- Type Lifetime
- Verdict Wait
- Status Expired
- Updated Jul 10, 2026
- Confidence Medium
- Score 5/10
Verdict: Wait
ByDesign is a capable solo all-in-one planner at $75 one-time with strong ratings, but confirmed bugs, missing undo/redo, single-user-only scope, and a currently sold-out AppSumo listing make waiting for a restock and stability fixes the wiser move.
This offer has expired, but you can still check the vendor page.
Get Lifetime Access →Pricing and terms may have changed since this review.
ByDesign deal: quick verdict
Wait 5/10- Verdict
- Wait (5/10)
- Price
- $75 one-time (normally $5/mo)
- Best for
- Solo knowledge workers who want tasks, calendar, notes, and habits in one app instead of paying for several subscriptions
- Skip if
- Teams of more than one person should skip it, because the lifetime deal covers a single user and added seats revert to full recurring pricing; Notion Business at $20/user fits teams better.
- Bottom line
- ByDesign is a capable solo all-in-one planner at $75 one-time with strong ratings, but confirmed bugs, missing undo/redo, single-user-only scope, and a currently sold-out AppSumo listing make waiting for a restock and stability fixes the wiser move.
Last verified Jul 10, 2026 by Alston Antony.
How we calculated this deal's 48/100 score
Every deal gets a score out of 100 built from five weighted factors, computed from the same research used to write this review. No factor is guessed: when data for a factor isn't available (for example, an older deal published before we started tracking vendor trust signals), that factor falls back to a neutral, non-penalizing score instead of being invented.
| Category | Points | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict Strength | 20/40 | Based on our 1-10 editorial verdict score from hands-on research (or the BUY/WAIT/SKIP call itself when no numeric score was recorded). |
| Deal Value | 10/25 | How steep the confirmed discount is versus the regular price, when that price is available. |
| Feature Completeness | 5/15 | How the tool holds up against named competitors on the feature comparison table. |
| Vendor Trust | 7/10 | The vendor's domain authority, safety record, and how long the company has been operating. |
| Deal Terms & Risk | 6/10 | Refund window length, code-stacking policy, and how confident our research was overall. |
On this page8 sections
Expired Get This Deal → Affiliate link - see our disclosure.
ByDesign deal terms
- Refund window
- 60-day money-back guarantee
- Code stacking
- No, single code only
What is ByDesign?
ByDesign is an all-in-one productivity workspace that combines task management, two-way calendar sync, habit tracking, note-taking, and AI auto-scheduling in one customizable app. The ByDesign lifetime deal is $75 one-time on AppSumo (70% off the $250 regular price), covers one user, includes all future updates, and is backed by AppSumo's 60-day money-back guarantee.
The ByDesign lifetime deal lists at $75 one-time on AppSumo, a 70% cut from the $250 regular price, and bundles task management, two-way Google and Outlook calendar sync, habit tracking, note-taking, and AI auto-scheduling into one workspace. That is genuinely good value for a solo planner, but the deal is not flawless: AppSumo reviewers report there is still no undo or redo, habit settings sometimes reset on their own, and one user said frequent rearrangements affected their ADHD negatively, which stings for a tool marketed as built by someone with ADHD. It also covers only a single user and is not stackable, so it does not scale to a team. If your priority is relational databases, formulas, or Gantt-style project views, Notion (from $10/month) is more powerful, and if you mainly want AI that reschedules around deadlines, Motion ($29/month) is purpose-built for that. ByDesign earns a strong 4.7/5 across 33 AppSumo reviews and ships future updates, but at the moment the deal is sold out, so the realistic move for many buyers is to wait for it to restock and watch whether the stability bugs get fixed.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- One $75 one-time payment replaces a $250 regular price and several recurring subscriptions, covering tasks, calendar, notes, and habits in a single app with all future updates included.
- Strong user sentiment: 4.7/5 across 33 AppSumo reviews with 28 five-star ratings (about 85%), and reviewers repeatedly note the developer is responsive to feature requests.
- Genuinely all-in-one for solo users, combining habit tracking, Pomodoro timers, color-coded dashboards, and two-way calendar sync that most single-purpose competitors do not bundle together.
- Cross-platform coverage across web, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, plus dark mode, markdown import, and a Quick Add console for fast capture.
- AppSumo's 60-day money-back guarantee lets you test the full feature set risk-free before committing to the lifetime purchase.
Cons
- Core UX gaps remain: no undo/redo and no contact sync, both flagged by AppSumo reviewers as basic features that competitors already ship.
- Stability is shaky in places, with habit settings resetting unexpectedly and one reviewer saying frequent rearrangements worsened their ADHD experience.
- The lifetime deal covers one user and is not stackable, so it does not scale to teams and added seats revert to full recurring pricing.
- Project and data depth lag rivals: no Gantt or timeline views and no Notion-style relational databases, formulas, or rollups.
- It is a young company with no long track record of honoring lifetime deals, and the AppSumo deal is currently sold out, so you may not be able to buy it right now.
What It Does
- Schedules tasks onto a calendar with drag-and-drop
- Syncs two-way with Google Calendar and Outlook
- Tracks habits and goals alongside daily tasks
- Stores notes and wiki pages in one workspace
- Auto-schedules tasks using AI and natural language
- Runs on web, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows
Who It's For
- Solo knowledge workers who want tasks, calendar, notes, and habits in one app instead of paying for several subscriptions
- ADHD-leaning planners who like color-coded dashboards, Pomodoro timers, and visual scheduling in a single workspace
- AppSumo lifetime deal buyers who prefer a one-time payment over recurring monthly fees for a personal planner
Pricing Comparison
| Plan | Price | Type |
|---|---|---|
| ByDesign Lifetime (AppSumo) | $75 one-time | ⭐ Best Value |
| ByDesign Monthly/Annual | Check pricing > | Subscription |
| Todoist Pro | $5/month annual | Subscription |
| Notion Plus | $10/month annual | Subscription |
| Reclaim.ai | $8/month | Subscription |
| Motion Individual | $29/month annual | Subscription |
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ByDesign | Notion | Motion |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-time lifetime price | ✅ ($75) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Built-in habit tracking | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Note-taking and wiki pages | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Two-way calendar sync | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| AI auto-scheduling | ✅ (basic) | ❌ | ✅ (advanced) |
| Built-in team messaging | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Undo / redo | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advanced databases (relations, rollups, formulas) | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Automatic deadline-aware rescheduling | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Gantt / timeline / swimlane views | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SAML SSO and enterprise team controls | ❌ | ✅ (Business) | ✅ |
| Contact sync / address book | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Limitations
- ByDesign has no undo or redo function, which multiple AppSumo reviewers flagged as a basic gap that raises the risk of accidental data loss during everyday editing.
- Habit settings reset unexpectedly for some users, with AppSumo reviewers reporting that the app reverts configurations after temporarily respecting them, a bug that directly undercuts the habit-tracking pitch.
- There is no contact sync or address book, so ByDesign cannot act as a lightweight CRM and forces you to manage contacts in a separate tool, per AppSumo reviewer requests.
- Mobile is less polished than the web app: AppSumo reviewers note the absence of a month-view iOS calendar widget and limited mobile dashboard options compared with the desktop experience.
- At least one AppSumo reviewer said frequent UI and feature rearrangements affected their ADHD negatively, which is ironic for a tool the founder markets as built by someone with ADHD.
- Project visualization is shallow: there are no Gantt charts, timeline, or swimlane views, so AppSumo reviewers comparing it to Notion and Asana found it weak for dependency-heavy project work.
- Database capability is far below Notion. Independent pricing comparisons note ByDesign has no relations, rollups, or formulas, limiting it for complex data-organized workflows.
- The lifetime deal is not stackable and covers a single user only, so per findfahim.com you cannot buy multiple discounted codes and team expansion reverts to full recurring pricing.
What's Missing vs Competitors
- Notion offers advanced databases with relations, rollups, and formulas plus SAML SSO and private teamspaces on Business, none of which ByDesign provides.
- Motion provides automatic deadline-aware rescheduling and deadline intelligence warnings, while ByDesign's AI auto-scheduling is comparatively basic and does not reschedule around conflicts.
- Todoist ships a more mature task engine with 300+ projects, refined natural-language parsing, and the new Ramble voice-to-task input that ByDesign does not match.
- Notion and Motion both include Gantt or timeline-style project views for visualizing dependencies, a capability ByDesign currently lacks entirely.
- Reclaim.ai delivers more sophisticated AI time-blocking and deep-work prioritization for $8/month, where ByDesign's scheduling is broader but shallower.
Who Should Skip This Deal
- Teams of more than one person should skip it, because the lifetime deal covers a single user and added seats revert to full recurring pricing; Notion Business at $20/user fits teams better.
- Anyone whose main need is AI scheduling that reschedules around deadlines should choose Motion ($29/month), which handles automatic time-blocking far more capably than ByDesign.
- Users who want a fast, mature, focused task manager will be better served by Todoist Pro ($5/month) with its refined natural-language parsing and 300+ projects.
- Power users who rely on relational databases, formulas, or Gantt views should pick Notion Plus ($10/month) instead of ByDesign's lighter workspace.
ByDesign vendor check
- Domain Rating
- 32/100 Backlink authority
- In business since
- 2021
- Monthly visitors
- ~341 Est. organic
- Ranks for
- 8 keywords Organic search
- Traffic value
- ~$257/mo Equivalent ad spend
- Security
- No known flags Google Safe Browsing
Domain Rating & traffic data by Ahrefs. Objective third-party data, not our opinion.
Lifetime Deal Savings Calculator
Work out whether a lifetime deal actually beats the subscription. Enter the monthly price of the tool you would replace and the one-time lifetime price. The single most important number is the break-even: how fast you recover the cost. Recovering it quickly is what protects you if the company shuts down later.
This lifetime deal pays for itself in 15 months and saves $225 over 5 years versus paying monthly.
Roughly 1 in 10 lifetime deal companies shut down within five years. Recovering your cost fast, and buying only tools you will use right away, is how you stay ahead of that risk. This is an estimate, not financial advice.
How ByDesign's price compares
ByDesign is the 54th-cheapest of 63AI Productivitylifetime deals we've reviewed. At $75 it is above the $59 median for AI Productivity lifetime deals we've reviewed. It ranks 41st by verdict score (5/10) among the same group.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- For a single user who wants tasks, calendar, notes, and habit tracking in one app, the $75 one-time AppSumo price is reasonable value, especially against a $250 regular price and recurring competitors like Notion or Motion. It holds a 4.7/5 rating across 33 AppSumo reviews, and future updates are included. However, it is harder to call a clear win because of confirmed gaps: no undo/redo, occasional habit-setting resets, no contact sync, and only single-user coverage. If you mainly need relational databases or advanced AI scheduling, the money is better spent on Notion or Motion. Treat the 60-day refund window as your real safety net and test it thoroughly before deciding.
- ByDesign is sold through AppSumo, which applies its standard 60-day money-back guarantee to the lifetime deal. That means you can request a full refund within 60 days of purchase for any reason, and the request is handled through AppSumo's support rather than directly by ByDesign. Sixty days is a fair and genuinely useful trial window, though it is shorter than the 90 to 180 days some other lifetime deal platforms offer. Because the deal includes all future updates and covers one user, the practical advice is to install ByDesign across your devices early in that window, stress-test the habit tracking and calendar sync, and confirm the missing undo/redo is not a dealbreaker before the 60 days expire.
- ByDesign and Notion overlap as all-in-one workspaces but lean different ways. ByDesign wins on a one-time $75 price, built-in habit tracking, Pomodoro timers, two-way calendar sync, and AI auto-scheduling that work out of the box for a solo planner. Notion wins on depth: relational databases with rollups and formulas, far greater customization, Gantt-style views through databases, and enterprise features like SAML SSO and private teamspaces on its Business plan. Notion Plus runs about $10/month, so over several years ByDesign's lifetime price can be cheaper for one person. The honest split: choose ByDesign for a lightweight personal planner, and choose Notion if you need powerful databases, complex workflows, or proper team collaboration.
- Based on AppSumo reviews and competitor comparisons, the main limitations are: no undo or redo function, which raises the risk of accidental data loss; habit settings that occasionally reset themselves; no contact sync or address book; a less polished mobile experience with no month-view iOS calendar widget; and shaky stability that at least one reviewer said negatively affected their ADHD. On the feature side, it lacks Notion-style relational databases, has no Gantt or timeline project views, and its AI scheduling is more basic than Motion's deadline-aware rescheduling. The lifetime deal also covers only one user and is not stackable. Several features are still in active development, so expect ongoing changes rather than a fully settled product.
- Teams should not buy it expecting to scale, because the lifetime deal covers a single user, is not stackable, and additional seats revert to full recurring pricing; Notion Business at about $20 per user is a better team fit. Anyone whose primary need is AI scheduling that automatically reshuffles tasks around deadlines should pick Motion ($29/month) instead, since ByDesign's auto-scheduling is comparatively basic. People who want a fast, mature, focused task manager are better served by Todoist Pro ($5/month). And power users who depend on relational databases, formulas, or Gantt timeline views will hit ByDesign's ceiling quickly and should choose Notion Plus ($10/month). Anyone needing rock-solid stability today may also want to wait for the current bugs to be resolved.
Is ByDesign worth the money?
What is the refund policy for ByDesign?
How does ByDesign compare to Notion?
What are the main limitations of ByDesign?
Who should NOT buy ByDesign?
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