Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Digital Planner vs Planner & Journal

Digital Planner 4.3★ · Free + IAP 45
Winner Planner & Journal
Planner & Journal 4.6★ · Free + IAP 60

For users seeking a more robust and reliable digital planning experience with a better free tier, Planner & Journal (App B) is the better choice, despite its own subscription criticisms.

Full reviews: Digital Planner · Planner & Journal

Digital Planner (App A) and Planner & Journal (App B) both offer digital planning and journaling, but both are heavily criticized for their aggressive paywalls. Planner & Journal, despite its cost, offers a more stable experience and a wider range of features for paying users, while Digital Planner struggles with basic functionality and a severely limited free version.

Head to head

Free Features & Value tieR1R4R5R6
Digital Planner Digital Planner is heavily criticized for offering very few free features, with users feeling that almost everything requires a subscription R1R5R7R13. Many users express frustration that the app is advertised as free but is virtually unusable without paying R4R6.
Planner & Journal Planner & Journal also faces significant criticism for its limited free options and aggressive paywalls, with users stating that almost nothing is free R61R64R66. Some paying users even report that they still encounter limitations or additional fees after subscribing R64.
Ease of Use & Interface edge: Planner & JournalR2R9R16R46
Digital Planner Some users find Digital Planner easy to use and understand R2. However, others report difficulties with basic functions like writing, moving the screen, zooming R9, changing font size, or moving text boxes R16R46. There are also complaints about menus blocking half the page R16 and issues with adjusting text size after updates .
Planner & Journal Planner & Journal is described by many as easy to use, versatile, and flexible, with intuitive personalization options . Some users find it very neat and organized . However, a few users struggle to figure out how to use it or find the process of filling it in aggravating .
Features & Customization edge: Planner & JournalR5R7R13R19
Digital Planner Digital Planner offers cute concepts and ideas R5, with some users appreciating its aesthetic qualities . However, free users are severely limited in templates, stickers, colors, and notebook covers R5R7R13R19. There are also complaints about not being able to add custom covers or page designs, and issues with image layering and alignment R49.
Planner & Journal Planner & Journal is praised for its creativity, offering many different journals, papers, stickers, and templates . Users enjoy the ability to create from scratch or use templates for various purposes like mood tracking and therapy notes . However, similar to App A, many of these customization options are locked behind a subscription R61.
Reliability & Performance tieR9R43R49R63
Digital Planner Digital Planner users report issues with the app not letting them write, move the screen, or zoom, and writing randomly occurring when not intended R9. Some users also mention the app being glitchy R49 and having difficulty with basic functions like erasing R43.
Planner & Journal Planner & Journal users frequently report issues with the app freezing constantly R63, glitches , and taking a long time to load journals or giving errors . Some users experience words being deleted when exiting a journal , the erase tool acting randomly , and the app crashing too many times . It also may not work offline reliably .
Pick Digital Planner if

you are looking for a very basic, free digital planner and are willing to tolerate significant limitations and potential functionality issues R2.

Pick Planner & Journal if

you are willing to pay for a subscription and want a highly customizable digital planner and journal with a wide range of templates and creative options, despite some reported glitches .

Evidence note: Both apps have a strong negative skew in recent reviews due to aggressive monetization strategies. Many positive reviews for both apps are very short and lack specific details, making it challenging to compare features and reliability comprehensively. The free vs. paid asymmetry is very pronounced, with most negative reviews for both apps focusing on the lack of free content.

Frequently asked

Is Digital Planner truly free to use?
No, while Digital Planner is free to download, many users report that almost all features, including templates, stickers, and even basic functionalities like different colors or notebook covers, require a paid subscription, making the free version severely limited and frustrating to use R1R5R7R13.
What are the main complaints about Planner & Journal?
The main complaints about Planner & Journal revolve around its aggressive subscription model, with users stating that almost everything, including stickers, templates, and even creating new journals, requires payment R61R64R66. Additionally, many users report issues with the app freezing, glitching, or deleting content, even for paying subscribers R63.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R1] Digital Planner 1/5 · US I hate this app: Within 10 minutes of having this app I deleted it without ANY hesitation. First of all, all the things cost money!! I feel like to actually enjoy this app you have to spend SO much money on it!!
  2. [R4] Digital Planner 1/5 · US No free option: I wasn’t given any option other than to pay. If it’s going to be a paid app just make it one, that sucked and I was really excited
  3. [R5] Digital Planner 4/5 · US Ok but like…: I really like the concept and idea and I thinks it’s really cute, but basically EVERYTHING is in the subscription. And I know you need to make money, but like come on, Only ONE template per category. Only THREE plain not books out of all of them. Only ONE sticker per sticker section. AND THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY COLORS. I really like this app and I want to keep it, but could you please
  4. [R6] Digital Planner 3/5 · US Please read this developer😩: Basically, at first when I saw this stuff, I was so excited because I knew it was free but then all the sudden and then I came in the game looked very beautiful and fun but like it said that you have like buy and subscribe but then like it said two months and I’m like per two months only 25 or $24 but whatever but then I wanted to do it for free, but there was no error
  5. [R2] Digital Planner 5/5 · US Top 1000: This app is insane works so well let’s go people this app is so easy and I get everything I need done I’m a new person download now!👌🏻💕
  6. [R9] Digital Planner 3/5 · US Not the best…: It wouldn’t let me write, move the screen, and zoom on the screen and it would randomly won’t write when I need it to, and it WILL write when I don’t need it to.
  7. [R16] Digital Planner 2/5 · US Unimpressed: Maybe I’m just not familiar with how to use these kind of apps but this particular one was really hard to use. I couldn’t change the size of the font and whenever I wanted to move a text box to the left-hand side, it would be covered by the text box editor. I also expected there to be way more templates to use for $70 a year. My biggest pet peeve though was that there was actually no
  8. [R46] Digital Planner 1/5 · US Need to fix this error: I’m mad at this app can’t even make the text bigger.
  9. [R7] Digital Planner 1/5 · US Bad: It’s been horrible, absolutely horrible three brushes three covers three 3 templates two brushes everything’s limited if anything else you have to pay for VIP and every single time you open the app you have to always ask you to pay the subscription
  10. [R13] Digital Planner 1/5 · US Terrible: Please change this: why do people without premium only get 3 book covers like why? Second question why do you want people to have premium just to get more book covers ? Please remove premium so people will give this five stars and this app is so useless and I can’t use notes instead
  11. [R19] Digital Planner 1/5 · US not enough options: also not very much stuff free
  12. [R43] Digital Planner 1/5 · US Not working or worth it: The app would not let me erase anything and to get anything is way too expensive for such a horrible app. If you are looking for a journal to create with cute templates this is not the one. you only get five templates and then you have to pay for the rest which for how much you have to pay is not worth it so please dont get this app the photos are lying to you
  13. [R49] Digital Planner 2/5 · US Not great: You can’t add a customer cover, custom page designs, and the app is glitchy. You can’t move images between layers and even when you scrap it and start over with the first picture as the base layer, if you try to resize everything it switches the layers. When you leave and come back the images aren’t aligned to where they were, even if you “lock” the layer. Very limited functionality.
  14. [R63] Planner & Journal 3/5 · US Paid a lot for it to freeze constantly: I paid way too much for the yearly subscription for it to constantly freeze, like within minutes of opening the app. Incredibly frustrating and almost unusable.
  15. [R61] Planner & Journal 2/5 · US Not what expected: I really thought this app would be something cute and customizable, but all I found were a bunch of weird templates and it was very pricey so I could not fully discover my creativity. I do hope that you guys can either make the app free or at least lower the prices. This app has been interesting, but I do hope this review helps you decide whether or not you want to use this app.
  16. [R64] Planner & Journal 2/5 · US Still limited after paying: I paid the 3 month subscription and it says I can use it on all devices but even the main one I subscribed for is very limited. It isn’t worth it for the features I was able to use. I thought there would be many more. Not ones I would have to pay an additional fee after subscribing.
  17. [R66] Planner & Journal 3/5 · US More free options: Wish they had more free options. Only get 3 pages for free. Love it tho I just keep erasing and making new entry’s

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store