Okay, 2021 is officially upon us… so what’re the best to do list apps for the year?
A to do list app helps you organize tasks and stay on top of your deadlines.
You can use it to manage everything from grocery lists to work-related tasks and more.
In this article, we’ll discuss what makes a great to do list app and review the 14 best to do list apps you can use to boost your productivity.
And by the end of the article, you’ll have a concrete idea of which to do list app suits you best!
Let’s get rolling!
What Is A To Do List App?
A to do list app helps you stay productive by organizing everything you need to do in one place.
If your life were to be a spaceship, a to do list app would be your mission control center! 🚀
Essentially, a todo list app helps you:
- Stay on top of your tasks and chores
- Deal with multitasking requirements effectively
- Manage deadlines proactively
- Track work at the office, take care of your grocery list or shopping list, and more
- Make life easier
Why not stick to the traditional paper to do list?
After all, it’s just so satisfying to cross off tasks with a pen or pencil.
To do list apps matter because modern-day tasks are more complicated and require much more advanced features for proper organization. Not the mention, you’d be protecting the planet by using less paper!
What Makes Great To Do List Apps
It’s a challenge to agree on one universal definition of a great to-do list app. When choosing our list, we’ve decided that the best apps must cater to a diverse set of requirements. Great to-do list apps:
- Offer great flexibility. The best to-do list app needs to be neurodiverse and function well no matter how it’s used. You should be able to set priorities (so you know what are important tasks), add tasks and subtasks, and view your tasks in different ways.
- Remind you of deadlines. You need an app to remind you to get things done. Whether it’s in-app, push, email, or SMS notifications, a great to-do list should be able to keep your important tasks top of mind.
- Are easy and intuitive to use. Adding tasks should be simple and straightforward, but also cater to your situation. The best apps should allow you to do this cross platform, in offline mode or through keyboard shortcuts.
- Offer collaboration features. You should be able to share your lists with others so you can make progress more transparent. It’s also important to have different privacy settings so you can decide what to share.
- Function cross platform. Besides Android and iOS, ideal to-do list apps should be accessible on web browser and other systems such as Linux.
It’s time we check out those to do list apps that make our lives better:
14 Aesthetic To Do List Apps
Here are the top fourteen to do list apps you should consider:
Best To Do List with Deadlines:
1. ClickUp (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web)
ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform built to save teams of all sizes one day a week.
However, it isn’t just the business folks that benefit from ClickUp.
ClickUp is also a great management tool for organizing personal tasks.
You can use it for:
- Planning a birthday party
- Managing tasks and chores at home
- Storing information like recipes
- Organizing school projects
- Tracking contacts for networking
Here are some more great ways you can use ClickUp in your life.
- Lists: Create a smart list to organize your life. For example, one folder could be “Home” where you have all of the pertinent activities that you need, such as “Bills,” “Grocery List,” or “Shopping List.”
- Start Times and Due Dates: Specify both time and day to get reminded when something is due. Alternatively, if you have a task in the future, you can set a start time. This makes it very convenient for managing tasks if you need to plan something out days or weeks in advance
- Calendar Sync: Users can update their Outlook, Apple, or Google calendars automatically when they add scheduled tasks in ClickUp
- Priorities: What’s the most important task on your list today? Flag it as urgent or low priority, instantly
- Smart Search: Forgot something? No worries. You can search for it. The more you use it, the smarter it gets (that’s some top-notch AI stuff right there) 😎
- Integrations: Have calendars in Google Calendar or other personal documents like in Dropbox? Of course, you do. Just connect them with ClickUp
- Custom Statuses: Customize your projects with statuses to fit each individual project. For instance, a home renovation project would need a different status than planning your vacation or hiring a new team member
- Notepad: Need to jot down something quickly? No problem. Use the ClickUp Notepad to note down anything in a flash. You can even add pictures, links, and checklists to make them as powerful as possible
- Scheduling: You can add unscheduled tasks to your Time view to automatically schedule tasks and manage deadlines
- Email ClickApp: Send and receive emails directly inside Tasks! This allows you to keep all your communications right within your workflows
The bottom line is that ClickUp has the features you’d look for in the best to do list app, with the power to do more.
Pros
- Feature-rich free version
- Simple drag and drop functionality for easy task management
- Can easily add start dates and set due dates
- User-friendly interface
- Custom statuses to keep track of your task list easily
- Loads of integrations like the Slack and Dropbox integration
- Can create quick Reminders from anywhere within the Workspace to stay on top of deadlines
- Offers an Offline Mode that allows you to work from anywhere and later sync tasks whenever there’s an internet connection
Cons
- You can’t export Dashboards
Check out our product roadmap to know how we’re fixing such minor drawbacks and making ClickUp even more powerful!
ClickUp Pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $5/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Business Plus: $19/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
ClickUp Rating
- Capterra: 4.7 (2080+ reviews)
- G2: 4.7 (2267+ reviews)
Best Family To Do List:
2. Todoist (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
Todoist comes with an elegant interface that focuses on the tasks at hand.
Todoist also features a Google Calendar integration, so your tasks and events can meet up themselves. That’s the hard part with most to do mobile apps.
Moreover, it also works great for everyday tasks like sharing a grocery list or shopping list with your significant other or splitting it up among roommates. This makes it an excellent family to do list app you can rely on.
Additionally, it can also function as a basic task management app for your teams.
So will this do as your productivity platform? 😅
Let’s see:
Todoist Key Features
- Recurring due dates
- Subtasks
- Priorities
- Productivity visualizations
- Task and project comments
- Color-coded labels
- Reminders
Pros
- Loads of preset to-do list templates to get started easily
- Multiple third-party integrations to power up your to do list software
- Good free version
Cons
- Cannot set statuses for different stages of your task
- The Calendar view for tasks is limited
- Cannot collaborate with your team efficiently
Using Todoist now but want to try ClickUp?
You can easily import your Todoist tasks into ClickUp!
Todoist Pricing
Todoist offers three pricing plans:
- Free
- Up to 80 projects
- Up to 5 people per project
- Premium ($4 per month)
- Up to 300 projects
- Up to 25 people per project
- Reminders
- Labels & filters
- And more
- Business ($6 per user per month)
- 500 projects per user
- 50 people per project
- Team inbox
- Team billing
- Priority support
- And more
Compare Asana and Todoist with ClickUp!
Todoist Rating
- Capterra: 4.6 (from 1264+ reviews)
- G2: 4.4 (from 623+ reviews)
Best Cute To Do List App:
3. Remember The Milk (Android, iPhone, iPad, Web)
Remember The Milk has been around for a while, and it’s still a solid choice for a daily tasks app.
Whether it’s getting milk after work or calling family members on their birthday, this fun to do list app offers a central place to organize all of your random ideas.
Their smart list feature is really nice, letting you write out the details and due dates in one line with natural language. It also sends you texts and Gmail notifications based on how you want to receive information.
Remember The Milk opts for simple tags and smart list features over the more formal “projects” which is a good choice for a personal daily checklist app.
Sample tags include “work tasks,” “personal tasks,” or “bananas.”
In other words, you can make tags for anything.
It’s a cute to do list app that works well with the simple stuff.
So can you rely on this app to not forget your milk and other deadlines? 🐄
Remember The Milk Key Features
- Filter tasks by priority
- Due dates
- Recurring tasks
- Tags
- Location-based tasks
- Attachments
- Stay in sync with Outlook
Pros
- Simple todo list management
- User-friendly web app interface
- Loads of third party app integrations for added functionality
Cons
- Can’t add location-based reminders
- Can’t be used as a powerful task manager for your task list
- Can’t handle complex team collaboration requirements
Remember The Milk Pricing
Remember The Milk offers two pricing plans:
- Basic (free)
- Web app, desktop app, and mobile app
- Share todo lists with up to two people
- Add tasks with email, Amazon Alexa, Siri, and Twitter
- Gmail, Evernote, and Google Calendar integration
- And more
- Pro
- All “Free” features
- Share lists with unlimited people
- Integration with Zapier
- Priority support
- And more
Remember The Milk Ratings
- Capterra: 4.4 (from 42+ reviews)
- G2: 4.4 (from 19+ reviews)
Bonus: Check out our organization apps guide! 💜
Best To Do List for Students:
4. Google Keep (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
Google Keep is more than a note-taking app.
It can also be your personal todo list software.
Really?
It makes sense in many ways, especially if you’ve been wedded to pen and paper for most of your life.
With Google Keep, you can:
- Title your list, save it and then come back to it later
- Set reminders (I should do this…) and come back to notes or other items later
- Use color-coded labels to serve as “tags”
Is Google Keep actually that good?
It’s good if…
You’re enmeshed in the Google Play Store or Android world.
The application fits seamlessly with any collaboration tool you’re probably already using to organize your life. It’s also a native part of every Android phone.
Is this a keeper, though? 🙉
Google Keep Key Features
- Multiple devices
- Pin posts
- Leave voice reminders
- Set reminders for your notes
- Save articles
- Add collaborators to your notes
Pros
- Very user-friendly
- Supports voice commands
- Completely free
Cons
- Can’t handle anything besides the basic notes and task management
- Can’t share groups of notes together
- Can’t set statuses for different stages of a task
Google Keep Pricing
Google Keep is free.
Google Keep Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (from 1227+ reviews)
5. TeuxDeux (iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
TeuxDeux is well-designed, with big, bold fonts but in a clean non-flowery way.
In the app, tasks are laid out in a weekly view, showing the highest priority tasks you need to do for each day of the week.
You can also quickly add in recurring tasks, so you no longer have to rewrite the same thing every day or schedule it out every single day. Nice, right?
TeuxDeux bills itself as a “design” app in the App Store, meaning they appeal to creative types.
So can you count on this app teux manage your tasks?
TeuxDeux Key Features
- Recurring tasks
- Customizable smart list capability
- Tasks roll over to the next day
- Markdown support
- Regular emails on the daily tasks
- Color wheel to customize the look of your lists
- iPhone and web app sync
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Multiple text-formatting options available
- Task roll-over function for recurring to-do list items
Cons
- No free version
- No mobile apps designed for your Android device
- Cannot easily collaborate with your team over tasks
TeuxDeuxPricing
TeuxDeux offers only one pricing plan that starts at $3 per month.
TeuxDeux Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (from 21+ reviews)
6. Things 3 (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Linux, Web)
Things takes a minimalist approach and gives you a lot of white space to add details for your projects or chores.
You start with a big list and then add smaller elements underneath.
As a task manager, this allows for more nesting and helps you separate tasks into more categories.
The checklist app also has this key feature called the Magic Plus button, which isn’t as glorious as it sounds but is still a convenient way to add a new task, no matter which category they fall in.
Unfortunately, Things is only for Mac and iOS (iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch).
They haven’t designed a mobile app for Android devices.
So is this app your kind of thing? 😐
Things 3 Key Features
- Checklists
- Headings
- Tags
- Calendar events
- Upcoming list
- Quick find
- Natural Language Processing
Pros
- Good task sorting filters
- Can handle basic task management
- Can sync quickly with the free Things Cloud service
Cons
- No mobile apps designed for your Android devices
- Can’t collaborate on tasks or lists
- No free version available
Things 3 Pricing
Things offers three pricing plans:
- For Mac: $49.99
- For iPhone and Apple Watch: $9.99
- For iPad: $19.99
Things 3 Ratings
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (from 100+ reviews)
- G2: 4.3/5 (from 15+ reviews)
7. Any.do (Android, iPhone, iPad, Web)
This simple todo app can help you organize everything in life.
You can use it for family projects, work stuff, and more.
It helps you quickly create and share lists, assign tasks to people, and monitor progress.
Know what the best part is?
You can take it wherever you go.
Any.do is accessible on your desktop, mobile, tablet, and even your watch!
Once you create tasks, you don’t need to worry about missing your deadlines because Any.do lets you set daily, weekly, monthly, or location-based reminders.
Believe you can do anything and with this tool? 😍
Any.do Key Features
- Daily tasks planner
- Built-in calendar app
- One-time, recurring, and location-based reminders
- Color tags
- Recurring reminders
- WhatsApp reminders
- Customized themes
Pros
- Lets you organize tasks, lists, and reminders from one place
- Apps available on your desktop, tablet, mobile, and smartwatches
- Grocery list feature that works with Siri and Amazon Alexa helps you streamline the shopping experience
Cons
- The free version only offers limited features
- Its interface is complicated and challenging to use
- No native integrations, so a user must rely on a third party app like Zapier
Any.do Pricing
Any.do offers two pricing plans:
- Free
- Assigned tasks
- Lists
- Reminders
- Calendar app
- And more
- Premium ($5.99 per month)
- Unlimited daily tasks planner
- Location based reminder (mobile)
- Advanced recurring reminders
- Themes and backgrounds
- And more
Any.do Ratings
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (from 110+ reviews)
- G2: 4.2/5 (from 182+ reviews)
8. TickTick (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
TickTick harnesses the power of traditional task management into an app-first interface.
It has broader capabilities like location based reminder settings, voice input, and real-time data syncing across platforms that help you stay on track.
You can also share lists, which your team can use in a work environment if you need a smaller program that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles.
Besides, with their calendar, it’s easy to assign tasks and manage them for certain times of the day.
Thinking of putting a tick next to this tool as your top do list app? ✅
TickTick Features
- Folders
- Sharing list
- Voice input
- Location based reminder
- Tags
- Pomodoro timer
- Smart date
Pros
- Can function as a good task manager for items
- Can turn emails from your inbox into tasks
- Comes with various calendar views: daily to monthly
Cons
- Most features are limited to the paid version
- Cannot integrate with other top task management apps
- UI isn’t very intuitive, so navigation through the app difficult
TickTick Pricing
TickTick offer two pricing plans:
- Free
- You can create up to 9 lists
- You can add up to 99 tasks per list
- You can include up to 19 subtasks per task
- You can set up to 2 reminders per task
- Premium ($27.99 per year)
- You can create up to 299 lists
- You can add up to 999 tasks per list
- You can include up to 199 subtasks per task
- You can set up to 5 reminders per task
9. Toodledo (Android, iPhone, iPad, Web)
If you need your application to fit the way your life works, then Toodledo may be an option for you.
Why?
You can make your own workflow or work within their systems. It gives you the flexibility of a task management software in an online todo list.
However, the interface looks a little clunky compared to more cutting-edge tools.
Are you going to say toodle-oo to the tool because of this? 👋
Toodledo Key Features
- Smart sorting
- Tags
- Habits
- Outlines
- Folders
- Reminders
- Sharing
Pros
- Can handle a basic task management
- Built-in timer to record actual time spent on a project
- Can synchronize with devices across platforms
Cons
- Advanced features are mostly limited to the premium version
- The free version lacks basic team collaboration capabilities
- Doesn’t have many preset templates for simple task list management
Toodledo Pricing
Toodledo offers four pricing plans:
- Free
- Unlimited tasks
- Task notes
- Recurring tasks
- Simple alarms
- And more
- Standard ($2.99 per month billed annually)
- All “Free” features
- Subtasks
- Graphs
- All app integrations
- And more
- Plus ($4.99 per month billed annually)
- All “Standard” features
- Full Lists
- Full Habits
- Priority support
- And more
- Business (contact for a custom quote)
Toodledo Ratings
- Capterra: 4/5 (from 27+ reviews)
- G2: 4.2/5 (from 43+ reviews)
Read more about Toodledo alternatives.
10. Bear (iPhone, iPad, macOS)
Think of Bear as your essential online to do app meets note-taking app.
It’s a handy app to make lists, add checklists, add detail to your tasks, and take extensive notes if necessary.
It can also be your perfect family to do list app and your favorite task management app at work.
And if you’re looking for a checklist app that lets you add more than just a due date, then Bear could be suitable for you.
Unfortunately, it’s not available for Android devices. Sorry folks, it’s only available in the Apple App Store.
What else will you have to bear with this app? 😥
Bear Key Features
- Rich text editing
- Support for images and photos
- Multiple themes
- Export options like HTML, PDF, DOCX, JPG, etc.
- Organize with Hashtags
- Multi-device sync
Pros
- Can link multiple notes together
- Excellent interface with loads of customizability
- Can handle advanced markups
Cons
- Only compatible with iOS (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch) and Mac
- Free version isn’t very feature-rich
- Steep learning curve for a first-time user
Bear Pricing
Bear offers two pricing plans:
- Free
- Notes
- Tags
- Attachments
- And more
- Pro ($1.49 per month)
- Sync between all devices
- Themes
- Powerful export options
- And more
Bear Ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (from 37+ reviews)
11. Microsoft To Do (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
Microsoft To Do (formerly Wunderlist) integrates with Office 365, giving you access to the ultimate productivity suite.
You can even create lists and add tasks from other Microsoft software like Outlook, and rank your tasks by due dates and color-coded labels.
It’s one of the reasons why it’s usually one of the top to do list apps.
So, To Do or not To Do?
That is the question! 😜
Microsoft To Do Key Features
- Basic task management
- Reminders
- Due dates
- Notes
- Outlook integration
- Sharing and invites
- Chrome extension
Pros
- Supports syncing your to do list over multiple platforms
- User-friendly interface
- Completely free
Cons
- Lacks advanced task management software capabilities
- Limited customizability
- Doesn’t support natural language input to streamline note-taking
Microsoft To Do Pricing
Microsoft To Do is free.
Microsoft To Do Ratings
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (from 362+ reviews)
- G2: 4.3/5 (from 23+ reviews)
12. Evernote (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
Evernote is still one of the most popular options for an online todo list app.
Their hashtagging system has revolutionized notes as a way to organize and their handwriting detection. Their WebClipper is also a popular key feature if you find yourself browsing and saving tasks and notes from the web.
In addition to that, it gives you a complete writing space to create checklists, meeting notes, grocery lists, and sync across devices. This works well if you’re at your work computer but want to refer to something on your phone later.
But will it help you live productively ever after? 💫
Evernote Key Features
- Supports syncing across devices
- Share notes with friends, family, or colleagues
- Supports security features like passcodes to lock the mobile app
- PDF annotation
- Search for text inside images
- Take notes in your own handwriting
- Save from across the web
Pros
- Easy cross-platform synchronization
- User-friendly interface
- Loads of third party app integrations such as Asana, Trello, and Omnifocus
Cons
- Lacks complex to do list management features
- Low storage space on the free version
- Difficult to share files with people who don’t use Evernote
Evernote Pricing
Evernote offers three pricing plans:
- Free
- 60MB of new uploads per month
- Clip web images, web pages, PDF files
- Access notes offline from the desktop app
- Sync across 2 devices
- And more
- Premium ($7.99 per month)
- All “Free” features
- 10 GB of new uploads per month
- Access notebooks offline
- Sync across all devices
- And more
- Business ($14.99per month)
- 20 GB of new upload per month + 2 GB per user
- Single Sign-on
- Central user administration
- Present notes in one click
- And more
Evernote Ratings
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (from 6731+ reviews)
- G2: 4.4/5 (from 1837+ reviews)
Read more about Evernote alternatives and compare this tool with 4. Google Keep
13. Google TasksBoard (Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, macOS, Web)
For a little more power centered on tasks rather than notes, Google TasksBoard may be a smoother option instead of Google Keep.
Their user interface is reliable and maintains the same steady, minimalist edge that Google maintains across its products.
With this Google tool, you can easily create a task, add lists, subtasks, and then set due dates.
And there’s a bonus.
You can create a Google task from an email as well. This is a killer feature considering the popularity of Gmail for work and personal use.
So are you up for the task?
Google TasksBoard Key Features
- Subtasks
- Multiple lists
- Due dates
- Notifications
- Google task from email
- Built-in notes
- Ability to sort tasks
Pros
- Great for simple to do list management
- Completely free
- Easy-to-use interface
Cons
- Can’t handle complex task management
- Can’t record the time taken for a particular task
- Doesn’t have an active, dedicated customer support system
Google TasksBoard Pricing
Google Tasks is free.
Google TasksBoard Ratings
- G2: 4.2/5 (from 39+ reviews)
14. Quire (Android, iPhone, iPad, Web)
Quire is something of a newbie when it comes to the task management software space.
It’s simple and intuitive and offers some pretty cool features.
For example, Quire lets you create an infinite nested task list.
What does that do?
Well, it helps you break down bigger ideas into tiny, doable tasks. This makes clearing tasks off less overwhelming and enables you to stay super-productive!
But are you quite sure this is the app you wanna go for? 🙇
Quire Key Features
- Start and due dates
- Priorities
- Kanban board
- Nested task lists
- Roles and permissions
- Reminders
- Notifications
Pros
- Smart search feature helps you locate info quickly
- Intuitive and minimalistic user interface
- Google Drive, Slack, and Google Calendar integration
Cons
- Doesn’t offer a native macOS or Windows desktop app
- No time tracking capability
- No built-in chat feature
Quire Pricing
Quire is free and can support up to 80 projects, 35 organizations, and 30 members per organization.
Quire Ratings
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (from 99+ reviews)
- G2: 4.6/5 (from 49+ reviews)
Try A Productivity Platform And Not Just Some To Do List App!
ClickUp isn’t just the best to do list app out there.
It’s a complete productivity app or platform, a way to keep your whole life in order, both personal and work.
ClickUp’s flexibility implies that you’ll be able to manage your life the way you want to…not like how a specific system wants you to.
Get ClickUp for free and get ready to conquer your to-do list!
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