Routine Review 2026 | Bye Google Calendar?

Routine markets itself as the number one replacement for Google Calendar, which immediately sets pretty high expectations. It is a bold claim, especially when you consider how deeply integrated Google Calendar is in most people’s daily workflows.

I was curious to see how close Routine actually gets to being a full calendar and planning hub, so I spent the past week testing the free desktop version in my usual mix of work tasks, client meetings, and personal planning.

In this Routine review, I will walk you through its key features, what worked well, where it fell short, and whether it is worth adding to your productivity stack.

Let’s dive in!

What is Routine?

Routine is a productivity tool that combines your calendar, tasks, notes, and daily planning tools in one place. It is designed to give you a single dashboard where you can manage both your schedule and your to-dos without switching between multiple apps.

The tool focuses on minimalism and structure. It offers a clean interface, quick capture, daily agendas, event management, and simple note-taking, aiming to help users plan their days more intentionally across desktop and mobile platforms.

Key features

Let’s take a closer look at the key features and see how they performed during my Routine review.

Inbox and quick capture

Similar to other planning apps, Routine’s Inbox is meant to be your entry point for everything that comes to mind during the day. It lets you collect uncategorized items like tasks, events, and notes before you decide what to do with them.

What I especially liked is that when you click “Add task”, Routine opens a focused view that shows the current event, what is coming up next, and what is left for today, so it is much easier to place the new task in the right context.

However, the flow is not as smooth as it could be. You can add the first task straight from the Inbox, but after that, you have to switch to Agenda or Calendar to create more items. In my opinion, that small friction interrupts the flow.

Routine also supports natural language input, which lets you type tasks the way you think, although it is not as polished as in tools like Todoist.

Agenda view

The Agenda view is where Routine starts to feel more powerful. On the left, you see tasks for today, plus overdue, upcoming, unplanned, and completed items. On the right, you see your events for the same day.

This layout made it much easier to understand what my day actually looked like instead of bouncing between a task app and a calendar. During my testing, I spent most of the time in this view.

Editing is simple. A double click opens any task or event, and you can add participants, a location, or one of Routine’s templates for agendas, notes, or summaries.

Calendar

Routine’s calendar is clean and predictable. You create events by clicking on a specific day and time, then drag and drop them around when plans change. The free plan only unlocks the week view, but for my workflow, that was enough, and it fits well into the offline-first positioning of the tool.

I also like that tasks can appear alongside events in the calendar view, and you can collapse those task bars when you want to focus on events only. When you want to turn a task into an event, you can just drag and drop it from the taskbar onto the calendar.

The limitation is in visual clarity.

In my opinion, the lack of color coding for different event types is a big miss. Work meetings, focus time, and personal plans all share the same look, so I often had to read each entry instead of simply glancing at the calendar.

So, after my Routine review, I realized that, if you are used to color-coded calendars, this feels like a step back.

Task management

Routine doesn’t offer many advanced features as other task management tools, like priority levels, labels, custom statuses, intelligent sorting, complex filtering, or automation. The system is much simpler and does not behave like a full project management tool.

What Routine does offer is a lightweight task feature that covers the basics. You can create tasks with subtasks, attach links or media, pin important items, and turn tasks into calendar events. Everything stays visually minimal and easy to understand, which fits the overall design of the app.

This simpler approach is best suited for users who prefer straightforward daily planning. It helps to break down goals into smaller, actionable steps for implementation.

If your workflow relies more on quick notes, essential reminders, and a clear view of what needs to happen today, Routine’s task feature will likely feel comfortable and easy to use.

Notes and journal

Routine includes a Notes section with templates for things like grocery lists or journals. In theory, it should be a nice place to keep simple lists alongside your tasks. In practice, grocery lists are treated as subtasks, so they can mix with your actual work tasks and clutter the system.

Journal template lets you write diary-style entries. This part of the app is meant for freeform thinking and quick text capture, so you can jot down ideas or reflections without turning them into tasks.

The Journal section in the sidebar works very differently. Instead of storing your diary entries, it shows a recap of your completed tasks on one side and the events you had that day on the other.

It is more of a history log than a personal journal, which can be useful if you want a quick overview of what you accomplished.

Customization and settings

Routine lets you reorder the sidebar, choose which section will be your home view, and switch between light and dark themes. These basic preferences are easy to understand and adjust.

More advanced settings are less intuitive. The Types feature, currently in beta, looks like a way to define custom item types and properties, but I could not figure out how to use it in a meaningful way during my testing.

Hotkeys were even more frustrating. Assigning a single letter as a shortcut meant I could not use that letter normally while typing a task, and when I tried to change the hotkey, the change did not apply immediately, which, in my opinion, makes the feature feel unreliable.

Routine’s user interface

Routine has a thoughtful and aesthetically pleasing interface, which is one of the reasons it feels calm and lightweight compared to other productivity tools.

However, the simplicity also has some drawbacks. Routine isn’t the most intuitive. Some features are hard to discover, and the lack of color coding makes the calendar and Agenda harder to scan quickly.

Routine’s integrations

In the course of my Routine review, I discovered that it supports a small but useful set of integrations. You can connect Google Workspace Directory, Notion, and Zapier to sync tasks or automate simple workflows.

Since Routine integrates directly with Google Calendar, all your events sync automatically, so you can manage your schedule in one place.

Overall, integrations work, but the ecosystem is not very deep yet.

Routine’s pricing

Routine offers a free plan that gives you access to core features like tasks, calendars, notes, contacts, and natural language input.

It also includes unlimited integrations, collaboration, and offline mode, which is a generous starting point if you want to explore the app without committing to a subscription.

The Professional plan costs $12 per seat per month, or $10 per seat per month when billed yearly. It unlocks additional tools like calendar layouts, time tracking, contextual capture, more view options, and a 30-day activity history.

This tier is aimed at freelancers and managers who want more control over their daily planning.

The Business plan starts at $18 per seat per month, or $15 per seat per month with annual billing. It adds workspaces, access control, AI agents, versioning, and a 90-day history, making it better suited for teams that need structure and coordination.

Routine also offers an Enterprise plan with custom pricing. It includes unlimited history, compliance tools, audit logs, analytics, and user provisioning.

This tier is focused on larger organizations that need more control and security.

My experience with Routine

I tested Routine’s free desktop version, and at first, I really liked how it looked. The interface is clean and modern, and during my testing, the Agenda view in particular made my day feel more structured and less chaotic.

Once I moved beyond the basics, the charm faded a bit. I often felt lost with features like Types, Hotkeys, and the way Notes and Journal work, and in my opinion, those parts still feel experimental.

Ultimately, the Routine app is designed for personal use to help with habit building, daily planning, task management, and time blocking. By the end of my testing, I saw Routine as a beautiful app with potential, but not yet polished enough to replace my current planning setup.

Pros and cons I found during my Routine review

Here are the main strengths and weaknesses I noticed while testing Routine.

Pros of Routine

Cons of Routine

Routine alternatives

If you are still unsure whether Routine is the right fit for you, check out these alternatives:

• Morgen: It is a cross-platform calendar app that combines multiple calendars, tasks, and scheduling in one place
• Motion: An AI-powered planner that automatically fills your professional and personal schedule using real-time scheduling links and auto-adjusted events.
• Todoist: A powerful task management tool focused on simplicity and organization, ideal for people who need structured to-do lists and basic task management without switching between several calendars.
• Akiflow: A sleek daily planner that combines tasks and schedules in one unified calendar, offering smart time blocking and fast keyboard shortcuts for deep work sessions.
• Sunsama: A mindful productivity tool designed to help you create balanced days and focus on priorities, with built-in task scheduling and reflective daily planning.
• Notion: A flexible calendar built into Notion’s workspace, great for users who already manage projects, notes, and tasks there and want task integration within one platform.
• Timehero: A predictive task management and time blocking solution that automatically arranges work based on your availability and deadlines.
• Reclaim: An intelligent planner that uses AI to automate time management, protect focus hours, and balance meetings with flexible task scheduling.

Related articles:

• Motion vs Notion: Why I use BOTH (2025)
• Reclaim vs Motion: Which Smart Calendar App Is Better? (2025)
• Motion vs ClickUp | An Unfiltered Comparison (2025)
• Motion vs Asana | A Honest Comparison (2025)

Wrap up: Routine app review

Routine has a clean design and a simple way to see tasks and events together, but in my opinion, it does not fully live up to its claim of being a true Google Calendar replacement. The workflow can feel unintuitive, and some features still seem a bit experimental.

If you enjoy minimalist tools and mainly need a calm space for basic daily planning, Routine’s free plan can be worth trying. But if you rely on advanced task management, you will likely outgrow it.

As always, I will update this Routine app review over time so you guys have the latest information on this productivity app.

Why you can trust our reviews

At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity tools every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.

Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.

Have a question or suggestion? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out anytime at aronkantor@thebusinessdive.com.

Frequently asked questions

Is Routine a full replacement for Google Calendar?

Not entirely. Routine integrates your Google Calendar and lets you plan tasks alongside your events, but it does not offer the same depth of calendar features. It works best as a daily planning layer on top of Google Calendar rather than a complete replacement.

Does Routine support task automation or advanced task management?

No. Routine keeps tasks simple, with subtasks, links, and media attachments, but it does not include advanced features like priorities, labels, smart sorting, or automation. It is designed for lightweight daily planning rather than complex project management.

Can I use Routine offline?

Yes. Routine supports offline mode, allowing you to create tasks, write notes, and update your agenda without internet access. Changes sync automatically once you’re back online.

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