Top 13 Best To Do List Apps to Simplify Your Task Management in 2021

You know the phrase, "One man's trash is another man's treasure"? That's how I feel about to-do lists.

After all, how you track your tasks depends entirely on the person. Are you looking for a simple interface, or are you hoping to color-code and categorize hundreds of tasks at once? Is this a to-do list for yourself, you and your family, or you and your entire team? How much do aesthetics matter?

There are hundreds of to-do list and task management tools out there, but some of them are just plain better than others. To help you separate the really solid ones from the rest, we've curated a list of 13 of the best to-do list tools below, including short descriptions to help you determine which may be right for you.

Top 12 Task Management Tools to Download in 2021

1. ClickUp

Price: Free Forever, $5/mo. for Unlimited, $9/mo. for Business

iOS | Android | Chrome

ClickUp is an all-in-one business and personal productivity tool which includes task management, goal tracking, dashboards and mind maps. In a nutshell, ClickUp allows teams in companies of all sizes to collaborate and work on complex projects across departments. As a management tool for organizing personal tasks, it offers flexibility for managing daily tasks and chores at home, planning events, or organizing goals.

On top of all this, ClickUp has developed Clip, a free screen recording software that can be attached to tasks, a Chat feature that can be embedded in a Dashboard, and a Chrome extension that boasts a Notepad and screenshot tool.

ClickUp's Free Forever Plan comes with all of ClickUp's primary features, absolutely free with no add-ons or plugins required. This includes:

• Scalable Hierarchy
• 15+ customizable views
• Docs
• Time tracking
• Email management
• 35+ ClickApps allow you to customize your task management for any need
• Relational databases
• Templates
• Comments & Chat
• 1,000+ integrations

You can use ClickUp’s iOS app or Android app, its desktop app and web app, and even connect your Google Calendar to stay in sync.

Paid users, starting at $5/mo, unlock the following:

• More automations to simplify workflow rules
• Box view for managers to visualize their resources
• Guest permissions to share assets and collaborate on feedback
• Unlimited storage, Spaces, and Custom Views

2. Todoist

Price: Free for Basic, $29/yr. for Premium

iOS | Android | Chrome

Although Todoist has been around for a while, it's become especially powerful in just the last few years. This tool includes a ton of great features that let you organize tasks by date, color-code them, and so on.

The free version has fewer features than Wunderlist's free version, but it's very well-designed and user-friendly. You can create sub-tasks and dependencies, projects, and sub-projects. You can attach due dates to these tasks, prioritize them using a color-coding system, categorize them, and more. The premium account costs $29 per year and includes push notifications, email reminders, labels, and filters.

Todoist is available for (and looks great on) every major platform: the web, iOS and Android apps, desktop apps for Windows and OSX, add-ons for Firefox and Chrome, plug-ins for email apps like Gmail, Thunderbird, and Outlook, and more. Not to mention, it integrates with services like Google Drive, Sunrise Calendar, and IFTTT.

3. Trello

Price: Free for Basic, $8.33/user per mo. for Business Class, or $20.83/user per yr. for Enterprise

iOS | Android | Chrome

Trello is the online project management tool that our blogging team uses here at HubSpot. It lets you drag, drop, color-code, and manipulate to-do list items in a way that many of the other tools on this list don't.

You can arrange larger projects into "boards," under which you can add all sorts of lists to break down that bigger project into sub-projects. Under each list, you can add what they call "Cards," which are items in a list. You can add a due date, a checklist, notes, attachments, and color-coded labels to each card. You can also drag and drop cards between lists and boards.

Image Credit: Cloud Couch

My favorite thing about Trello is that it lets you visualize your to-do list in a way that's easy to follow — including a calendar view. In the calendar view, you can see what your upcoming tasks look like a week or a month at a time. You can also drag and drop cards between calendar days to change their due dates.

Image Credit: BlueGlass

The free version lets you create unlimited boards, lists, cards, members, checklists, attachments, and so on, and allows integration with Box, Google Drive, and Dropbox. The paid versions allow for more storage, more customization, stricter privacy options, and other added features.

4. Teamwork

Price: Free for Basic, $10/user per mo. for Deliver, or $18/user per yr. for Grow

iOS | Android

Teamwork is a project management software solution with planning, tracking, and management features that essentially let organizations work on various complex projects. Teamwork’s Personal Tasks feature is an integrated to-do list that lets you create and manage private tasks that are only visible to you and not linked to a project. 

This to-do list tool is designed for users to quickly and easily add tasks (with context) so you get to-dos out of your head and into an actual list.  

The Personal Tasks feature also allows you to create tasks through keyboard shortcuts. With specific shortcuts, you can add due dates, set a priority, or move it to a specific or related project in an instant.

5. ProofHub

Pricing: $45 per month for the Essential plan or $89 per month for the Ultimate control plan 

iOS | Android | Chrome

ProofHub helps you streamline all your project plans, tasks, discussions, and files in a single place so you can get more work done in less time. Packed with powerful features like Gantt Charts, Kanban Boards, Time Tracking, and much more, ProofHub makes it easier to manage projects, teams, and clients.

ProofHub streamlines communications improve collaboration, and simplifies project planning to get your tasks done on time. The entire platform allows you to organize all your conversations, projects, and workflows in one place. You can plan, collaborate, communicate and deliver with utmost ease.

Image Credit: ProofHub

6. ToodleDo

Price: Free

iOS | Android | Chrome

Here's a task management tool some of the most organized people in my life swear by. ToodleDo is a very user-friendly tool for organizing simple to-do lists on your iOS and Android devices and on the web. It's heavily focused on tasks, and that's what the tool does best. Under each task, you can sub-tasks, additional notes, priority ratings, due dates, and reminders. You can also organize your tasks into different folders.

While it used to lack some of the aesthetic that other apps (especially Wunderlist) do well, it recently went through a redesign that did wonders for its design. Here's a before and after shot, with the updated version on the right:

Image Credit: ToodleDo

Although it's mostly for task management, there are also sections of the tool where you can take notes, create outlines, and even track your habits, like in the screenshot below. You can also share your lists, collaborate with others, and assign tasks to anyone you'd like.

Image Credit: ToodleDo

7. nTask

Price: Free Basic, Premium Plan at $2.99/month, Business Plan at $7.99/month

iOS | Android | Web

nTask is a simple to use to-do list app that can help you plan, track, and get more tasks done. You can create unlimited tasks, set status, give due dates, assign tasks to team members, create to-do list items in tasks, and assign them separately to team members.

The tool allows you to view the tasks in grid, list, calendar, and Gantt view to help manage the workflows the way it works best for you. Also, you can drag and drop the tasks to change the order and due dates, create tasks, subtasks, and schedule it on a recurring basis in just a few clicks. You can also collaborate on tasks in real-time by sharing files and comments.

Moreover, you can create and edit your task list on the go with the iOS and Android app.

8. Any.do

Price: Free for Basic, $2.99/mo. for Premium

iOS | Android | Chrome

Any.do is one of the more beautifully designed apps on this list. It offers all of the features you'd want in a to-do list app, including drag-and-drop and swipe-to-complete, but there are a few things that make it stand out.

For example, its key differentiator is "the moment" — a push notification you get each morning telling you to plan your day. There are also a few other cool and delightful features in there, like voice entry and the ability to shake your device to clear finished tasks.

Image Credit: Any.do

It's designed for the iPhone but can be used on iPad, as well as on the web and desktop with full syncing. Lifehacker named the app its favorite to-do app for iPhone, although the folks there admit it isn't as intuitive or as robust in terms of features as other apps like Wunderlist and Todoist. It also has a Chrome extension with a four-star rating and over 2,000 reviews. Here's a video that'll walk you through its user interface and capabilities:

9. Things

Price: $9.99

iOS | Chrome

"'Things' might be the prettiest to-do list app ever," reads a review from WIRED. "It doesn't shout in your face about all the work you have to do today. It's more like a clean, crisp piece of paper, ready whenever you need it."

That sums up the user experience pretty well. Now known as Things 3, this third-generation task manager is intuitive, well designed, and very simple.

Image Credit: Things

For some, though, its simplicity might be a big turnoff. A review from The Verge says, "Things is still for individuals — there's no easy way to collaborate with colleagues on your projects."

It's also not the most intuitive to due dates if you describe a particular task with the time to completion; if you say "next Wednesday" in the task description, you'll have to set the corresponding deadline manually.

Nonetheless, if all you want in a to-do app is a beautiful design and the ability to organize simple tasks and lists — and you have $10 to spare — then Things could be a good bet. If you like the idea of checking things off on your Apple Watch, it also offers full Apple Watch Support. Otherwise, you might be better off going with something more complex.

10. TickTick

Price: Free for Basic, $1.99/mo. or $19.99/yr. for Pro

iOS | Android | Chrome

TickTick is a relatively new player, but it has a lot of potential. Like many of the other tools on this list, you can add new tasks, sub-tasks, set deadlines and custom reminders, and share with other users. You can also set recurring to-do list items for every day, a specific number of days, a week, a month, and so on.

The Pro version has a great calendar view where you can see what your to-do list looks like on a daily or weekly basis and get ahead of the game. You can drag tasks to change the order, and drop tasks into the calendar on the bottom left to set a due date. It also has revision history and an "experimental labs" feature.

In addition to its mobile apps, TickTick now offers Windows and Mac web apps as well. This to-do tool has a beautiful interface with a solid — and growing — feature list. Keep an eye out for updates and check out TickTick plans here.

Image Credit: Lifehacker

11. Google Keep

Price: Free

iOS | Android | Chrome

Google Keep has existed under the radar for a long time, but it's actually a great tool if you're looking for a place to quickly make and save lists and notes and access them across multiple devices.

At its core, Google Keep is a simple notepad that connects to Google Drive, where you can keep checklists, photos, voice notes, and other text notes that sync across multiple devices as well as the cloud.

Image Credit: ShareChair

Google Keep doesn't have nearly as many features as other to-do list apps, and its design isn't as regimented — but if you're an avid Google Drive user and like to create and edit lists on-the-go, then this could be a great option for you. You can learn more in this video:

12. OmniFocus

Price: $39.99 for Standard, $79.99 for Pro

iOS | Chrome

Don't let the price tag deter you: If you're an iOS user with a lot of different projects and tasks to track, and you're looking for an app that organizes all these items in a super comprehensive way, then you'll want to check this out.

This app's latest product is OmniFocus 2. On its home screen, you'll find a forecast summary of your upcoming to-do's, as well as color-coded badges that show you what needs attention at-a-glance. Whenever you think of a new to-do list item or task, you can quickly enter them into your "Inbox," during or after which you can apply this item to a specific folder, list, or context.

While most people would prefer something a little simpler, this is a great option for power users that are cool with a bit of a learning curve.

Image Credit: OmniGroup

13. Habitica

Price: Free

iOS | Android | Chrome

This one is for the video game lovers among us — or anyone interested in quite literally "gamifying" their life. Formerly HabitRPG, Habitica is a habit-building app available on iOS and Google Play that turns your to-do list items and projects into a medieval-themed, role-playing game.

You can level up your character when you succeed, earn money to buy weapons and armor, and defeat enemies — just by crossing things off your real list of tasks.

If you miss deadlines or fail to cross things off, you'll take hits to your health and your character will lose progress. You can categorize your achievements into folders like "School & Work," "Health & Fitness," and more.

If you're looking for a tool that'll simply help you build good habits and encourage you to cross things off your to-do list, Habitica is a good option for you. Plus, you can compete with your friends to help hold yourself accountable. Get a better idea of how it works in this video:

Ready to download one of the task list apps above? Put all your projects on the app of your choosing, then download the free guide below to learn how to stay on track during the day.