I wake up every day and see my to-do list or make my to-do list first in the morning. Todo lists a list of things you are going to do in a day like writing, going shopping, working on a project, doing an important business meeting, or having dinner with someone special.
There are plenty of things we do in a day, some are planned and some are not. So you need a to-do list that could help you to memorize for yourself and you don’t have to.
So let’s see the 10 best to-do list apps that you could use to get started your day productively.
Why you should use a to-do list app?
To-do list applications make the work easy because you can watch the list whenever you want, it’s just a click ahead.
Todo lists a list where you put all your work that needs to do in a day so you don’t have to memorize or forget your work. It’s just a click ahead and you watch the whole list.
This gives you the freedom to work on a single task effectively without worrying about other tasks. Like Richard Branson said, “I’ve always made lists of things I want to achieve — it helps me track my progress. But to-do lists are only useful if you do the things on your list.”
How do you effectively make a to-do list?
There are many concepts you can use to make an effective to-do list like,
“Not only should you have a to-do list, but it must become your best friend.” — Jim Kwik (Click to tweet)
It’s really quite simple to make an effective to-do list using those methods you can read those or let’s see how to make an effective to-do list.
- Write down all the work you want to do in a day.
- Organize those by important and less important
- Decide the one task is most important
- Do it first
- Then ready for the next tasks.
There are many other things you have to take into consideration like whether the work is urgent or not, if work is urgent and you can’t be delegated then you should go with that first.
If you are a creative person then you will have to be conscious of the crucial hours when you are most productive. You have to do the creative work first then other tasks.
“Make a rule for yourself to never do anything that isn’t on your list. If a new task or project comes up, write it down on your list and set a priority for it before you start work on it.” — Brain Tracy (click to tweet)
To understand quickly, imagine you have to write a letter to a friend and you have to wash your clothes, then if you see writing a letter or maybe an essay as I published on “the backlog”, it needs critical thinking and focuses to do so you have to tackle that first. Then you can wash your clothes.
For the CEO and there might be another type of schedule you have and he we can bring the concept of time blocking and time boxing.
In an essay called Maker’s schedule and managers schedule, Paul Graham addressed it and you see there will be different types of to-do lists for makers like artists, writing or in general creative people and managers like executives, CEOs, and managers where they need to work in slot whereas makers may take hours to do work.
The manager’s schedule is for bosses. It’s embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you’re doing every hour.
So the point is there will be different types of to-do lists for different people. So let’s see the 10 best to-do lists and the right to-do list for you.
Todoist (The sexy one)
Price: Free, Pro ($4), Business ($6) (See here)
Avail: Windows, Linux, macOS, App store, Play store (See here)
Best for: individuals, Solopreneurs, students
Founded in 2007 Todolist is one of the best to-do list applications in the market. The app is super beginner-friendly and has a beautiful layout.
Features:
- Quickly add new tasks
- Recurring due dates
- Reminders
- Priority level
- Board view
- Labels
- Filters
- Themes
Pros:
- You can connect to different apps like google calendar, dropbox, Zapier, IFTTT etc
- Cross-platform
- Gadgets available In the mobile apps
Cons:
- You can create recurring tasks that have subtasks
Ticktick ( The pro one)
Price: Free/ Premium (see here)
Avail: Everwhere (see here)
Best for: Small teams, college groups, professionals
Tick tick is also a better task manager and to-do list application, if you are a fan of pomodoros and calendars then this is for you. It has lots of features that could help you.
Features:
- Calendar widgets
- themes
- Pomodoro estimated
- Premium white noises
- Pomodoro timer
- Statistics
Pros:
- You can turn emails into tasks.
- A better organization with lists, filters, and folders.
- Various calendar view
- extensions for different browsers including chrome, firefox, and safari.
Cons:
- Premium is too high, for me ☹️
- Tick tick interface is not great
Habitica (The gamer one)
Price: free
Avail: play store, app store
Best for: Game lovers, Habit builders
Beautifully designed Habitica helps you to achieve your goals and habits with a gaming experience. This is the best app who want to track and build their habit.
Features:
- Tag filter
- Tasks reminder
- Connect with friends
Pros:
- it motivates you to finish your tasks by rewording
- it will track all your habits.
- Make fun to use and complete tasks
Cons:
- No advance features
- it will get worse when you are addicted to completing tasks for rewording and games.
ClickUp ( The team builder)
Price: Free, Ultimate, business, business plus (see here)
Avail: Playstore, Appstore, Linux, Windows, macOS
Best for: Teams, Professionals, project managers
ClickUp is a more of project manager’s app but it will help you to categorize your to-do lists if you are using it for multiple purposes like for your work, personal, or your own project. it will separate all.
Features
- You can automate your work
- collaborate
- Kanban Board
- in-app video recording
- Mindmaps
- Time tracking
- Integrate with lots of apps
Pros:
- It’s more for teams.
- Whiteboards 💕
- Keep you updated with statics
- You can track the process.
Cons/ downside:
- It’s for employees, not individuals
- Bad at with dealing lots of tasks
- Too many options to customize
- Need to improve the interface
Asana (The organizer)
Price: Free, premium, business, enterprises (see here)
Avail: Web, Appstore, Playstore
Best for: Teams, Founders, managers
Asana is another project management tool/to-do list application for founders, and managers to keep track of their different projects and operations. This is one of the best tools for creating to-do lists for work but not on an individual level.
Features:
- Colors for priority
- Different views (list, timeline, boards)
- Create rules for automating common tasks.
- Templates
- 200+ integrations
Pros:
- easy to use
- Greater in Integration
- Better at task management
Cons:
- Too many features, it might be overwhelming
- no time tracking
- whiteboard/Mindmap
Any. do (The Simple yet advanced one)
Price: Free, premium ($5.99/m) (See here)
Avail: Playstore, Appstore
Best for individuals
Any. do is a simple, yet effective to-do list application that helps you categorize your tasks with a calendar, and it’s one of the best apps to organize your life.
Features:
- Tags to categories
- Reminders
- collaborative
- calendar
- daily planner
- color tags
- location reminder
Pros:
- easy to use
- collaborative
- simple yet effective
Cons:
- pricy
- No filters or labels
Microsoft Todo ( The baby one)
Price: Free
Avail: Appstore, Windows, Playstore
Best for: Individuals, a person who is in a Microsoft environment
Microsoft Todo is a simple to-do list app that you can use to create daily to-do lists with nothing fancy features but is effective for individuals.
Features
- Reminders
- Daily planner
- Group list by topics or project
- Share with others
Pros:
- clean interface
- Easy to use
- Beginner Friendly
Cons:
- No recurring tasks
- No advance features
- No integrations
Things (The big brother)
Price: $49.99 for macOS (15-day free trial), $19.99 for iPad, $9.99 for iPhone and watch.
Avail: macOS, iPhone, iPad
Best for Mac users
Things is a beautiful design to-do list specifically for mac users. The simple, easy-to-use, and effective interface will attract you to make your to-do list on things.
Features:
- Organize by heading
- checklists
- calendar view
- Multiple Window
- Reminder
Pros:
- Better design
- Simple and easy to use
- Quick find your tasks
Cons:
- Too pricy
- No recurring tasks.
- No labels and filters
Omnifocus ( The focused one)
Price: Standard ($9.99/m) (see here)
Avail: MacOS, iPhone, Web
Best for Mac users
Omnifocus is a to-do list application for apple users that is going to well organize your tasks and keep track of everything.
Features
- Tags
- Data export
- dark mode
- Batch editing
- Focus mode
Pros:
- Easy tasks creating
- You can use Siri to create tasks
- well organized with projects
Cons:
- Not available for other devices
- learning curve
Google Tasks (The Google boy)
Price: Free
Avail: Playstore
Best for Android users, Individuals, Google ecosystem
Google Tasks is a to-do list app by Google and it fits into the Google ecosystem you can find this app connect to other Google workspace products like Google sheets, Google docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.
Features
- Sync to Google Calendar
- Reminder
Pros:
- Best for whose in google ecosystem
- accessible from any google workplace
Cons:
- It’s for the Google ecosystem
Final verdict: Which one is for you?
As you saw the list varies from person to person and device to device. Your use case might not be mine so choose your best to-do list that works for you and act as a hub for your workload and daily tasks. If you want to make any suggestions or recommend any to-do list app comment below. 💟
