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Comparison · PM
Ellie Planner vs Leantime
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Ellie Planner and Leantime — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Ellie Planner vs Leantime: at a glance
What is Ellie Planner?
Ellie follows its MCP opening with a 30-day Trash and Google Calendar editing.
Ellie is a solo-built task and calendar planner on web, desktop, iPhone and iPad. The August catch-up release opened task data to outside agents through MCP and an API in beta, alongside iPad Week Calendar, Pomodoro and Quick Capture. The October 5 update added a 30-day Trash across platforms, Google Calendar editing and more iPhone features.
What is Leantime?
Leantime swaps role ranks for real permissions and syncs with your calendar app.
Leantime moved from 3.10 to 3.14 between October and 10 November. v3.14.0 replaces role-rank checks with specific permission checks across projects, timesheets, users, API keys, to-dos, milestones and sprints, and opens the calendar to plugins; a new CalDAV plugin syncs both ways with Nextcloud, Radicale and Apple Calendar. Earlier releases added mobile push, per-project modules, global search and self-updating plugins.
Ellie Planner vs Leantime: editorial side-by-side
Ellie follows its MCP opening with a 30-day Trash and Google Calendar editing.
◆ Current state
Ellie is a solo-built task and calendar planner on web, desktop, iPhone and iPad. The August catch-up release opened task data to outside agents through MCP and an API in beta, alongside iPad Week Calendar, Pomodoro and Quick Capture. The October 5 update added a 30-day Trash across platforms, Google Calendar editing and more iPhone features.
◆ Where it's heading
After a long quiet stretch, releases are arriving more often and filling gaps in safety and calendar parity between platforms. MCP access remains the directional bet, while recent work is mostly parity and polish.
◆ Prediction
Expect more iPhone and iPad parity work; whether MCP access leaves beta is unclear from the entries.
Leantime
5.0PM
Leantime swaps role ranks for real permissions and syncs with your calendar app.
◆ Current state
Leantime moved from 3.10 to 3.14 between October and 10 November. v3.14.0 replaces role-rank checks with specific permission checks across projects, timesheets, users, API keys, to-dos, milestones and sprints, and opens the calendar to plugins; a new CalDAV plugin syncs both ways with Nextcloud, Radicale and Apple Calendar. Earlier releases added mobile push, per-project modules, global search and self-updating plugins.
◆ Where it's heading
The release cadence is roughly one feature version every two weeks, split between finer access control and a plugin marketplace that carries more functionality. Core changes increasingly exist to give plugins stable hooks, as the calendar rework shows.
◆ Prediction
Expect more marketplace plugins built on the new calendar and permission hooks, and further permission work extending to the remaining modules.
Alternatives to Ellie Planner and Leantime
Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Ellie Planner or Leantime.
Asana
Asana lets Division admins run their own custom roles, on top Enterprise plans only.
NocoBase
NocoBase's v3 beta lets apps ship their own CLI, separate from Agents.
Productboard
Productboard's v2 documents API now keeps plain web addresses and emoji as ordinary text.
Hive
Hive turns reporting into a planning tool: shared inputs, grouped values, per-person drill-downs.
Tracecat
Tracecat 1.5 alpha patches add sub-cases and lock down agent sandboxes.
See all Ellie Planner alternatives → · See all Leantime alternatives →
Recent activity from Ellie Planner and Leantime
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3d agoLeantimev3.14.0: per-permission access checks and a CalDAV sync plugin
- 14d agoLeantimev3.13.2: digest changes, OIDC PKCE, marketplace install reporting
- 14d agoLeantimev3.13.1: clearer plugin install errors
- 14d agoLeantimev3.13.0: mobile push, per-project modules, Laravel 12
- 29d agoLeantimev3.12.0: self-updating plugins and a shared interface library
- 1mo agoLeantimev3.11.0: global search across the workspace
- 1mo agoEllie PlannerEllie adds Trash, Google Calendar editing and iPhone features
- 2mo agoEllie PlanneriPad Week Calendar, Pomodoro, Quick Capture, rich notes, and MCP ⚡
- 10mo agoEllie Planner🧹 Todoist integration, improved Slack/Notion integrations and more
- 1y agoEllie PlannerEllie AI, Task templates, "Add task" from calendar events and more ✨ ⚡
- 1y agoEllie PlannerNotion integration, Analytics, Rituals, Notifications and a ton more
- 2y agoEllie Planner🐹 Outlook Calendar Integration, iOS Widgets, Slack integration and more
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ellie Planner and Leantime?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Leantime is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Ellie Planner better than Leantime?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Leantime is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Ellie Planner?
Top Ellie Planner alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ellie Planner alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ellie for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Leantime?
Top Leantime alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Leantime alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/leantime for the full list with editorial commentary on each.