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Work · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to I made Cal Newport's Deep Work system into a web app

An online planner exactly Cal Newport describes in Deep Work – live demo available! Let me know what you think :)

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. I made Cal Newport's Deep Work system into a web app launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Eliminated, Outsourced, and Automated

    2016 · gayleallen.net · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Maximize every hour and minimize stress

    2024 · timebox.so · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Affordable project management software, redesigned

    2017 · freedcamp.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    Helpful practices that you can do to integrate deep work

    2017 · its alternatives →

  5. 5IB

    Hey, just wanted to share with you guys and app that I built and deployed in a day with Lovable. So, as a founder I always wanted to have an advisor but my budget would always be less, then on the other hand hand I had Paul's essays on Startup Advice, which I never read because I was busy building stuff. Hence, I built this product which comes into a sweet spot of both at the same time being more reasonable and capable than the alternative. ps: it's running on a reasoning model and tbh I've been able to gather pretty good insights from it. Note to PG: If you're seeing this. I'm your big fan.…

    2025 · paulgraham.resurrect.space · its alternatives →

  6. 6IM

    So hard to keep up with tooling and MLOps - I put it all in one place and got some tips from an experienced friend on what to use.

    2025 · readyforagents.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7IM

    Hi HN, I am a solopreneur in the evenings and a software engineer during the day. In the past, I have created lots of calculators for my web projects and freelancing friends. These were pretty basic, but users always welcomed them. I also used currently available builders, but the problem was that they were either slow, broke on mobile devices, had nonsense page view limits, or were expensive. Some even ticked all those boxes. So I have decided to create my own, with a simple interface, and called it Creative Widgets (if it ever takes off, I plan to add more exciting stuff like charts, etc,…

    2024 · creativewidgets.io · its alternatives →

  8. 8MS

    For years, I have struggled to understand my cash flow and save for the future. In addition to that, my wife has many credit cards and accounts that complicate matters. I am building a tool that connects all our accounts, helps us create a budget, and tracks and adjusts expenses on the fly. I am also sprinkling some AI magic on it for financial suggestions. I am looking for feedback on the implementation. More importantly, I am looking for more beta testers to improve the product.

    2023 · financemadelovely.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9BY

    I've just published my app and I would love to have more feedback on it. I got the idea when I was busy moving around several projects during my last semester. And I always don't know which project I should work on next. Even worse, whenever I'm busy with something, I no longer have time to "read book", "go jogging" etc. That's when I thought it would be great if there is an app that keeps track of all the tasks that you want to do and habits that you want to make. And here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKVr0k9Hax0…

    2014 · its alternatives →

  10. 10IM

    I'm documenting everything about my process. From learning to code, to building the app, and all the way to my outreach efforts. I'm learning as I go and sharing it with everyone who's not a programer, and is daunted to build a software on their own. Trust me. If I can do it, anyone can! You can find my updates on: https://Claritask.com ...as well as video updates on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmqmifW4kIcPclXigay1dQ Would love to hear your feedback on my progress and if you have any suggestions on what I can do better. There's so many task managers out…

    2017 · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Over the past three months, I’ve been working with my dad on this app as a way to learn Cursor, shadcn/ui, and Next.js. I’m currently studying UX design at the University of Michigan, and I’ve been really impressed by how much vibe-coding tools have advanced over the last six months. This work journal includes private AI-generated insights with scheduled summaries that can be shared with your team or manager. You can also choose to make a summary public—like I’ve done here for my work on this web app: https://www.workjourney.ai/summary/mkblt2zt-hn2kdbus If anyone has…

    Jan 2026 · workjourney.ai · its alternatives →

  12. 12TO

    LégalEd for the Masses Title links to actual app Here is the demo video to show you around the interface Self funded on scraps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIwsPz0mKAU

    2025 · labs.sunami.ai · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Just like Show HN, you showcase your projects with other builders, but your work actually lives forever in a portfolio-like profile. Plus lots of other features like for-you feed, curated collections of projects - private and public, followers and following, threaded posts for showcasing updates to your projects, collaborations and many more.

    Jun 2026 · kritive.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14IP

    Hey hackers, Like many of you, I'm always trying to optimize my productivity, and I have tried a lot of apps out there to do so. I didn't find the exact one that I could use, so I built one for myself. Check it out and let me know if you have any thoughts!

    2024 · focusmax.io · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    I have been a daily HN reader and would like to use this as a starting point to show SimWorkflow so that the HN community can get to know SimWorkflow. This project has been the love child of myself for the past year or so. A bit of background: Previously, I worked as a consultant specializing in designing, implementing, and maintaining Business Process Management and Content Management Solutions. I was surprised at the effort required to implement such solutions; specifically, the time it took, the number of people involved, and the amount of custom code. I thought: What if we could make…

    2024 · simworkflow.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Hello HN! I got pretty overwhelmed with Notion, Trello, etc. (Even though they are great tools!) as an indie dev, so I built an app that is simpler to use and perfectly suited for an indie like me :) You can basically divide your projects into multiple milestones (a milestone could be e.g. a new version), and the milestones can have multiple tasks that are either todo, in progress, or done. The progress for each milestone is calculated with those tasks, and you can also prioritize and categorize the tasks using tags (E.g. for me, #ph turns into "High Priority", and #pm into "Medium…

    2024 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17AW

    I have a YouTube channel (rithmic) that helps people to learn how to code. I have built this job board for them. Let me know your thoughts...

    2024 · webdevjobs.io · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Hey Hacker News, I'm the maker of Kopage, a free & self-hosted Website Builder. While working on new, cool features (AI, of course), it would be great to hear some HN feedback :) Thanks, Simon

    2024 · kopage.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19DW
  20. 20CW

    Hey HN friends, Just launched my first NoCode web app, maching.ai, built with Bubble. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

    2023 · maching.ai · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Many people express that despite working hard, they don't feel like they are in the right career. Instead of getting adhoc advice from friends and family or requiring serendipitity/fortune in landing in a desirable career progression, I made a career planning tool which lets you upload a resume or public linkedin profile and see alternative career paths. You can play with your map, explore alternative trajectories, specify a goal, understand job titles, see job listings and more. I am looking to understand what, if any aspect of this tool is useful, and how I would proceed to build upon…

    2024 · moveup.ai · its alternatives →

  22. 22WW

    Over three months ago, I posted my book on HN and got tremendous +ve reponse. I am happy to inform that I have published the book to leanpub as per the comments I got on HN itself! It is pay as you go model, and the minimum is $0 because I wanted to contribute back to the FOSS Community

    2016 · its alternatives →

  23. 23IV

    Hey my name is Ivo and I'm a developer and a startup entusiast. My girlfriend was out of the coutry for the weekend and I decided to do something cool like building a startup. I've done a few startups over the years but that's the first I actually released, I would love to hear your feedback on it.

    2024 · craftlynow.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24IM

    Hey everyone! I'm really excited to share a side project I've been pouring my heart into lately. As a developer with over five years of experience, I've taken on my fair share of freelance web development projects. In the beginning, I always coded everything from scratch, but as I juggled more projects simultaneously, I started using Webflow to save time. While Webflow was definitely a lifesaver, I couldn't help but wish for an even faster way to set up a website – something that would allow me to start with a template and then easily customize it to my heart's content. The problem with most…

    2024 · instawebai.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →