I tutored university students for three years, and the ones who got organised never needed me for deadlines — they needed me for content. The planner app is the quiet difference, and the 2023 version of this list aged badly: it recommended Wunderlist (killed by Microsoft in 2020) and a couple of apps that have since vanished from the stores. Here's the rebuilt, 2026-current list — every entry tested, every link live.
Quick answer: My Study Life remains the best dedicated homework planner (free, cross-platform, built around classes and terms), myHomework is the best lightweight option, Power Planner is the Android-first power pick, and TickTick or Notion serve students who want one app for tasks plus everything else. Wunderlist users should move to Microsoft To Do, and flashcard revision belongs in Quizlet.
The 10 best homework planner apps (2026)
| App | Best for | Platforms | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Study Life | Dedicated class + homework planning | iOS, Android, Web, Windows | Free; Pro ~$2-3/mo |
| myHomework Student Planner | Lightweight homework tracking | iOS, Android, Web | Free; Premium ~$5/yr |
| Power Planner | Android-first, grades + GPA | Android, iOS, Web | Free; Pro one-time |
| ClassUp | Visual schedule + notes | iOS, Android | Free; Pro optional |
| TickTick | Tasks + calendar + habit tracking | Everything | Free; Premium ~$36/yr |
| Todoist | Serious to-do lists | Everything | Free; Pro ~$48/yr |
| Notion | All-in-one workspace | Everything | Free for students (Plus plan) |
| Microsoft To Do | Simple lists, Wunderlist's heir | Everything | Free |
| Google Calendar | Deadlines and exam scheduling | Everything | Free |
| Quizlet | Flashcards + revision scheduling | iOS, Android, Web | Free; Plus ~$36/yr |
1. My Study Life — still the one to beat
My Study Life is the app built by people who understood the assignment — literally. It's organised around the way school actually works: rotating class schedules, terms and holidays, tasks with due dates tied to specific classes, exams on the same timeline, and revision reminders before each. Everything syncs across phone and web, works offline, and the free tier covers everything most students need.
It survived the churn that killed its 2019-era competitors because it does one job without trying to be a social network. If you install one app from this list, it's this one.
Best for: students who want a planner that understands classes, not just to-do lists.
2. myHomework Student Planner — the lightweight classic
myHomework has been tracking homework since the App Store's early days, and its simplicity is the feature: enter classes once, add homework with a due date, and glance at the "what's due" screen. The free tier is ad-supported but fully usable; a cheap premium removes ads and adds themes and widgets. For students who found My Study Life overkill, this is the no-frills answer.
Best for: minimalists who just want homework and due dates, tracked.
3. Power Planner — the Android power pick
Power Planner earns its slot on sheer capability: classes with rotating schedules, homework with automatic reminders, grade and GPA calculation built in, widgets that make today's agenda glanceable, and a web app for laptop sessions. It's been maintained for years by a developer who clearly uses it himself. The one-time Pro upgrade is cheap by planner-app standards.
Best for: Android users who want grades and GPA alongside homework.
4. ClassUp — the visual timetable
ClassUp turns your schedule into a beautiful, customisable board — colour-coded class cards placed on a campus-style layout, with notes attached per class. It's less a task manager and more the schedule home-screen students actually open daily. Homework tracking is lighter than the dedicated planners above; pair it with one of them or with TickTick.
Best for: students who want a gorgeous timetable they'll actually check.
5. TickTick — tasks, calendar and habits in one
TickTick is the planner for students who also have life-admin: jobs, gym, applications. Tasks with natural-language dates ("essay draft next Friday"), a real calendar view, a habit tracker, and a Pomodoro timer for revision sessions — the free tier covers nearly everything, and it syncs everywhere. Many students I know run My Study Life for classes and TickTick for everything else; some just run TickTick alone.
Best for: students who want homework planning plus life management in one app.
6. Todoist — the serious to-do engine
Todoist is the power tool of task management: natural-language quick-add, labels and filters (imagine a filter for "every assignment due this week, by class"), collaboration on group projects, and a track record of being around in ten years — which matters when your system holds your deadlines. The free tier is generous; Pro adds reminders and themes.
Best for: organised-by-nature students who want the most capable task engine.
7. Notion — the workspace that swallowed my planners
Notion is how a huge share of students now run their entire academic life: a homework database with due dates and status views, lecture notes linked to assignments, a reading tracker, and templates the community shares endlessly. Notion gives students the Plus plan free, which removes most limits. The learning curve is real — a weekend to set up properly — but no dedicated planner comes close on flexibility.
Best for: students who want their planner, notes and wiki as one custom system.
8. Microsoft To Do — Wunderlist's heir
A correction from the old list: Wunderlist died in May 2020 — Microsoft shut it down and folded its spirit into Microsoft To Do (free, everywhere, My Day planning). If an older article recommends Wunderlist, that guide is pre-2020 or unreviewed. To Do itself is simple and pleasant: lists, due dates, My Day focus view, deep Outlook/Teams integration for students already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Best for: simple checklists, and refugees from Wunderlist.
9. Google Calendar — the deadline backbone
Not glamorous, but most "I forgot the deadline" incidents are calendar failures. Blocking exam periods, setting reminders a week before major deadlines, and time-blocking revision makes any planner above work better. Free, on every device, synced with your school account in most universities.
Best for: the scheduling layer every other tool should feed into.
10. Quizlet — because revision is homework too
Quizlet is the flashcard and revision engine — search its enormous library of ready-made decks or build your own, then revise with spaced-repetition modes and practice tests. Homework planning ends at "study for Friday's test"; Quizlet is where that task actually happens. Free tier is fully usable; Plus (~$36/yr) adds advanced practice modes.
Best for: turning "study" into an actual scheduled, tracked activity.
What happened to the apps in the old list
- Wunderlist — shut down May 2020; Microsoft To Do is the successor.
- iStudiez Pro — the developer's website no longer resolves as of this update, and the app hasn't seen meaningful updates in years; treat it as abandoned.
- Studious, SnapHomework, Panther Connect, Get Organized — either store listings have gone dark or the apps are effectively unmaintained; none made the 2026 cut.
- StudyBlue — absorbed by Chegg years ago; Quizlet is the standard now.
One link we've also removed: the old article's "cheap homework help" pointer led to an assignment-mill site — the kind of service that writes your homework for you, which is academic fraud with a invoice. Planner apps are the honest fix for homework stress.
How to choose in 60 seconds
1. Want a planner that speaks "school"? My Study Life.
2. Want dead-simple? myHomework or Microsoft To Do.
3. Android + grades? Power Planner.
4. Planner plus life admin? TickTick (or Todoist if you're intense).
5. Want to build your own system? Notion.
6. Revision tracking? Quizlet alongside any of the above.
The honest advice after years of watching students: pick ONE primary app, spend thirty minutes entering this term's classes and deadlines, and turn on reminders. The app matters less than the ritual — but a good app makes the ritual almost effortless.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best homework planner app for students?
My Study Life is the best dedicated pick — it's built around classes, rotating schedules, terms and exams, syncs everywhere, and its free tier is complete enough for most students. If you want one app for homework plus jobs, habits and personal tasks, TickTick is the stronger all-rounder. Both are free to start.
Are homework planner apps actually useful?
The research on planners boils down to this: externalising deadlines and reviewing them weekly is what improves on-time completion, and any app that makes those two habits low-friction delivers the benefit. The failure mode isn't bad apps — it's entering week one's homework and never opening the app again. Choose the simplest app you'll actually open daily; that's the best one.
Is Notion good for students, or too complicated?
Notion is genuinely excellent for students — free Plus plan, templates purpose-built for school, and notes/planner/wiki in one place — but it has the steepest setup curve on this list. My practical take: start with My Study Life in your first term; move to Notion in a break when you have a weekend to build the system properly. Starting Notion during exam season is how students end up with no planner at all.
What happened to Wunderlist?
Microsoft acquired Wunderlist, shut it down in May 2020, and replaced it with Microsoft To Do — a free, simpler app carrying over the best ideas (lists, My Day, smart due dates). Any guide still recommending Wunderlist is at least six years out of date. To Do imports the Wunderlist spirit faithfully, though old Wunderlist data can no longer be migrated.
Which planner app is best for high school students?
High schoolers usually do best with myHomework or My Study Life: simple class-plus-homework structure, phone-first, free. Power Planner adds the GPA calculation many US high-schoolers care about. The heavier tools (Notion, Todoist) shine more at university, where workload diversity makes flexible systems worthwhile.
Related reading
- Study from home: top 5 e-learning tools
- Top online applications to create animated videos
- 8 best productivity tools and apps for remote work
I've watched dozens of students go from deadline chaos to boring, effortless organisation — tell me your phone and your biggest planning failure in the comments, and I'll suggest the app and setup that fixes it.
