In my previous post, I wrote about what to look for in a planner when you have persistent Post-Concussion Syndrome or a mild Traumatic Brain Injury (PCS/mTBI). But when it comes to implementing that advice in the real world, it begs the following question:

What are the best planners out there if you are recovering from persistent Post-Concussion Syndrome/mild Traumatic Brain Injury (PCS/mTBI)?

With that question in mind, I have researched and field-tested a wide range of physical and digital planners.

What follows are my top choices for physical planners and digital planners. If you would like to read my current thoughts on whether you should choose a physical pen and paper planner or a digital planner, read my note at the bottom of this post.

Physical planners (Pen and Paper Planners)

Top Tier Physical Planners (my top choices in bold):

1. (Tie) The Roterunner Purpose Planner (the original B5 version)

1. (Tie)The Panda Planner Weekly (the original 12-Month Weekly Planner)

3. (Tie) The Planner Pad

3. (Tie) Maalbok 2025 Planner

3. (Tie) The Passion Planner Elite 2025

Second Tier of Physical Planners (very good, but a cut below the top tier):

6. The Gazelle Planner (best monthly-daily planner)

Third Tier of Physical Planners (very good, but format is not as optimized for individuals with persistent PCS/mTBI, in my opinion):

7. (Tie) The Panda Planner Pro (best monthly-weekly-daily planner)

7. (Tie) Wonderland 222 2025 A5 Tomoe River Paper All-In-One Weekly Planner or Undated A5 Tomoe River Paper Weekly Planner

9. (Tie) Nolty 6501 Listy 1 Weekly Planner A5 Slim— 2025 Jan Start

10. (Tie) The Smart Planner Weekly Pro Undated

11. The Happy Planner Work + Life Onyx Planner

Digital Planners

Top Tier of Digital Planners (a level or two above the competition):

1. Roterunner 2025 Digital Planner

Second Tier of Digital Planners (good but a level below the top tier):

2. Passion Planner Weekly Elite 2025 Dated or Passion Planner Weekly Elite undated

Third Tier of Digital Planners (promising with automatic or manual sync of appointments and calendar apps, but with some gaps in features for individuals with PCS/mTBI):

3. (Tie) For Little Lion Planner

3. (Tie) Planners Collective The Modern Planner

5. Planners Collective The Custom Planner

6. (Tie) Upbase

6. (Tie) Notion

6. (Tie) Sunsama

9. Artful Agenda (has significant display issues, but syncs well with Google calendar and with Ical)

10. Dash Planner

A Word on Physical (Pen and Paper Planners) vs. Digital Planners

Digital planners offer lots of choices in their formats and layouts, and are generally more customizable than physical planners. One advantage for a growing number of digital planners is that they allow you to sync appointments you enter on them with your phone/tablet Calendar apps (such as ICal or Google Calendar). Some sync effortlessly, others less so. (That technology is imperfect though, when it comes to these planners being able to integrate calendar events with prioritized to-do lists.)

Nonetheless, at this juncture, there are a number of reasons why I’d recommend physical planners over digital planners, all other things being considered equal:

-Especially if you have physical symptoms related to PCS/mTBI, reducing screen time is beneficial. Pen and paper planners allow you to do that.

-Few digital planners show both appointments and to-do lists on the same page without looking very cluttered and stressful. (The Roterunner Digital and digital Passion Planner Weekly Elite Dated 2025— and, to a lesser extent, the Planners Collective Master Planner— are notable exceptions to that, though.)

-If you use different apps for to-do’s and for appointments on your phone— or if you have to navigate between separate calendar and to-do list pages on a digital planner interface— it’s easier to miss something. Additionally, having to correctly navigate between them adds to your overall cognitive load, increasing mental fatigue.

-Other than for the Roterunner Digital and the Passion Planner , even for those digital planners with appointments and to-do lists on the same page, the more limited space for to-do’s and/or appointments make them less easily read and less user-friendly than that of physical planners.

-A tablet is needed to create calendar and to-do list items that are user-friendly when using the very best digital planners for individuals with persistent PCS/mTBI.

The bottom line is that overall, the functionality of physical planners is just flat-out better than that of almost every digital planner— at this juncture— for individuals with persistent PCS/mTBI. Compared to this time last year, though, that gap is narrower.

If you do want to use a digital planner, I’d strongly recommend the Roterunner Digital Planner. It is as good as the top tier of pen and paper planners, and it is comparable to the Roterunner Purpose Planner. The Passion Planner Weekly 2025 Dated is also very close, in quality, to its pen and paper sibling, the Passion Planner Elite 2025.

To see how the physical planners meet my standards for a good planner for individuals with PCS/mTBI, check this out. In the coming months, I will post on this blog (https://rebuildcoaching.com/blog) my explanations for my digital planner rankings.

If you would like me to review your planner or want to recommend planners to me, please comment below.