If checking off your to-do lists is your guilty pleasure, then I suppose you get excited by your monthly stationery hauls a little too much! From investing in annual planners to keeping a couple of notepads for your grocery lists and tasks at work, respectively, your life thrives on to-do lists!
Surviving in the hullabaloo of work will be hard if you do not jot down pending tasks on your notepad.
While remembering to do your tasks might be the main reason why you prefer these lists, we believe there is another reason why you keep a notepad on you even during dinner time – It’s the satisfaction of cross-tallying your pending tasks and finally checking them off your list is practically unmatchable to any feeling.
But here is where we are going with our obsession with to-do lists. With sticky notes plastered all over the desk and soft board at work, keeping a track of everyday tasks can be a bit arduous.
To make things easy for you, I have compiled the best project management software available online to help you pick the perfect one. But before that, take a look at the value these apps bring to the table.
Why do you need a To-do List App?
While this is a no-brainer, downloading a to-do list app on your phone allows you to at first, get rid of your notepads and sticky notes from taking over your workplace!
In addition, when searching online, you’re swamped with a multitude of best cloud storage service options which leave you more perplexed than ever. If you are an avid list keeper, then chances are you might forget to check the sticky note that you placed on the soft board a few days ago.
Typical Scenario:
You had an interview at 5 pm! But since you forgot to check the sticky note buried behind the others and had basically no reminder whatsoever, you can kiss the hopes of getting a new job goodbye!
So, will a to-do list app online be of any help?
Mentioned below are 3 reasons why anyone who is frantic in their personal space and workplace should get a to-do list app right away!
1. Organization – Prioritize your To-do Lists!
Organizing your pending tasks is a tedious process – we agree! Half of your time is spent remembering the tasks or items necessary for placing on the list in the first place.
The best to-do list apps are designed in a way to help you declutter your mind so that you can execute your plan with a straightforward approach.
A to-do list will provide you with the liberty to make different lists as per your priority. For instance, if you are assigning work to your team, you can make a list of ‘Assigned Tasks’ and another one as ‘Completed Tasks’ along with a timer for keeping dabs on them.
Once an assigned task is finished, you can shift the task to the ‘Completed Tasks’ tab to acquire a sense of achievement over your daily agenda.
Plus, organizing your tabs on a to-do list app will allow you to prioritize your urgent tasks. You can add a timer as well as schedule a reminder so that you are greeted by a wake-up call every now and then!
2. Long-term Memory Aid!
If you think you are becoming a tad bit forgetful, then you are not aboard this ship alone! But, there is absolutely no magic pill that can prevent your ship from sinking. A to-do list app can serve as an external long-term memory aid and help you remember your most vital tasks.
As per scientific research, our short term memory has the capability to keep together 7 separate bits of information for at least half a minute! If you bombard your brain with 7 important tasks, you might forget them all in the next 30 seconds.
To prevent yourself from heading towards impending doom, update your to-do list app the moment you have new pending tasks! By checking your to-do list app frequently, you will train your brain to remember at least 5 of the tasks, allowing them to enter your long-term memory for longer retention!
But, to proceed any further and keep up with your deadlines, you have to at least remember to check your to-do list app religiously!
3. Better Time Management
The moment you remind yourself to commit to a task, you get distracted or focus your attention on matters that are trivial and can wait. An online to-do list app will help you to stay focused as the remaining tasks will be right in front of you with a scheduled timer as well.
In this way, you can commit to your tasks with priority and head to leisure after you are done with the most important ones!
A to-do list app will also allow you to keep a check on the way you are spending your time daily.
For instance, if your to-do list for the day is already saturated with tasks that are more than your usual number, allotting yourself new will become too hard to handle. By asserting your daily limit, you will not only be able to manage your time better but can do your tasks with better quality and being stress-free!
With to-do lists online, you can curb your procrastination and get assistance from qualitative task management services, and tend to your pending work in no time.
Best To-do List Apps of 2023
Apart from droning on the benefits of installing task management software on your phones or desktop, we have reviewed 5 of the best to-do list apps – according to popular usage and positive reviews – below!
1. Todoist
Ideal Choice for Task Management
★★★★★
$4/mo.
Free Version: Available with limited features
Premium Version: Billed collectively as $48 for the entire year
Compatible Devices: iOS, Android, Web Browser, Desktop
Pros
- Free Version available for download
- Personalized themes available with the free version
- Integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, and Calendar for better productivity
- Allows you to add due dates and tags with subcategorization of tasks
- Allows you to delegate a task with a deadline of the next 7 days as well
- Ability to shift tasks from your inbox to its main interface
- Separates the team inbox from yours for better monitoring of workflow
- Compatible with Firefox, Chrome, iOS, and Android
- Its ‘Natural Language Processing’ feature helps to interpret and predict the text of your tasks as you type them out!
- Integration with Amazon Echo, Alexa, and Siri allows you to free yourself from the typing overhaul.
- Boosts your confidence by allowing you to visualize your productivity process over time.
- Its premium feature includes calendar-syncing, reminders, push notifications, labels, and filters
Cons
- The mobile application can be better optimized.
- More font size options can be added.
- More flexible with iOS users (Thanks for the stereotype, Todoist!)
Key Features
With over 20 million avid users on the platform, Todoist is the most popular to-do list app on the internet, currently.
While its popularity is due to its simple and user-friendly interface, there is no denying the fact that Todoist’s features make it quite powerful among others. With the ability to fool around with plenty of lists, labels, and tags, delegating tasks and keeping a track of your entire workforce is remarkably easier than before.
Todoist requires you to either sign up with an existing email address on Google, Facebook account or a brand new one just for the platform. The best part about Todoist is perhaps the fact that it fits every major platform as its app is freely accessible on the web, Android, and iOS for easy download.
It also includes plug-ins such as Gmail and Outlook so that you can monitor your inbox and shift tasks manually without leaving the window. You can also add an extension of Todoist on your Chrome or Firefox web browser as well as integrate your Google Drive and Calendar with the app.
2. TickTick
Ideal Choice for Better Organization and Productivity!
★★★★☆
$2.4/mo.
Free Version: Available with limited features
Premium Version: Billed collectively as $27.99 for the entire year (Almost $2.4 per month). Refund available after 14 days of purchase.
Compatible Devices: iOS, Android, Web Browser, Desktop
Pros
- Custom Smart Lists with High-priority Sorting
- Four-tier task management system (folder, lists, tasks, and sub-tasks)
- Calendar viewing with third-party syncing
- Built-in Pomo Timer allows you to add time consumption slots along with deadlines – Ideal for monitoring the work hours of your workforce.
- The Pomo TImer also consists issues high-priority reminders with customizable white noises
- Integrated across 10+ platforms such as web, desktop, Android, and iOS for seamless syncing
- Consists of 10+ themes compatible with user-friendly and minimal viewing interface
- Ability to allot tasks directly from your inbox
- Quick Ball for Android allows you to shift tasks from your smartphone’s lock screen to TickTick’s main task viewing page
- Allows you to keep track of your productivity by analyzing your progress since the start of your subscription
- Add calendar and task widgets on your home screen
- The premium version costs around $28 per year which is billed collectively as one payment
- Premium plan allows you to add 299 lists, each of which can contain 999 tasks at the same time!
Cons
- Can add only 9 lists with the free plan
- The number of tasks limits to 99 per list, each of which can take up only 19 subtasks
- Calendar-syncing is an option only with its premium subscription
- NLP is not a strong feature
Key Features
If you ask for our honest opinion, we would prefer downloading TickTick for our task management due to two simple reasons.
One, TickTick offers a near-equal (perhaps better) work interface than Todoist, and two, its premium version is for 8 dollars less comparatively.
However, if we had to be objective, we might still go for Todoist since TickTick does not consist of the Natural Language Processing feature that is the sole contender of the former’s popularity.
TickTick has a minimal user interface that allows you to add tasks by simply speaking up. While adding tasks, you can now allot yourself detailed deadlines by including the correct date and time so that the app can issue reminders before the time is up.
But, along with reminders, even basic calendar-syncing is a luxury feature with TickTick. You can also synchronize your email inbox with TickTick’s app and use it across a host of 10+ platforms such as the web and desktop or download it on your Android or iOS.
If you are pretty obsessive regarding your tasks, you will adore TickTick as it allows you to organize your tasks into four different levels. Start delegating your work by creating tasks and subtasks at first, and then sort them into different lists and folders for better organization of your task force.
You can also share your smart lists with other people on board so that everyone is on the same page – pun intended. The best part about TickTick is that it allows you to list your tasks with regard to priority so that you can get them done as per necessity.
TickTick’s premium version features third-party calendar syncing as well as the ability to assign tasks with ‘start’ and ‘end’ dates on the calendar for simple viewing. It allows you to turn the heat up by adding 299 lists on your app at the same time! But its generosity is not only limited to this number of lists! You can add 999 tasks per list; each of which can contain 199 subtasks for better functionality and productivity.
3. Any.do
Ideal Choice for Professional Team and Workflow Management
★★★★☆
$3/mo.
Free Version: Available with limited features
Premium Version: Billed collectively as $36 for the entire year.
7 plan available
Compatible Devices: iOS, Android, Web Browser, Desktop
Pros
- Vivid graphics and minimal interface
- Features kanban boards for seamless task management
- The free version includes basic calendar syncing as well as the option of repetitive reminders
- Premium Version includes colored themes and labels as well as location-based reminders and unlimited attachments
- Any.do Teams allows you to collaborate with your entire task force with respect to their designations
- The Any.do Moment feature helps you to postpone and defer your tasks so that you keep yourself aligned with the moment
- The Any.do Moment allows you to customize your tasks for the day or plan for the week ahead by adding alarms for corresponding reminders
- Focus Mode lets you assign a timer to your tasks, but is only available for mobile apps
- Its Beta version consists of a personal assistant that will help you get your professional tasks done on time e.g by recruiting contractors
- Consists of a Grocery List Feature that allows you to add food items into separate sections to ensure you don’t miss an item or two!
- You can check out the premium version with a 7-day free trial
Cons
- The free version has only calendar-syncing and reminder-ready features – nothing too different or great
- Due to too many features, Any.do’s interface might lag in performance
- Glitches have been reported with the timer option on the app’s Focus Mode
Key Features
First things first, is it only us or do you too, think that Any.do kind of copied Todoist’s logo and kept one tick instead of the original two?
While Any.do is seamlessly compatible with an array of devices, many reviewers don’t find its UI/UX too catching. Intrigued, we downloaded the app to check it out for our butterfingers. Conspiracies aside, Any.do can get slightly slow in performance on browsers and desktops, but don’t go on blaming its assortment of features! We think the new update might get rid of its lagging bug and improve its performance for the web and desktop.
It is available across a number of platforms including iOS (Mac, iPad, iPhone, Siri, Apple Wearables), Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Desktop, and Chrome.
Any.do, much like its rival, Todoist, is integrated with Zapier and Slack so that you can organize your tasks to any extent and bring your workforce together on a merged platform. The best part though is that Any.do allows you to synchronize your calendar and add the date and time as well as the location required for the completion of the task.
Just like Trello, Any.do also uses kanban boards that allow you to categorize your lists with tasks and subtasks accordingly. For instance, if you plan on enlisting ‘Work’ and ‘Home Errands’ on your app, you can simply add two kanban boards and add a checklist further on. Plus, the moment you are done with a task, you can cross-check it from the list as well.
Todoist’s free version made it possible to work alongside and share the same settings as your app with five other collaborators. But, Any.do’s free version does not contain a lot of perks other than basic calendar-syncing, task management, and reminder notifications.
Its premium version is authenticated with location-based reminders, unlimited attachments as well as the ability to share and collaborate with an unlimited number of people. You can also create a separate kanban board for recurring tasks and customize them in accordance with the deadline gap.
For obsessives like us, Any.do Premium offers you to color-coordinate your background and labels so that you can assign, choose, and defer tasks at a glance.
Any.do Teams is designed especially for workaholics who plan on keeping their personal to-do lists away from their professional ones. The best part about Any.do Teams is that you can allot tasks to all of your teams without bringing them on one interface. For instance, if you are head of Marketing and Sales, you can assign two kanban lists to each, and share them with the respective teams.
4. Google Tasks
Ideal Choice for Earning Big Brownie Points with Task Completion!
★★★★☆
Free
Free Version: Available
Premium Version: No Premium Version at all!
Compatible Devices: iOS, Android, Web Browser, Desktop
Pros
- Completely free
- Integrated across the entire G-Suite – best if you rely on Gmail and Google Calendar for your tasks already
- Already compatible with Web, Browser, Android, and iOS
- Task management and delegation into subtasks
- Synchronization with Google Calendar and Gmail allows you to add tasks directly
- The ‘Clear Completed Tasks’ option helps you to keep yourself on your toes!
- Ideal for on-the-go task management
Cons
- Still in the developing phase
- Cannot add details, deadlines, or tags to subtasks
- Poor organizational management – everything is haywire on the Tasks app as there is no sorting feature with respect to date, time, or priority
Key Features
Google Tasks is ideal for users who prefer working from their G-Suite without any external fringes or installations.
Since Google Tasks is integrated with Google Calendar and your Gmail inbox, adding tasks with the date and mail synchronization is no longer a tedious chore! But despite being available for use on all major platforms such as iOS, Android, Web, and Chrome, it lacks organizational capabilities.
Google Tasks allows you to add tasks with details that can be edited out whenever you want. While you can add subtasks to each of your tasks, there is no option of adding a due date or high-priority deadline to any of them.
The best part about Google Tasks is that once you add a date and time to your task, you will no longer see that respective slot available for further task delegation.
For instance, if you are busy from 2 to 4 pm tonight in a meeting as per your Google Calendar, you will no longer see the time slot available whenever you open your to-do list app for adding a task.
Google Tasks also allows you to feel accomplished and satisfied with your work progress. Instead of simply checking off the task from your list, Google Tasks removes its entire existence from your app, earning you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with its completion.
5. Microsoft To-Do
Ideal Choice for Windows Users (and Brats who don’t want to spend)
★★★☆☆
Free
Free Version: Available
Premium Version: Not Applicable
Compatible Devices: iOS and Mac, Android, Web Browser, Windows
Pros
- Best free to-do list app in our opinion
- Allows you to sync your calendar with your tasks
- Task management with the help of checklists
- Reminders and Push Notifications are readily available for alerts on-the-go
- Quick-Add Widget enabled only for Android users for better task management (Guess only Android users need on-the-go features of capturing and laying out tasks)
- Compatible with Windows for desktop users as well as iOS and Android for modern-day millennials
Cons
- No NLP feature – You have to add lists all by your lonesome (Bummer)
- Cannot add further filters or labels to your checklists (Well, you cannot get everything!)
- Poor organizational management
- Doesn’t integrate Apple or Google Calendar with its App. Only Outlook-friendly
Key Features
Microsoft To-Do is another free app that is here to help Stone-age Windows users with their daily operations. Do not get us wrong – many people (including us) prefer working from our desktops for better workforce management through the keyboard.
Getting Microsoft To-Do is completely free of cost. You will be surprised to find out that this app stands right next to Todoist’s premium version in its provision of features! Remember how calendar-syncing, reminders, and push notifications were only available for use with Todoist’s premium features?
Guess what? Microsoft To-Do’s app not only provides you with the basic features of adding tasks and subtasks but is also consistent with calendar-syncing, reminders, and file attachments for FREE! Each subtask is displayed in the form of ‘steps’ or a ‘checklist’ that can have its own priority deadline as well as further details and notes.
Its ‘My Day’ feature helps to bring your pending and completed tasks together for the day automatically. But, since it does not consist of an NLP feature, your ‘My Day’ online to-do list will be practically empty and at your mercy for manual enlisting of tasks.
The fact that Microsoft To-Do was slowly coming closer to our favorite app of the year made a huge blunder and left us totally disappointed. The app has no option of adding filters or tags to your tasks, ranking highest from the bottom in the organization. Despite the fact that you can make lists, there is no option of sorting them as per your convenience and priority.
Remember how we mentioned that Microsoft To-Do allows you to synchronize your calendar with the app? Well, it only pays heed to Outlook’s Calendar and does not integrate with Apple or Google Calendar at all! Not many startups use Outlook today. There might be one in ten enterprises that are still consistent with Outlook because other options are better, feasible, and more flexible to use.
Online notepads are normally used for writing notes, coding, or any other form of text that you’d like to jot down. In order to choose the best online notepad, you’ll have to go through the process of trial and error at least once.
How to Choose the Best To-do List App?
Choosing a to-do list app is highly subjective and depends on what you require for managing your tasks. While every to-do list app can make and categorize lists, what else do you want the best task manager to have? Perhaps, an integrated calendar or a feature to synchronize your team inbox?
Here are some features that you should look for when selecting a to-do list app:
Clean and Minimal Interface
The best to-do list apps provide you with a way to categorize your lists and color-coordinate them with labels as required.
Since clutter can be too distracting, most to-do list apps focus on choosing a primary color such as red for Todoist, or a secondary color, such as mauve for Click-up as their prime focus. Plus, with a clean interface, you can curate your workflow and organize your tasks better.
Categorizing Tasks is Easier
The best to-do list apps provide you with the ability to enlist your tasks and categorize them accordingly with project details and tags. You can also create sub-categories or checklists that you can tick off manually or have the app cross-check them off the to-do list upon completion.
Some apps also have automatic transferral options that can move the task to another board (Trello) or another list while being on the same board automatically (Click-up).
Reminders and Notifications
Even the best free to-do list apps online have an option for adding a ‘Due Date’ or ‘Deadline’ to your tasks with self-imposed reminders as well. If you set a task as ‘high priority’, you can choose the way you want to be reminded of an impending deadline.
Allow Synchronization Across Different Platforms
Trello, one of the best task managers, allows you to sign up using your Google account, giving you easy access across the two platforms. Other to-do list apps such as Todoist provide you with the chance to access various workflow apps such as Zapier for synchronizing and managing your team’s productivity on one platform.
Plus, if you are using the app on the Web, you can download it on your phone and sign in to access it on the go. For any avid digital user, it is important that their data remains up-to-date between both desktop and mobile.
The Final Verdict
While we will strongly agree with Todoist and TickTick for our personal to-do list ensemble, we will not mind trying out Any.do for the first seven days of its trial feature. If you find Any.do to be worth the struggle – and the money – be our guest!
Google Calendars and Microsoft To-Do are pretty okay free to-do list apps for individuals who freelance and plan on organizing their work so that they don’t forget to do them in the first place. Here too, we will recommend Microsoft To-Do but what is the use if it cannot integrate Google or Apple Calendar with its lists of tasks?
Even if you go for Google Tasks, you will not get the chance to organize your workflow properly.
So if we have to choose the lesser of the two evils, we might move over to any third party and settle for Todoist as the best to-do list app and task manager online. It’s inexpensive, has flexible UI/UX, and is feasible across a variety of platforms.
The decision, ultimately, boils down to your requirements.