Skip to content

Actto vs Llama Life

Llama Life gives every task a countdown and walks you through them one at a time. Actto works one step earlier, on which tasks belong in today at all. If both of those are a problem for you, they are not the same problem.

Actto

Llama Life

Timing the task, or choosing it.

Llama Life is built around timeboxing. You give each task a number of minutes, it counts down, it adds the list up so you can see what time you would finish, and it plays a sound while you work. If your problem is starting a task and staying in it, that is the fix.

Actto asks a different question first. You get three priorities a day and cannot add a fourth, and it only offers the tasks that fit the energy and the time you have. There is no timer in Actto. The list itself is the thing it is trying to make possible.

Both pay you for finishing, and the payouts are different in kind. Llama Life gives you confetti and a finished list. Actto gives you points you spend on rewards you wrote down and priced yourself.

What it decides for you

Llama Life

Nothing. You set the timers.

Actto

Which three belong in today

Side by side

Actto compared with Llama Life
FeatureActtoLlama Life
What it decides for youActtoWhich three belong in todayLlama LifeNothing. You set the timers.
Daily capActtoThree priorities, enforcedLlama LifeNone
Energy matchingActtoCore featureLlama LifeNone
Task timerActtoNoneLlama LifeYes, and it is the point
Sound while you workActtoNoneLlama LifeYes
RewardsActtoReal, chosen and priced by youLlama LifeConfetti when a task ends
Capacity mathActtoAgainst the hours you haveLlama LifeAdds the list up as a finish time
Free tierActtoYesLlama LifeNone. A free trial, then paid.
PriceActtoFree, $6/mo or $48/yr for PlusLlama Life$6/mo, or $39/yr

Stay with Llama Life if

  • The countdown is what gets you moving, and nothing else has
  • You want a sound playing while you work
  • You already know what is in the day and simply cannot start it
  • You want the cheaper year: theirs is $39 against our $48

Switch to Actto if

  • The trouble starts before the timer does, because the day is already too full
  • You need a free plan rather than a trial
  • You want the app to rule things out on the days you are running on empty
  • You want something at the end of the day that is not confetti

Questions

Yes, and it is designed for it rather than adapted for it. A visible countdown on one task helps with starting, and the running finish time is a real answer to losing track of the clock. What it does not do is tell you the day was too full before you began it, which is where Actto starts.
Llama Life times the task. Actto picks it. Llama Life gives every item a countdown and plays you through the list. Actto holds you to three priorities a day, offers only the tasks that fit the energy and the time you have, and pays you in points you spend on rewards you chose.
Month to month they are the same at $6. By the year Llama Life is cheaper, at $39 against our $48. The bigger difference is that Actto has a free plan with no time limit on it and Llama Life does not, so if you want to keep using it without paying, that is the part to weigh.
Plenty of people will, and they solve different halves. Decide the three in Actto, then run one of them on a Llama Life countdown if that is what gets you started.

Moving over

If the countdown is the thing that makes your day work, keep it. Actto has no timer, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.

Actto is for the part before the timer: what should be in today at all.

Decide the three first.

Three priorities that fit the energy you have, free, and about a minute to start.