Thruday vs Cairn
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Thruday
This visual planner helps neurodivergent individuals manage their day with customizable routines, tasks, and mood tracking. It breaks down activities into manageable steps and allows trusted assistants to help with planning and progress updates.
- Visual daily timeline planning
- Task breakdown into smaller steps
- Customizable routines and habits
- Mood and journal tracking
- Assistant invites for support
- Focus timers (Pomodoro)
- AI-assisted decision making (Plus)
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A visual day planner created for forgetful people — used by 40,000+ neurodivergent humans. Build your day as a visual timeline on the go using images, break your tasks down into smaller steps and build new routines that are easy to follow and stick to, all with the help of those you trust. Built by a team with lived experience of ADHD, autism and epilepsy, it includes visual routines, mood tracking, to-do lists, a journal and support from someone you trust with assistant invites. Thruday is an app for those that need more than just another to-do list or calendar app. Brain-dump your to-dos, decide what matters first, then turn them into scheduled tasks when your energy allows - The perfect ADHD planner. Flexible visual planning, habit tracking and routines for the neurospicy brains - neurodivergent productivity that adapts when your day changes. FREE INCLUDES — Visual Daily Planner: accessible time-blocking with colors, images and visual cues. — Priority To-do Lists: Brain-dump tasks and organize them by priority. — Focus Timers: Use Pomodoro timers to pause, extend or finish tasks early. — Mood Tracker: Track moods with shapes and color, add thoughts and emotions. — Journal & Notes: Write down your thoughts, reflect on your day and save the moments you want to remember. — Invite assistants: Get assistants, coaches or caregivers to help you plan your day. — Receive reminders: configure notifications to keep focused when the day slips. Do you have an assistant, ADHD coach or caregiver? Lower your mental load and get them involved with scheduling, task tracking and reminders - they can opt-in to updates in real time about your mood and progress. INCLUDED WITH PLUS — Print daily agendas on the go. — Create unlimited extra planners for you or your family. — AI-assisted to reduce decision fatigue. — Import and sync Thruday with your device calendar. — Custom repeat pattern for routines and habits. — Use custom tags and folders to organize tasks and notes. — Create printable PECS cards for communication support. — Access to all future Plus+ features. WHY THRUDAY EXISTS — Make time blindness and executive function support accessible. — For students navigating college life and studying. — Support independent living environments and caregivers. — Accessible everyday planning tools without ads. — Neurodivergent-friendly tools that help reduce overwhelm. — Ensure ADHD planning is visual and goal orientated. Thruday was created without investment and is managed and supported by an unpaid neurodivergent team with lived experience of ADHD, AuDHD, autism and epilepsy and neurodivergent life. Privacy matters to us. We do not use your data to train AI systems. Terms of Use: https://thruday.com/terms-of-use
Cairn
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Cairn is a second brain for every random thought. The idea in the shower. The thing you promised to do. The name of that book. Dump it into Cairn in seconds and let your head go quiet. Cairn keeps it, understands it, and brings it back when it matters. No account. No cloud AI. Your thoughts never leave your iPhone. Use it however your brain works: ideas, plans, reminders, to-dos, things to remember, or the occasional 2am thought. No folders, no formatting, no rules. DUMP IT • Type, dictate or take a photo. Voice is transcribed on your device • Add a reminder that rings like an alarm, or pin the place you were • Home Screen widget, Siri Shortcuts and the Share sheet, so nothing slips away • Your own filters for ideas, plans, a morning to-do, anything FIND IT BY MEANING, NOT EXACT WORDS • Type "trouble sleeping" and find "can't sleep again" • Search by date: "last March", "June 2024", "this week" • Photos are searchable too. Cairn reads the text in them and knows what they show • Search with your voice • Optional: find your thoughts from iPhone Search CAIRN REMEMBERS, SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO • Echoes: write something you thought months ago, and Cairn shows you the first time • Open loops: plans you wrote down and never closed, brought back gently • On this day: what was on your mind a year ago today • One card a day, never more. Tap "Not useful" and you'll see less of it SEE YOUR MIND • List or Sky: every thought is a star, and related thoughts connect on their own • Today: build a cairn, a stone for every day you dump a thought • Your thinking archetype and the themes that keep coming back • A calendar of your days. Go back to any date in one tap • With Apple Intelligence, themes get names and answers read naturally, always from your own words, never made up PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Everything runs on your device: understanding, search, transcription, photo reading • No account, no sign-in, no ads, no tracking. Your thoughts stay on your device, and backups go only to your own iCloud • Face ID app lock • Free encrypted backup to your own iCloud Drive, and an encrypted export you keep • Nothing is ever deleted on a timer FREE, AND CAIRN+ ONCE Capture, search, the Sky, photos, voice, reminders, On this day and backup are free forever. Cairn+ adds Echoes, Open loops, insights and your archetype, your own filters and extra themes. Every new user gets all of Cairn+ free for 14 days, no card, nothing to cancel. After that, Cairn+ is one payment, yours for good. No subscription. Works on iPhone and iPad. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://shreypinnada.github.io/cairn-legal/privacy-policy-ios.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Thruday at 15.0 against Cairn's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Thruday sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $10.00 per month and Cairn sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Thruday | Cairn |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (74 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 71.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 125 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Thruday LTD | Shrey Pinnada |
In-app purchases
Thruday
- 1 Month Premium7 Days trial$10.001 Month
- 1 Year Premium Subscription7 Days trial$50.001 Year
Cairn
- Cairn+ Lifetime$14.99









