Comparison

Hour by Hour vs Open Citadel

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

Head to head
About

Hour by Hour

Features
Read full description

Time blocking, made visual. Stop writing to-do lists that hide where your hours actually go โ€” color-block every hour on one vertical timeline and see your entire day, work to rest, at a single glance. Instead of typing tasks into a flat list, you drag colored blocks onto an hourly timeline and adjust them with a pinch. Each block gets a category and a color, so your whole day reads like a map: focus in blue, meals in orange, rest in green. One look tells you if your day is balanced or overloaded before it even starts. WHAT YOU GET - Drag colored blocks onto an hourly timeline instead of typing lists - Color categories for work, focus, meals, social time and sleep - A week view with a density heatmap showing how full each day was - Time insights: category breakdown, most productive hours and day balance - A daily reflection journal with a mood check and a day streak - Quick-start templates and an optional daily reminder to plan PERFECT FOR - Time-blockers who want to see their schedule, not just read it - Remote workers and students shaping focus and break time - Anyone rebalancing a day that feels busy but unproductive - Journalers who want mood and reflection tied to how they spent time WHY NOT JUST USE A TO-DO LIST A checklist tells you what to do but never where your hours go. DayCanvas puts every task on a real timeline, so you see gaps, overloads and how much of your day is truly focus versus filler โ€” then reflect and rebalance for tomorrow. PRIVACY No account, no ads, no tracking. Every plan and reflection stays on your device. FULL ACCESS Premium unlocks unlimited blocks every day, the week heatmap, full time insights and your complete reflection journal history. Available as a weekly plan, a yearly plan, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Open the timeline and drop your first colored block on today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://web-levi.web.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://web-levi.web.app/privacy-policy Questions? tphuc.work@gmail.com

About

Open Citadel

Features
Read full description

A book only changes you when you act on it. Most reading apps end when you close the book. Open Citadel starts there. It is your citadel of knowledge and self-development: one Library for the books, podcasts and blogs you learn from, and a way to act on what you learn. One Library for everything you learn from Books, podcasts and blogs sit side by side. Move between them in one tap. Free books from Project Gutenberg Browse Gutenberg's shelves, search its catalogue, and download books in the public domain in the United States. Readers outside the US should check the law where they live before they read. Podcasts you can finish Follow shows, search podcast charts and directories, and download episodes. The player has speed control, a sleep timer, chapters and show notes with seekable timestamps. Import your AntennaPod library and keep your place in every episode. Blogs, read in the reader Follow a blog by its feed or web address, or choose from a curated directory. Each post opens in the reader, so you can highlight it, tag it and talk it through with Samwell, just as you would a book. Highlight it. Keep it. Use it. Every highlight, note and tag is saved to your Timeline, a dated record of what you have learned. Samwell, your reading companion Samwell helps you set up your Library, talks through what you read, and turns what you want to change into a goal made of small steps. He checks in using your logs and highlights, so his advice is about your life, not someone else's. On-device Samwell runs on your phone, so he works without a connection. Compass counts consistency, not streaks Log a few minutes a day. Compass measures how often you show up, so one missed day never wipes out the rest. The whole cycle, in one app Read. Highlight. Set a goal. Log it. When the goal ends, Samwell writes down what it taught you, so the next one starts smarter. We assume you can decide what matters. Open Citadel helps you act on it. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.open-citadel.online/privacy

Screenshots

Hour by Hour4 screens
Open Citadel4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Open Citadel at none against Hour by Hour's 3. Open Citadel also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Hour by Hour sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Open Citadel asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hour by Hour ships an update every 6 weeks, Open Citadel fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Hour by Hour versus Open Citadel: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHour by HourOpen Citadel
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksFortnightly โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad โ€” better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size5 MB95 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPhuc PhamThamsanqa Ncube

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Hour by Hour

Subscriptions2
  • Schedule Insights Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Daily Routine Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Time Blocking: Pay Once$39.99
None

Open Citadel

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hour by Hour free?
Hour by Hour is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Open Citadel free?
Open Citadel is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hour by Hour or Open Citadel have ads?
Neither Hour by Hour nor Open Citadel shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hour by Hour or Open Citadel?
Hour by Hour ships an update every 6 weeks, and Open Citadel fortnightly. Most recently, Hour by Hour was updated on October 31, 2026 and Open Citadel on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons