GoKawiilThere's nothing like the feeling of a brand-new planner. If you're looking to get a little more organized or just love having somewhere to write everything down, there's no wrong time of year to get a new planner. After testing dozens of planners myself, my favorite ones are often either customizable or undated, making it easy to pick them up whenever you want.
The world of planners might seem simple if you've only browsed your local Target or bookstore to see what planners they might have on hand. But there's a wide world of options out there that can perfectly suit your needs, especially if you're willing to build your own travel notebook or write in the dates on an undated paper planner, or open to trying your first Japanese-style planner. After trying dozens of planners over the last year, these are my standout favorite styles of planner that I think everyone could benefit from trying.
Updated March 2026: This guide has been reorganized and features the Cloth & Paper Travel Notebook as a new pick.
The Best Planners
Best Planner For $30
If you need a single planner that can do it all without costing more than $30, this is the one. The Roterunner Purpose Planner is an undated planner that has monthly spreads, weekly spreads, and two full open pages for each week, so there's plenty of room to write longer lists or a project brainstorm. Each monthly and week spread has a ton of premade checklist sections for you to use, too. There's even space to track your meals, water intake, and gratitude. It's a planner that actually helps me stay organized and gives me space to track and take notes without running out of room.
The undated nature makes it easy to pick up anytime and use for whichever months you need. Fell off the boat for a few months? No problem. No pages will go wasted when you can fill them in as you go. It only covers six months, but I actually like that; it once again feels like a feasible commitment, especially if you're waffling on how much paper planner you want to promise to use. I love the massive B5 size, since it's finally enough space for me (almost too much, which is a rare find), but there's also a smaller (and cheaper!) A5 ($25) size.
Best Customizable Planner
This year, I'm all about the travel notebook. A travel notebook uses bands to connect three or four notebooks together, and I love using this system to build a customized planner designed for my exact needs. It makes it easy to change the design, too, since you can just switch out a single notebook when it's full.