Cycling through all six. Tap any point to stop.

Measured on six things

A calm daily planner with Pomodoro focus, backlog shelves...

Security

HTTPS enforced with X-Content-Type-Options and Referrer-Policy set, but no HSTS, CSP, frame protection or DMARC, and 5/12 on the header checklist. No SOC 2, ISO or pen-test claims published. Standard for an early indie app, not a compliance story.

Screenshots

1 / 1

Ritsuban

About this app

Ritsuban is a refreshingly quiet productivity app that positions itself as "a calm home for your work." It brings together a daily planner, a Pomodoro timer tied to specific tasks, a smart backlog system with three honest shelves (Someday, Maybe, Partial), and structured rituals like a daily plan and shutdown to compare planned vs. actual time. The app stands out with its deliberate, minimalist design and cross-platform availability on iPhone, Android, Mac (beta), and the web. A 30-day full trial with no credit card required makes it easy to try, and a native Windows app is on the roadmap. If you're tired of noisy, feature-bloated to-do apps, Ritsuban offers a soothing alternative that helps you end each week feeling on top of things.

Key features

1Side-by-side week board with a Pomodoro timer tied to the specific task in front of you, logging time automatically.
2Three-shelf backlog (Someday, Maybe, Partial) with one-click promotion to Today, replacing the endless list.
3Daily plan and shutdown rituals comparing planned vs. actual time, plus a weekly review to carry work forward.

Target customer profile

Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.

Demographic

Remote knowledge workers and freelancers

Pain points

Overwhelmed by cluttered task managers, difficulty focusing, lack of work-life boundaries

Primary needs

A simple daily planner, Pomodoro timer for focused work, weekly review to track progress

Demographic

Students and lifelong learners

Pain points

Procrastination, chaotic to-do lists, poor time estimation, guilt over unfinished tasks

Primary needs

Structured backlog with 'someday' items, daily planning rituals, gentle progress tracking

Demographic

Creative professionals and solopreneurs

Pain points

Context switching, scattered ideas, difficulty prioritizing deep work, no clear sense of accomplishment

Primary needs

Side-by-side day planning, focus blocks linked to tasks, weekly review to carry forward the right things

Scout Review

Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.

Ritsuban is a calm productivity app built around a week board, a task-linked Pomodoro, a three-shelf backlog and daily plan/shutdown rituals. It ships on web, iOS, Android and Mac beta, with Windows on a waitlist. The measured speed is excellent (mobile 95, desktop 100), the trial is genuinely generous at 30 days with no card, and the pricing is one honest $8/month or $72/year plan. The weak points are security headers (5/12, no HSTS/CSP/DMARC, no published audits) and accessibility contrast, plus single-language localization. As an idea it's differentiated but competing in a well-defended category.

Measure by measure

Usability

30-day full trial with no card, a FAQ that actually answers trial-end and cancellation questions, and one subscription across web/iOS/Android/Mac. Windows is still a waitlist, so cross-platform is a promise, not a fact.

Design

Judging the app UI from 12 store screenshots and site copy: a coherent, muted, typographic system that matches the 'calm home for your work' promise. Side-by-side week board reads clearly. Polished but not distinctive enough to lead the category.

Speed

Lighthouse mobile 95/100 (LCP 2.6s, CLS 0, TBT 0ms) and desktop 100/100. The marketing site is light and the app lives at app.ritsuban.com. No lag complaints in the collected evidence.

Security

Accessibility

Lighthouse a11y 95/100, but two real failures: insufficient color contrast and no main landmark. No WCAG statement and only one store language. Native iOS/Android/Mac plus web gives broad platform reach.

Growth

Real problem (noisy task managers), specific wedge (rituals + planned-vs-actual + three-shelf backlog), clear peer set. Differentiated but in a crowded category where Todoist and Sunsama already own mindshare.

Improvement areas

Security headers are incomplete (no HSTS, CSP, frame protection, DMARC) and no audits or security page are published.
Accessibility fails on color contrast and a missing main landmark; no WCAG statement and only one store language.
Native Windows is still a waitlist, so the cross-platform promise is only partly delivered today.

Design & Usability

Ritsuban's design is judged from its app UI, not its landing page: 12 store screenshots show a muted, typographic week board with Focus, Backlog and Rituals sections that match the 'calm home for your work' pitch. It's coherent and clearly deliberate, though the palette leans so quiet that contrast becomes a real accessibility cost. Usability is the stronger half: a 30-day full trial with no credit card, a pricing FAQ that answers trial-end, multi-device and cancellation questions outright, and one subscription across web, iOS, Android and Mac beta. The gap is Windows, which is still an email waitlist rather than a shipped app.

Speed & Security

Speed is the standout measured result: Lighthouse mobile 95/100 with LCP 2.6s, CLS 0 and TBT 0ms, and desktop a clean 100/100. The marketing site is light and hands off to app.ritsuban.com, and nothing in the collected evidence suggests lag complaints. Security is the weak flank. HTTPS is enforced and X-Content-Type-Options and Referrer-Policy are set, but there's no HSTS, no CSP, no frame protection, no Permissions-Policy and no DMARC — 5 of 12 checklist points. No SOC 2, ISO 27001, pen-test summary or bug bounty is published anywhere in the site content. For an early indie app that's normal, but it means there is no verifiable security story to point at yet.

Accessibility & Growth

Accessibility scores 95/100 on Lighthouse but fails two real audits: background/foreground contrast and a missing main landmark. The contrast failure is the predictable cost of a deliberately muted palette, and it's the one thing a calm-design product should fix first. There's no WCAG statement and the App Store listing is localized in a single language, which caps reach. Growth is a judgement on the idea: the problem — cluttered task managers — is real, and the wedge is specific. Three honest shelves (Someday, Maybe, Partial), a Pomodoro tied to the task in front of you, and a daily plan/shutdown that compares planned against actual time is a sharper concept than another list app. Against Todoist, Things 3 and Sunsama it has a defensible angle, but it's a crowded category and the differentiator is a workflow, not a moat.

Conclusion

If you're a remote knowledge worker or freelancer who has bounced off Todoist's project sprawl and finds Sunsama's calendar-first model too heavy, Ritsuban is worth the free 30 days — the planned-vs-actual ritual is the part that earns its keep. Go in knowing the security posture is early-stage and the app is English-only. If you need Windows natively today, wait for the roadmap to ship.

Suggestions for improvement

Add HSTS, a Content-Security-Policy, frame protection and DMARC — the header checklist is 5/12 and these are cheap wins.
Fix the two failing Lighthouse a11y audits: raise contrast on muted text and add a main landmark to the layout.
Publish a short security page stating hosting, encryption at rest, and data export/deletion handling.
Localize the App Store listing beyond one language to match the cross-platform ambition.

How we score

Alternatives comparison

Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.

	Ritsuban	Todoist	Things 3	Sunsama
Pricing model	One plan: $8/month or $72/year, 30-day full trial, no card	Free tier plus paid Pro/Business plans	One-time purchase per platform, no subscription	Subscription, notably higher monthly price
Cross-platform support	Web, iOS, Android, Mac beta; Windows on roadmap	Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, browser extensions	Apple only: iPhone, iPad, Mac	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
Focus timer tied to tasks	Built-in Pomodoro tied to the active task, logs time automatically	No native Pomodoro; relies on integrations	No built-in focus timer	Time blocking and calendar-based focus, not a Pomodoro
Daily planning and review rituals	Daily plan, shutdown, planned-vs-actual time, weekly review	Filters and productivity stats; no structured shutdown ritual	Today list and deadlines; no planned-vs-actual comparison	Daily planning and shutdown ritual are core features
Calendar integration	Not listed in site content	Calendar sync on paid plans	Calendar events shown in Upcoming	Deep two-way calendar integration, core to the product

Todoist

A popular task manager with natural language input, projects, labels, and filters; more feature-rich but can feel overwhelming.

Things 3

An elegant, award-winning personal task manager for Apple devices with a focus on simplicity and clean design; lacks cross-platform support.

Sunsama

A daily planner that integrates with calendars and task apps, emphasizing daily planning and time blocking; more expensive and requires multiple integrations.

Comparing options? See Ritsuban alternatives, scored side by side

View all Productivity