Plum Paper is one of my top 10 planner brands. With so many different layouts, page sizes and add on options to choose from it can be a bit overwhelming to choose just one so I’ve put together a comparison of all of the layouts for you 🙂 Start by choosing your weekly spread format (horizontal, vertical, student etc.) and go from there.

There are so many layout options to choose from so they’re a great place to start if you’ve never used a paper planner, or haven’t yet found a weekly layout that’s quite right for you.

I’ve been ordering and have used Plum Paper planners on and off since 2017 so some of the photos in this post are of older designs. Plum Paper have switched to a more minimalist style over the past few years and now offer three color schemes: modern, colorful, and neutral.

Each of Plum Paper’s weekly spreads are 2 pages, there are currently no 1 page weekly layout options (although I’d been keen to try this if they ever release one!)

Plum Paper are one of the brands I recommend when someone says they want a decent quality planner for an affordable price tag and with a layout that isn’t too generic. Plum Paper has a good range of horizontal weekly, vertical weekly and weekly layouts that are a combination of horizontal and vertical. So let’s take a look at some of the layouts and the type of person the layout could work well for.

I am not affiliated with Plum Paper and this is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own!

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Plum Paper Planners

All planners are coil bound (lay flat)
Personalised notebooks come in either coil bound or glue bound (journal)
You can request the pages come unpunched (it’s an option when checking out) if you want to punch the pages (discbound or 3 ring) – no additional cost. See how I ARC’d my Plum Paper Planner here. You could also use the Happy Planner discs and Plum Paper sell gold and silver aluminum discs
For planner layouts that allow you to choose your categories (e.g. the Me Planner), there is an additional charge to have them pre-print the categories (around $4 USD). You can also opt to leave them blank and write in your categories (ideal if your needs change / you’re not 100% sure how you’re going to use the planner)
Monthly calendar is the same for all planner layouts – 2 pages with week starts Sunday with boxes for each day (they do not have a list style monthly calendar)
You choose the start month for the planner and the planner’s duration (6 month, 12 month, 13 month, 14 month … 18 month) – price increases the more months you add
All covers are a cardstock type cover with clear protective second cover
Each layout can be either colourful inside pages or neutral (same price). See my comparison of the two in this post
Tabs for each month are included by default
Cover personalisation is included for free for all planner layouts and page sizes except the ‘Good to Go’ range
They typically have sales on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, 4^th of July (and sometimes other holidays) as well as Black Friday. Black Friday / Cyber Monday is usually the best sale (tends to be 30% off sitewide)
My favourite layout from Plum Paper is the Horizontal Weekly + Notes / checklist – see my review in this post
I include a pen test in all of my Plum Paper reviews like this one

2025 update, they finally now offer undated planner as well as the dated planners.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for you can build a custom notebook too:

Plum Paper Planner Reviews

Horizontal weekly spreads

Horizontal Weekly spread plus Notes page

Let’s start with my favorite Plum Paper layout and the first Plum Paper planner I ever bought: the horizontal Weekly spread plus Notes page!

This layout could work for you if:

Don’t have many appointments, or things that need to be done at set times or on particular days
Keep a separate planner for work, so don’t have much personal time on weekdays (so don’t need a lot of space on weekdays)
You like checklists
Have more one off than recurring tasks

How (and why) I pre-plan the week using the Plum Paper horizontal lined with notes layout

I purchased the A5 version but found it too small and reverted back to the 7 x 9″ (medium) page size.

Horizontal Quad Layout

You can choose to order a Plum Paper planner unpunched, then add your own discs

This layout could work for you if:

If you can’t decide between a vertical or horizontal planner
If you want wider columns for planning each day, than the width of a vertical weekly planner
The way you plan each week changes often (this layout is very flexible)
You like making lists
Saturday and Sunday as full size boxes, not combined

Blue themed spread in the Plum Paper quad lined layout

Horizontal weekly

This layout could work for you if:

You have long tasks e.g. if you’re using your planner for school and need to put the subject name or code and the task
You want a weekly habit tracker
You like to use checklists for each day
You want a combined weekend

Vertical Weekly Spreads

Vertical Priorities

This layout could work for you if:

You want a planner to use for work (as the weekend boxes are much smaller than the weekday boxes)
You don’t have much to plan in your personal life (the bottom boxes for the weekdays plus the weekend might be all the space you need)
You want a weekly spread that has a habit tracker
You like doing a top 3 for each day

Green themed spread in the Plum Paper Vertical Priorities Weekly planner

See my review of the vertical priorities weekly planner in this post

Vertical Weekly (lined)

This layout could work for you if:

You don’t have much to plan (those columns are narrow – only xx wide)
You like decorating with box stickers
You are comfortable writing in abbreviations or like to use a legend / key e.g. ‘MATH (A)’ could mean ‘maths assignment’
You like a top 3 for each day

Vertical Hourly weekly

This layout could work for you if:

Have a day job and a side hustle
Have a job with a lot of meetings or things that need to be done at set times
Are trying to coordinate multiple people’s schedules
Like to plan your day with a lot of structure
Need to allocate tasks to a specific time otherwise they won’t get done
Schedule everything so you know when to stop adding things to your planner – if you need help organizing what you can realistically get done

Image credit: Plum Paper Planners website

Me Planner

This layout could work for you if:

Have a business and are juggling many different things at once
Like to categorise tasks (also helpful to maintain balance and avoid over-scheduling or doing too much of one thing)
Are a student
Are a teacher
Are a mum trying to keep track of your children’s schedules

Grid Planner

This layout could work for you if:

You’re a student
You only want to use a planner for work
If you don’t schedule schedule anything on weekends and just want a small space for some reminders of social events

If you like this layout but need more space for weekends, you could take the 2 columns on the far right and turn them into your weekend planning space with a days of the week stickers.

More detailed Plum Paper reviews

If any of the above layouts were of interest to you, I have more detailed blog posts (including video flip throughs) of most Plum Paper layouts:

Past weekly spreads in Plum Paper Planners

Still can’t decide?

Plum Paper offers a 7 x 9″ page size notebook that had samples of all of the layout options so you could test them out before committing to purchasing an entire planner. Unfortunately, it looks like the notebook is no longer sold.

You can also purchase refill pages that are pre-punched for discbound planners. Those inserts don’t have the colors like the planners do.

You could also just re-create the layouts in a bullet journal and test them out that way.

My favorite Plum Paper layout is the horizontal weekly lined and notes. Try this layout out if you don’t know where to start!