Open Sunsama

Open Sunsama is a task manager and daily planner for people who want to arrange work around time blocks and keep it connected to their calendars. It is strongest for personal planning, with self-hosting and AI-agent connections for users who want more control over their setup.

Its free personal-use access and desktop options are appealing, but users must schedule tasks themselves and rely on a phone browser rather than a native mobile app.

Overview

Planning begins with a backlog: move tasks onto a board for the day, then assign time blocks around calendar commitments. Unfinished tasks roll over to tomorrow, which makes it easier to carry work forward without rebuilding the plan. Natural-language input, priority replanning and recurring tasks add flexibility, but none removes the need to decide when tasks should happen.

Open Sunsama syncs Google Calendar, Outlook and iCloud, and supports multiple accounts. Its time blocks stay inside Open Sunsama rather than being copied to Google or Outlook calendars. That separation suits people who want to see calendar commitments alongside their plan without adding planner blocks to their external calendars.

Key features

Daily planning and focus

Focus mode runs a timer and tracks actual time against a task estimate. This gives users a way to compare planned and spent time while working through the day, though it does not automate the schedule. Recurring tasks and rollover support routines and ongoing work.

AI connections and API

The hosted MCP server connects through OAuth to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP clients, with 24 tools. The REST API covers tasks, subtasks and time blocks, using API keys with selectable scopes. These integrations make the product more adaptable for people who want an AI agent or their own software to interact with planning data; they are less relevant to someone seeking a self-contained planner.

Self-hosting and data access

Docker Compose runs the web app, REST API, MCP server and PostgreSQL database on the user's server. Self-hosting requires Docker 20.10 or newer, Compose 2.24 or newer and 2 GB of RAM, so it offers infrastructure control at the cost of setup and maintenance. Self-hosted data can be copied with pg_dump; hosted tasks and time blocks can be retrieved through the API. There is no one-click export button, which is a meaningful drawback for users who expect a simple built-in migration path.

Pricing

Personal use / hosted app or self-hosted: free. The plan is free for personal use and covers either the hosted app or self-hosting. It is a strong fit for individual users who want time blocking without a subscription, but it is not a free production license for companies: for-profit production use and commercial resale require a commercial license. The non-commercial license also covers education, nonprofit groups, non-commercial open-source projects, evaluation and testing. Companies using it in production need a commercial license, with custom pricing.

The free plan's practical trade-offs are manual scheduling, no native phone app and no one-click export. Open Sunsama works in a phone browser as a mobile web app, while its Mac, Windows and Linux desktop apps connect to the hosted service.

Platforms

Open Sunsama supports web, Android, iOS, Mac, Windows and Linux, as well as self-hosted deployments and an API. On phones, it runs in the browser; there is no native phone app yet. Desktop apps are available for Mac, Windows and Linux and connect to the hosted service, so users who want a native phone experience should look elsewhere.

Who it's for

Open Sunsama suits people who prefer to make a deliberate daily plan, use time blocks, and want task and calendar context in one place. It is also a good match for technically comfortable users who want to self-host or connect an AI agent. It is a poor fit for anyone who expects tasks to be scheduled automatically or wants a native mobile app.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Free personal-use access covers the hosted app or self-hosting, without a subscription price.
• Pros: Google Calendar, Outlook and iCloud sync, including multiple accounts, bring calendar commitments into the planning workflow while keeping time blocks inside Open Sunsama.
• Pros: The hosted MCP server and scoped REST API give AI clients and custom integrations ways to work with tasks and time blocks.
• Cons: Automatic scheduling is not included, so users must decide when to place their tasks.
• Cons: Phone access is through a mobile web app, not a native app.
• Cons: There is no one-click export, and commercial production use requires a commercial license.

Alternatives

If you want task management with automatic scheduling rather than manual time blocking, consider FlowSavvy, whose Basic plan includes three repeating auto-scheduled tasks and two weeks of scheduling range; its Pro plan is $14 a month. DayWise is another option for Android users seeking AI scheduling and auto-rescheduling, with manual scheduling and core task management on its free plan.

For a free self-hosted calendar with unlimited users and operations and no per-user licensing fees, consider General Bots Calendar. Routine offers a free plan with three integrations, three custom databases and 250 AI credits; its Personal plan costs $5 a month. Reclaim AI has a free Lite plan capped at one user, a one-week scheduling range, one calendar sync, one scheduling link and five AI agents. Trevor AI has a free plan limited to one calendar account, while its Pro plan costs $6 a month and supports multiple calendar accounts.

Amie and Taskal are also alternatives; Amie has free and paid plans, while Taskal is free to use on the web.

Readers comparing broader categories can browse AI Calendar Assistants, Time Blocking Apps and Daily Planner Apps.

Verdict

Open Sunsama is a sensible choice for personal users who want a free, manually planned day with calendar sync, focus timing and the option to self-host or involve an AI agent. Its chief appeal is combining those planning tools without a personal subscription; its chief limitation is that it will not schedule tasks for you, and phone use remains browser-based. Choose it if you want control over the plan; look elsewhere if you want automatic scheduling or a native mobile app.