Skip to content

Actto vs Amazing Marvin

Marvin can be set up to do almost anything, including much of what Actto does. Setting it up is the catch, and it takes the exact energy you are short of. Actto has already made those decisions, and there is a free plan.

Actto

Marvin

Who does the setting up.

Marvin has hundreds of features you switch on and off, and a strategy for nearly every productivity method there is. You assemble the app you want. People who enjoy that end up with something no other app could have given them.

The catch is that assembling it takes the exact thing you are short of on a bad day. Actto has one way of working and it is already on. Three priorities, an energy filter, and rewards you price yourself.

Marvin has no free plan. There is a 14-day trial with no card, and after that it is $12 a month. Actto's free plan is a complete way to run a day, with no time limit on it.

Setup before it's useful

Amazing Marvin

Hours, and that is the appeal

Actto

None. Just capture something.

Side by side

Actto compared with Amazing Marvin
FeatureActtoAmazing Marvin
RewardsActtoReal, chosen and priced by youAmazing MarvinThe same idea, three ways
Setup before it's usefulActtoNone. Just capture something.Amazing MarvinHours, and that is the appeal
Energy matchingActtoCore featureAmazing MarvinBuildable with custom fields
Daily capActtoThree priorities, enforcedAmazing Marvin1-3-5, and you can change it
Capacity mathActtoYes, freeAmazing MarvinYes, in day planning
Free tierActtoYesAmazing MarvinNone. 14-day trial.
PriceActtoFree, $6/mo for PlusAmazing Marvin$12/mo, or $96/yr

Stay with Marvin if

  • You enjoy building a system as much as using one
  • You want a feature that exists in no other app, and are willing to find it
  • The 1-3-5 planner already works for you
  • You have it set up and it has survived a year

Switch to Actto if

  • You spent a week configuring and never went back
  • You want a limit the app actually holds you to
  • You need a free plan rather than a trial
  • You want to start today, not set up today

Questions

It has the right ingredients: reward points, time estimates and a 1-3-5 daily plan. The difficulty is that all of it is optional and you have to go and turn it on, which is its own project on the day you least want one. Actto arrives with those decisions already made.
No. Their help center says there is no free plan at the moment. There is a 14-day trial with full access and no card required, and after that it is $12 a month or $96 a year.
No, and it would be easy to pretend otherwise. Marvin has three reward systems, including points you price yourself and spend on rewards you chose, which is the same loop Actto runs. The difference is that ours is on when you open the app and theirs is one of hundreds of things you can enable.
There is no importer. If you have a Marvin setup worth keeping, that is a real reason to stay where you are. If you are leaving because the setup became the job, bring the ten things that still matter and start clean.

Moving over

If you have Marvin configured the way you like it, keep it. It will do things Actto cannot, and a setup that survived a year is worth more than a new app.

This is for the version of that where the setup never finished.

Nothing to configure.

One way of working, already switched on, and a free plan with no time limit on it.