# Sunsama alternatives for Mac, for a day plan that lays itself out around your meetings

The best Sunsama alternative for a Mac depends on why you are leaving: Morgen and Akiflow keep a calendar-based planning routine across devices, Tiimo is built for ADHD, and Tideline ($11.99 once, macOS 14 and later) lays your tasks into the gaps between meetings by itself and keeps the plan on your Mac.

- URL: https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sunsama-alternatives-for-mac
- Covers: https://swiftfox.studio/apps/tideline, https://swiftfox.studio/apps/anchored, https://swiftfox.studio/apps/plexus
- Published: 2026-11-04
- Updated: 2026-11-04
- Publisher: Swiftfox Studio (https://swiftfox.studio)

## In short

- Sunsama by Summay, Inc. is a guided daily planner for professionals, $17 a month billed yearly or $22 monthly after a 14-day trial, with no free plan, on Mac, Windows, Linux, phones and the web.
- Sunsama is still the right choice for pulling work in from Jira, Asana, Gmail or Slack, for planning on several devices and for a guided morning plan, evening shutdown and weekly review.
- macOS Calendar and Reminders block time and repeat tasks for free, but neither moves a task when a meeting lands on it or says what will not fit today.
- Tideline is a one-time $11.99 Mac app that lays your task queue into the free gaps between calendar meetings, adds a 25% buffer to estimates and reads several tasks typed on one line in five languages.
- Tideline has no iPhone app, no sync between Macs, no integrations, no projects and no time reports, so it suits a working day planned and done on one Mac.

## What Sunsama is actually good at

[Sunsama](https://www.sunsama.com) is a daily planner for professionals that
turns planning into a ritual. Each morning it walks you through yesterday's
leftovers, pulls in work from your other tools, adds up the planned time and warns
you when the day holds more than your threshold, then lets you timebox each task
onto your calendar. A daily shutdown closes the evening, and a weekly review looks
back at your objectives and the week's time per day. Summay, Inc. makes it, and
its weekly changelog was last updated on 2 November 2026.

Its reach is the strongest part. Sunsama connects to about 20 tools, including
Google Calendar, Outlook, Asana, Jira, Linear, Notion, Todoist, Gmail, Slack and
Microsoft Teams, plus Zapier, and it works with Google, Outlook, iCloud and CalDAV
calendars, where a timeboxed task becomes a real event. Press X on a task and it is
auto-scheduled into open time inside your working hours. On the Mac there is a
menu bar item, a floating Focus Bar with a timer, Command-Shift-A to add a task
from anywhere, and Sunny, an AI assistant that can move tasks and draft the day.

Sunsama Pro costs **$17 a month billed yearly ($204 a year) or $22 billed
monthly**, after a 14-day trial with no card, and there is no free plan. It runs as
a desktop app on macOS 13 Ventura or later, Windows and Linux, on iPhone, iPad and
Android, and in the browser. The desktop app is built on Electron and downloaded
from Sunsama's site, not the Mac App Store.

If your work lives in Jira, Asana and Slack, you plan on more than one computer,
and a guided morning and evening routine keeps you on track, Sunsama is the
obvious choice. The Sunsama alternative for Mac this page is about, Tideline, does
none of that.

## Why people go looking anyway

**The price, with no free plan.** At $17 to $22 a month, Sunsama costs more than
most apps it is compared with, and nothing stays free after the trial.
AlternativeTo reviewers called it "overpriced" in December 2024 and "pretty
expensive" in 2023, while still finding the routine worth it.

**No offline mode.** Sunsama is an account-based cloud service, with servers on
Google Cloud and data stored in the United States. A request for an offline mode
in the desktop app has been open since June 2020 with 231 votes; in July 2026 one
user learned there was no offline support when the whole app failed to load.

**Planning by hand every morning.** The ritual is the product, and for some people
it is too much structure. Comparison posts from October 2026 report users who want
the tool to lay out the day instead of building it by hand. Sunsama's answer is
Autoplan, an agent in beta that drafts the plan from a brain dump.

**A thin phone app.** Reviewers describe the iPhone app as basic, and setup has to
happen on a computer first. Tideline does not fix this one: it has no phone app at
all.

## What macOS already does for free

Calendar and Reminders cover the basics at no cost. Calendar blocks time when you
drag an event across an hour, Reminders repeats tasks with a notification, and both
sync over iCloud.

What they do not do is plan. A time block stays where you dropped it when a meeting
lands on top of it, a reminder does not know how long it takes, and nothing tells
you at four o'clock that two tasks will not fit before the end of your day. You
become the scheduler every time something moves.

## Tideline: your tasks lay themselves out between your meetings

**[Tideline](https://swiftfox.studio/apps/tideline)** is a native macOS day planner that lives in the menu
bar. You keep an ordered list of today's tasks, each with a length, and Tideline
lays the list into the free gaps between the meetings in your calendar, inside your
working hours, every time something changes. It costs **$11.99 once**, with a
30-day free trial that needs no card and no email, runs on macOS 14 or later on
Apple silicon and Intel Macs, works in English, Turkish, German, Spanish and
French, and was made with ADHD and time blindness in mind.

### The whole queue flows into the gaps, every time

![The top of the Tideline popover: Wednesday, November 4, 2 h 20 min free today, Daily stand-up in 40 min - 1 too long for any gap, and a day bar from 09 to 18 with coloured task blocks between striped meetings](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sunsama-alternatives-for-mac/fig-1.jpg "The day bar draws today as one line: tasks in the gaps, meetings striped, and the free time left above it.")

Tideline never asks you to drag a task onto an hour. You put tasks in order, and
they fill the free gaps between your meetings in that order; a long task can be
split around a meeting, shown as part 1 of 2 and part 2 of 2. Meetings come from
the calendars you pick, shown as striped blocks with a **Join** button for Zoom,
Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Webex links. Add a task, finish early, run over or
get a new invitation, and the rest of the queue lays itself out again.

The header says how much of the day is still free and when the next meeting
starts, a day bar from your first hour to your last draws the whole plan, and a row
counts the tasks that **don't fit today**, with **Move to tomorrow** beside it.
Type a time, as in "standup at 9:30", and that task is pinned there.

Sunsama auto-schedules the task you press X on and shifts the timeboxes next to
one that changed; Tideline lays out the whole list on every change. The honest
limit: Tideline plans one day at a time, with tomorrow and a parked list beside
it, and has no week view, no projects and no backlog folders.

### A whole list on one line, in plain words, from any app

![Tideline's quick add panel with ping Mert 5, budget sheet 45, call the bank 20 typed on one line, and a preview headed Plan 3 tasks, 1 h 10 min, All fit today, with each task's length and start time, Add all 3 and Park all](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sunsama-alternatives-for-mac/fig-2.jpg "Three tasks typed on one line, each with its length and the time it will start, before you press Return.")

Getting a list out of your head should take one line. Type "mail 15, report 45,
call the bank 10" and you get three tasks: commas, semicolons, new lines and
"then" split them, up to 12 at a time. Before Return a preview shows each task's
length and start time, or **Doesn't fit**. Return adds them all as one undo step;
Shift-Return parks them.

The same field reads days, times and repeats in five languages at once: "tomorrow
at 3 dentist", "morgen um 10 Zahnarzt 30 Min", "demain à 14h30 réunion 45 min",
"daily" or "every tue". Control-Option-T, which you can change, opens the field in
a small panel over any app.

Sunsama's Command-Shift-A window is filled field by field: channel, planned time,
start date. The honest limit: Tideline's reader is a fixed parser, not AI, so it
will not draft a day from a paragraph the way Sunsama's Autoplan or Sunny can.

### Estimates come with a buffer, because most of us guess short

![Tideline Settings, Your day: Workday 09:00 to 18:00, Plan weekends too off, Buffer on estimates at 25% beside None, 15% and 50%, and When no length is typed at 30 min](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sunsama-alternatives-for-mac/fig-3.jpg "The buffer is added before a task is placed, so the plan holds when your guesses run short.")

A plan built on optimistic numbers breaks by eleven. Tideline adds a buffer to
every estimate before placing the task, 25% by default, so a 45-minute task takes
55 minutes of your day; you can pick none, 15%, 25% or 50%. A task typed
without a length gets 30 minutes, also a setting. Your working hours, 09:00 to
18:00 unless you change them, are the walls the plan stays inside, with weekends
off unless you turn on **Plan weekends too**.

Sunsama adds up the planned times you give it instead, and warns when the total
passes your threshold.

The honest limit: Tideline does not track how long tasks really took and has no
analytics or weekly review, so it cannot tell you whether 25% is right for you.
Sunsama's time breakdown can.

### A heads-up before meetings and before the day ends

![A Tideline heads-up card: Your day ends in 14 min, 2 don't fit today: Draft blog post, Tidy the desktop, with Move to tomorrow and Keep going](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sunsama-alternatives-for-mac/fig-4.jpg "Fifteen minutes before your day ends, the card names what will not fit and offers to move it.")

Time blindness is not noticing the hour pass, so Tideline keeps the hour in view.
The menu bar shows the task you are on with the minutes left as a pill that fills
as time runs down, "+7m" in orange when it runs over, and "Stand-up in 40m" before
an event. A small heads-up card slides into the top right of the screen without
taking focus and without notification permission.

Five minutes before a meeting the card names it, says which task pauses there, and
offers **Join** and **Remind me in 2 min**. Fifteen minutes before your day ends it
lists what doesn't fit and offers **Move to tomorrow** or **Keep going**. Both lead
times are settings, and each card can be turned off.

Nothing is ever overdue. Unfinished work leaves today when the day turns over at
04:00, so a late night still counts, and waits the next morning in a band that says
"2 left over from yesterday", with **Add to today** or **Park them**. A missed
repeating task is skipped, not stacked.

Sunsama's menu bar item can show the focused task and its timer too. The honest
limit: Tideline's cards appear only while the Mac is awake
and Tideline is running, and they never reach a phone or a watch.

### One price, no account, and the plan stays on your Mac

![Tideline Settings, Calendars, Your plan in your calendar: Add tasks to a calendar switched on, Calendar set to Tideline (iCloud), What to add set to Whole plan](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/sunsama-alternatives-for-mac/fig-5.jpg "Calendar writing is off until you turn it on, and then it writes only to a calendar named Tideline.")

Tideline is $11.99 once, less than one month of Sunsama billed monthly, and there
is no account. The plan is two files in the app's own folder on your Mac, meetings
come from the Mac's Calendar app, which already holds your iCloud, Google or
Exchange accounts, and Tideline sends your tasks and events nowhere. It goes online
for license and update checks, its app settings, crash reports and a few anonymous
usage events, never with a task.

To see the plan on your phone, turn on **Add tasks to a calendar**. Tideline then
creates its own calendar named Tideline, never a shared one, and adds the
fixed-time tasks or the whole plan; the events move when the plan changes. It never
edits or deletes your events.

The honest limit: there is no sync between Macs, no iPhone, iPad or web app, no
team planning, no integrations with Todoist, Asana, Notion, Jira, Gmail or Slack,
and no Reminders import. Each Mac has its own plan.

## Sunsama vs Tideline, feature by feature

| | Sunsama | Tideline |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $17 a month billed yearly, $22 monthly; 14-day trial, no free plan | $11.99 once, 30-day trial |
| Platforms | Mac (macOS 13+), Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, web | Mac only, macOS 14 or later |
| Mac app | Desktop app built on Electron, from Sunsama's site | Native menu bar app |
| Placing tasks around meetings | Press X to auto-schedule a task; nearby timeboxes shift on conflicts or early finishes | The whole queue lays itself into the gaps on every change |
| Estimates | Your planned times, with a workload warning over a threshold | A 25% buffer by default, 30 minutes when no length is typed |
| Adding tasks | Quick-add window with fields; Sunny AI | Several tasks on one line in plain words, five languages; Control-Option-T |
| Guided planning | Daily planning, shutdown and weekly review; Autoplan in beta | None; the plan builds itself as you type |
| Unfinished tasks | Roll over to the next day at midnight | Wait next morning with Add to today or Park them |
| Integrations | About 20, including Asana, Jira, Notion, Gmail, Slack, plus Zapier | None; reads the Mac's calendars only |
| Calendar writing | Timeboxes become events on your Google, Outlook, iCloud or CalDAV calendar | Optional, to its own Tideline calendar |
| Time analytics | Daily and weekly time use | None |
| Account and data | Cloud account, data on Google Cloud in the US, no offline mode | No account; the plan is stored on the Mac |

Sunsama wins on reach and ritual: every platform, integrations, analytics, a guided
morning and evening, and an AI assistant. Tideline wins on a working day run from
one Mac: a plan that rearranges itself around meetings, a buffer on every guess, a
list typed in one line, and a price paid once.

## Other alternatives worth knowing

**Morgen** is the closest like-for-like swap: Google, Outlook, Apple and Fastmail
calendars in one app, tasks from Notion, ClickUp, Linear or Todoist as time blocks,
and an AI planner that reshuffles the day on conflicts. It runs on Windows, macOS,
Linux, phones and the web, for $15 a month billed yearly or $30 monthly, with a
14-day trial and no card.

**Akiflow** suits work that arrives in many inboxes: it gathers tasks from your
tools into one inbox, with a daily planning ritual, time blocking and a Cmd-K bar
that takes natural language. Pro is $19 a month billed yearly or $34 monthly, after
a 7-day trial that needs a card.

**Tiimo** is a visual planner built for ADHD and autism, with timers, routines and
AI that turns a brain dump into a day. Its free plan is on iPhone and Android, Pro
is a subscription priced by region, and the Mac app needs macOS 15 and Apple
silicon. The [best Mac apps for ADHD](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/best-mac-apps-for-adhd) compares more
of the field.

**Structured** draws the day as a timeline next to your calendar, is free for the
core planner and sells Pro by subscription or for life; its Mac app needs macOS 15.
If one task at a time suits you better, [Anchored](https://swiftfox.studio/apps/anchored) keeps a single
task in the menu bar.

For a task system with projects rather than a day plan, start with
[Plexus](https://swiftfox.studio/apps/plexus) and the
[OmniFocus alternatives for Mac](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/omnifocus-alternatives-for-mac); the
[productivity apps for Mac](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/productivity-apps-for-mac) roundup and the
[best menu bar apps for Mac](https://swiftfox.studio/blog/best-mac-menu-bar-apps) sort the wider field.

## When Sunsama is still the right choice

Stay with Sunsama if your tasks come from Jira, Asana, Linear, Notion, Gmail or
Slack and you want them in one daily list without copying. Stay if you also work on
Windows or Linux, plan from your phone, or share a workspace with a team. Stay if
the morning planning, evening shutdown and weekly review are the habit that works
for you, or you want time analytics and an AI assistant. And stay if your timeboxes
should be real events on your work calendar, where colleagues see them.

## Switching from Sunsama

1. **Export your data.** In Sunsama, Settings, Account Management, Export my data
   saves a copy before you cancel; Tideline has no import, so this is for your
   records.
2. **Set your hours.** In Tideline's Settings, General, set your **Workday** and
   the **Buffer on estimates**; 25% is a fair start.
3. **Pick your calendars.** Grant calendar access, then choose under **Show events
   from** which calendars tasks flow around. Google or Outlook accounts must be
   added to the Mac's Calendar app.
4. **Type today's list in one line,** with a length after each task, and check the
   preview before Return. Park anything without a day.
5. **Recreate what repeats** by typing "daily", "weekdays", "every tue" or
   "monthly" after a task.
6. **Turn on Add tasks to a calendar** only if you want the plan on your phone or
   visible to colleagues.

Integrations, channels, objectives and your Sunsama history do not carry over.
Setup takes about ten minutes; trusting the plan to rearrange itself takes a few
days. The guide
[how to plan your day on a Mac around your meetings](https://swiftfox.studio/handbook/plan-your-day-on-mac)
walks through Tideline in more detail.

## Side by side

| Tool | How it plans | Mac app | Platforms | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sunsama | Guided daily ritual, timeboxing with auto-schedule | Desktop app, macOS 13+ | Mac, Windows, Linux, phones, web | $17 a month billed yearly |
| Morgen | Unified calendars, tasks as time blocks, AI planner | Desktop app | Mac, Windows, Linux, phones, web | $15 a month billed yearly |
| Akiflow | Universal inbox, rituals, time blocking | Desktop app | Desktop, phones, web | $19 a month billed yearly |
| Tiimo | Visual planner for ADHD and autism | macOS 15, Apple silicon | iPhone, iPad, Watch, Mac, Android, web | Free plan; Pro by subscription |
| Tideline | A task queue that flows between meetings, with a buffer | Native menu bar app, macOS 14+ | Mac only | $11.99 once |

Pick by what fails. If the day falls apart because your work is scattered across
tools and devices, a connected planner like Sunsama, Morgen or Akiflow is the fix.
If it falls apart because meetings keep knocking your plan over and you never
re-plan, a queue that rearranges itself on one Mac is.

_Prices and features checked on 4 November 2026._

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a free Sunsama alternative for Mac?

Yes, with limits. Apple's Calendar and Reminders are free and block time and repeat tasks on every Apple device. Reclaim.ai has a free Lite plan for Google and Outlook calendars, and Super Productivity is free and open source. Sunsama itself has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Tideline is not free either: it is $11.99 once after a 30-day trial that needs no card and no email.

### What is the difference between Sunsama and Tideline?

Sunsama is a cloud planner for Mac, Windows, Linux, phones and the web, with about 20 integrations, a guided daily ritual, analytics and an AI assistant, for $17 to $22 a month. Tideline is a Mac-only menu bar app for $11.99 once that lays today's task queue into the gaps between your meetings by itself, adds a buffer to estimates and keeps the plan on the Mac.

### Does Sunsama work offline?

No. Sunsama is an account-based cloud service, and a request for an offline mode in its desktop app has been open since June 2020 with 231 votes. Tideline keeps the plan as two files in its own folder on the Mac and reads meetings from the Mac's Calendar app, so your plan is not stored on a server.

### Can a Mac day planner schedule tasks around my meetings automatically?

Yes. Sunsama auto-schedules a task into open time when you press X, and shifts nearby timeboxes on conflicts or an early finish. Morgen and Motion use AI planners. Tideline lays the whole task queue into the gaps between your calendar meetings on every change, inside your working hours, with a 25% buffer on each estimate by default.

### Where does a Mac day planner keep my tasks?

Sunsama stores your account data on Google Cloud servers in the United States, encrypted in transit and at rest. Tideline has no account: the plan stays on the Mac, and it goes online only for license and update checks, its app settings, crash reports and a few anonymous usage events, never with a task. Calendar writing, if you turn it on, syncs like your other calendars.

### Is Sunsama safe to use?

Yes. Sunsama is made by Summay, Inc., its iPhone app has been on the App Store since January 2022, and it offers SOC 2 Type I and Type II reports on request. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2 or later and at rest, and you can export it from Settings, Account Management, Export my data.

### What do Sunsama and its alternatives cost?

Sunsama is $17 a month billed yearly or $22 monthly, with a 14-day trial and no free plan. Morgen is $15 a month billed yearly or $30 monthly. Akiflow is $19 a month billed yearly or $34 monthly. Tiimo has a free plan on phones and a Pro subscription priced by region. Tideline is $11.99 once, with a 30-day trial.