Todoist vs TickTick

Todoist has been around forever, so it's stable and does exactly what you expect a to-do list to do which is why it's our top pick.

When we tested it, the most noticeable thing was how quick it was to get things from brain to app. You type something like "submit report Friday at 5pm," hit enter, and move on. No friction, no overthinking, which is honestly what most people need. Or even better, their Ramble feature allows you to just list off everything on your mind and it uses AI to intelligently separately them into different tasks. I have Todoist on my phone and can't help but use Ramble when my brain is overloaded.

It's best for individuals managing their personal life who want a bit more structure than Apple Notes or pen and paper. Just about anyone could download Todoist and get the hang of it within 5 minutes, even your mom or grandma! But with that said, once you start expecting more, like planning your day visually or managing collaborative projects, you start to feel its limits pretty quick.

• Easy to learn
• Reliable and stable
• Lots of integrations
• Strong organization with projects, labels, and priorities
• Extremely fast task capture with natural language input via Ramble

• Basic. If you want something more proactive and handles off, it may feel too simple
• Time blocking and calendar features feel secondary

You can set due dates, reminders, and recurring tasks easily, which makes it great for routines. I’ve used it for things like weekly check-ins or simple habits, and it’s dependable.

A big part of staying organized is having a structure that doesn't overwhelm you. Being able to organize tasks into projects, add labels, set priorities, and switch between list, board, or calendar views (on paid plans) is simple enough to keep you on track without adding to your cognitive load.

Time blocking is a feature many people who are looking for a task manager love to see, and over the years, Todoist has received some pushback from its customers to build a calendar view that allows for task time blocking.

Right now, you're only able to carve out time/tasks with time blocking through the paid plans, but even if you do that, the feature is still subpar. So if you want to enjoy increased productivity, we'd recommend looking elsewhere, and we'd point you toward newer daily planner apps that do task management and time management really well.

Honestly, I love this feature. You can add tasks quickly by just speaking out things like "buy Oatly, honey, do laundry, call mom, get dress for June wedding". It separates out each task for you.

This feature helps me most before bed when my brain is still overloaded. I turn on ramble and brain dump, and then it creates tasks for me. This is the only thing that makes my brain relax (I also do this in ChatGPT at times when I'm more so circling thoughts rather than tasks).

• Beginner: Free. Best for individuals looking to manage and organize their personal lives.
• Pro: $7 monthly ($60 yearly). Best for project-oriented individuals trying to find their work-life balance within task management.
• Business: $10 monthly ($96 yearly). Best for small teams who need a dedicated workspace to assign projects and unify team billing.

With someone like MKBHD using it, you'd think it would be top-tier, but my dad also uses it, and we feel like that's a better representation of this task management tool. It's a reliable basic to-do list where you can add tasks, set deadlines, organize things with tags, and move on.

It's 100% a step up from Apple Notes or Google Keep, and great for repeatable habits. Matter of fact, Alex still gets notifications from TickTick to take his supplements daily 😄

TickTick works best when you don't want to think about your system too much. They did a great job of leveraging NLP to help you capture tasks fast, but beyond that, it doesn't really evolve with you. The interface feels dated and has a cluttered feel. Plus, their calendar sync only works every 15 minutes.

The upside is that it’s free and dependable. If you compare it to Todoist, Todoist feels more polished and intentional. When you put it next to Superlist, TickTick is far less enjoyable to use but more practical if you want a useable free option. Overall it's a good reliable option, but not something we'd go out of our way to recommend first.

• Fast and frictionless task capture
• Easy to organize with tags and lists
• Simple and reliable for everyday personal tasks
• Very generous free tier (you can use it long-term without paying)

• Collaboration features are weak
• Calendar sync is slow and can lag
• Interface feels dated compared to newer tools
• Doesn’t scale beyond basic personal task management
• Lacks depth for planning, workflows, or meaningful organization

TickTick makes it easy to organize your life into simple buckets making it a great contender for personal management like small admin task or home projects. The tagging system is useful for people who want have some level of organization without having to overthink structure. This makes it flexible enough for day-to-day life, but not built for anything more complex than that.

While it is table stakes at this point, TickTick did nail NLP. It's always nice to have the ability to type in a quick, "schedule grocery delivery for 5pm" and go on about your day knowing it's automatically been tracked. It makes task management frictionless, which makes it easier to stick with.

It's straightforward, and it works. There's not really any level of intelligence or optimization here, just reliable repetition. It is nice to have the ability to create tasks on quick reminder.

• Free: Best for individuals who want a reliable, no-cost task manager for personal use.
• Premium: ~$3/month ($35.99 yearly). Best for individuals who want to prioritize their day and enjoy advanced features like added integrations or multiple calendar syncing.