AI Auto-Scheduling, Adaptive Rescheduling, Cognitive Clarity, Planning Methodology, and Integrations
14 comparisons
14 alternatives
Routine tries to be a daily planner productivity suite, but falls short in actual focus. Trying to do knowledge management, project management, and Notion-style databases to connect it all together, leaving it in what feels like a confusing productivity suite.
We wish they just focused more on their daily planning functionality.
Unexpected Routine App Review
Unexpected Routine App ReviewNot sure if Routine is the right fit for you? Check out these alternatives:
Best pen and paper alternative
Best pen and paper alternative
Best for AI auto-scheduling and workload management
Best for AI auto-scheduling and workload managementThe last time we checked out Routine, we went in thinking it was was a lightweight daily planner. Fifteen minutes later, we were scared we'd just deleted their entire task database...😂 Search Routine Review Gone Wrong on YouTube and you'll see what we mean. Ok onto the review!
Routine app falls into the daily planner + productivity tools category. If you are looking for a habit tracking app to help with daily routine planning, task management and, time blocking for personal use, Routine is an app to consider.
Where it struggles is clarity and polish. The entire user experience is clunky and not friendly at all. It's obvious that Routine is trying to serve multiple personas at once, but in doing that, they created something that is overly complex, yet isn't powerful. At one point, we were able to access what seemed to be database-level settings and accidentally delete core structures. That should not even be possible in a daily planner 🫠
Compared to tools like Motion or Sunsama, Routine feels way more bare bones and also more complicated at the same time. It’s NOT something we would recommend as a primary calendar or for business use, but it might work as a free personal planner, just don't expect an intuitive experience.
Routine is says its for busy professionals and modern teams, but we feel like a student or busy parent is a more appropriate audience based on their features. Maybe someone who wants a free tool to drag tasks onto a calendar, loosely organize their day, or experiment with time blocking, but gosh, as a business, it will not do what it needs for you. It has a free tier (which is rare in this category), but we can definitely see why.
Routine is very much for individuals at the moment, not professionals. Their integrations with project management tools are limited. So if you are looking to centralize your tasks from other tools, tools like Akiflow or Sunsama would be much better choices for you.
If you are looking for a comprehensive project management tool, Routine would not be a choice to consider as it is very much a personal routine planner, habit tracking app and task management tool. If your team is not yet using a project management tool (or you individually know you need to manage larger projects), then considering something like Motion might be best as it would eliminate your need for a project management tool + a daily planning tool (it offers daily planning, time blocking, and calendar scheduling capabilities in addition to full project management capabilities).
This is where Routine shines. It is a beautiful task management/productivity tool on the market in terms of design. Aesthetically it is very pleasing to use, a gorgeous interface with minimalistic design.
Routine app calendar desktop & web dashboard + mobile app
While Routine is gorgeous to use, we found the user experience limiting and frustrating quite quickly. Initially, integrating with Google Calendar, adding tasks, and dropping them on your calendar is easy.
But what if a task will take you two hours to do, and you urgently need to get it done and you have other tasks on your calendar? You'd imagine that dropping in a task at a specific time would automatically move your other tasks to accommodate for the new task, right? This isn't the case with Routine. You can drag the task to be as long as the free time slot, and beyond that you need to manually rearrange your entire schedule to accommodate the new task 😬😬😬
When you compare Routine vs Motion, Motion uses AI capabilities to arrange your day. Simply making a task low, medium or high priority will auto-schedule it for you based on importance, rearranging all your other tasks. This makes it way easier to arrange your schedule instead of spending time fighting with the tool to get your schedule right. This is why we say Routine app is much better for habit building and planning your daily routine rather than granular tasks.
Because of this, we'd say Routine might be helpful for static tasks like "Mental Health Check-In" or "Cook Dinner" but it's difficult to get super granular with tasks and time blocking as you would need for professional work.
Routine has an iOS and Android app.
Routine currently doesn't integrate with very much beyond the basics like Google Workspace tools, Notion, ChatGPT, Claude, etc. You can add tasks in from your email, Notion or manually enter tasks into the app (although if you use a good email client like we do, this will be more helpful for managing your emails).
According to Routine's website, Slack, Asana and ClickUp integrations are coming soon. Although, even with these integrations, the tool doesn't appear to have an API coming in the near future which would make it difficult to build workflows with Routine. If you are using Asana or ClickUp and are looking for a time management tool with deep integrations and powerful workflows, consider Motion or Akiflow.
Is Routine app worth it? Routine currently has a free plan for hobbyists and students and this is where we think the tool probably fits best (not professional use). If you are looking for a productivity tool to help you track new habits, healthy habits, banish bad habits, and plan your daily routine then give it a whirl. But lower your expectations when it comes to the user experience, last time we tried it, it was one of the buggiest tools we've used with many features that felt limiting and frustrating.
If you're a business, we'd say definitely skip Routine and opt in for something like Motion that along with their AI capabilities, will make you feel like you have a personal assistant helping you plan your projects, tasks and day. Alternatively, if you still enjoy manually planning your day, perhaps Sunsama would be the next best alternative for a workplace app.
Routine fits into multiple categories based on what it actually helps you do. Each category highlights a different strength and the efficiency points it earned, helping you compare tools not just by features, but by how well they actually perform.
Keep exploring the best software across categories, or explore Routine alternatives
