The best editor-approved planners and agendas for even the busiest schedules

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For the best planners and agendas, shop from brands like Papier, Anthropologie, Moleskin and more. Bando; PapierThings like smart clocks, digital calendars and to-do lists help you stay organized and on top of your routine. Traditional planners also keep your schedule on track and typically don’t come at a high price either. Finding the best planner for your personal routine, however, involves more than simply picking up the first one you see.

Depending on your routine, the best planner or agenda for you will likely have more than just blank paper — it should come with features like calendars, tabs, sections for to-do lists, lists of important dates and holidays, and at the least, lined pages. Plus, a great planner should be able to keep up with your lifestyle, which means it has to have a durable cover to help keep it together for months.

To find the best planners and agendas for this year, I gathered recommendations from my colleagues and included options from brands I’ve used myself. Read more about our favorite analog planners below.

$36.00PapierWhat to knowWhat we likeHardcoverCustomizableAvailable as academic calendarSomething to noteMay be small for someThis hardcover planner is available as a mid-year planner and as an academic year option. It’s available in several styles and it includes calendars and weekly planning sections for each month. It also has a section for dates, reminders, contact information and more. Each calendar also has a section on the side for important notes.

In addition to the weekly planning sections and calendars and daily to-do lists, the back of the planner also has dotted and lined pages for additional note taking. It also has a ribbon to place between pages to help keep your place. The planner, which has 192 pages, is available as a hardcover or as a softer spiral-bound option.

$9.99Amazon$36.73MichaelsWhat to knowWhat we like30 mins. scheduling incrementsHas hydration remindersIsn’t datedSomething to noteSized like a small laptopThis planner is a favorite of NBC Selected senior editor Shalwah Evans, who says she loves it because it allows her to physically check boxes off of her to-do list. “I particularly like this planner because it gives me enough room for my extensive lists (unlike some previous puny planners I’ve owned) and it does 30-minute time slots for my appointments,” she says. “One of my favorite features is the space to add my meals and water intake, and yes, I fill this in daily — my nutritionist would be so proud.”

Since it’s a full-size planner (read: large), it is better for keeping in one place, like your office desk, rather than trekking back and forth daily, according to Evans. Also, while it isn’t dated, it’s a daily planner, so it’s best if used for day-of obligations as opposed to for planning weeks or months in advance.

$9.99AmazonWhat to knowWhat we likeAffordableHas a ribbon bookmarkAvailable in many stylesSomething to noteDoesn’t have calendarsAvailable in 20 colors, this planner from Amazon comes with a ribbon bookmark, an elastic band and 160 lined pages. It is also available in blank, dotted and 252-page options and you can also get it in multipacks.

While it doesn’t have calendars and pre-made to-do lists, it’s far from plain, but great for people who want a simple planner that also doesn’t cost a ton of money. It has a pocket on the inside and it comes with multiple lined adhesive labels, which you can use to write your name, contact information and other important details in case you lose it. It’s also compact enough to fit in a small tote or purse, which is useful if you want to travel to and from work or school with it.

“I’m not picky about journals. I really just need a notebook that isn’t too big or small and has a decent amount of pages,” says Nikki Brown, NBC Selected senior editor. “I love the basic-ness and dependability of Paperage notebooks. I always keep one in my bag and find the cover to be durable despite everything it rubs up against in my work bag.”

$40.00PapierWhat to knowWhat we likeHardcoverCustomizableHas a built-in ribbon bookmarkSomething to noteNo pre-filled months or datesUnlike the other Papier planners above, this one is undated, so while it has calendars and pages for days of the week, they aren’t filled in. You can add the month or day of the week yourself and you can customize the calendar with your own important events in addition to holidays. It has 365 pages — so you could plan out the entire year — and there are pages with grids in the back, for mathematical work. Plus, you can have your name and the year added to the front of the planner if you really want to add some custom details.

NBC Selected editorial operations associate Jem Alabi has this planner and says it helps keep her organized. “Other than the fact that it’s undated (which saves me the shame of forgetting a day or two when I’m traveling or really busy), the page layout is priority-based which reflects the way my brain works,” she says. “As someone who has to-do lists for my work, home, and social life, I can keep all my tasks in this one planner.”

Alabi enjoys using this planner to keep her work, home and social life organized in one place. Courtesy Jem AlabiBest daily planner Papier Italian Summer Letter-Size 2027 Weekly Planner$40.00PapierWhat to knowWhat we likeAvailable as hard or softcoverYou can clip a pen to itRounded edgesSomething to noteOnly available as weeklyThis softcover option from Papier is perfect if you prefer something with a more flexible feel and spiral binding that you can use to hold your writing tool. It has a calendar for every month in 2027, each of which has holidays and themed months listed as well as a sidebar for writing notes and reminders. It also has a section for monthly goals, lined sections to use for to-do lists, weekly grids and blank areas for sketching and more. The top of each lined section also has bullets for writing important tasks for each month. The planner can be purchased in a hard cover option too.

$14.99AmazonWhat to knowWhat we likeHas monthly tabsHas a pocketLarge sizeSomething to noteDoesn’t fit in a small toteNo dedicated to-do listsI first bought this planner because I prefer the large size over the small planners, so it’s great for people who enjoy something that is closer to the size of regular copy paper. It has tabs for each month, starting from the middle of 2026 and all the way to the end of 2027. It has monthly calendars as well as mini calendars on the edges of the pages (sometimes called reference calendars), weekly sections with lined areas for each day, pages for writing contact information, a map of the United States and a list of major holidays.

I like using it at my desk for when I’m home and planning personal errands. Also, being left handed, the size of the planner makes it easier to write in it compared to smaller options. I also love the side tabs for each month because they let me find any month in a few seconds.

$60.00Sterling InkWhat to knowWhat we likeHas gold edgesHas blank pages in the backWorks with fountain pensSomething to noteDoesn’t have holidaysNo dedicated to-do listsNBC Selected editor Mili Godio put a lot of thought into buying the right planner and spent a lot of time shopping before landing on this one from Sterling Ink.

“The Common Planner kept popping up over and over, and when I finally pulled the plug on the $60 planner, I understood why it’s so popular,” she says. “It’s extremely basic, which is exactly what I wanted; it has a month-to-month calendar, weekly pages, quarterly pages and yearly/monthly trackers — no quotes, designs, holidays or moon phases that I find take up unnecessary space.” Her favorite feature of the planner is that it has blank pages in the back that she uses a lot to jot down to-dos and deadlines.”

Godio loves this planner from Sterling Ink Common Planner because it has a simple but elegant design.Courtesy Mili GodioHow I picked the best plannersHere is everything I factored into the list of planners above. Most of the options I included are based on products our staff has used before.

I’m a commerce editor at NBC Selected, where I write about lifestyle, organization, home storage and more. I’ve written about closet organizing products, dorm room essentials for college students, label-making devices and more. For this story I received recommendations from different NBC Selected staffers (and used my own favorites) who are pretty busy and regularly use planners to keep their schedules organized.

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Cory FernandezCory Fernandez is a commerce editor for NBC Selected, and an authority on all things food, cooking, kitchen, home, and general lifestyle.