Best 2022 Planners: Eight Picks for Every Planning Style

Introduction

A new year is the classic excuse for a fresh planner, and 2022 brought a strong lineup across every planning style: minute-by-minute daily pages, vertical weekly timelines, flexible creative diaries, and slim monthly carry options. This guide walks through eight planner lines that consistently stand out, with notes on who each one suits best so you can pick with confidence.

Hobonichi Techo

Hobonichi Techo planners need no introduction and are among the most popular planners available. They come in several formats, so there is something for everyone. Hobonichi is best known for its daily planners: the English version is only available in A6, while the Japanese versions come in A6 and A5. If you prefer a weekly layout, the Weeks and Weeks Mega put the days of the week on the left side and an extra note-taking page on the right. And if monthly planning is more your pace, the Day-Free offers monthly calendars plus plenty of grid pages for notes and memories. A wide range of covers is offered each year as well.

Kokuyo Jibun Techo

If you love planning down to the last minute, the Kokuyo Jibun Techo Planner is worth a look. The original Jibun Techo is a weekly vertical planner, and the lineup now also includes the DAYs, a daily planner. Like the weekly version, the DAYs has an hourly timeline, but its daily pages give you more room to write notes. Kokuyo also offers a large selection of accessories designed to pair with the Jibun Techo, which makes it easy to build out a full planning system.

Leuchtturm1917 Planners

Leuchtturm1917 makes some favorite notebooks, so it is no surprise the planners are just as appealing. Like the regular notebooks, they feature an accordion pocket in the back and an elastic closure that keeps the book shut. They come in multiple sizes and two formats: a monthly version and a weekly version. For the weekly option, you can choose between a regular horizontal layout or a planner with memo pages. The stylish color options released each year are a nice bonus.

Maruman Diaries

Fountain pen users already know how well Maruman Mnemosyne paper performs, and now you can pick up a 2022 planner to match your notebooks. Maruman Diaries use the same high quality paper in a sophisticated style, and they are packed with useful planning tools. Each month includes a calendar for jotting down deadlines and a gantt chart for tracking habits, goals, or anything else you can think of. You can get the Diary by itself or with a faux leather cover that also includes a separate notebook.

Midori MD Diaries

Midori MD paper is another paper that works with everything, which is why the MD Diaries suit creatives and journalers so well. These flexible planners have dated monthly calendars for deadlines, grid or line pages for brainstorming, plus blank pages for sketching. The One Day One Page edition stands apart from the other diaries: it has a flexible plastic cover and over 350 undated daily pages, each with an hourly section.

Midori Pocket Diaries

Another popular Midori option is the Pocket Diaries line, themed with illustrations of cats, dogs, birds, or clovers. They come in two sizes, and both the B6 and slim versions have monthly calendars, but only the B6 adds weekly pages. The charming artwork makes these an easy pick if cuteness matters to you as much as function.

Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter Planner Inserts

Even if you are familiar with the Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter, you might not know the brand also makes weekly planner inserts. These weekly calendars work on their own too: they are really slim, so they fit nicely into backpacks and purses without adding much weight. The inserts come in two versions. Layout one uses a horizontal format with the days of the week on the left page and note-taking space on the right, while layout two uses a vertical format that works well for time blocking.

Traveler’s Company TRAVELER’S Notebook Planners

If you use the cult classic TRAVELER’S COMPANY TRAVELER’S notebook, consider one of its dated planners. Several formats are available: a weekly format, a weekly vertical format, and a monthly format. Each year TRAVELER’S COMPANY also releases limited edition themed accessories and stickers, so you can decorate your planner with press-on stickers and use index tabs to mark the months for easier flipping. This year’s theme draws inspiration from theaters, with references to classic movies to spot along the way.

Buying Advice

The right choice comes down to your planning rhythm. Daily page lovers will be happiest with the Hobonichi Techo, the Kokuyo Jibun Techo DAYs, or the Midori MD One Day One Page. Weekly schedulers should look at the Hobonichi Weeks, the Jibun Techo weekly, Leuchtturm1917’s weekly formats, the Roterfaden inserts, or the Traveler’s Company weekly options. If you mostly need a monthly view, the Midori Pocket Diaries, the Hobonichi Day-Free, or the Traveler’s monthly format keep things simple. Fountain pen users should shortlist the Maruman Diaries and Midori MD Diaries for their paper quality.

Conclusion

Whichever direction you lean, there is a 2022 planner here to match it: polished hardcovers for structure, flexible diaries for creatives, and slim inserts for minimalists. Pick the format that matches how you actually plan, and the habit tends to take care of itself.