Common Planner

Overview

Common Planner is a collaborative lesson-planning service for teachers, schools, and districts. It is best suited to educators who want lesson plans, standards tracking, and shared planning in one workspace.

Its strongest case is the connection between classroom planning and school-wide oversight: teachers can build and share plans while leaders review coverage and pacing.

Key features

Teachers can create lesson and unit plans, organize classes, and reuse plans and lessons across school years. That reuse can reduce repeated setup for educators who teach recurring courses, while unit planning is reserved for the paid Pro plan.

Standards search, unit alignment, and tracking of taught standards make Common Planner more than a planbook: teachers can monitor coverage, and school leaders can review planning status, standards coverage, and pacing. Leaders can also comment on lesson plans. AI-assisted insights on the school product page aim to identify missing standards, pacing issues, and instructional gaps.

Co-planning in a shared planbook, sharing with administrators, and borrowing colleagues’ plans support team workflows. Pro allows up to five collaborators; the Schools plan supports collaboration with anyone in the school. Schools also get school-wide templates, membership management, staff training, and ongoing support.

Basic supports file uploads from a computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Office 365. It can post up to 50 lessons to Google Classroom; Pro removes that posting cap. The service also offers calendar view and AI-assisted lesson planning, though the Basic plan has less AI usage than Pro.

Pricing

Basic for Teachers: Free forever. It includes AI Powered Lesson Assistant, daily, weekly, and monthly planning, up to 50 Google Classroom posts, and file uploads from a computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Office 365. It suits teachers who want core planning without a subscription, but omits unit planning, automatic standards tracking, unlimited Classroom posts, and Pro’s higher AI allowance.

Pro for Teachers: $5.59/month, billed as one payment of $71.88. It adds unit planning, automatic standards tracking, unlimited Google Classroom posts, twice Basic’s AI usage, and up to five collaborators. It fits individual teachers who need those capabilities; credit card only is the stated payment condition.

Cc for Schools: custom pricing, with a demo scheduled. It adds school planbooks and teams, school-wide templates, school membership management, collaboration with anyone in school, free staff training, and ongoing support throughout the year. This is the relevant tier for school-wide planning and leadership oversight rather than an individual teacher’s plan.

A 30-day trial is offered. Check the $71.88 one-payment term against the $5.59/month price when budgeting.

Platforms

Common Planner runs on the web, including in a smartphone or tablet browser; there is no dedicated app. That works for browser-based planning, but is a drawback for teachers who want a native mobile app.

The privacy policy says sensitive information is transmitted using industry-standard encryption and data is regularly backed up. The maker says its Student Data Privacy Notice addresses COPPA, FERPA, and state student privacy law compliance for schools and districts.

Who it's for

Common Planner makes the most sense for teachers who want standards-aware planning and collaboration, and for schools or districts that need shared planbooks and instructional oversight. A solo teacher needing only a basic planbook may not benefit from the school-facing tools, while educators who rely on a native mobile app should look elsewhere.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Standards tracking and school-leader review connect classroom plans with coverage and pacing oversight.
• Pro: Shared planbooks, plan borrowing, and school-wide collaboration support planning across a team.
• Pro: Basic includes file uploads from four common sources and up to 50 Google Classroom posts at no charge.
• Con: Basic lacks unit planning and automatic standards tracking, so teachers who need those tools must move to Pro.
• Con: Pro is priced monthly but billed as one $71.88 payment, and accepts credit cards only.
• Con: Mobile access is browser-only, with no dedicated app.

Alternatives

For a wider view of the category, browse Lesson Planning Software or AI Lesson Plan Generators.

• PlanbookEdu is a free-forever option with unlimited weekly plans, A/B day and rotation schedules, word-processor editing, and iPad and phone support; choose it if those scheduling and mobile features matter more than Common Planner’s standards tracking.
• Planbook is another freemium lesson-planning alternative.
• Lesson Maker Pro offers a free monthly allowance of five generated lessons, one unit plan, ten standalone materials, and 25 Teaching Assistant messages; consider it if those generation and materials quotas match your needs.
• Planboard offers free digital lesson planning for teachers and has Android, iOS, and web platforms; choose it if native mobile access is important.
• TeacherHero is a freemium web alternative.
• SchEDU has an Android and web free plan capped at two lifetime lesson plans, two subjects, and one automated activity or exam per day; its Pro plan is $4.99 per month. It may suit a budget-focused user comfortable with those free-plan limits.
• Lessonly offers a free-forever web plan with no credit card required.
• LessonApp is a freemium alternative for web, iOS, and Android.

Verdict

Choose Common Planner if you want lesson planning tied to standards tracking and collaboration, especially as part of a school or district workflow. Its main advantage is that teachers and leaders can work from shared plans and coverage data; look elsewhere if you need a dedicated mobile app or a simpler planbook without school-wide oversight.