Plannie vs Hearth Display: $958 or $297?
Hearth Display made the family command center beautiful, but you need a paid membership just to finish setting it up, from the day you open the box. Plannie covers the same jobs on the tablets and phones your family already owns. Chores and rewards are part of one $99/year Premium plan for the whole household, and there's no $699 screen to buy.
Feature by feature
| Plannie | Hearth Display | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware to buy | None. Kiosk mode on your tablet | $699 · 27″ touchscreen, one size |
| Subscription | $99/yr whole household | from $86.40/yr Family Membership is required to set up the device: $9/month, $86.40 billed annually, or as low as $207.36 prepaid for 3 years. |
| Works without a subscription | ● Calendar, sync, starter lists & meals The free plan keeps the shared calendar, two-way Google and Outlook sync, and lists and meal planning with starter limits. Habits, rewards, wall-display mode and Plannie Assistant need Premium. | ✗ Basic calendar only Without an active membership, Hearth keeps basic calendar visibility only; routines, to-do lists, meal planning, Stars & Rewards, the AI assistant and the weather widget all require it, per Hearth's own membership page. |
| Shared family calendar | ✓ | ✓ |
| Routines & visual schedules | Habits per member, time-of-day columns | ✓ |
| Chores with rewards | Tickets, rewards & family goals, in Premium | ● Stars, membership required Stars & Rewards is a Family Membership feature, not part of using the device without a subscription. |
| Meal planning | ✓ | ● Membership required Meal Planning is listed among the Family Membership's paid features on Hearth's own pages. |
| Two-way Google & Outlook sync | ✓ | ● Hearth-created events sync two-way with Google; Google-native events are view-only on Hearth. Outlook sync is one-directional in practice and can take several hours, per Hearth's own help center. |
| AI import of school paperwork | Premium: photos, PDFs, email inbox | Hearth Helper A Family Membership feature. |
| Per-member personal mode on phones | ✓ | Companion app |
| Open API & MCP for your own agents | ✓ | ✗ |
| Year one (device + first year sub) | $99 | ≈ $785 $699 device plus $86.40 first-year membership on the standard annual plan. |
| Every year after | $99 | $86.40 (annual plan) |
| Three-year total | $297 | ≈ $958 $699 device plus 3 × $86.40 annual membership. Prepaying 3 years of membership up front ($207.36) brings this to about $906. |
Hearth Display prices from hearthdisplay.com's own product and membership pages, checked 21 September 2026: $699 for the 27-inch display (one size only), Family Membership $9/month, $86.40/year, or $207.36 prepaid for 3 years, required to set up the device.
Sources: hearthdisplay.com: Hearth Display, hearthdisplay.com: Membership, hearthdisplay.com: Features, hearthdisplay.com: Stars & Rewards
Where the two part ways
Hearth Display sells one thing: a 27-inch touchscreen for $699, in a choice of frame colours, with no smaller or cheaper size on offer. Hearth's membership page is direct about what happens next. A Family Membership is required just to finish setting the device up, and without an active subscription it falls back to basic calendar visibility. Chores with rewards, meal planning, routines and the Hearth Helper AI assistant are all part of that membership, and on Hearth's pages so are small conveniences like the weather widget and a privacy screen for guests. With only one screen size, a household that finds $699 too much has nothing cheaper to buy before seeing what the membership unlocks. Compare the two products line by line and Hearth's free tier is a limited preview of what the device can do. Plannie costs $99/year and nothing else. Every feature, including chores that pay out rewards, is in that one Premium plan for the whole household, on whatever tablet or phone you already own.
Sync is uneven too. Per Hearth's help center, events created on Hearth sync two-way with a linked Google Calendar, but events that started life in Google are view-only once they reach Hearth, and Outlook sync runs slower and more one-directional, sometimes taking hours to catch up. A household that relies on Outlook for school or work calendars should expect that lag before treating Hearth as a real-time shared view. Plannie syncs two-way with both Google and Outlook, on every plan.
Over three years, the gap comes from the hardware. Hearth's annual membership price, $86.40/year, is barely different from Plannie's $99/year. The $699 display is what turns a roughly $259 three-year subscription into a roughly $958 three-year total. Even on Hearth's cheapest path, prepaying three years of membership for $207.36, the display is still the largest single line on the bill. Financing the $699 device over 12 months doesn't change the total either, since Hearth's instalment plan spreads the same price out. Plannie's $297 has no hardware in it, because kiosk mode runs on the tablet already on your kitchen counter.
Choose Hearth if…
You want a dedicated 27-inch object built for the wall, and you're comfortable with a required membership on top of the $699 hardware to unlock routines, rewards and meal planning. A single, striking screen for the hallway is part of the appeal, membership aside.
Choose Plannie if…
You want the same routines, rewards and shared calendar without buying a display. You use the tablet you already own, and chores, rewards and meal planning all come in the one Premium plan. The same $99/year covers every family member's phone, and there's no separate device to unbox, mount or eventually replace.
Frequently asked
What is the main difference between Plannie and Hearth Display?+
Price of entry, and what's required to use it. Hearth Display is a $699 27-inch touchscreen, and Hearth's membership page says a Family Membership is required to set up the device at all, from $86.40/year ($7.20/month billed yearly) or $9/month. Hearth's product page sells only that one screen size, so there's no smaller or cheaper model to pick if $699 feels like too much up front. Skylight, by comparison, comes in several sizes and prices. Hearth does give you a 120-day return window and a one-year manufacturer's warranty, which lowers the risk of buying a single size you haven't seen. Plannie does the same core jobs (shared calendar, routines, chores, meal planning) as software on the tablets and phones you already own, at $99/year for the whole household.
Does Hearth work at all without the paid membership?+
Only as a basic calendar. Hearth's membership page says the device keeps basic calendar visibility and unlimited profiles without a subscription. The Hearth Helper AI assistant, custom routines, to-do lists, meal planning and Stars & Rewards all require an active membership. The same page lists the weather widget and Privacy Mode as membership-only too, so even small conveniences are paid. Every purchase includes only one free month before billing starts. In Plannie, the shared calendar with two-way sync, lists and starter meal planning are free. Chores and rewards are part of Premium, $99/year for the whole household, with no screen to buy first.
Does Plannie do routines like Hearth?+
Yes. Plannie's habits and routines give every family member their own column with morning, afternoon and evening groupings; completions earn tickets toward rewards and shared family goals everyone can contribute to. Habits work the same way on a phone as on a wall tablet, so a parent checking in from work sees the same view a kid sees at home. It's the same visual, repeatable structure Hearth's Stars & Rewards is loved for, without a dedicated display to buy. Habits and rewards are part of Plannie Premium, $99/year for the whole household.
Can Plannie be a big screen in the kitchen like Hearth?+
Yes, with kiosk mode. Open Plannie on any tablet, switch the device to kiosk mode, and it becomes an always-on shared family display. A tablet that's already in your kitchen does the job of a dedicated display, so you don't add a second screen to the room or install a wall-mounting kit first. Kiosk mode is part of Premium, and the same subscription covers every other device in the family too.
How do the costs compare over three years?+
Hearth is $699 for the display plus a required membership, $86.40/year on the standard annual plan, for about $958 over three years. Hearth's cheapest path is prepaying three years of membership up front for $207.36, which brings the three-year total to about $906. Whichever membership term you choose, the $699 device is the largest single cost. Plannie is $99/year with no hardware, $297 over three years. The difference is the display.
Does Hearth Display sync two-way with Google or Outlook?+
Partially, and unevenly. Per Hearth's help center, two-way sync with a linked Google Calendar only applies to events created on Hearth or its companion app. Events that originate in Google itself, including anything already sitting there, show on Hearth as view-only. Outlook sync is slower and more one-directional in practice, and some changes take several hours to appear. Plannie syncs two-way with both Google and Outlook, on every plan.