Focus5 vs Motion: a simpler Motion alternative
Motion uses AI to build your calendar, from $19 per person a month. Focus5 costs $29 once and just queues your tasks in order, 5 on screen at a time.
Motion uses AI to build your schedule. It takes your tasks, puts them on your calendar as time blocks, and rebuilds the plan whenever a meeting moves or a deadline slips. Pro AI is $19 per person a month, Business AI is $29.
Focus5 does the opposite. It does not schedule anything. You pick 5 tasks for today, and it shows you one at a time with a timer. It costs $29 once.
One app arranges all your work for you. The other asks you to do less of it. Here is the comparison.
| Motion | Focus5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides the day | The AI, re-optimised dozens of times a day | You, once, before the day starts |
| Core idea | Auto-schedule every task onto your calendar | Hands you the next task, five on screen at a time |
| Choosing what to do | The AI decides and re-decides | Focus queues them for you, 5 on screen at a time |
| Calendar | Two-way sync, tasks become time blocks | Its own tasks only, no real calendar sync |
| Built for | Professionals and teams with complex workloads | One person with too much on |
| Price | Pro AI $19 per seat a month; Business AI $29 | $29 once, lifetime |
Why people pick Focus5 over Motion
One task in front of you, not a packed calendar
Motion is very good at fitting your work into the hours you have. Then it shows you the whole packed day, which is the thing that makes people feel behind before they have started.
Focus5 shows one task and a clock. The rest exists, and it is not on screen while you work.
An order, not a schedule
Motion decides what time you will do things and rebuilds that plan whenever the day moves. A schedule you did not agree to is easy to ignore, and the app will just move the task again.
Focus5 does not schedule anything. It queues your existing tasks in a plain order and hands you the next one. Nothing has a time attached, so nothing gets rearranged behind you.
You talk, it writes
Motion needs structured input to schedule well: durations, deadlines, priorities. Its AI helps you produce that, but the work is still going in.
In Focus5 you ramble about your day and it writes the tasks down, dates them, and files them into the right book. Nothing has to be estimated for it to be useful.
$29 once, not $228 a year
Motion’s Pro AI plan is $19 per seat a month at its listed rate, which is $228 a year, per person. Business AI is $29.
Focus5 is $29 once, total, forever. That gap is not a discount, it is a different kind of product: Motion is running AI on your calendar continuously, and that costs real money to operate. Focus5 isn’t, so it doesn’t have to charge you monthly.
Where Motion is the better fit
Motion is solving a genuinely harder problem than Focus5 is, and if that’s your problem, nothing here replaces it.
Your day is mostly meetings and moving deadlines. Motion re-plans around them automatically. Focus5 has no idea your 3pm exists.
You manage projects, not just tasks. Dependencies, assignees, deadlines across a team. Focus5 is single player and has none of that.
You want the decision taken off you. Some people genuinely do, and Motion is built for exactly that. Focus5 hands the decision back on purpose.
You need it on an iPhone. Motion has mobile apps for both platforms. Focus5 has the Android app and a desktop browser, so on iPhone you are waiting.
If your calendar is the boss of your day, buy Motion. Focus5 would be fighting the thing that actually controls your time.
Who Focus5 is for
Choose Focus5 over Motion if:
- Your calendar is mostly empty and your list is mostly full.
- You’ve tried auto-scheduling and quietly ignored the blocks.
- You want to decide the day yourself, once, and stop deciding.
- You’d rather pay $29 once than $228 a year.
- You want a bad day to just end, not to be re-optimised.
See Focus5 in action
Frequently asked questions
Does Focus5 auto-schedule tasks like Motion?
No, and it won’t. Focus5’s whole argument is that you should decide what today holds, and that a decision you made yourself is one you’ll actually follow. If you want that decision automated, Motion is built for it and Focus5 is the wrong purchase.
How much does Motion cost?
Pro AI is $19 per seat per month and Business AI is $29 per seat per month, with a free trial. Annual billing is discounted.
Does Focus5 sync with my calendar?
No. Focus5 has a calendar view of its own tasks, but it doesn’t read or write your real calendar. If meetings decide what you can actually do, that gap matters more than anything else on this page.
Is Focus5 an AI app?
It uses AI in exactly one place: turning what you say into written, dated, filed tasks. It doesn’t plan your day, rank your work or rewrite your schedule. The five are yours.
Is $29 really the whole price?
Yes. One payment, no renewal, no expiry date. Your account keeps every premium feature, including the ones that aren’t built yet.
Can you try Focus5 without paying?
Every feature is unlocked for your first 7 days, with no card. After that, Today, Agenda, Calendar and 2 books stay free with no time limit.
Compare Focus5 with another app
Focus5 vs Sunsama
Sunsama costs $204 a year and connects to 21 other tools. Focus5 costs $29 once and shows you 5 tasks at a time, one at a time, in the right order.
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Focus5 vs Todoist
Todoist organises your whole list from $5 a month. Focus5 costs $29 once and shows you 5 tasks at a time so you never decide what to do next.
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Focus5 vs TickTick
Both apps have a focus timer. TickTick costs $35.99 a year and leaves you to choose what to work on. Focus5 costs $29 once and chooses for you.
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Focus5 vs Things 3
Neither app charges a subscription. Things 3 is Apple only and costs up to $79.97 across devices. Focus5 is $29 once for every device, with a focus queue Things does not have.
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Focus5 vs Notion
Notion makes you build your own task system. Focus5 gives you one you cannot change, and a Focus mode that decides what you do next.
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Focus5 vs Microsoft To Do
Microsoft To Do is free and syncs with Outlook. Focus5 costs $29 once and adds a Focus mode that queues your tasks and times them.
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Focus5 vs Google Tasks
Google Tasks is free and sits inside Gmail. Focus5 costs $29 once and adds a Focus mode that picks your next task and times it.
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Focus5 vs Trello
Trello shows all your work on a board at once. Focus5 shows 5 at a time and one on screen, in an order it picks for you.
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Focus5 vs ClickUp
ClickUp runs a whole company’s work. Focus5 runs your next hour: it picks the next task and starts the timer.
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Focus5 vs Superlist
Both apps let you add tasks by talking. Superlist is $59 a year. Focus5 is $29 once and adds a Focus mode that queues them and times them.
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