Sunsama Price Increase 2026: Why It Now Costs More

Sunsama raised its price in 2026 for the first time in five years. The Pro plan now costs $22/month billed monthly, or $204/year (about $17/month) on the annual plan — up from roughly $16/month annual and $20/month monthly. There is still no free forever tier, just a 14-day trial. If you love Sunsama's guided daily-planning ritual, the increase is small in absolute terms and arguably overdue. But if you were already on the fence about paying premium prices for a daily planner with no auto-scheduling, the bump is a reason to re-evaluate. Cheaper or more automated alternatives include Reclaim (free tier, $8/user/mo paid), Morgen (free tier, ~$15/mo Pro), Motion ($19/mo with full AI auto-scheduling), Akiflow ($19/mo annual), and Temporal (energy-aware AI scheduling). This article breaks down exactly what changed, why, and which tool fits if you decide to switch.

What Actually Changed in Sunsama's Pricing

Sunsama spent five years holding its price flat. According to the company's own pricing manifesto, updated in 2026: "after 5 years of keeping the price steady and absorbing rising costs, we finally updated it." That's a long run — most SaaS tools reprice every 12 to 24 months — so this is less a cash grab and more a one-time correction.

Here's the before and after:

• Old pricing: ~$16/month on the annual plan, ~$20/month billed monthly.
• New pricing (2026): $204/year on the annual plan (about $17/month), and $22/month billed monthly.

That's roughly a $1–$2/month increase on the annual plan and a $2/month increase month-to-month. For a tool many people open every single workday, the change is modest. Sunsama frames its price around "~$1/workday" of value, and even after the bump the annual plan lands close to that target.

What did not change: there is still no free forever plan (Sunsama is philosophically opposed to one), the trial is still 14 days with no credit card required, and the single Pro plan still includes unlimited usage, 20+ integrations, AI features, and MCP support. Sunsama remains SOC2 compliant and was named Wirecutter's "best scheduling app" in 2025.

The honest read: This isn't a Motion-style overhaul that reshuffled tiers and introduced AI credits. It's a single-digit dollar increase after five flat years. The question isn't "is Sunsama gouging users?" — it's "at the new price, is a ritual-based planner with no auto-scheduling still the right tool for me?"

Why Sunsama Raised Prices (In Plain English)

Sunsama's pricing philosophy is unusually transparent, so the reasoning is easy to follow. Three things drove the change:

Five years of absorbed costs. Infrastructure, salaries, and AI compute all rose between 2021 and 2026. Sunsama ate those increases rather than passing them on — until now.

A deliberately "premium" positioning. Sunsama explicitly believes that "higher prices create higher expectations, which creates a higher quality product." The price is a filter: it screens out casual users so the team can build for people who plan their day every morning.

Sustainability over growth. Sunsama is bootstrapped-minded and profitable (it became profitable in 2022). It has no free tier because, in its words, "digital products that don't charge money, or don't charge enough, end up selling customer data or shutting down." The price increase keeps the business healthy without venture pressure — which, for a tool you depend on daily, is a feature, not a bug.

For context on the broader market: the AI calendar and scheduling category is growing fast, from an estimated $21.42 billion in 2025 to $27.8 billion in 2026 (a 29.8% CAGR), per Research and Markets. As demand rises and AI compute costs climb, expect more scheduling tools to reprice. Sunsama is early, not alone — Motion already moved to a tiered, AI-credit model in 2026 (see our breakdown of Motion's 2026 pricing).

Is Sunsama Still Worth It at the New Price?

Sunsama is worth the new price if the daily ritual is the feature you're paying for. Here's the honest split.

Sunsama is still worth it if you:

• Want a planning habit, not automation. Sunsama's guided morning planning and evening shutdown routines are the best in the category. No other tool builds the habit as reliably.
• Plan deliberately. You like dragging tasks onto your calendar yourself, estimating how long each will take, and getting a workload warning when you over-commit.
• Value calm over speed. Sunsama is intentionally unhurried. It's a daily planner with a point of view, not a productivity firehose.

You should reconsider if you:

• Want true AI auto-scheduling. Sunsama does not automatically place and reshuffle your tasks the way Motion, Reclaim, or Temporal do. You do the placing. If that's the job you're hiring software for, you're overpaying.
• Are price-sensitive. At ~$17–22/month with no free tier, Sunsama is one of the pricier daily planners. Todoist is ~$5/month; Google Calendar is free; Reclaim and Morgen both have free tiers.
• Need energy- or focus-aware scheduling. Sunsama schedules by time availability, not by when you actually do your best work.

If you land in the second group, the next section covers where to go.

5 Sunsama Alternatives Compared (2026)

If the price increase pushed you to shop around, here are five alternatives — ranging from free to premium, and from manual to fully automated. All pricing below is verified as of June 2026.

Reclaim.ai — Best free and cheapest paid option

The pitch: AI that defends your focus time and auto-reschedules conflicts, with a genuinely usable free tier.

What it does well:

• Free forever plan that covers habits, basic task scheduling, and Smart 1:1s.
• Automatic defense of focus blocks — it moves flexible events around meetings so deep work survives.
• Owned by Dropbox (acquired 2024), so it's stable and well-resourced.

What it doesn't do well:

• Google and Outlook only — no standalone calendar, no Apple Calendar as a primary.
• Less of a "planning ritual" — it's automation in the background, not a daily sit-down.

Who it's for: Individuals and small teams who want set-and-forget focus protection. Paid Starter is $8/user/month and Business is $12/user/month (annual). See our Reclaim alternatives guide for deeper comparisons.

Motion — Best for full AI auto-scheduling

The pitch: The most aggressive AI auto-scheduler in the category. You add tasks; Motion builds and rebuilds your day.

What it does well:

• Best-in-class auto-scheduling — genuinely removes the "what do I work on next?" decision.
• Combines projects, tasks, and calendar in one place.

What it doesn't do well:

• Pricier and more complex — $19/month Pro AI, $29/user/month Business AI (annual rates are lower), with a 2026 move to AI-credit-style tiers that frustrated some users.
• Steep setup. Auto-scheduling only shines once configured carefully.

Who it's for: People who want the software to make scheduling decisions for them and don't mind the price. We cover the best Motion alternatives if Motion itself feels like too much.

Morgen — Best unified calendar with a free tier

The pitch: A polished calendar that unifies all your accounts and adds light task scheduling.

What it does well:

• Free tier exists, with Pro around $15/month (annual) / $30/month (monthly).
• Connects every calendar — Google, Outlook, iCloud, and more in one view.
• Cross-platform, including Linux.

What it doesn't do well:

• Lighter automation than Motion or Reclaim.
• Task management is secondary to the calendar.

Who it's for: People juggling multiple calendars who want one clean view plus optional planning. Compare it directly in Sunsama vs Morgen.

Akiflow — Best for power users who want control and speed

The pitch: A keyboard-driven command bar that pulls tasks from every tool into one place, then onto your calendar.

What it does well:

• Command bar and keyboard shortcuts make capture and triage extremely fast.
• Consolidates tasks from Todoist, Asana, Slack, email, and more.

What it doesn't do well:

• Expensive month-to-month — $34/month, or $19/month billed annually, with no free plan.
• Manual by design — like Sunsama, you do the scheduling.

Who it's for: Power users who want maximum manual control and speed over automation. See Akiflow vs Sunsama for the head-to-head.

Temporal — Best for energy- and focus-aware scheduling

The pitch: An AI calendar that schedules around your focus patterns and energy levels, not just open slots.

What it does well:

• Chronotype-aware scheduling — it places demanding work when you're actually sharp, not just when the calendar is empty.
• Three automation modes (Suggest, Auto, Off) so you choose how much control to hand over.
• Natural-language input and a command palette for fast capture, plus Google Calendar sync.

What it doesn't do well:

• Newer and smaller than Reclaim, Motion, or Sunsama.
• Best for individuals rather than large teams today.

Who it's for: Solopreneurs, developers, and PMs who want automation and want it to respect when they do their best work. If you're weighing the broader field, our best AI calendar apps of 2026 guide is a good starting point.

Comparison Table

Pricing verified June 2026 from each vendor's site. Per-user pricing noted where it applies.

Which Tool Should You Choose?

Stay on Sunsama if the morning-planning and evening-shutdown ritual is genuinely changing how you work. A $1–2/month increase after five flat years is not a reason to abandon a tool you love. The ritual is the product, and nothing else does it as well.

Switch to Reclaim if you want automation without paying premium prices — its free tier alone covers a lot, and $8/user/month is the cheapest paid option here.

Switch to Motion if you want the software to make scheduling decisions for you and you'll actually invest in the setup.

Switch to Morgen if your real problem is too many calendars in too many places.

Switch to Akiflow if you loved Sunsama's manual control but want it faster and keyboard-driven.

Try Temporal if you want automation that schedules around your focus patterns — placing deep work when you're sharp and admin when you're not — rather than just filling empty slots. It's the energy-aware option in a field that mostly schedules by availability alone.

The honest summary: Sunsama's increase is small and justified. The real decision isn't about the extra dollar or two — it's whether a manual, ritual-first planner is still the right category for you in a year when AI auto-scheduling has gotten genuinely good.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Sunsama cost in 2026? Sunsama's Pro plan costs $204/year (about $17/month) on the annual plan, or $22/month billed monthly. There is no free forever tier — only a 14-day trial with no credit card required.

How much did Sunsama's price go up? The increase was roughly $1–2/month. Annual pricing moved from about $16/month to about $17/month, and monthly pricing from about $20 to $22. It was Sunsama's first price change in five years.

Why did Sunsama raise its prices? Per its pricing manifesto, Sunsama spent five years absorbing rising infrastructure and operating costs and finally adjusted in 2026. It positions itself as a premium, sustainable, profitable business with no free tier and no venture-growth pressure.

Is there a free version of Sunsama? No. Sunsama is philosophically opposed to free forever plans, arguing they create bad incentives. It offers a 14-day full-access trial instead. If you need a free tier, Reclaim and Morgen both have one.

What is the cheapest Sunsama alternative? Reclaim is the cheapest, with a usable free forever plan and paid tiers starting at $8/user/month. Morgen also has a free tier.

Does Sunsama have AI auto-scheduling like Motion? Not in the same way. Sunsama is a manual daily planner — you place tasks on your calendar yourself. For automatic placement and rescheduling, look at Motion, Reclaim, or Temporal.

Is Sunsama still worth it after the price increase? Yes, if you value its guided daily-planning ritual, which is the best in the category. Reconsider if you want true AI auto-scheduling or are highly price-sensitive, since cheaper and more automated options exist.

What's the best Sunsama alternative for energy-aware scheduling? Temporal is built specifically to schedule around your focus patterns and energy levels rather than just open calendar slots, with three automation modes (Suggest, Auto, Off).

Temporal is an AI calendar and task management app that schedules your day around your focus patterns and energy levels — not just time availability. It combines tasks, calendar, time tracking, and AI scheduling in one app with three automation modes: Suggest, Auto, and Off.