists. 

The cover is made of paper and it weighs just 209 grams. It has 448 pages and its dimensions/size is 0.55 X 4.13 X 5.83 inches (A6 size). 

Hobonichi Techo Planner is light and portable and easy to carry around. The paper it is made of is the Tomoe river paper which is thin and light and also resistant to bleeding and daily use. 

It allows ink to dispense freely across the paper. 

This planner also has a special stitching or binding that makes the planner lay flat completely without you having to hold it down. 

Aside your daily planner pages, it also contains:

  • Daily quotes 
  • Weekly pages 
  • Memo pages
  • Important contact page
  • International size charts 
  • Conversion table 
  • My 100 (A section where you write 100 things of what you want to achieve over a period of time)
  • Donburi rice bowls (Japanese rice recipes)
  • Animal proverbs and phrases 
  • Personal notes 
  • Moon phase (the daily page includes every phase of the moon and the monthly calendars include full and new moon). 

Pros 

  • It contains daily pages to last the whole year
  • It has other interesting and useful pages as listed above 
  • It is beautiful, elegant, and feels great 
  • Has lots of writing rooms. It is designed to be a workhorse 
  • The binding is sturdy
  • It lasts for long

Cons 

  • The cover is sold separately 
  • It is dated 
  • It is not hard cover, the cover is soft and slightly flexible 
  • It lacks a pocket 

Check the price on Amazon.

2. Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner + Notebook Medium (A5)

Photo of Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner + Notebook Medium; one of the best productivity planners

If you need a weekly planner, we will recommend this because it is one of the best weekly planners out there. 

This German weekly planner is perfect for people who plan on the go or take notes while on the go. The layout is beautiful and ideal. 

The weekly layout of this planner is simple and can be used in many ways. And the best thing about the Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner + Notebook Medium (A5) is that it is a two year planner. This means, it will last you for two years and have enough rooms for you to write out all your plans for two whole years. 

The cover material is made of paper. It weighs 0.31 kg and its dimensions are 8.27 X 5.71 X 0.83. 

It is made of quality paper with high ink compatibility. This planner will help you an easy overview of your while year. You can write your monthly task on the left side of the page and write your daily and weekly schedules on the right side of the page. 

Every doubled page on this planner has a full calendar week and a ruled notebook on the right. It also has annual overviews to help you see previous and coming years in addition to the current year. 

The monthly overview of this planner gives an annual overview in table formats. This shows separate months and days and it also includes moon phases and public holidays. 

The Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner + Notebook Medium (A5) has the following apart from the weekly planning pages: 

  • Expandable back pocket 
  • Detachable pages for notes 
  • Two bookmarks 
  • Self- adhesive labels for achieving 

Pros 

  • The size is portable, and easy to carry around 
  • The layouts are beautiful, colorful, and helpful 
  • The binding is quality and ensures it survives daily use to last more than two years 
  • It is a two year planner 
  • There is a pocket at the back 

Cons 

  • Some users complained that the pages are too thin, when they write on it, they can see the writing at the back of the page (bleeding) and it makes it messy. To prevent this, write with pencil and not pen
  • The quality of the paper can be improved on 
  • The printing on the paper may be faint and hard to see 

Check out the price on Amazon

3. JSTORY Large Personal Wide Spaces Weekly Planner

Photo of JSTORY Large Personal Wide Spaces Weekly Planner; one of the best productivity planners

This is also another awesome weekly planner with a great layout. It is undated and the pages are plain for you to plot out all your plans and activities. 

It is one of the best customizable planners you can find today. 

Another amazing thing about this planner is that it is undated. You won’t feel you have wasted any page if you don’t use it. 

The cover material is made of paper and it is matte textured, it weighs 6.2 ounces and its dimensions are 7.25 X 0.25 X 10.25. 

The papers are high quality and it feels good to write in them. It is thick enough to prevent bleeding. 

The binding is also quality and durable to ensure long lasting use. 

This planner makes it easy for you to see your schedules in column format. The blank and undated patterns help you to write down notes and plan ahead successfully and effortlessly. 

This planner of South Korean origin ais fashionable with a classic look. You would fall in love with its simplicity. 

Pros 

  • It is fully customizable; it gives you the freedom to customize your calendar 
  • You can add personal touch and decorate your planner the way you want it to be 
  • If you mess up one sheet, you can easily start afresh on a new undated sheet 
  • You can still reuse the planner for the following year since it is undated 
  • It is beautiful, classy, but simple 
  • It is thin and lays flat 
  • Minimalists will love this planner 

Cons 

  • The paper quality can be improved on because bleeding can happen on some spots
  • The cover may be prone to scratch 
  • No space to write down notes, it gives you just enough space for the days. 
  • The size may be a con for some people. While some like the small size, other would have preferred it if it were larger 

Check price on Amazon

4. Moleskine 12 Month 2023 Weekly Planner

Photo of Moleskine 12 Month 2023 Weekly Planner; one of the best productivity planners

If you are searching for a fairly minimal planner with space for goal settings and list, then go for this. 

Its layout is simple. The left side of the pages are broken down into days of the week while the right side of the pages are for taking notes. 

The cover is of two types which you can choose from, we have the soft cover and the hard cover. It weighs 0.21 kg and its dimension is 5.24 X 0.47 X 8.23 inches. 

It is also available in lined and unlined pages, so you choose what you want.

The Moleskine 12 Month 2023 Weekly Planner is suitable and highly effective for weekly planning. It is also ideal for planning business and travels. 

Aside the weekly pages it comes with which lasts for a whole year, it has other pages like: 

  • Calendar grids 
  • Pages for to-do lists 
  • Bullet journaling 
  • And a page to help you track your projects so that you can meet your goals easily 

The Moleskine 12 Month 2023 Weekly Planner is made from quality papers, it is made from the thick ivory paper. It is perfect for writing on with any kind of pen and has zero chances of bleeding. 

Pros 

  • It is small and compact 
  • The paper quality is impressive 
  • It is durable and holds up well all through the year 
  • Large enough to put in all your info 
  • The organization and layout are impressive 

Cons 

  • A user complained that the pages are now thinner than those of the past years thereby making them too flimsy 
  • Some users complain that using fountain pens on this planner does not end well. 

Check the price on Amazon

5. Lemome 2023 Planner

Photo of Lemome Weekly and monthly Planner; one of the best productivity planners

This is the best weekly and daily planner for heavy note takers. If you need something to write lots of notes aside from just writing your plans, schedules, and events, then this is your best choice. 

This paper planner will help you make the best use of your time by helping to keep you focused during the week and making you keep track of your projects over time. 

The Lemome 2023 Planner doesn’t waste much on day to day calendars, instead, it gives only monthly views and note-taking weekly views, so you can organize meeting notes based on when they were taken. 

The size is compatible so that it can perfectly fit into any bag and the cover is made of faux leather which is environmentally friendly. It weighs 6 ounces, and its dimensions are 8.25 X 5.75 X 0.6 inches. It is soft to touch and the design is simple and elegant. 

This planner has 12 months of monthly and weekly pages for easy planning all through the Year. There is also a section for taking notes. 

The weekly plan of the Lemome 2023 Planner has space for you to write your daily and weekly schedule, write your detailed appointments, and keep track of all days clearly with the weekly view. 

Apart from the planning pages, the Lemome 2023 Planner also has: 

  • Calendar stickers 
  • Reference information 
  • Yearly overview 
  • Holidays 
  • Contact page
  • 2 ribbon bookmarks 
  • Inner pocket pouch
  • 88 note ruled pages 

Pros 

  • Quality, beautiful, and straightforward planner 
  • The layout is neatly arranged with no distractions 
  • The paper is quality and there are zero chances of bleeding 
  • The build is sturdy and durable to ensure it lasts all through the year for you 
  • Has a nice pocket where you can store sticky notes 
  • It comes with stickers 

Cons 

  • The elastic band across the binding for holding pens is too tight to let a pen go through it. 
  • Some users feel the quality of the papers can be improved on 

Check the price on Amazon

6. Clever Fox Planner

Photo of Clever Fox Weekly Planner; one of the best productivity planners

This is one of the best planners out there and it contains both weekly and monthly planning. It has dedicated pages for goal settings, making to-do lists, and scheduling your day and activities. 

The Clever Fox Planner will help you break down your tasks so that they don’t appear overwhelming. 

It will help you organize your life for the year, create your vision, define and break down all your goals into long-term and short-term, and also help you to incorporate those goals into your daily, weekly, and monthly agendas. 

One amazing thing about this brand – the Clever Fox Planner is that it comes with a detailed step-by-step illustrated guide on how to use it. It doesn’t leave you wondering how to use it. 

It comes with 150 colorful stickers and one selling point about it is that all the pages are undated. This gives you the freedom to use them when you need and not feeling like you are wasting the pages. 

Pros

  • Highly effective, high quality, 
  • The pages do not bleed even when you use markers on them 
  • It has monthly and weekly layouts 
  • It has pages for gratitude, rituals, passion and you can change them to something else that you want to track 
  • There are dotted pages at the end of the planner for note taking
  • Has 3 ribbons to organize each sections

Cons

  • There are lots of boxes crammed together and this makes some people feel overwhelmed or as if the planner is nagging at them 
  • Some users complained that there is not enough space for writing 
  • May not be suitable for people with large hand writing 

Check the price on Amazon

7. Stalogy 018 Editor’s Series

Photo of Stalogy 018 Editor’s Series planner; one of the best productivity planners

If you love planners with lay-flat binding, then this is the planner for you and what’s amazing about this brand is that it is an undated daily planner. 

Apart from opening flat, it can be bent to almost 360 degrees’ rotation without breaking or cracking. The paper feels like onion skin and does not bleed even though the pages appear thin. 

The layout is classy, simple, and minimal and the light-grey printing is unobtrusive. 

Another selling point is the fill in the date format which gives you the freedom to use it whenever you please. 

The sheet size is A6, it is easy and sleek to carry about and gives a suitable layout for you to fill in all your daily activities and plans. 

It has 368 pages and it is easy to use. It contains only minimal elements of time, number, date, day of the week, and square grid lines. 

The Stalogy 018 Editor’s Series planner is also great for bullet journaling. You can use it daily to capture ideas, notes, schedules, and drawings. 

Pros 

  • Sturdy, sleek, and compact planner 
  • Lays thin/flat when opened 
  • It can bend almost 360 degrees’ backward 
  • It can be used as a daily planner, taking daily notes, calendar, dairy, scheduler, and sketchpad
  • Minimal design 
  • The paper is smooth and easy to write on 
  • It lasts all through the year and beyond 

Cons 

  • The writings are tiny and can be difficult to read for some people 
  • Although pens may not bleed through the thin pages, markers would.

Check the price on Amazon

8. The 5 Second Journal

Photo of 5 second journal one of the best productivity planners

If you want a motivational planner, then go for this. It has many things you will love about it. The cover is hard, the size is 6 by 8.5 inches, and it is a daily planner. 

This planner is ideal for people who aren’t use to planners and want to start or they don’t have any idea of where to begin. 

This planner is written by the motivational speaker, Mel Robbins, the author of the international best seller The 5 Second Rule.  It has more structures than the standard planners around. 

There is space to fill in everything from your most important project of the day to when you plan to stop working for the day and this helps in preventing burnouts. 

The 5 Second Journal also has a small hour-by-hour planner and this will help you create your schedule better and in a way that you can understand it better. There is also a gridded space for jotting down ideas. 

Pros

  • This planner will help you focus more on the most important thing for the day 
  • It takes less than 2 minutes to fill out in the morning. 
  • It has blank pages to fill in your state of mind and put you in the present moment 
  • It has a section for a plan of action to help you feel more energized 
  • Then there is the Mel’s 5 second rule to bust through any resistance and you will have the momentum to fill the rest of the journal and start your day 
  • The binding of this planner is stronger 

Cons

  • Some users find the spiral binding annoying because when writing on the left side of the planner, it gets cramped because the spirals get in the way 
  • Other users think that there are too many sections in the journal they don’t end up using. 

Check the price on Amazon

9. AT-A-GLANCE Two-Year Monthly Planner

Photo of AT-A-GLANCE Two-Year Monthly Planner; one of the best productivity planners

This planner is ideal for big picture thinkers. It helps you focus on your goals and also helps you not to forget important dates like your mom or partner’s birthday. 

This monthly planner gives space for you to write your most important events on each day. 

It lasts for two years and at the end of two years, you will have an amazing record of the most essential things you did for 730 days. 

The cover is made of faux leather and the binding ensures that it lasts long for you. With this, you will keep track of important deadlines, special events, and have clear organization. 

The pages are resistant to bleeding and they are made of high-quality paper. 

Pros 

  • Awesome quality 
  • The dates have enough room to write on 
  • The size is compact and can fit into any bag 
  • It can hold up to daily use for two years 

Cons 

  • Keep it away from a cup of coffee or any liquid, it is not resistant to liquid and it has soft cover
  • Some users complained of the high price 
  • Some users complained that the week on the calendars started with Mondays instead of Sundays and the space for Saturdays and Sundays are half size 

Check the price on Amazon

10. Panda Planner Weekly

Photo of Panda Planner weekly; one of the best productivity planners

Panda weekly planner is a good choice for people who want to add structure to their day without feeling overwhelmed. 

This planner will help to reiterate your priorities weekly and monthly. Users who have used this for years said it taught them that repetition of goals can keep you on track. 

This planner has 52 weeks planning pages and 12 monthly planning pages, this means it can last you for a whole year. 

This planner also helps you to set positive habits or goals and achieve them over time. And even though this is a weekly planner, it helps to build daily positivity-focused morning and evening routines. 

You may also want to keep this planner on hand all day if you use the daily timeline which spans from 7 am to 8 pm to schedule your activities. 

The Panda Planner Weekly is lightweight and can fit into most bags – it is 8.5 inches by 11 inches. 

Pros 

  • High quality and durable 
  • It breaks down endless to-do lists into priorities 
  • It helps you start your day with gratitude 
  • The Panda Planner Weekly helps you to be focused 
  • Has beautiful layout 

Cons 

  • It is so large and may not be easy to carry around 
  • It lacks blank pages for note taking or writing down ideas 

Check the price on Amazon.

How to Select the Best Productivity Planner

There are some criteria to look out for before choosing a productivity planner. We also considered these factors before putting together this list of productivity planners. They are:

Layout 

This is an important factor to consider because planners are broken down into daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly and the kind of layout you need depends on what you want to do. 

People with lots of daily tasks or people who need to focus on their day-to-day organization will do best with daily planners. Daily planners dedicate an entire page to each day. 

A weekly planner dedicates one or two pages to each week. This is not the best option for those with lots of daily to-do tasks but it is best for people who juggle a lot of weekly meetings, events, and deadlines. 

A monthly or quarterly planner is best for people with long-term goals and people who think big and have lots of large-scale projects on their hands. 

There are people whose need for planners do not accommodate or cannot fit into the daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly planners. What suits this type of people is the customizable planner. They get the opportunity to use the planner the way it suits them and their agendas. 

Size 

Productivity planners come in a large range of sizes and this ranges from small to big. The size of a planner determines how portable it is and how easy it is to carry around. 

The size of a planner also determines how much space you got to write. 

If you want a planner that is super portable, you should opt for a pocket or personal planner. 

If portability is not a concern to you and you want something with lots of rooms and layouts, then you can go for a half or full letter sized planner. 

Cover 

This looks superficial but it is an important factor to consider because it determines how long your planner will last. A good cover will protect your planner from daily wear and tear. 

The cover also affects the weight of the planner. Do you want a hard cover, soft cover, or leather-bound cover? 

If you are not bothered about the weight of a planner and want something that can last all through the year, then you can choose a hardcover or leather-bound cover. 

But if you are bothered about weight and want something light to carry around, then go for the soft cover planner. 

Conclusion

The productivity planners listed in this post will help you to stop procrastinating and turn those your big dreams into reality. 

We also listed important factors you have to consider before getting a planner. We hope this post helps you find the best planner to boost your productivity. 

Related Post: Best Planner for Moms

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