The 8 Best To-Do List Apps of 2026 for Every Device

Quick answer: For most people, TickTick is the to-do list app to install first: it runs on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the web, the free plan is usable on its own, and Premium is $49.99 a year. If every device you own is made by Apple and you'd rather pay once than subscribe, Things 3 is the nicest task manager you can buy. If you don't want to pay anything, Microsoft To Do is the best free app that works everywhere, and Apple Reminders is already on your iPhone.

This list is about your own tasks: groceries, bills, the dentist, the five things you need to finish before Friday. The first question is which devices you need it on. If you use a Windows PC at work and an iPhone at home, Things, Reminders and OmniFocus are mostly out, because none of them has a Windows app. If you carry an Android phone, the Apple-only apps are out entirely. Pick from what's left, then decide whether the free tier covers you.

The second question is whether you really need a team tool. If you're assigning work to other people, tracking client projects or running sprints, you want project management software, and our project management roundup for small teams covers that, including Todoist, which Zapier names its overall pick among to-do apps and which we placed there as the best option for the smallest teams. If you're trying to build a daily routine rather than finish one-off tasks, see our habit tracker apps roundup.

How they compare

1. TickTick: Best overall

• Developer: Appest Limited
• Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Mac, Windows, web
• App Store: 4.9/5 (46,316 ratings)
• iOS app released: 2013

TickTick is the pick because it is the rare to-do app that is good on every platform at once. Zapier's 2026 to-do roundup says it "feels as native as an app available on every platform can be," and notes that the Mac and Windows versions are built differently where the two systems differ. You type tasks in plain language ("call the dentist tomorrow at 9am") and it fills in the date, and the desktop apps have a system-wide shortcut for adding a task without switching windows. On top of lists, tags, priorities and subtasks, it bundles a Pomodoro timer, an Eisenhower Matrix view for sorting urgent from important, a calendar view that can show your other calendars, and a basic habit tracker.

The free plan is genuinely usable: 9 lists with up to 99 tasks each, 2 reminders per task and cross-platform sync. You will hit its edges if you like attachments (1 a day on free) or want the full calendar and timeline views, which are Premium features. Premium is $49.99 a year on TickTick's upgrade page, or $4.99 a month as an App Store in-app purchase. Some roundups still quote a lower price, so go by the upgrade page. Zapier's one knock is that it's "not always quite as polished as Todoist."

Video review: TickTick Review: The Best All-Round To-Do List App? by Tool Finder

2. Things 3: Best for Apple users who hate subscriptions

• Developer: Cultured Code GmbH & Co. KG
• Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro
• App Store: 4.8/5 (28,005 ratings, iPhone)
• Released: 2017

Things is the to-do app Apple fans recommend to each other, and it has won the Apple Design Award twice. Zapier's to-do roundup calls it "the best to-do app for Apple users" and sums it up this way: "To-do list apps tend to fall into two categories: the complex and the minimalist. Things is somehow both." You get areas, projects, headings inside projects and subtasks inside tasks, your calendar appointments next to your tasks while you plan the day, and a system-wide quick-entry tool on the Mac. None of it feels cluttered, which is the whole appeal.

The pricing is the opposite of everyone else here: no subscription, but you buy each app separately. On the App Store, Things is $49.99 for Mac, $19.99 for iPad and $9.99 for iPhone (which includes the Apple Watch app), so all three come to $79.97. Sync through Things Cloud costs nothing extra. There's a 15-day trial on the Mac only, because Apple's stores don't allow free trials for paid apps without in-app purchases. The hard limit is platform: there is no Windows, Android or web version, so one non-Apple device in your life rules it out. Zapier's main con is simply "pricey."

Video tutorial: How to Organize Your To-Dos with Things 3 (2026 Tutorial) by Peter Akkies

3. Microsoft To Do: Best free app for Windows and Outlook users

• Developer: Microsoft Corporation
• Platforms: Windows, Mac, web, iPhone, iPad, Android
• App Store: 4.7/5 (268,432 ratings)
• iOS app released: 2017

Microsoft To Do is the best app here that costs nothing and runs everywhere, including Windows, where the Apple-only picks don't exist. Its My Day view gives you a fresh daily list each morning and suggests tasks from your other lists, which is a simple way to plan without a calendar. If you use Outlook, any email you flag shows up as a task, and your Outlook tasks sync to your phone. You can share lists with family or roommates, set recurring due dates, break tasks into steps and attach files up to 25MB. Zapier calls it a "very pretty cross-platform to-do app," and the custom list backgrounds help you tell lists apart at a glance.

The trade-off is that Microsoft isn't adding much. Zapier says it "hasn't quite caught up with Microsoft's AI pivot" and that it has "lost a few features as Microsoft rejigs Windows around AI." It's a list rather than a planner, so if you want to see your tasks against your calendar and plan when you'll do them, look at TickTick or Any.do instead. As a free list that syncs to every device you own, though, it's hard to beat.

Video tutorial: How to Use Microsoft To Do - Complete Tutorial by Howfinity

4. Apple Reminders: Best free app on iPhone

• Developer: Apple Inc.
• Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, iCloud.com in a browser
• App Store: 4.8/5 (1,031,085 ratings)
• Price: Free, preinstalled

If you own an iPhone, you already have a capable to-do app. Reminders has grown from a bare list into something Zapier now calls a "solid task management app," with tags, due dates, subtasks, Smart Lists that filter by rules you set, and alerts that fire when you arrive at or leave a place. You can share a list with family and assign tasks to people on it, and grocery lists sort items into store sections automatically. Tasks with a due date show up in Apple Calendar, and "Hey Siri, remind me to..." is the fastest way to capture anything. More than a million App Store ratings put it at 4.8 out of 5.

It has two real limits. It's Apple-only: on a Windows PC you can reach it through iCloud.com in a browser, but there's no Android app at all. And it starts to creak at scale. Zapier says it's "still not great for managing lots of to-dos and projects," and calls the Apple Intelligence features "more miss than hit." Zapier's Mac roundup also points out there's no system-wide keyboard shortcut for adding a task on the Mac. If you have dozens of active projects, Things or OmniFocus will hold up better.

Video tutorial: How to Organize Your To-Dos with Apple Reminders in 2026 by Peter Akkies

5. Google Tasks: Best for Gmail and Google Calendar

• Developer: Google LLC
• Platforms: Web (side panel in Gmail and Google Calendar), iPhone, iPad, Android
• App Store: 4.8/5 (107,132 ratings)
• iOS app released: 2018

Google Tasks wins on convenience, not features. If Gmail or Google Calendar is open on your computer all day, Tasks is already in the side panel, and Zapier makes the point that "it's hard for any app to be handier." You can turn an email into a task (and later jump back to the original message), see dated tasks on your calendar, and pick everything up on your phone with the iPhone or Android app. Gemini can add tasks for you or break a big one into subtasks, if you already use it.

Zapier's one-word con is "fairly barebones," and that's fair. You get lists, due dates, notes, subtasks and a star, and that's about it: no tags, no priorities and no desktop app outside the Google web apps. That simplicity is also why some people stick with it, since there's nothing to configure. It's free with any Google account.

Video tips: Google Tasks: Top 10 Tips for Getting Things Done! by Jeff Su

6. Any.do: Best for planning your day on your phone

• Developer: Any.DO inc.
• Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, web
• App Store: 4.6/5 (50,534 ratings)
• iOS app released: 2012

Any.do is built for people who add tasks and then never look at them again. Its daily planning prompt walks you through today's tasks and makes you decide when each one will happen, and it shows your Google or Outlook calendar alongside your list so you can see where the time actually is. Zapier names it the best to-do app "for people who forget to use to-do apps" and praises its "slick mobile experience." The free plan includes unlimited tasks, subtasks and grocery lists, plus reminders and the calendar view.

Two catches. Recurring tasks are a Premium feature, which rules out the free plan for anyone with weekly chores or monthly bills. Premium is $4.99 a month billed annually or $7.99 month to month on Any.do's pricing page, and it also adds WhatsApp reminders, location reminders, color tags and AI features. Buying through the App Store lists $59.99 a year. A Family plan covers 4 people for $8.33 a month billed annually. Second, the desktop is weaker: Zapier says it "feels cluttered and is more than a little confusing," and the desktop app is essentially the web version in its own window.

Video review: Any DO: Explored! by Tool Finder

7. Structured: Best visual day planner

• Developer: unorderly GmbH
• Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, Android, web
• App Store: 4.8/5 (167,378 ratings)
• iOS app released: 2020

Structured isn't a list at all. It lays your day out as a vertical timeline, and every task gets a start time, a length, a color and an icon, so you can see that the 9:00 call, the gym and the tax paperwork don't all fit before lunch. It's time blocking for people who never managed to make time blocking stick in a calendar app. The free version includes the drag-and-drop timeline, an inbox for unscheduled tasks, subtasks with notes, a Pomodoro focus timer and widgets. It has 4.8 stars from more than 167,000 App Store ratings, more than any pick here except Reminders and Microsoft To Do.

The catch is what free leaves out. Recurring tasks, importing your calendars and Reminders, AI day planning and Replan (which moves tasks you missed to later) all need Structured Pro. A review at Cool Curation puts it bluntly: "a free user cannot repeat a task." Pro pricing is confusing too: the App Store lists several yearly and monthly prices at once, with $29.99 a year and a $99.99 lifetime unlock among them, so check the price in the app before you buy. Android exists but trails iOS, and the same review notes "Replan, calendar import and duplicate days are iOS only." The reviewer also found that "the timeline strains on busy days."

Video review: Structured App Review: Best Day Planner? (2024) by Less Work Show

8. OmniFocus 4: Best for power users and GTD

• Developer: The Omni Group
• Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro; OmniFocus for the Web in any browser
• App Store: 4.0/5 (343 ratings)
• OmniFocus 4 released: 2023

OmniFocus is the task manager for people who have read Getting Things Done and want software that does all of it. Zapier's Mac roundup calls it "a power user's dream" and its pick for "power users and GTD fans." Standard includes Forecast (your due tasks next to your calendar), Review (a scheduled check-in on every project so nothing goes stale), tags and defer dates, which hide a task until the day you can actually act on it. Pro adds custom perspectives (saved views that filter by project, tag and date), a Focus mode, project templates and Omni Automation plug-ins. Zapier notes you can add AI through plug-ins that run on Apple Intelligence, which keeps your tasks private.

It is expensive and it takes effort. Standard is $74.99 one time and Pro is $149.99, each covering Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro, after a 14-day trial. The web version isn't included in those licenses: it's $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year on its own, or you can subscribe to everything, web included, for $99.99 a year. That web app is the only way to use OmniFocus on Windows or Android. Zapier lists a "steep learning curve" and "expensive" as its cons and warns it's "total overkill for most people." The App Store rating, 4.0 from 343 ratings, is the lowest here.

Video review: OmniFocus 4: What's New & How Does It Compare? (Review) by Peter Akkies

Also worth a look

• Sunsama ($17/mo billed yearly, $22 monthly): a daily planner built around time blocking. Zapier names it the best time blocking app for daily planning, but there's no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
• Superlist (free, Basic $59/yr): a clean list app for macOS, iOS, Android and the web. The free plan allows up to 5 lists, which is enough for many people.
• Remember The Milk (free, Pro $49.99/yr): the veteran of the category, on the iPhone since 2008. The free plan keeps only the last 7 days of completed tasks and limits sharing to 2 people.
• Akiflow ($19/mo billed yearly, $34 monthly): an AI planner and calendar app with desktop and mobile apps. There's no free plan, and the 7-day trial needs a card.

How we picked

We ranked these from desk research, not hands-on use. We read Zapier's 2026 roundups of the best to-do list apps, the best Mac to-do apps and the best time blocking apps, a 2026 review of Structured at Cool Curation, and each vendor's own feature and pricing pages. App Store ratings come from Apple's own data, prices were read off vendor pricing pages or App Store in-app purchase lists on October 11, 2026, and we checked that each Google Play listing exists. We weighted cross-platform support and the usefulness of the free tier heavily, because that's what decides whether an app fits your devices before anything else does.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free to-do list app?

Microsoft To Do is the best completely free option that works on Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android and the web, with no paid tier holding features back. On an iPhone, Apple Reminders is free and already installed. TickTick's free plan is the most capable freemium option, with 9 lists of up to 99 tasks each.

What is the best to-do list app for iPhone and Windows together?

TickTick or Microsoft To Do. Both have native apps for iPhone and Windows plus a web version, so your list follows you between a work PC and your phone. Things, OmniFocus and Apple Reminders don't have Windows apps.

Is Things 3 worth the money?

If you only use Apple devices and dislike subscriptions, yes. You pay once per platform, $49.99 on Mac, $19.99 on iPad and $9.99 on iPhone, and sync is included at no extra charge. Try the 15-day Mac trial first, because there's no trial on iPhone or iPad.

Is TickTick better than Todoist?

TickTick packs in more features for the money, including a Pomodoro timer, a habit tracker and a calendar view, and Premium is $49.99 a year. Zapier still picks Todoist overall for its balance of power and simplicity and says TickTick is not always quite as polished. We cover Todoist in our project management roundup for small teams.

Does Google have a to-do list app?

Yes, Google Tasks. It's free, sits in the side panel of Gmail and Google Calendar on the web, and has apps for iPhone and Android. You can turn an email into a task, but it lacks tags and priorities.

The bottom line

Start with TickTick if you use more than one kind of device: its free plan is enough to find out whether it fits, and Premium is reasonably priced. Go with Things 3 if you're all-in on Apple and want to pay once. If you'd rather not pay at all, Microsoft To Do covers every platform for free.

Disclosure: none of the links in this post are affiliate links, we don't earn a commission from any of the apps in it, and nobody paid to be included. Prices are what each vendor's pricing page or App Store listing showed on October 11, 2026, and they change.