Feeling overwhelmed by never-ending tasks and cluttered lists? You’re not alone.
This guide reveals the 10 best to-do list apps out there, saving you time and frustration.
We’ve done the hard work, evaluating each app based on usability, features, and price. Whether you’re a minimalist maestro or a productivity powerhouse, we have the perfect app to match your style.
Ditch the stress and reclaim your free time. Find the app that speaks to you and let your to-do list become the master of your productivity.
Let’s dive in!
Todoist
Todoist isn’t the most powerful to-do list website out there. It’s also not the simplest. That’s kind of the point: this app balances power with simplicity, and it does so while running on basically every platform that exists. That’s a strong selling point—which is probably why Todoist is one of the most popular to-do lists right now.
Adding tasks was quick on every platform in my tests, thanks in part to natural language processing (type “buy milk Monday” and the task “buy milk” will be added with the next Monday set as your due date). You can put new tasks in your Inbox and then move them to relevant projects; you can also set due dates. Paid users can create custom filters and labels, and there are also some basic collaboration features.
Todoist is flexible enough to adapt to most workflows but not so complicated as to overwhelm. And it adds new features regularly: you can view projects as a Kanban board, for example, and navigating the app by keyboard is much smoother after recent updates. There’s even an AI assistant on paid plans that can help make tasks more actionable. Overall, this is a great first to-do list app to try out, especially if you don’t know where to start.
Todoist Pros & Cons
- Easy to use design & feel
- Comes with a brilliant iOS and Android app
- Fast and reliable tool for managing tasks
- Does lack planner abilities like Akiflow & Motion
Who is Todoist best suited for?
If you’re looking for something that meets most of the needs, Todoist is brilliant. It is best suited for someone looking for something robust, easy to use, and without any advanced features like planner functions, guided planning & extensive integrations. We’d happily recommend Todoist to a busy professional or a retired gardener.
This is one of the more friendly task management apps on the market.
TickTick
TickTick is a fast-growing task list app that offers a wide array of features on just about every platform you can imagine. Adding tasks is quick thanks to natural language processing. There’s also a universal keyboard shortcut offered on the desktop versions and pinned notifications and widgets on mobile, which makes it quick to add a task before getting back to what you’re doing. Tasks can be organized using lists, tags, due dates, and priorities, and there’s also the ability to add subtasks to any task.
TickTick offers all of this with apps that feel native—the macOS version is distinct from the Windows version, for example, in ways that make sense given the differences between those two systems. TickTick also offers a few features that are above and beyond what other task tracking apps offer.
First, there’s a built-in Pomodoro timer, allowing you to start a 25-minute work session for any of your tasks (complete with numerous white noise options, if you want). Second, there’s integration with various third-party calendars, allowing you to see your tasks and your appointments in one place, and even do some time blocking. There’s also a built-in habit-tracking tool, allowing you to review how many days you did or didn’t stick to your exercise and diet commitments. And an Eisenhower Matrix view allows you to prioritize your tasks based on what’s urgent and what’s important. It’s a great collection of features, unlike anything else on the market.
TickTick Pros & Cons
- Easy-to-use design
- Good mobile access and availability
- Comes with Kanban, calendar, and timeline modes
- Comes with easy to use habit tracking
- Not as minimal and well-thought-out as Todoist
Who is TickTick best suited for?
TickTick is best for those who are looking between Todoist and this for something that will help you plan your week using solid task management methodologies. TickTick goes that step further with more views like calendar & timeline than Todoist and brings habit tracking as a bonus feature that many people like to keep within their task management hub.
Akiflow
Akiflow is perfect for time-poor, busy professionals.
One of the best to-do list apps on the market it also falls as a daily planner app that has been growing in popularity in the last few months. Daily planners like Akiflow want to focus more on the calendar and promote concepts like time-blocking that help to plan the day and Akiflow brings this ability to the forefront. Akiflow brings tasks, calendar & task consolidation which allows you to bring all your tasks from other apps into Akiflow for easier management of them all in one dashboard.
This is perfect for those who want something that will better help them manage what’s important and reduce context-switching. Akiflow also has guided planning meeting scheduling and sharing that comes in apps like Calendly.
Akiflow Pros & Cons
- Ability to bring in tasks from other task apps
- Powerful features like calendar and time slot modes
- Comes with a guided planning feature called Rituals
- Not as suitable for those budget-conscious
Who is Akiflow best suited for?
Important to remember that Akiflow is $19 per month (billed annually) meaning if budget is an issue, then Akiflow is instantly ruled out. But if budget isn’t a worry, then Akiflow is a solid to-do app for those busy professionals who want to manage everything in one including meeting scheduling links.
Motion
Motion is an AI-powered task management application with project abilities.
Features like AI re-scheduling make Motion special for those who hate scheduling their priorities and time. Simply upload a task and give it some details and Motioon’s system will start to organize what a day will look like recommended by their AI system. This has helped many people take the weight out of task administration which brings people’s productivity down every day. Motion is one of the only AI-focused apps doing this.
As one of the better task management apps, Motion also brings light project management which helps you to plan tasks in collaborative views that you can keep to yourself or you can share with others Motion will invest more into this plan soon.
Motion Pros & Cons
- AI-powered re-scheduling
- Light project management abilities
- Ability to add team members later on
- Comes at an expensive monthly price
- Can be quite overwhelming to start
Who is Motion best suited for?
If you’re okay with the price, Motion offers a great combination of AI features, meeting scheduling, and project management that might just make it an assistant for better managing the daily routine. Motion is best suited for busy professionals that want to better get some structure to their work day and want to remove more of the manual aspects of task management like organizing and allocating times for tasks.
Sunsama
Sunsama is one of the more mindful to-do list apps on this list.
It wants to help you to organize your week ahead with a focus on zoomed-out planning. Guided planning is one of the special elements of Sunsama that allows you to add your tasks and schedule them ahead. Sunsama brings a beautiful design that allows you to manage your tasks, calendar, and tasks from other apps in one base. Specifically, the sidebar that allows you to plot your schedule, manage your backlog of tasks, and use automation to better task flow makes life a lot easier too.
Sunsama Pros & Cons
- One of the long-standing planner apps
- Powerful guided planning
- Effective focus on holistic planning
- Smaller AI features for duration plans
- Might not be suitable for the price
Who is Sunsama best suited for?
If you’re struggling with your current task management system then Sunsama will give you a better way to plan with a focus on zooming out with weekly objectives, pomodoro timers, and task focus on quality versus quantity.
If you’re in a rut with your task management app or system right now and see yourself constantly hitting burnout, then Sunsama could help rewire how you work.
Things 3
Things 3 is one of the most attractive to-do apps.
Things is focused on yourself for planning tasks and light projects. It has features like capture, project management for individuals, scheduling tasks, Apple Calendar connection, section headers, and smaller features like “This Evening” that allow you to separate tasks and allocate them for the evening ahead. The simple nature of Things combined with the powerful features that allow you to better plan allows it to be a good solution.
A lot of people like Things 3 thanks to the pricing that offers one-off licenses that if bought on all devices total $79.99 (macOS, iPad & iPhone) and allow you to keep that license.
Things 3 Pros & Cons
- Beautiful minimal fee
- Comes with easy-to-use instructions
- Fast and fluid mobile app
- Higher upfront cost
- One-off pricing means better value
Who is Things 3 best suited for?
Things 3 is best for Apple-centric individuals, those who want to set and forget, avoid subscriptions, and use a well-built fluid task management app that offers a good set of features for managing tasks and light projects for your work.
Superlist
Superlist is a great to-do app for teams and individuals.
Superlist offers a collaborative way to add tasks and share them within notes in small and medium-sized teams. It is a good way to capture tasks, plan them, and send and assign tasks to other team members. Superlist has a feature called projects that allows you to create a list that serves as a list and a note. This will enable you to add tasks and organize them as a team, but also coordinate notes alongside regular text formatting. Superlist also has some task integrations with apps like Microsoft To-Do and more.
Superlist Pros & Cons
- Easy-to-use app & design
- Good for project & note collaboration
- Comes with up to 5 members free per team
- Can be pricier if you want premium features
- Launched with a few bugs
Who is Superlist best suited for?
Superlist is great for individuals who want a free tool that does a good amount in the subscription. If you want to begin to share tasks with a small team then Superlist is good and works well for collaborating on tasks and assigning them to others. If reminders are important to you Superlist offers free reminders as part of the basic package.
Timestripe
Timestripe wants to help you better schedule your goals with tasks.
The task management app allows you to add goals not just for this week, but for the next few weeks allowing you to plan and look more holistically at how you plan your day. Having your weekly objectives alongside your monthly goals can better help you assign tasks that might be more suitable to do and produce a more accurate trickle-down.
It also has abilities like “Climbs” which helps you to insert a recommended habit into your routine like “Read 5 Books in 21 Days” which will better align your focus with tasks that you need to tick off to complete what’s on the habit objective.
Timestripe Pros & Cons
- Better for planning holistically
- Designed for goal-focused task management
- Not as smooth to use as apps like Todoist or Akiflow
- Can be overwhelming to see goals next to tasks
Who is Timestripe best suited for?
For those who want something more zoomed out, Timestripe is going to help them plan their tasks with their goals in mind. Having goals next to your tasks can better help you achieve success going by the saying “what gets measured gets managed”.
Timestripe is also not as expensive as apps like Akiflow and Motion but gives you a unique approach to task management.
What’s the best to-do list app?
The best to-do list app is one that you actually use. Personal productivity is just that—personal. Some folks will like the simplicity of an app like Todoist, while others will love the elegance of Things. Try each of the apps on this list for a couple days to see how they work for you.
Finding the right task management system is hard because it’s so personal. To that end, let me know if there’s anything you think I missed.
