Caffeine is Reader Supported, If you do buy through links on our website, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Read the full disclaimer here
Meetings are the tedious parts of most people’s workdays, and for good reason, since nobody likes booking meetings and managing timezones, scheduling conflicts, and the communication between you and the other party of that meeting could take a long time.
Not to mention managing your day-to-day tasks around those meetings, and putting everything back together if a meeting ever gets rescheduled, it’s safe to say, managing meetings could make or break your day or your whole week.
Using a meeting management and day-to-day calendar app is one of the best ways to mitigate this problem, and Motion is probably your best bet for managing meetings.
However, Motion might just not be your style, or you might be looking for a specific feature that the motion team hasn’t added yet, so it’s always a good idea to try other apps that might be better for your productivity style, so we rounded up a list of Motion alternatives that might seem interesting to you.
1. Sunsama
Sunsama is an app that is very similar to Motion since they both share some task management and timeboxing features, however, there are some different features available in Sunsama. Sunsama’s Task management features are unmatched by any other app and are the best ones I’ve tested so far.
I’ve found Sunsama to be easier to use than Motion and it has a simpler interface, which lets you get started with your tasks easier. Sunsama provides all information in one single dashboard, without seeming overwhelming to new users, as well as letting you see all new info at a glance.
However, Sunsama lacks meeting scheduling features, but the task management features are way ahead of Motion’s task management capabilities. Sunsama is also better if you use multiple task management apps for work and personal tasks since Sunsama has a lot of integrations you can use to pull tasks from other apps, while Motion only integrates with calendar tools.
Sunsama also has rituals that help you plan what you need to do for today, which guides you in planning out your workday, as well as another ritual that helps you shut down at the end of the workday by planning the next day’s tasks and taking care of tasks you haven’t completed yet.
Main Features
- Simple User Interface
- Kanban Task Management Board
- Built-in Timer
- Many Integrations
Overall, Sunsama and Motion are very comparable alternatives, and it depends on your use case and how you manage your tasks and meetings, Sunsama generously provided a 30-day free trial for our readers, so you can test out the app and see if it suits you. You can also read our review of Sunsama or our comparison of Motion and Sunsama.
2. Morgen
Morgen is a calendar desktop app that can manage tasks, and schedule meetings. very similar to Motion. Morgen is one of the only desktop-based calendar apps, so you have to download it on your computer, instead of accessing it from a browser, however, it automatically syncs your data to the cloud.
Adding Tasks to Morgen is also very easy since you can just click and drag on your calendar to mark a task that you want to get done in that timeframe, you can also add other participants to the task, make it private so it doesn’t reflect on your work calendar, add it to a category and color code it.
Morgen’s approach to managing your calendar is to not bombard you with many features that you won’t end up using, instead, the app only includes the important features and some small quality-of-life upgrades.
Morgen is one of the fastest apps I’ve ever set up, so you can get started on managing your tasks right away. Morgen’s user interface is extremely simple, so you’ll instantly feel accustomed to it, without needing much time to adapt to the unfamiliar interface.
Morgen is also very powerful in terms of managing your meetings and calendar since you can generate meeting booking links like Motion and helps you quickly find previous and current events in your calendar using the Universal Search.
Since Morgen is a desktop app, it’ll feel very “integrated” with your computer, like the large amounts of keyboard shortcuts you can use to make your life easier.
Main Features
- Desktop App
- Universal Search
- Meeting Scheduler
- Keyboard Shortcuts
Morgen has 3 Plans, a Free plan with 1 calendar account and limited features, another plan for $6 per month with more calendar links, and a plan for $14 that lets you create multiple recurring meeting links and provides a static IP for Azure Servers. You can check out the full pricing page here.
3. Akiflow
Akiflow is a task management desktop app that offers a simpler UI than other task management apps. Akiflow’s interface is very simple and doesn’t leave much to play around with, but it lets you import tasks from your other tools and includes a Zapier integration, so you can integrate Akiflow with over 5,000 apps.
Adding tasks to Akiflow is very simple, by pressing the add task button or just by clicking and dragging in your calendar, similar to Morgen. You can also use Akiflows rituals to be reminded to plan your day and reflect on yesterday’s task, as well as plan any tasks in the future.
Akiflow also has a command bar similar to the MacOS spotlight which lets you create tasks using natural language, as well as signs to organize your task, for example, adding a “#” before the name of a Label you’ve made in the app will add the task to that Label, you can also add times, dates, description using “//” or scheduling a meeting with someone by tagging them.
Akiflow also has some very powerful keyboard shortcuts which let you control the app completely without having to take your hands off your keyboard.
Main Features
- Command Bar
- Minimal Interface
- Desktop App
- Keyboard Shortcuts
Akiflow is one of the simplest and most powerful productivity apps, Akiflow has a 7-day free trial then costs $15/month or $12.5/month Billed yearly, however, they are one of the only apps that do parity pricing, which is changing the price of the app, depending on their country, you can check out the pricing here, or read our full review.
4. Reclaim.ai
Reclaim is probably the closest app you’ll find to Motion, since they both share the AI calendar features that automatically plan your day for you, However, Reclaim also has some features that are missing from Motion.
Reclaim’s main feature is Smart one-to-one Meetings, where it automatically rescheduled your 1-to-1 meetings after checking the availability of both parties, Reclaim also has a lot of integrations that Motion doesn’t have like Todoist, Jira, Clickup, Asana, and more.
Reclaim also has a simpler UI than Motion, where it has a sidebar with 6 tabs where you can view your calendar, tasks, stats, and create recurring tasks.
Reclaim also has a fully functioning task manager built-in so you can use it to manage your tasks as well as plan when you will do the actual task.
When adding a task to Reclaim, you can add some data to your task, to better help Reclaim pick the best time to block time for your task. Tasks in Reclaim can include how much time you need to complete the task, subtasks, type (Personal, Work, etc) its priority, and how the task reflects on your calendar, so it may display as simple “Busy” instead of disclosing the name of the task.
If you hate back-to-back meetings, then you should check out Reclaim’s “Buffer Time”. This will automatically add a 15-minute period after meetings, where other meetings can’t be booked, and you can change the duration of the buffer time as well.
Reclaim also has a feature where you can manually change your task’s timeframe, and the app will automatically check and more around other tasks to make sure you’re free to complete that task.
Main Features
- Buffer Time
- Smart 1-to-1 Meetings
- Task Manager
- Meeting Scheduler
Overall, Reclaim is one of the best AI apps that is out on the market, Reclaim also has a free plan, as well as plans starting at $6.50/month if billed annually, and $7.80/month if billed monthly. Reclaim’s team plan starts at $9.50/month/user if billed annually, and $11.40/month/user if billed month to month.
5. Hourstack
Even though Motion for Teams is a powerful meeting scheduler and calendar, it isn’t a full task management suite for Teams, and it’s always a good idea to use a dedicated tool made for teams to manage their day-to-day work, like Hourstack, which is made to be the only tool your team uses to manage their tasks.
Hourstack is a Time Tracking, scheduling, and Task Management app for teams, but you can also use the app if you are a single user aswell. Scheduling tasks is very easy using the drag-and-drop interface to add tasks to your event calendar. You’re able to view your calendar as well as your team’s calendar to better understand what everyone is doing, and to track your team’s tasks coherently.
You can also track your time from the HourStack calendar, as well as enter times manually for each of your tasks, there’s also a mobile app available that you can use for time tracking.
Hourstack isn’t only a task management app, it is also a work platform for your whole team, you can add tasks, clients, projects, and roles, you use the platform to manage your company, and it can even function as a simple CRM to manage your contacts.
You can also use HourStack’s reporting feature to better understand how your team uses their time, and make sure it is used effectively as well as notice any inefficiencies in your team’s workflow.
Main Features
- Team Management
- Strong Reporting
- Task Management
- All-in-One Workspace
- Task Management
Hourstack ‘s pricing is very straightforward, they offer different plans for personal or team users. It costs $9/month if billed annually or $12/month if billed monthly for the personal plan. The Team plan costs $12/month/user for the annual plan or $15/month/user for the monthly plan.
6. Basecamp
Basecamp is also another great tool for managing your team’s tasks, and it works well for personal users too. You can use it to create Projects and Tasks to assign to each member of your team, as well as track the productivity of your team.
Basecamp’s Task Manager is pretty powerful, where you can create tasks for each project your team has, create subtasks, attach files to each task, add deadlines to your tasks and projects, and communicate with your team and clients using the built-in message board.
the files you attach to your tasks can either be from Google Drive (or similar Cloud Services) or actually be hosted on Basecamp, which gives you some options.
You can also utilize a feature called status questions, which is made to replace status meetings and any unimportant meetings your organization holds to reduce friction and unnecessary meetings your organization holds.
If you’re working on a collaborative project with a client, you’re able to give the client access to your project so that they can see the timeline, tasks, any attached files, and annotations in your project, you can also hide messages from clients on a per message basis.
if you ever receive an important email that you want to discuss with the rest of your team, you’re able to forward that email to basecamp, so it’ll be shown to your whole team, so you can discuss it with your team.
Basecamp also has many other features meant to replace apps your organization regularly uses like Slack, Todoist, Asana, excel, Jri
Main Features
- Sorting by Projects
- Message Board
- Recurring Tasks
- Team Management
- File Hosting
- Client Management
If you manage a team, especially a remote one, then you need to try Basecamp and see if it fits your organization. Basecamp’s pricing differs from other apps since they only have 2 Plans. Basecamp has a limited free plan as well as a Business plan for $299/month flat for unlimited team members and unrestricted features.
7. Routine
Routine is an app that wants to help you take back control of your time. Routine was founded by entrepreneurs who previously created infinit, which was acquired by Docker in 2016, which means they know what you need to be productive.
Routine is a productivity app made for personal use, unlike other apps that are made for collaboration with your team, this is strictly for you.
Routine’s “Superhuman Calendar” is one of, if not the best calendars available in all productivity apps I’ve ever tested. it can bring together all of your calendars, and any changes done to the routine calendar will automatically reflect on all of your other calendars in your account.
Routine’s Universal Inbox acts like a “catch-all” for unsorted and unlabeled tasks that you add, tasks added by your app integration will also be found there until you find time to add them to your calendar.
Routine also has AI smart scheduling capability, which automatically schedules tasks around your already scheduled tasks, and it makes sure you can get to finishing all of your tasks on time.
You can connect all of your favorite project management tools that you use to routine, so you can import all of your tasks from those tools as well. You can also convert emails as well as chats, into tasks. You can add chats from Whatsapp, Slack, and Telegram as tasks to Routine by sending the tasks to a number that you will receive when you create an account.
Routine also has a command bar similar to other apps on this list, called the Console, you use it to add events, tasks, notes, and recurring tasks with an optional start and end date. The Command Bar also understands natural language, so you add dates and times to the command, and the app will automatically understand, you can also tag people, and the app will automatically book a meeting with them.
Routine also has a system where you can create pages and notes within the app, similar to a personal wiki built right into the app! Routine is one of the first apps to include a feature like this, and it is very practical.
Main Features
- Smart Scheduler
- Pages
- Universal Inbox
- Superhuman Calendar
- Console Bar
Routine is one of the most feature-packed productivity apps to ever hit the market, and its features will only increase from here. I’m excited to see where it goes. Routine is still in early access, and it doesn’t have a public release yet, but you can always join the queue and request access to the app.
8. nTask
If you’re looking for another alternative to Motion for Teams, then you should try nTask. nTask is one of the leading Project management tools available for teams looking to get things done.
nTask has many features that will make your Project Planning a breeze, like Budgeting per project, resource allocation, customizing a billing method, choosing the payment terms, and more, which will make you and your clients have a smooth experience.
nTask’s Kanban view is very customizable since you can change the background color, add custom fields, and customize the board’s statuses to better suit how you run your business.
nTask’s Team Chat provides your team with a Synchronized Communication Platform so you can collaborate with your team, share updates with your whole organization, and share files with your team.
nTask isn’t only a Project Management app, it is also a Task Management app. You can use it to instantly plan tasks, and assign them to your team. Each task can have unlimited subtasks, attachments, planned and actual dates, as well as be repeatable, and attach them to certain projects or clients.
You can also view your projects in a Gantt Chart to see each project’s progress. nTask also has meeting management capabilities that you can use to plan meetings, invite team members, as well as use the built-in meeting agenda, you can also integrate your meeting software of choice with the app, so you can automatically schedule the meeting there as well.
nTask also has Issue Tracking and Risk Management features, where you can manage and prioritize issues based on their severity as well as link them to their respective tasks so your team will be notified.
Main Features
- Risk Assessment
- Issue Tracker
- Project Budgeting
- Multiple Views
nTask is one of the only Project Management tools on this list, and in my opinion, it is one of the best Project Management apps on the market. nTask has two paid plans as well as an enterprise plan. Plans start from $3/month/user if billed annually.
