Thinkblot vs Pencil Planner & Calendar Pro
Pick Pencil Planner & Calendar Pro if you want a handwritten day, week and month planner on iPad that shows your Calendar events and Reminders to write over.
Pick Thinkblot if you want your handwriting to reach your calendar too: a tapped line becomes a reminder or an hour on your calendar, and ticking a box on paper ticks it in Reminders. Thinkblot's Planner fills today's page from your calendar and carries open items forward.
Last checked: 27 October 2026 · Compared with Thinkblot's Planner notebook
Thinkblot and Pencil Planner & Calendar Pro, row by row.
| Thinkblot | Pencil Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone (including iPhone Duo), iPad with Apple Pencil, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro (the iPad app). iOS and iPadOS 27.1 or later. | iPad (details not confirmed). |
| Handwriting recognition | Read on your device. Fixing a misread word changes the text, never your ink. | — |
| What happens to a line you write | It stays ink. When Thinkblot can help, a small blot appears at the end of the line. Tap it, and the line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or time on your calendar. | It stays handwriting. Events and reminders aren't created from ink. |
| Tasks and reminders | A box in front of a line makes it a task. Tick the box on paper and it's done in Reminders too. Unticked tasks carry forward. | Shows your Calendar events and Reminders to write over. |
| Maths | Write a sum and an equals sign, and the answer is written for you. Write “total” under a column and it adds itself. | — |
| Privacy, account and where data lives | No account and no Thinkblot server. Notebooks live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Private Cloud Compute is optional and asks first. | — |
| Sync | Your own iCloud, through Apple's private CloudKit database, on the same Apple Account. | — |
| Export | PDF or Markdown. | — |
| Pricing model | Not out yet. Join the waitlist. | — |
| Calendar | Today's page fills in from your calendar. A line becomes an hour: pick a free slot. | Shows Calendar events to write over. |
| Reminders | Ticking a box on paper ticks it in Reminders. Unticked tasks carry forward. | Shows Reminders to write over. |
| Planner pages | A page for each day, and a page for the whole week. | Handwritten day, week and month pages. |
On a phone, scroll the table sideways.
Where each one is better.
- Day, week and month pages made for writing by hand.
- A month view to write in.
- Your Calendar events and Reminders shown on the page to write over.
- A tapped line becomes a reminder or an hour on your calendar.
- Ticking a box on the page ticks it in Reminders.
- Still-open items carry forward, and slipping ones are marked.
- A Journal, Sketchbook and more in the same app, on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Thinkblot vs Pencil Planner, asked.
- Is Thinkblot a Pencil Planner alternative?
- Yes, if you want a handwritten planner whose lines can become reminders and calendar time. If you want a month view to write on, Pencil Planner has one.
- Can Pencil Planner create reminders from handwriting?
- Its listing describes showing your Calendar events and Reminders to write over, not creating them from ink. In Thinkblot, you tap the blot at the end of a line and it becomes a reminder or calendar time.
- Does Thinkblot show my calendar?
- Yes. In a Planner, today's page fills in from your calendar, and a date written on the page means that date.
- Do I need an account for Thinkblot?
- No. There's no Thinkblot account and no Thinkblot server. Your notebooks live on your devices and in your own iCloud.
How do
you think?
Thinkblot is coming soon to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. One email the day it's out. That's all.
Join the waitlistClaims about Pencil Planner & Calendar Pro come only from its own pages, as they read on 27 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and may change.
Thinkblot facts come from the Thinkblot support page. Last checked: 27 October 2026.