Comparison

Pencil Calendar vs PlannerMD

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pencil Calendar

This app combines handwritten planning with digital productivity tools. Plan your year, month, week, or day using your Apple Pencil, with options to doodle, sketch, and add notes. It syncs with your Apple Calendar and offers customizable widgets for easy access to your schedule.

Highlights
  • Handwritten planning with Apple Pencil
  • Year, Month, Week, and Day views
  • Syncs with Apple Calendar
  • Customizable widgets
  • Export to PDF or PNG
  • Template switching without data loss
  • Backup and restore functionality
Features
Read full description

CalendarPad is a handwritten calendar and planner for iPad and Apple Pencil. Write directly on spacious Year, Month, Week, and Day pages, see Apple Calendar events beside your plans, and keep important information visible with widgets. Plan freely without giving up handwriting. Add notes, priorities, to-dos, sketches, and reminders in your own style, then export any page as PDF or PNG to print or share. WRITE DIRECTLY ON YOUR CALENDAR • Handwrite, draw, and annotate with Apple Pencil • Use spacious pages designed for planning by hand • Add notes, priorities, to-dos, goals, and reminders • Choose background colors and use Light or Dark Mode PLAN AT EVERY SCALE • Year view for goals, holidays, and important dates • Month view for an easy-to-read calendar overview • Week view for priorities, tasks, and weekly planning • Day view for focused plans and Apple Calendar events • Perpetual calendars—keep planning without buying a new planner each year • Jump directly to any date or return to Today FLEXIBLE TEMPLATES • Choose from multiple layout styles for Year, Month, Week, and Day • Change templates as your planning needs change • Keep existing handwritten entries when switching layouts APPLE CALENDAR AND WIDGETS • View Apple Calendar events inside the Day planner • Add Month or Week calendar widgets to your Home Screen • Keep your schedule, notes, priorities, and to-dos visible • Daily schedule widgets refresh for the new day EXPORT, PRINT, OR SHARE • Export calendar pages as PDF or PNG • Print your handwritten calendar • Share pages with clear, useful filenames BACKUP & RESTORE — PRO • Create manual backups of calendar data, templates, and settings • Use optional automatic backups with status and attention alerts • Keep backup files locally or in iCloud Drive • Review available backups and restore a selected version FREE AND PRO ACCESS • Free: Use the Month Calendar for the current and previous months • Free: Export pages as PDF or PNG • Pro: Unlock Year, Week, and Day planners • Pro: Access future months in the Month Calendar • Pro: View Apple Calendar events in the Day planner • Pro: Use advanced backup and restore features • One-time Pro upgrade—no subscription Questions or feedback? We’d love to hear from you. support@semore-software.com

About

PlannerMD

This app helps busy professionals manage complex schedules and to-do lists, especially those with erratic work hours. It allows for customized routines based on workdays, off days, and specific time constraints, offering flexibility for personal habits and reminders.

Highlights
  • Customizable work and off day scheduling
  • Routine scheduling based on daily availability
  • Snooze feature for reminders
  • Flexible habit tracking
  • Designed for erratic work schedules
Features
Read full description

Name any schedule management, productivity, or to-do list app, and we’ve tried it. Do you want to have your week start on Sunday or Monday? What time do you wake up? What time do you go to bed? What if the answer is…I have no idea. As a physician who works shifts on weekdays, weekends, holidays, nights, evenings…you name it…none of the productivity apps work for me. I designed this app for personal use, and I think that most busy professionals will find it is just what they need. Want to start a daily workout habit, but working out on a day where you work 15 hours and have to be up at 4 am tomorrow is impossible. You’ll love that you can tell the app when you work, when you are off, and schedule different routines depending on what your day has in store. Tell the app you want to go to the gym only on off days, for example. Also, enjoy the snooze feature. Have 20 hours of continuing education credits due at the end of the year, but don’t want to be reminded about it on a Tuesday in March? Snooze it for a month. It won’t be a distraction, but you will be reminded when you’re ready. This app is simple enough to be useful for anyone, even if you work a 9-5, but it is specifically designed for busy professionals with erratic work schedules and…maybe a touch of ADD.

Screenshots

PlannerMD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PlannerMD at 5.0 against Pencil Calendar's 4.2. PlannerMD also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (daily vs fortnightly). Pencil Calendar's advantage is ratings volume (85 vs 1). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pencil Calendar sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. PlannerMD asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PlannerMD holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pencil Calendar has 85 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pencil Calendar ships an update fortnightly, PlannerMD daily. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Pencil Calendar versus PlannerMD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPencil CalendarPlannerMD
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (85 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings85 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSemore SoftwareJerrid Pippin

Customer experience

Pencil Calendar

All ratings82 ratings
Positive80.5%
Neutral4.9%
Negative14.6%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive37.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative50.0%

PlannerMD

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Pencil Calendar

One-time2
  • CalendaPad Pro Promo$7.99
  • CalendarPad Pro$7.99
None

PlannerMD

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pencil Calendar free?
Pencil Calendar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PlannerMD free?
PlannerMD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pencil Calendar or PlannerMD?
PlannerMD is rated higher. Pencil Calendar averages 4.2 out of 5 from 85 ratings, while PlannerMD averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Pencil Calendar or PlannerMD have ads?
Neither Pencil Calendar nor PlannerMD shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pencil Calendar or PlannerMD?
Pencil Calendar ships an update fortnightly, and PlannerMD daily. Most recently, Pencil Calendar was updated on October 23, 2026 and PlannerMD on September 18, 2026.

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