Finalist vs Sternly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Finalist
This app combines your calendar, tasks, reminders, and weather into a single, visually appealing timeline. It integrates with your journal and activity data to inspire your planning. Enjoy a beautiful and joyful planning experience without complex workflows.
- Unified timeline view
- Calendar, task, and reminder integration
- Weather forecast display
- Journal and activity ring integration
- Customizable themes
- Native Apple technology integration
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Inspired by paper planners, Finalist shows your calendar, tasks, notes, reminders and weather forecast in one beautiful timeline. It even pulls in your Journal Suggestions and Activity Rings to keep you inspired. Gorgeous themes make planning a joy, not a chore. Finalist is built for people who finish things, no complex workflows or productivity theater. NOTES, IN YOUR PLANNER Your planner remembers what you wrote. A dedicated Notes tab gives you notebooks, tags and search. Keep native notes that sync over iCloud, or connect a folder of plain markdown files, including your Obsidian vault, and edit them in place. Tasks inside your markdown files become real Finalist tasks: dated, tagged and checkable anywhere in the app. YOUR DAY, ON YOUR WRIST The Apple Watch app puts your whole day one glance away: events, tasks, reminders and habits in one scrollable view, topped by a Now card that always knows what matters next. Check off pinned lists from the wrist, grocery list included, and add tasks by keyboard, scribble or dictation. Complications and a Smart Stack widget round it out. (Requires watchOS 26.) DESIGN YOUR DAY Choose between two Daily designs: Daybook, the classic stacked layout, or Broadsheet, a newsprint-inspired look that shines on iPad and Mac. Rearrange sections with the layout editor and save your own presets. On the rebuilt Timeline, drag tasks onto the grid to sketch your day in pencil, then commit when it's real. "I've tried dozens of planning apps, this is the one that finally works." - Beta user "The integration of Reminders and Lists reduces the apps I need daily and makes planning actually fun." - Beta user Built with native Apple technologies: no accounts to create, syncs over iCloud, supports Family Sharing, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Mac. Full database backup, export and import via JSON and OPML. Finalist is a love letter to paper planners. Give it a try, it feels great :) Purchasing information To get the full functionality in Finalist you will need to either purchase a subscription or a one time In-App Purchase for Lifetime access. The purchase amount will be applied to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Lifetime purchase is a one-time fee. For more information, see our Terms of Use at https://finalist.works/eula/ and our Privacy Policy at https://finalist.works/privacy-policy/
Sternly
Build and maintain positive habits with a focus on daily consistency. Track progress, grow streaks, and stay motivated through a simple, no-fluff interface. Unlock achievements and utilize a library of pre-set or custom habits.
- Daily habit tracking
- Streak tracking
- Progress calendar
- Achievements
- Habit library
- Custom habits
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Sternly helps you build the habits that matter — and actually stick to them. Pick the habits you want to master. Check them off every day. Watch your streaks grow. Stay motivated with progress tracking, achievements, and a daily score that keeps you honest. No fluff. No overwhelm. Just you, your habits, and the discipline to show up every single day. FEATURES - Track your daily habits — start small, grow over time - Daily score and completion ring - Streak tracking — never break the chain - Weekly, monthly and all-time progress calendar - 28 achievements to unlock - 50+ habit library across 5 categories - Create custom habits with your own icons
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sternly at none against Finalist's 7. Sternly also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). Finalist's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (528 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
Both are free to download. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Sternly asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sternly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Finalist has 528 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Finalist ships an update every 10 days, Sternly every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Finalist | Sternly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (528 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 528 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #205 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Diversion Marketing Inc | Sambodh Choudhary |
Customer experience
Finalist
Sternly
Bugs and requests
Finalist
Reported bugs
9 issues- Settings/preferences crash the app
- Pro subscription not recognized after canceling auto-renewal
- Weather widget fails to display without manual toggling
- App freezes and becomes unresponsive on iPad
- Empty tasks cannot be permanently deleted
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- App crashes when accessing certain reminder lists
- Slow performance after force closing and reopening
- Widget functionality discontinued or broken
- macOS version crashes and lacks performance
Requested features
18 requests- Apple Watch native app
- Recurring/repeating tasks and reminders
- Subtasks functionality
- Task tagging and filtering
- Event location and travel time details
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- Natural language input for tasks and events
- Snooze reminder functionality
- Task comments and checklist support
- List grouping and archiving options
- Menubar-only mode for macOS
- Early/advance reminders for tasks
- Notes section for daily journaling
- School/team collaboration version
- Chinese language support
- Dark mode option
- Family sharing features
- Multiple calendar visibility in month view
- Invite others to meetings and add conferencing
Sternly
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Finalist
- Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
- Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
- Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
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- Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Finalist Lifetime$59.99
- Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99
Sternly
No in-app purchases









