Plainlist
Love the vault.
Tired of building the planner yourself.
Obsidian's local markdown ownership is genuinely right — that's not the gap. The gap is day planning: stitching Tasks, Dataview, and Calendar plugins into something that answers “what do I do today?” Plainlist ships that planner built in, over one plain-text file, with no plugin stack to maintain.
Free trial · no account · pay once · macOS 12+
Mac-only today, with Windows, iOS, and Android coming soon.
Today: - draft Q3 report @brain - reply to client emails @ai 14:00 Habits: - morning pages # No Tasks + Dataview + Calendar stack to keep updated
Who this is for
The reason people leave Obsidian for planning isn't ownership — it's assembly.
Obsidian nails local markdown ownership, and Plainlist's whole pitch is the same idea. The difference is what happens after that: in Obsidian, a real day view means installing the Tasks plugin for checkboxes, Dataview for queries, maybe a Calendar plugin for dates, then wiring a home-page query to pull it together — and re-checking that stack every time one plugin updates.
Plainlist is for the Obsidian user who wants that same file-owned foundation with the planner already built: Plan by day or time, Focus on today, Done as your log — no plugin combination to research, install, and keep working.
What you stop assembling
Three things a built-in planner gives you that a plugin stack can't.
Not “we're better” — specific things that change once the day view is the app, not a config.
Day planning without a plugin stack
Plan, Focus, and Done are native views, not a Tasks + Dataview + Calendar combination you assemble and maintain.
Nothing to configure before you start
No vault settings, no query syntax to learn, no home-page dashboard to build. Open the file, start planning.
Habits and goals, not another plugin
Fixed schedules and weekly quotas are built in — no separate habit-tracker plugin to find and configure.
Moving over
Your checkboxes reshape into a slightly different grammar.
Obsidian's - [ ] checkbox tasks and #tags aren't identical to Plainlist's TaskPaper-style - task @tag lines. A small note's worth of tasks may take minutes; a sprawling vault with tasks scattered across many notes is a manual pull-together job. Start with the tasks you're actively working, not the whole vault.
Practical path
- Copy the active tasks from one note.
- Paste into a new
.todofile. - Turn
- [ ]into-and#tagsinto@tags.
Then plan
- Give today's tasks a
@start. - Switch to Focus for the next action.
- Let Done become your log.
# Obsidian checkbox tasks, reshaped Work: - draft launch copy @start(2026-07-18) @est(2h) - review with designer @due(Jul 22) Personal: - renew passport @every(10 years)
Supporting detail
Plainlist vs Obsidian (+ Tasks), feature by feature.
Checked July 2026 (Obsidian is free for personal use; Sync and Publish are paid add-ons). Re-check current pricing on Obsidian's site before deciding.
Which one is you
Plainlist is the right call if…
The switch makes sense for a specific kind of Obsidian user. If this is you, the trade is worth it.
Pick Plainlist if
- You've assembled (or want to skip assembling) a Tasks + Dataview + Calendar stack just to plan a day.
- Your vault's task section has outgrown a home-page query and you want a real planner instead.
- You want built-in habits and goals without hunting for another plugin.
- You mostly want tasks planned, not notes linked — a vault is more than you need.
- You want a finished app, not a system you keep tuning.
The honest trade-off
Obsidian is more powerful as a knowledge base — real notes, backlinks, a graph view, and a plugin ecosystem to extend it however you want. Plainlist is a finished planner, not a system you build. If your vault is mostly notes with a few tasks in it, keep Obsidian. The full “stay with Obsidian” list is right below.
Honest cons
You should NOT switch if…
Obsidian does several things better than Plainlist. If any of these matter to you, staying is the right call — and that's fine.
Stay with Obsidian if…
Do I lose my notes, backlinks, or graph view if I switch to Plainlist?
Yes. Plainlist is a day planner, not a notes app — there's no backlinking, no graph view, and no long-form notes. If your vault is mostly notes with a few tasks in it, Obsidian still wins.
Can I keep using my Obsidian plugins alongside Plainlist?
No. Plainlist isn't a vault or a plugin host — it's a standalone planner that reads one .todo file. Your Tasks, Dataview, or Calendar plugin setup stays in Obsidian, separate from Plainlist.
Is Plainlist as extensible as Obsidian?
No. There's no plugin API and no community plugin ecosystem — Plainlist is a single opinionated app, not a platform you customize.
Will my Dataview queries or templates carry over?
No. Plainlist has no query language and no templating system. You reshape your task lines into the plain-text outline by hand, same as any migration.
Can I use Plainlist as a full knowledge base like my Obsidian vault?
No. Plainlist is one .todo file for tasks, habits, and goals — not a vault of linked notes. If you need a knowledge base, keep Obsidian for that and use Plainlist just for planning.