6 Functional Planners Like Hobonichi

These 6 planners like Hobonichi will give you a similar experience with amazing paper and functionality without the high shipping cost from Japan.

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Hobonichi is a popular Japanese planner company known for their minimalist layouts, thin Tomoe River paper that makes for a wonderful writing experience and their wide array of planner styles and sizes.

If Hobonichi’s creamy paper or shipping cost from Japan is a deal breaker for you, these planners similar to Hobonichi will fit your need for it’s great paper, functionality and minimalism.

1. Wonderland222 Planner

The Wonderland 222 planner is no doubt my top choice for a planner like Hobonichi. It has lots of trackers and monthly and weekly planning pages. There are 90 undated pages in the back of the planner that can be used for daily planning, bullet journal collections or notes.

In addition, half year or full year undated notebooks are available if you need more daily planning space. This is an excellent choice for people who want an all in one planner, a done for you bullet journal planner and/or it’s the best planner for ADHD.

More about the Wonderland Planner:

• available in A5, B6 and A6 sizes
• fountain pen and watercolor friendly
• made with white 52gsm Tomoe River Paper, my favorite paper ever to write on!
• done for you bullet journal trackers including key, index, yearly tracker, quarterly, monthly habit tracker
• minimalist dark gray and white layouts

I have loved using the Wonderland222 as a bullet journal planner for containing the chaos in my head. The trackers help me make sure everything I need/want to do gets done and the undated pages have become my source of daily list making, journaling and all in one dumping ground for all my ideas and creative outlet.

I do recommend getting an extra notebook so you have room for anything and everything you want to keep in it. Both the A5 planner and A5 notebook fit in this cool, “transforming” A5 cover.

Read my full Wonderland 222 planner review here.

Buy the Wonderland222 planner here.

2. Aura Estelle + Annie Plans

Aura Estelle + Annie Plans Printables A5 Weekly Vertical has 52 gsm white Tomoe River Paper with a unique week on 4 page layout. The first weekly page is similar to the Hobonichi Weeks layout so it’s great for a weekly overview. The other three weekly pages have wide vertical columns so you can fit 2 days per page and have enough room for your daily lists and a little bit of journaling or gratitude.

There are no daily pages in this planner but I believe there are some blank grid pages (the website doesn’t indicate how many). This planner is undated so you can use it whenever you want and can layout the weeks with a Sunday or Monday start.

They also had a B6 Classic Daily undated planner that would be a good fit for planners like Hobonichi also. But it’s out of stock right now. I do hope they launch/restock soon!

3. Sterling Ink Common Planner

Sterling Ink just released their Common Planner yesterday! In its debut year, the Common Planner only comes in a B6 size but features the beautiful 52 gsm Tomoe River Paper that we all love (once you write on it and find the right pen, you’ll know why).

Sterling Ink is a stationery shop that sells stunning floral planner stickers and vellum. Her work is classic, elegant and just gorgeous. The planner community is super excited she came out with a planner!

The Common Planner comes in a full year in one book or a half year in 2 books (like the Hobonichi Cousin Avec). In addition to the usual yearly, quarterly, monthly and vertical weekly pages, the Common Planner comes with 2 goalsetting pages to help you set your big goals and break them down. It also has a blank grid pages (365 in the full year book and 183 pages in each of the half year books that can be used for daily planning and journaling). The pages have gold edging! This would make an elegant planner for work or entrepreneurs.

4. Xingtingyu

Xingtingyu on Amazon features undated A5, A6 weekly, an undated pocket weekly (like Hobonichi weeks) and an undated daily planners at a fraction of the price. The paper is 100 gsm and is not Tomoe River Paper like the Hobonichi. The grid on these pages are 5mm (the Hobonichi is 3.7mm) so this is a good option if you need a larger size grid than the Hobonichi.

5. Printpression

Printpression has a hardbound planner line of undated planners with some similarities to the Hobonichi layouts. They have a weeks size and vertical planner layouts that are similar to Hobonichi. The paper is not Tomoe River Paper but they are a good option because they are undated so you can make it what you want to and are reasonably priced (and the owner runs really good sales).

6. The Angel Shoppe

The Angel Shoppe has undated weekly planners like Hobonichi weeks with white Tomoe River paper. This shop also sells notebooks, covers and lots of cute accessories for your planner if you like to decorate it.

Tomoe River Paper notebooks for a Hobonichi bullet journal

You can easily create the Hobonichi layouts you want in a Tomoe River Notebook. Here are some great Tomoe River notebooks to create a Hobonichi bullet journal.

• Wonderland 222 notebooks – my favorite Tomoe River Paper!!
• Stalogy – thin 52gsm Japanese paper though it’s a different brand than Tomoe River. The grid and small font are a light so this one is hard to read for me. But if you have good eyesight, the Stalogy makes a great bullet journal.
• Paper Penguin Co – a variety of Tomoe River Paper notebooks. I like that she offers a sampler pack of the Tomoe River paper so you can test it out before you buy it. Reasonably priced.

Wonderland vs. Hobonichi

I will be doing a more detailed comparison of Wonderland vs Hobonichi cousin soon but here are a few things to consider when deciding which one is right for you.

Wonderland 222:

• White tomoe river paper
• Additional key, index, quarterly and monthly trackers
• Additional monthly review and overview pages
• All the monthly calendars are with their weeks
• Weekly layout has 6 wider columns- no sidebar and stacked weekends
• 90 Undated grid pages (with hours on the side) can be used for daily planning, bullet journaling collections or notes
• All dark gray and light gray font

Hobonichi Cousin:

• Tomoe river paper seems creamier/yellower
• All the monthly calendars are in the front of the planner.
• Weekly layout has 8 equal columns including a sidebar
• 1 dated page per day
• Color of the grid, and font on the daily pages changes monthly
• Sundays are marked in red on yearly, monthly and weekly calendars

There are many great alternatives to Hobonichi for your style and budget. Let me know if you see something you like or if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to help.