There's dozens of daily planner applications you've nailed your choices down to Motion and Akiflow, both quality planner apps focused for busy professionals to better organize their day. Both Motion and Akiflow have a growing audience and haven't been around as long as apps like Todoist, but we're going to help you pick the best one for you.
Let's first overview what both Motion and Akiflow actually do.
How did we compare these?
Akiflow and Motion are very similar but with different features in areas. As we looked at these two applications, we made sure we focused on the following elements:
- Use for busy professionals - This is who we had in mind when it comes to the end user. Both Motion and Akiflow are much more tailored towards those who have more of a budget conscious and those who handle the tasks and calendar mayhem.
- The best features each pursue - Each of these tools do different things really well. Motion with their AI technologies, whilst Akiflow with the task consolidation. We've pulled together the best pros and cons to help you decide.
Let's start with a short introduction to both of these tools.
Motion vs Akiflow: A Quick Glance
Motion and Akiflow are advanced task management experience battling for the top spot as the best way to manage your calendar and tasks.
What is Akiflow?
Akiflow is designed around your tasks and calendar, but not only the tasks you add into app but tasks you collect across your workday. It allows you to plan your week but by bringing in tasks from other apps like Notion, ClickUp, Todoist and many more tools — making it a neat base to not only host all your tasks but also time-block them and manage your meetings.
What is Motion?
Motion is very similar but focuses their efforts more of AI management of your tasks and better scheduling your week and week ahead by using better task management details and using the AI to better align how you’re spending your time. Y-Combinator backed, Motion has been growing rapidly for managing calendar and tasks, as well as meeting scheduling in one.
Organizing these two aspects of your life can have a decent and profound impact on your week, so it is an important decision to get right. So, which one is it Motion or Akiflow? Let’s explore our full Motion vs Akiflow battle.
How do Motion and Akiflow weigh up when it comes to what they do:
Akiflow Pros: Best Bits
Okay, let's give you the best features that you'll find it Akiflow and how it differs from Motion so you can pick the gems for you.
1. Host Tasks From Everywhere
Task consolidation is like AI for Motion - a special feature that not many apps have.
One of the special elements of Akiflow is bringing tasks in using the integrations with many other productivity apps. The value of this is that Akiflow essentially becomes this base or dashboard for all your tasks. This is highly attractive for those who maybe work in a company that force the projects to be on ClickUp, a wife who loves Todoist and a friend who wants to manage your next vacation in Notion — you can control them all from Akiflow’s task consolidation platform.
This is something that separates Motion with Akiflow and makes them very different choices. Akiflow much more for the task dashboard handling, whilst Motion does better with auto-management of what you already have inside of the application.
2. A More Mindful Approach
Mindfulness is becoming more common in productivity apps.
Akiflow brings one of those features into the tool. Rituals is a really nice add-on to closing up your workday, similar to how another app called Sunsama works, you can close down and open your day using Rituals in Akiflow to better tune out of the stress of the day and see what you were actually successful on.
Guided planning is a system that focuses on hand-holding you into planning your week. For many people planning one of the most stressful bits because "what do they allocate to today" or "what is important" and Akiflow wants to help with closing down the day so that the next day is ready and removes that process of actually assigning what's coming up. This is something that Motion lacks completely although the AI will understand the value of each of your tasks much better and tries not to overload you so this is something that Motion users could expect to get in the future as the AI learns from your tasks.
Motion Pros: Best Bits
Let's expand on some of our favourite bits from exploring Motion.
1. AI Task Management
The masterpiece feature in Motion is AI.
The magic of Motion is with the AI functionality allowing you to add a task and for the AI to judge how important that truly is. The more tasks, more meetings and items you add, the better the AI validates the importance of tasks. This is a huge pro for those who might be struggling with prioritisation and need that assistance valuing the importance of tasks using simple task input task management.
Compared to Akiflow that doesn't have any form of AI right now, Motion separates itself well in the sense that is feels more a premium when it comes to better planning and a less manual experience - this is why it is more common with professionals that handle tasks and want to be more hands-off with their task management.
2. Speed of Use
Both applications were fast but Motion has a fast experience.
Motion is speedy and offers a good desktop and mobile apps that ooze performance. Coming up to the pricing section, you can clearly see where your money is going to keeping these apps moving smoothly and operating fast.
3. Meeting Scheduling
Meeting scheduling and booking pages are great in Motion.
You can not only manage tasks, but use the booking scheduler for meetings which is great to bypass tools like Calendly and other such calendar meeting scheduling apps. We’d highly recommend this if you want to book meetings with AI because when you send out that link you can set plenty of defining parameters like “don’t book a meeting 30 minutes together” or “within the 2 days of the current day” — and this playing in with the AI means you can really customise what and when meetings land.
Akiflow Cons: Not So Good Bits
Okay, Akiflow doesn't rock. There are some bits you might not like, here's things to consider before you pick Akiflow as you planner app.
1. Task Sharing
Akiflow lacks team abilities if you wanted to expand.
One of the negatives is that Akiflow is very much a solo platform for now. It could add this in the future, but when looking at this when scaling teams, Motion offers project management and if you’re growing things and love the tool — you can’t bring in team items. Arguably you can manage tasks from apps like ClickUp, Notion and other project management tools but not to the same capacity as task management and projects. This is perfect for solo user, but it isn't like Motion here where if you got keen on growing the use, you could. So please take note of this when using it.
Think 2-3 years in advanced when picking tools like this - will my situation change and develop into needing something like this. Well best you can.
2. Less Advanced Meeting Scheduler
Yes, you can schedule and send booking links but it isn't the same as Motion
Whilst not a con really, you can book meetings with their availability system - it isn’t as complex and advanced as Motion’s one and that’s when you wish the AI abilities would come to Akiflow. They offer some abilities but nothing AI ready like Motion offers in their meeting scheduler. Worth looking more at Motion if you use daily.
Motion Cons: Not So Good Bits
The not so good bits about Motion - here they are folks:
1. Task Input Heavy
Adding in tasks will take you longer in Motion.
When you look at Motion AI from the surface, you think life could be solved, but in reality it is all on your shoulders meaning you need to add lots of task details — task urgency, deadlines, start date, priority and much more all determine the value and placement of Motion’s AI functionality, but of course it gets better with time and learning. Depth of task input is much more in Motion but you can also add a pretty decent amount in Akiflow but it isn't totally mandatory feeling to make the AI system work best.
2. Stale Project Management Views
Motion does project management but probably only for up to 15 people.
Although they offer that layer that Akiflow don’t with project management if you wanted to add team members at a later date. It does lack view and ways you can express tasks in a project. Nothing like you’d see from a more focused project management software but the price remains less expensive for this. You won't get a fully fledged project management experience, if you're hunting for those - check out our best project management software for small teams or maybe even the best project management software overall.
Ratings: Motion vs Akiflow Scoring
Our formal ratings give Motion and Akiflow very similar scoring, with Motion pipping Akiflow by a few points, let’s unpack that and see why we believe Motion to be more suitable in areas as a package for planning your week and task list alongside your calendar.
These five key aspects of the tool is how we rate and review our tools.
1. Design - Winner: Akiflow
Both Motion and Akiflow have good designers behind them.
Although for design, we rated Akiflow higher. The experience from the calendar to the upcoming view is fantastic and presents a clean and simple look. Features like Rituals show this really well. We think if you're more keen on design and what the application looks like then Akiflow is better for you, although Motion isn't exactly ugly it actually has a clean look too, we just rate Akiflow higher.
Akiflow wins our design award here.
2. Features - Winner: Motion (close)
Power features belong to Motion here.
Motion is much more tailored to a growing team so I’d say with the AI, task input, calendar blocking and combination of meeting scheduler with AI functions — it offers collectively more, Akiflow is a very very close second with their task consolidation, objectives, rituals & more. There's more opportunities in Motion to expand with the tool beyond just solo use.
Winner here is Motion.
3. Performance - Winner: Motion
To be honest, this was too close. Speed isn’t an issue with both of these. From our tests, Akiflow and Motion are very marginal but Motion’s performance in-app and loading seems snappier than Akiflow, but again close.
Motion we found to be snappier and faster although on startup Akiflow always won.
4. Practicality - Winner: Akiflow
Availability, only recently, Motion and Akiflow haven’t been outside of the desktop world. So this one is too close to call, Akiflow wins it for having the tools for longer.
5. Value - Winner: Akiflow
Bang for your buck, the most cost effective we think is Akiflow.
Yearly, Akiflow is less expensive than Motion. So Akiflow takes the mark here. For the value you get from Akiflow too as being your base for dashboards, good value if you go with yearly. Less so on monthly pricing, much like all these software tools these days.
Motion Pricing vs Akiflow Pricing
Both of these twos are no mean cheap in comparison with tools like Todoist.
Motion is priced in an aggressive style as is Akiflow in an attempt to bring more serious users. So if you’re looking at cheaper, more low-cost options, you might not get that with these two — but I’m sure you know that.
- Akiflow is priced at $24.99 per month or alternatively $14.99 per month, billed annually, so in total just shy of $180 per annum.
- Motion is priced at $34.99 monthly or alternatively going to their yearly option will save you a fair bit with a grand total of $228 (a few pennies off) per annum
- So collectively Motion at $19 per month is still $43 more expensive yearly than Akiflow.
- Motion also has a team option which is priced cheaper at $12 per month.
So pricing wise, the most cost-effective is Akiflow if you go yearly with Motion coming in more expensive than most productivity applications. Naturally, pricing is subject to change and these tools create offers too.
Motion or Akiflow: Our Verdict
Let’s keep this super simple and focus on the core differences — which one is better?
- Motion is much better if you need more of a helping hand with meetings, task prioritisation and calendar management. The AI in Motion works well to help you define what is important.
- Akiflow is much better if you want your task app to be the dashboard app for all the other things you do and you’re not sold on any AI elements as of yet.
From our judgement, there’s a key difference AI (Motion) and task consolidation (Akiflow) — we believe it is whatever temps you the most. Motion is better for a busy professional who wants their task management to judge and better allocate time for them.
Whereas Akiflow is currently still a bit more manual and suitable for those who use lots of project management apps across their work day and wants to take more control at where they are based - that's why it is a task dashboard experience.
- Motion vs Akiflow: A Quick Glance
- Akiflow Pros: Best Bits
- Motion Pros: Best Bits
- Akiflow Cons: Not So Good Bits
- Motion Cons: Not So Good Bits
- Ratings: Motion vs Akiflow Scoring
- Motion Pricing vs Akiflow Pricing
- Motion or Akiflow: Our Verdict
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Francesco D'Alessio
Francesco D'Alessio
Francesco D'Alessio
Francesco D'Alessio
Francesco D'Alessio
Francesco D'Alessio
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