Tools & Apps
Cosplanner Shut Down? 5 Free Alternatives
Cosplanner is dead. Here are 5 cosplay planning alternatives that actually work in 2026, compared honestly with pricing, features, and who should use each one.
Cosplanner is gone. Now what?
If you've been using Cosplanner to track your builds, you already know something's wrong. The Android version was pulled from Google Play in January 2025. The iOS app hasn't been updated since June 2020. The web app at cosplanner.net? Login is broken, account creation throws errors, and the developer hasn't responded to support requests in over a year.
It's dead. Not "on hiatus," not "being reworked." Dead.
Which is a shame, because Cosplanner did things right for its time. Project-level cost tracking, progress percentages, a clean list of what to buy vs. what to make. A lot of cosplayers built their first five or ten costumes with it. I did.
But now you're stuck with an app that crashes when you try to back up your data, a 5-photo limit per project (absurd for a visual hobby), and 25 items max on your buy/make list. If you switched phones recently, your data might already be gone.
Here are five alternatives that actually work today, with honest takes on what each one does well and where it falls short.
Quick verdict
Short on time? Here's who should use what:
- Want the closest Cosplanner replacement? Cosplai or Cosplan. Both have project tracking, budget, and mobile apps.
- Prefer web over apps? Cosflowy or Costumary. No app store dependency, works on any device.
- Need the best reference image organization? Costumary or Milanote. Both handle visual references well, but Milanote's free tier is brutal.
- Want social features and event discovery? Cosplan or Cosplai. Both have community feeds and convention listings.
- Take commissions? Costumary Studio. Intake forms, client portal, quote builder, payment tracking.
1. Cosplai
Platforms: iOS, Android (no web app) Price: Free (5 active projects, 25 completed cosplays, 25 images per project, 3 events) / Pro $9.99/mo or $59.99/yr Best for: Cosplayers who want everything in one mobile app
Cosplai is the newest entrant and the most ambitious. It tries to be the everything-app for cosplay: project management, budget tracking, reference images, convention discovery, social connections, countdown timers, and offline access.
What it does well:
Multi-status task tracking is genuinely useful. You can mark items as To Buy, To Make, Ordered, or Finished, and the budget rolls up automatically from individual items to a project summary. That's the workflow Cosplanner got right and most alternatives skip.
Convention discovery with venue search is a nice touch. You can browse events, add them to your calendar, and link costumes to specific cons.
Where it falls short:
Mobile only. No web version means you can't plan on a laptop with a big screen, which matters when you're juggling reference images, material lists, and a budget spreadsheet side by side. If you do most of your planning at a desk, this is a real limitation.
Pro pricing is the highest in the category at $60/year. The free tier caps you at 5 active projects, 25 completed cosplays, 25 images per project, and 3 active events, which is fine for casual cosplayers but tight if you're building for multiple cons.
They also published a "Best Cosplay Planning Apps in 2026" blog post where they ranked themselves #1, which tells you everything about their marketing approach. The app is solid though.
2. Cosplan
Platforms: iOS, Android (no web app) Price: Free, with no paid tier at all. Cosmetic coin packs run $0.99 to $44.99 Best for: Social cosplayers who want to share progress and discover events
Cosplan calls itself "The First Social Network for Cosplayers" and that's an accurate description of its priorities. It's planning-capable but community-first.
What it does well:
Everything is free. Cosplan's own FAQ says the app has no paid features, and the only money changing hands is cosmetic coin packs between $0.99 and $44.99. Photoshoot documentation lets you credit photographers, locations, and other cosplayers in your shoot, which is a thoughtful feature the community actually wants.
Event discovery for conventions, workshops, and meetups is built in. Inventory management covers costumes, accessories, and materials.
Where it falls short:
Because it's social-first, the actual build planning tools feel like they come second. Budget tracking exists but isn't the focus. If you want a deep materials list with status tracking, cost alternatives, and store links per item, you'll outgrow it quickly.
There is no web app any more either. pro.cosplan.app redirects to the marketing homepage, so all planning happens on your phone. Some users mention language support limitations depending on your region.
3. Cosgear (gone)
Cosgear is no longer available. Its Google Play listing returns a 404, its Apple developer page lists no apps, cosgear.co now serves a Shopify "store unavailable" page, and app.cosgear.co answers with HTTP 402 and a DEPLOYMENT_DISABLED error. Nobody posted a shutdown announcement, so the first sign for most people was the app failing to load.
If you still have an old install on your phone, open it right now and screenshot your project list, material costs, and budgets while the local copy still renders. Once you delete the app or switch phones, that data is gone.
I keep a running status check on every app in this category in my cosplay planning app roundup, which is the fastest way to see what is still alive before you hand it your build data.
4. Cosflowy
Platforms: Web (desktop-optimized), mobile PWA Price: Free tier, plus a premium tier with no published price (cosflowy.com/pricing returns a 404) Best for: Detail-oriented builders who think in workflow steps
Cosflowy takes a unique approach: instead of organizing by project, it organizes by element. Each costume piece gets its own workflow with materials, expenses, tasks, and progress tracking. If you think about builds as a sequence of steps rather than a list of components, this clicks immediately.
What it does well:
The element-by-element breakdown is genuinely different from every other app here. Reference image gallery with collections, calendar view for conventions, budget planning with a visual spending overview. The interface is clean and modern.
Web-first means no app store dependency. It works on any device with a browser, and there's a PWA for mobile if you want a home screen shortcut.
Where it falls short:
Built by a solo developer (Leo, who's also a convention photographer). That's not a criticism of quality, but it does mean development pace is slower and the user base is smaller. The workflow format can feel inflexible if your build process isn't linear. Not a native mobile app, so the PWA experience on phones isn't as smooth as a dedicated app.
Budget tracking is described as secondary to the workflow management, so if budget is your main concern, look elsewhere.
5. Costumary
Platforms: Web Price: Free (2 active projects) / Base $9/mo (unlimited projects, PDF export) / Studio $19/mo (full commission workflow, client portal, teams) Best for: Builders who want references, materials, budget, timeline, and build log in one connected workspace
Full disclosure: this is us. I'm going to be honest about what we do well and where we're still catching up.
What we do well:
Everything lives in one project workspace: reference board, materials list with status tracking (need, ordered, arrived, owned, tested, used), budget that auto-calculates from your materials, timeline with cosplay-specific phases (patterning, construction, finishing, fitting, wear test, packing), and a build log with structured entries for what worked, what failed, and next steps.
The reference board handles 100 uploads on Starter (200 on Base and Studio), which is a direct response to Cosplanner's 5-photo limit. You can share your reference board publicly with a link, and there's a web clipper browser extension for saving references from anywhere on the web.
Build help is context-aware on the Base plan. It reads your materials, budget, timeline, and recent build log entries before answering, so you get suggestions that match your actual project state. 20 messages per day on Starter, 200 on paid plans.
Since our last update, we've shipped a few things worth calling out:
- Convention calendar and discovery. Browse conventions by category (anime, cosplay, gaming, furry, ren faire, LARP, sewing, miniature painting), filter by state or month, and get a convention packing checklist and convention budget planner for each event.
- Commission workflow (Studio, $19/mo). Public intake form, request queue, quote builder with approval gates, client portal (no login required for your clients), payment tracking, and pipeline view. If you take commissions, this replaces the Google Forms + Trello + PayPal stack.
- Build diary with PDF export. Document your WIP progress with structured entries, export as a printable PDF or WIP book on Base and Studio.
- 18+ free tools that work without an account: budget calculator, commission pricing calculator, prop scaler, fabric calculator, circle skirt calculator, paint scheme planner, convention profit tracker, and more.
- Cross-project material stash. Track materials you own across all builds, so you stop re-buying what's already in your closet.
Where we're still catching up:
No native mobile app yet. The web app is responsive, but you won't find us in the App Store or Google Play right now. No social features and no community feed. We're focused on the build planning experience first.
The free tier gives you two active projects, which handles most casual builders. If you're juggling three or more concurrent builds, you need Base ($9/mo). Commission makers need Studio ($19/mo) for intake forms, client portals, and approval gates.
How they compare
Since Medium doesn't render tables well, here's the breakdown by category:
Web access: Cosflowy and Costumary have web apps. Cosplai and Cosplan are mobile only.
iOS & Android: Cosplai and Cosplan have native apps. Cosflowy has a PWA. Costumary is web-only for now.
Free tier: Cosplan is entirely free. Cosplai gives you 5 active projects and 25 images per project. Costumary gives you 2 active projects. Cosflowy has a free tier.
Budget tracking: Costumary auto-calculates from materials. Cosplai has multi-status rollups. Cosflowy has visual overviews. Cosplan is basic.
Reference images: Costumary has an annotated board. Cosplai has categorized images (25 per project on the free tier). Cosflowy has a gallery.
Build log: Only Costumary has structured build log entries. Cosplan has photoshoot documentation. The others don't have this.
Social features: Cosplan is a social network. Cosplai has friends and feeds. Cosflowy has community features. Costumary has no social feed but does have convention discovery and event browsing.
Commission workflow: Only Costumary (Studio tier) has a full commission pipeline with intake forms, client portal, and approval gates.
Offline support: Only Cosplai confirms offline mode.
What about Milanote?
Milanote deserves a mention because cosplayers love it for reference boards. It's a general creative tool, not cosplay-specific, but the visual mood board experience is best-in-class. Drag and drop images, web clipper extension, color swatches, and a clean interface.
The problem is the free tier: 100 cards total. That's notes, images, and links combined. One armor build with detailed references can burn through 50 cards easily. The paid tier is $9.99/mo (annual) or $12.50/mo, and you're paying for a mood board with no budget tracking, no materials list, no timeline, and no progress tracking.
If you're already paying for Milanote and love it, pair it with one of the apps above for the planning side. But if you're starting fresh, a dedicated cosplay tool covers both references and planning.
What about Notion or Trello?
Notion is infinitely flexible, which is both its strength and its biggest problem. You can build a cosplay planner in Notion (there are templates on the marketplace for $5-15), but you're spending hours setting up databases, formulas, and relations instead of actually building your costume. The mobile app also gets sluggish with image-heavy content, and reference-heavy cosplay boards have a lot of images.
Trello works for group cosplay coordination but has no budget tracking without Power-Ups and no cosplay-specific features. It's a generic project board.
Both are fine if you've already invested time building your system. Neither is worth starting from scratch in 2026 when dedicated tools exist.
Sources & references
We link to the brands, retailers, and research we reference so you can verify and explore.
