Daycrafter vs Penlog
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Daycrafter
This app helps you intentionally craft your day by organizing tasks, recurring habits, and undated projects. It offers a calm, focused interface with customizable themes and offline functionality. A portion of subscription revenue supports anti-human trafficking efforts.
- Dated tasks
- Recurring habits
- Undated projects
- Unified 'Today' view
- Siri integration
- Offline functionality
- Customizable themes
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A meaningful day doesn't happen by accident. It's crafted. Daycrafter brings your tasks, your recurring habits, and your undated projects into one calm, intentional space so shaping a good day takes less effort than reacting to a busy one. WHAT DAYCRAFTER DOES - Dated tasks for the things that need doing today - Recurring habits on a weekly or monthly schedule, with a gentle streak count and a monthly completion ring - Undated projects for ideas and multi-step work that isn't ready for a deadline. Break them into steps, and convert any step into a dated task the moment it's ready to happen - A Today view that pulls in your calendar events, tasks, and habits into one scroll ADD A TASK WITHOUT OPENING THE APP Just say "Add a task to Daycrafter." Siri drops it straight onto today's list, no unlocking your phone required. It also works from Shortcuts, Spotlight, and the Action Button. CALM, NOT GAMIFIED Streaks are there if you want to watch your consistency build, but Daycrafter isn't chasing points or badges. Eight quiet color themes let the app feel like yours without ever feeling loud, each one tuned to look just as good in dark mode as it does in light. BUILT TO STAY LIGHT Works fully offline, and syncs quietly across your devices when you're back online. No ads, ever. Simple cleanup tools keep old completed tasks and projects from piling up, so the app stays as light as the day you're planning. Built to fit an iPhone SE without feeling cramped, and just as sharp stretched across a full iPad and looks great in both light and dark mode. A SMALL WAY TO DO GOOD Crafting a better day for yourself helps craft a better future for someone else. 10% of every subscription goes to A21, an organization working to end human trafficking. Daycrafter is available for a Basic monthly ($.99) or yearly ($12.99) subscription that supports continued improvements and new features. Both offer a free trial to give you time to get to know Daycrafter and decide if it works for you. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://driftlightapps.com/privacy-policy/ Daycrafter: craft the day you want to live.
Penlog
This app allows you to write handwritten notes and tasks using an Apple Pencil on your iPad. It automatically syncs these entries with your Notion workspace, converting your handwriting into actionable tasks and organized notes. The app also offers features like task carry-forward and a morning briefing with integrated AI.
- Handwritten task and note creation
- Two-way Notion task synchronization
- Automatic notation reading (tasks, notes, headings)
- Carry-forward of unfinished tasks
- Morning briefing with calendar and AI integration
- REST API and MCP server for developers
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Write a task by hand. Watch it show up in Notion. Penlog is a handwritten daily journal. You write with Apple Pencil on iPad. On iPhone you see today, add and check off tasks, and read every page. Every day gets its own page, so there is nothing to name, nothing to file, and no folder to choose. You write. Your other apps update themselves. Rick Thomas, a solo founder in Indianapolis, builds Penlog for people who think in ink. TWO-WAY TASK SYNC WITH NOTION A task you write by hand becomes a real task in your Notion tasks database. Cross it off with Apple Pencil, or tap it on iPhone, and it completes in Notion. Complete it in Notion and it shows as done on your page. Task status moves in both directions automatically. There is no export step and no copying and pasting. NOTATION READING Penlog reads your notation, not only your words. A bullet is a task. A dash is a note. An X means done. An underline makes a heading. Your page arrives sorted into tasks and notes instead of a wall of transcribed text. Penlog reads a page after you stop writing, not while you write. It waits for a finished thought rather than reacting to a half-formed stroke. CARRY-FORWARD An open task stays with you. If you do not finish it today, Penlog carries it forward to tomorrow's page, and to the day after, until you cross it off. Nothing gets lost because you turned the page. THE MORNING BRIEFING Connect Notion, your calendar, Claude, or ChatGPT. Penlog places today's events and open tasks on your page before you open it. That is the Morning Briefing. You can edit or hide anything in it before you start writing. SEEDING FROM AN AI ASSISTANT Ask Claude or ChatGPT to put something on tomorrow's page and it is waiting when you sit down. Penlog calls this seeding. It works in the other direction too, because an assistant can read the page you wrote by hand. FOR AGENTS, SCRIPTS, AND DEVELOPERS Every page is available through a REST API. Penlog also runs a Model Context Protocol server, usually written MCP, so any assistant that supports MCP can read your page and write to it the same way it reads your calendar. Penlog is listed in the Notion Integration Gallery and in the official MCP Registry. WHAT IS FREE AND WHAT NEEDS PRO The journal is free. You can write every day, have your notation read into tasks and notes, carry unfinished tasks forward, and export your pages without a subscription. Penlog Pro adds the destinations, and you can try it free for 14 days. Two-way Notion sync, calendar import, the REST API, and the MCP server require Pro. Pro also removes the daily limit on handwriting reads that applies to free accounts. WHAT PENLOG IS NOT Penlog does not replace Notion and it does not ask you to move your tasks somewhere new. If you keep tasks in Notion and write by hand on iPad, you are doing both today and reconciling them yourself. Penlog is the part in between. FROM A FIVE-STAR REVIEW sleepypeach wrote: "I loved notion but really struggle to refer to it on a daily basis... Written systems worked better but didn't allow me to plan long term. Penlog has been the perfect solution to my workflow issues." PRIVACY AND SECURITY Penlog encrypts all network traffic in transit with TLS. You can delete your account in Settings, which permanently removes your data from Penlog's servers. Writing needs an iPad and Apple Pencil. SUBSCRIPTION AND PURCHASE TERMS Penlog Pro is an auto-renewable subscription, offered monthly or annually. Eligible new subscribers get a 14-day free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when the trial ends, or when you confirm the purchase if there is no trial. The subscription renews automatically unless you turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the current period ends, and renewal is charged within 24 hours of the end of that period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://penlog.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://penlog.app/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Penlog at freemium against Daycrafter's subscription. Penlog also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 9 days) and ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Daycrafter sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Penlog sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Daycrafter holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Penlog has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Daycrafter ships an update every 9 days, Penlog every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Daycrafter | Penlog |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.8 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Numinous Productions LLC | RT Indianapolis Holdings LLC |
Customer experience
Daycrafter
Penlog
In-app purchases
Daycrafter
- Monthly7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Annual1 Month trial$12.991 Year
Penlog
- Penlog Pro Monthly14 Days trial$8.991 Month
- Penlog Pro Annual14 Days trial$89.991 Year









