Sunsama: The Mindfulness Approach
Full transparency: I respect Sunsama. They're one of the few apps that actually care about burnout prevention, not just productivity optimization.
Their daily planning ritual is brilliant. You start each day reviewing yesterday, planning today, and setting intentions. End of day, you reflect on what worked. It's like having a productivity therapist.
But it costs $20/month. And honestly? The whole vibe felt a bit... heavy for me.
What Sunsama Does Well
- Daily Rituals: Morning planning and evening reflection are guided. Forces you to be intentional.
- Time Blocking: Drag tasks onto your calendar. Visual commitment to when work happens.
- Integration: Pulls from Asana, Trello, Gmail, Slack. Everything in one place.
- Timeboxing: Estimates vs actuals. Teaches you how long things really take.
- Weekly Review: Reflect on accomplishments and adjust next week's priorities.
If you're someone who thrives on reflection and intentionality, Sunsama's rituals are gold.
Why I Switched to Funtasking
Here's the thing: Sunsama's daily ritual took me 15-20 minutes every morning. Planning. Reviewing. Reflecting. Setting intentions.
Some days I loved it. Other days I just wanted to start working.
The reflection prompts felt productive, but also... exhausting? Like homework for adults. "What went well? What could improve? What's your intention today?"
With Funtasking, I open the app and see my Purpose Wheel. Instantly, I know: Work is overflowing. Body is neglected. That's my reflection, visualized in 2 seconds.
No journaling required. No prompts to answer. Just honest data staring back at me.
Gamification vs Mindfulness
This is the core difference:
Sunsama's Philosophy: Be mindful. Move slow. Reflect deeply. Plan intentionally. Productivity is a practice, like meditation.
Funtasking's Philosophy: Make productivity fun. Earn rewards. See your balance. Celebrate wins. Productivity should feel like leveling up.
Neither is wrong. They're just different personality matches.
I tried meditation. I wanted to be the person who journaled and reflected. But honestly? I'm motivated by games and rewards. Earning coins for completing tasks makes me smile. Sunsama's reflection prompts made me procrastinate.
The $240/Year Question
Sunsama costs $20/month. $240/year. There's a 14-day free trial, but then you're paying.
Is it worth it? If daily rituals genuinely change your life, yes. Some people swear by it. The forced reflection prevents burnout for them.
But I kept thinking: "I'm paying $20/month to answer journal prompts?"
Funtasking is free (premium coming soon with advanced features). We give you life balance tracking without the subscription anxiety.
Life Balance: Sunsama vs Funtasking
Sunsama: You have to manually track balance. Create "channels" for work, personal, health. Review weekly. It's on you to notice imbalance.
Funtasking: Purpose Wheel shows balance automatically in real-time. Work heavy? You see it instantly. Body neglected? Obvious at a glance.
Sunsama makes you think about balance. Funtasking shows you balance.
Speed of Use
Sunsama: Daily ritual is mandatory. 15-20 minutes to start your day. It's intentional, but slow.
Funtasking: Open app, see wheel, add tasks, go. 30 seconds to start your day.
Again, not better or worse. Just depends if you value ritual or speed.
Who Should Choose Sunsama?
- You love journaling and reflection
- You want forced daily rituals
- You need calendar integration with everything
- $20/month feels worth it for mindfulness
- You thrive on intention-setting
- You prefer calm, slow, meditative tools
Who Should Choose Funtasking?
- You're motivated by games and rewards
- You want instant visual balance feedback
- You prefer speed over ritual
- You'd rather see data than journal
- Free (or cheap premium) matters to you
- You want fun, colorful, energetic design
Can You Use Both?
Probably not. They both want to be your daily planner. Using both would be redundant (and expensive).
Pick the philosophy that matches your personality:
Mindful, reflective, journaling type? Sunsama.
Fun-loving, visual, reward-motivated type? Funtasking.
The Honest Comparison
Sunsama is more mature, more polished, more established. They've been around longer. Their integrations are deeper.
Funtasking is newer, more playful, more affordable. We're building different features (Purpose Wheel, gamification) instead of copying Sunsama.
Both prevent burnout. Sunsama does it through rituals. We do it through visualization and rewards.
Final Thought
If you love Sunsama, stick with it. Their daily rituals work for thousands of people.
But if you've tried Sunsama and felt like it was too slow, too serious, too expensive? Try Funtasking's approach. See if gamification and instant visual feedback work better for your brain.