ALT vs Sunsama
A Sunsama alternative for Mac
A daily planner with planning rituals, calendar time blocking and tasks from other tools. [1] [2] [3] ALT is for people who want a native Mac planner with hours, projects and an assistant whose proposals they review. ALT is in private beta.
At a glance
| What matters | Sunsama | ALT |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A daily planner built around planning and shutdown rituals. [1] [4] | AI planner and time blocking app for Mac. Private beta. |
| Platforms | Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. Mobile is a companion to the desktop app. [5] [6] [7] | Mac now. iPhone and iPad join the beta in December, Apple Watch later. No sync between devices yet. |
| How the Mac app is built | Electron. [8] | Native, SwiftUI |
| Calendars | Google, Outlook, iCloud and CalDAV, such as Fastmail. Can create and edit calendar events. [2] | Reads the calendars in Apple's Calendar app, including iCloud, Google and Outlook (Exchange). Move a meeting on your day and it moves in your calendar too; a meeting can also become a task. Task blocks stay in ALT. |
| Hours (planned against available) | Sums planned work time against a daily workload threshold you set in hours. Warns when over capacity. [1] [4] | Yes. Each day and week shows planned hours against your working window minus meetings, and how much it's over. |
| Time blocking | Yes. Tasks become calendar events; auto-scheduling can split a task into several blocks. [2] [9] | Yes. One task can take several blocks in a day, numbered block 1 of 2. |
| AI assistant | Sunny can create, edit and schedule tasks, set estimates and help with daily planning. [10] | Chat on the Mac, typed or dictated. It creates and re-plans tasks with times. Every change is a proposal you Apply or Reject, and Undo puts it back. Uses your own Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter key in the beta. |
| Claude and Codex (MCP) | Remote MCP server with OAuth. Setup guides for ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code and Cursor; Codex isn't listed, but any MCP client can connect by URL. [11] | Yes, a local MCP server on your Mac: Claude Code and Codex read and change tasks, projects and notes. Works while ALT is running. |
| Projects | Channels group tasks; contexts group channels. [12] | Areas, projects (two levels), sections, a result line per project, notes as an outline on the Mac. |
| Week, month and year | Daily planning, weekly planning with objectives, and weekly review. No month or year planning view in the help center. [1] [13] [14] | Day, week, month and year views, with hours. |
| Price | $22 per person/month, or $17 per person/month billed yearly ($204/year). 14-day trial. Checked October 21, 2026. [15] | Free during the beta. Paid plans after it. |
| Status | Available with a paid subscription and trial. [15] | Private beta. |
Where Sunsama is ahead
Where ALT is different
- A native SwiftUI Mac app with areas, projects, sections and notes as an outline.
- Each day and week shows planned hours against your working window minus meetings.
- The Mac assistant proposes changes with times. You Apply or Reject them, and Undo puts them back.
What ALT doesn't do yet
- No sync between Mac, iPhone and iPad yet.
- No reminders before a time block starts.
- No writing task blocks to your calendar yet.
- The assistant uses your own Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter key during the beta.
Choose ALT if ...
You want a native Mac planner that adds up your tasks and meetings in hours, with projects and AI proposals you review. You're comfortable testing a private beta with your own AI key and no device sync yet.
Sources
Checked on October 21, 2026. Sources: