Todoist vs TickTick
Todoist and TickTick are the two big cross-platform task apps, and the choice comes down to focus versus breadth. Todoist is a sharp, focused task manager with the fastest capture and the deepest integrations. TickTick bundles a calendar, habit tracker and Pomodoro timer into one app, with a more generous free plan and a cheaper subscription. Pick Todoist for a clean single tool, TickTick for an all-in-one hub.
| Todoist | TickTick | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free tier; Pro $5/mo ($60/yr) | Free tier; Premium $35.99/yr |
| Free plan | 5 projects, no custom reminders | 9 lists, habits + Pomodoro included |
| Built-in calendar | No native calendar | Yes |
| Habit tracker | No | Yes |
| Pomodoro timer | No | Yes |
| Quick capture | Best in class | Good |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, web | iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, web |
Focused task manager vs all-in-one
This is the real fork. Todoist does one category and does it superbly: capturing a task is faster than anywhere else, projects, labels and filters stay clean at scale, and it plugs into more other tools than any rival. It is a scalpel. TickTick is a Swiss Army knife: the same core task manager, plus a calendar, a habit tracker, a Pomodoro timer and even white noise, all in one app. Neither approach is wrong. The question is whether you want a single sharp tool or one place that also plans your week and times your focus.
Free plans and price
On paper TickTick is the better deal. Its free plan already includes habit tracking, the Pomodoro timer and a basic calendar, capped at nine lists, and Premium is 35.99 dollars a year. Todoist's free plan is tighter: five active projects and only basic reminders, with custom reminders held back, and after a December 2025 increase Pro is 5 dollars a month, billed yearly, so 60 dollars a year. You are paying more for Todoist, and getting a narrower tool. What you get back is refinement: the capture, the filters and the integration ecosystem are a step above. Whether that refinement is worth the gap is the whole decision.
Which should you pick?
The winner depends on how much you want one app to do. Pick TickTick for an all-in-one hub with a calendar, habits and Pomodoro built in, a generous free plan and a cheaper subscription. Pick Todoist for the cleanest, fastest, most focused task manager with the deepest integrations, if you are happy to pay more for less breadth. Both are top of the category.
A third option
Both of these are big apps, and that is the point of them. If the honest problem is that you do not want a hub or a full manager at all, NanoDo is the third answer: three things a day, checked off from your lock screen, free to use with an optional one-time €4.99 Pro. No calendar, no habits, no projects. Just today, chosen and visible.