Best To-Do List Apps (2026): We Tested 6 for 6 Weeks

After six weeks of real-world testing — managing actual work projects, grocery lists, and recurring tasks — Todoist is the best to-do app for most people in 2026. It strikes the best balance of features, design, and cross-platform reliability of any app we tested.

That said, Things 3 is a serious contender if you live in Apple's ecosystem, and TickTick is the best free option by a significant margin. Here's the complete breakdown.

1. Todoist — Best Overall (9.4/10)

Editors' Pick. Todoist earns the top spot because it does everything well: natural language date parsing ("every Tuesday at 9am"), projects with sub-tasks and sections, filters and labels for power users, and a clean mobile design that doesn't require a tutorial. It's been available on every platform since 2007, and that maturity shows in how polished the experience is.

We ran Todoist as our primary task manager for six weeks. Zero sync failures. The Karma productivity system gamifies task completion in a way that's motivating rather than annoying. The free plan gives you 5 active projects and 5 collaborators — enough for personal use. At $4/month, the Pro plan is reasonable for what you get.

Weaknesses: No built-in calendar view (you need an integration). The design is functional but not as beautiful as Things 3.

2. Things 3 — Best for Apple Users (9.2/10)

Things 3 is the most beautifully designed task manager available. If you're Apple-only (iPhone + iPad + Mac), it's worth serious consideration. The "Today" view is genuinely excellent — it pulls in calendar events alongside tasks, giving you a complete picture of your day. The "Upcoming" view shows tasks laid out on a weekly timeline that makes planning intuitive.

The one-time purchase model ($10 for iPhone, $50 for Mac) is a significant advantage over subscription apps. There's no ongoing cost anxiety. The downside: no Android app, no web app, and no Windows app. If you need any of those, stop here.

Weaknesses: Apple-only is a dealbreaker for most teams. No natural language input as strong as Todoist. Collaboration is limited.

3. TickTick — Best Value (9.0/10)

TickTick punches well above its price point. The free plan is genuinely generous — unlimited tasks on up to 9 lists. The built-in Pomodoro timer is the best we've seen in any task manager. Smart lists (high priority tasks, tasks due today) are intelligently constructed and actually useful. At $2.79/month for Premium, it's the most affordable full-featured option.

Habit tracking is included, which Todoist charges extra for. Calendar integration shows your tasks as time blocks alongside events. If you're price-sensitive or want Pomodoro built in, TickTick wins.

Weaknesses: Interface is occasionally cluttered. Natural language input isn't as nuanced as Todoist's.

4. Microsoft To Do — Best for Microsoft 365 (8.7/10)

If you're paying for Microsoft 365, Microsoft To Do is included and worth using. It replaced Wunderlist in 2020, and while it took years to catch up feature-wise, it's now a solid app. My Day is a smart daily planning view. Flagged emails from Outlook appear automatically as tasks, which is genuinely useful for email-driven workflows.

Integration with Microsoft Teams means tasks assigned in meetings can flow directly into To Do. For corporate Microsoft environments, this seamless integration is hard to replicate.

Weaknesses: Feels like a Microsoft app (functional but not beautiful). Limited outside the Microsoft ecosystem.

5. Any.do — Best for Simplicity (8.5/10)

Any.do has the most approachable interface of any app we tested. Onboarding takes three minutes. The daily planning feature asks you each morning to plan your day, which builds a useful habit. Grocery list integration is genuinely better than competitors — it knows that "milk" and "eggs" are grocery items.

The calendar and tasks combined view is one of Any.do's standout features. If you want one app for both, Any.do's unified view is cleaner than most alternatives.

Weaknesses: Less powerful for complex project management. Some useful features are behind a premium paywall that feels premature.

6. Google Tasks — Best Minimal Option (8.2/10)

Google Tasks is the simplest app in this test. It does one thing: tasks with due dates, subtasks, and notes. That's it. If you live in Gmail and Google Calendar and want your tasks in the same interface without a new app, Google Tasks is unbeatable. It appears in Gmail's right sidebar and syncs across Android, iOS, and the web instantly.

Don't come here for project management, labels, or Pomodoro timers. Come here because you need a simple checklist that's always where your email is.

Weaknesses: Minimal features. No collaboration. Dependent on Google account.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best to-do list app in 2026?

Todoist (9.4/10) is the best to-do list app for most people. It works on every platform, has robust natural language input, good free tier, and a strong organizational structure. For Apple-only users, Things 3 (9.2/10) offers a more polished experience.

Is Todoist worth paying for?

The free plan is sufficient for most individuals (5 active projects, 5 collaborators). The Pro plan at $4/month adds reminders, unlimited projects, comments, labels, and filters. If you manage work projects in Todoist, Pro is worth it. The free plan is genuinely good.

What happened to Wunderlist?

Microsoft acquired Wunderlist in 2015 and shut it down in 2020, replacing it with Microsoft To Do. The core Wunderlist team built a successor called Superlist if you're looking for the original experience.