A Motion alternative for what you never wrote down
Motion and Wasp look adjacent and are solving different halves of the problem. An honest comparison, including where Motion is the better choice.
The short version
Motion decides when you will do the work you gave it. Wasp finds the work you never gave anything, including promises in your own sent mail, and then escalates until each one is completed, renegotiated or dropped. Motion is the better scheduler. Wasp is the one that notices what is missing.
Why people look for a Motion alternative
Motion is an AI scheduler. It takes the work you have logged and decides when you will do it, rebuilding your calendar automatically as things move, so you open the day and find it already planned.
The most common reason people go looking is that the auto-scheduling is more opinionated than they expected. It fills the gaps, and correcting its decisions can turn into a job of its own. The other reason is quieter and is the one this page is about: Motion arranges the work you gave it, and the things that actually got dropped were never given to it.
What Motion is genuinely good at
The auto-scheduler is the best in this category, and it is not close. If your problem is arranging known work across a crowded calendar, Motion solves that better than Wasp does or intends to.
This page is not going to pretend otherwise. If the paragraph above describes your problem, the honest recommendation is to stay where you are.
Where the two diverge
Motion begins after you decide to write something down. Wasp begins before that. The commitment that costs you is the one made in a sentence in the middle of a reply, which never reached Motion at all, so no amount of scheduling intelligence can protect it.
The second difference is what happens when a scheduled block passes and the work did not happen. Motion reschedules it. Wasp asks you about it, and keeps asking, through four rungs of rising pressure that accept any answer except silence.
Wasp reads Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack and on-device capture, and detects commitments as they appear, confidence-gated so low-signal noise never surfaces. It also reads what you send, which is the part nothing else does: a line like "I will get you the numbers by Friday" takes ten seconds to type and is gone from memory in five minutes. Wasp keeps it, then holds you to it.
Wasp and Motion, side by side
| Wasp | Motion | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Catching commitments you did not record, then making them happen | Deciding when you do work you already logged |
| Finds work you never entered | Yes, from Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack and the desktop | No, you enter it |
| Reads your outgoing messages for promises you made | Yes | No |
| Escalates when you stall | Yes, four rungs, and it requires an answer | It reschedules the block |
| Learns your personal follow-through pattern | Yes, over weeks | No |
| Auto-schedules your calendar | No, it places a focus block only when you choose that | Yes, and it is the best in the category |
| Price | Essentials 15/mo, Pro 35/mo | 19/mo annual, 34/mo monthly |
| Trial | 14 days of full Pro, no card until it ends | Free trial |
| Available today | Pre-launch, waitlist open | Yes |
Motion pricing read from their own pricing page on 23 August 2026. Prices move: check before deciding on the strength of this table.
Which one to choose
Choose Motion if
Choose Motion if your day is full of work you have already captured, and the problem is fitting it together. Motion is a genuinely excellent scheduler and Wasp does not try to be one.
Choose Wasp if
Choose Wasp if the things going wrong are the ones that never made it onto any calendar, and being reminded has repeatedly not been enough to make you act.
Choose both, honestly
They are not mutually exclusive. Wasp is the layer that catches what never got recorded and then applies pressure, and it is compatible with keeping Motion for what it is already doing well.
Where Wasp is today, plainly
Wasp is pre-launch. The product is built and the waitlist is open, and there is nothing to buy yet. If you need to move off Motion this week, Wasp cannot help this week, and it would be a poor comparison page that let you find that out later.
There are no customer testimonials on this page because there are no customers yet. Rather than borrow someone else's quotes or manufacture any, here is what can be checked instead: the live demo runs the real interface on invented data with no account needed, and the changelog lists what has shipped and when.
Questions
Is Wasp an auto-scheduler like Motion?
No, and deliberately not. Motion decides when you will do each task and rebuilds your calendar around it. Wasp catches commitments you never wrote down and then makes sure they happen, which is a different job. Wasp can place a focus block on your calendar when you choose that as your answer, but it will not plan your day for you.
Does Motion track promises made in email?
Motion works from tasks in its own system. Wasp reads outgoing mail and messages and detects commitments in your own words, which is the capability neither Motion nor anything else on the market currently offers.
Next
Joining the waitlist puts you in the queue for early access as it rolls out in waves. It costs nothing and there is no card involved.
Other comparisons: all alternatives. Not sure Wasp fits how you work? See who Wasp is for. Still deciding what Wasp actually does? The FAQ is the short version.