The best Microsoft To Do alternatives in 2026 (ranked and honest)

You opened Microsoft To Do because it was already there, free, and tied to your Microsoft account. For a while that was enough. Then your work got more complicated: shared projects, recurring goals, collaborative tasks, deadlines that touch other people. Suddenly a flat list inside an app that was designed for groceries and weekend chores started feeling like the wrong container. If that sounds familiar, this guide is for you. We ranked the seven most commonly compared Microsoft To Do alternatives, covered what each one genuinely does well, flagged the real gotchas, and included one option for the reader who wants their personal to-do list to live in the same place as shared team work.

Why people move on from Microsoft To Do

Before getting into alternatives, it is worth being honest about what Microsoft To Do actually does well. It is clean, fast, and genuinely easy to learn. The My Day feature helps you pick a short list of things to focus on each morning. Reminders and recurring tasks work reliably. If you are already paying for Microsoft 365, it is effectively free, and it syncs across every device without any setup friction. For a solo user managing a simple personal workflow, it is a perfectly good tool.

The structural reasons people leave are just as specific. There is no kanban view, no Gantt timeline, and no way to group tasks into anything that functions like a real project with milestones. Subtasks are shallow, stopping at one level. Collaboration is limited to sharing individual lists rather than working inside a shared project space. There is no place for notes, documents, or context that travels with a task. And because Microsoft To Do is a personal task app rather than a work management platform, it sits in a silo: your to-do list lives over here while your actual project work lives somewhere else entirely. That gap is the main reason people start looking.

What to look for in a Microsoft To Do alternative

The right replacement depends entirely on why the current tool stopped working. A few questions worth answering before you spend time evaluating anything:

Are you still working alone, or do you need to share work? Personal task apps and team project tools are built on fundamentally different assumptions. Moving from one to the other is not an upgrade or downgrade; it is a different category.

Do you need structured project views? Kanban boards and Gantt timelines are not features you can bolt onto a list app after the fact. If you need them, the tool needs to be built around them from the start.

Do you want your personal tasks and team tasks in the same place? Most apps make you choose. A few let you keep both without jumping between tools.

What is your platform? Some tools are Apple-only. Some are web-first. Some have polished mobile experiences and thin desktop apps.

What is your budget? Free tiers vary wildly in what they actually include. Per-seat pricing scales differently depending on team size.

The seven best Microsoft To Do alternatives

1. Todoist

Best for: Solo users and small teams who want a mature, cross-platform task manager with strong project organization and a large integration ecosystem.

Todoist has been around long enough to get the fundamentals exactly right. Projects, sections, and subtasks are all there, and the priority levels and filters give power users real control over what surfaces when. The board view works well for visual thinkers. Natural-language task entry is fast once you learn the shortcuts. The mobile apps are among the most polished in the category, and the integration library covers almost any workflow combination you can imagine.

The free tier is functional but limited on collaboration features and active projects. Todoist is a task manager first and a project tool second, so if you need deep project management capabilities like Gantt timelines or resource views, you will hit a ceiling.

Watch out for: The free plan can feel restrictive quickly. And Todoist is primarily a personal and small-team tool; larger organizations often find themselves wanting more structure than it provides.

2. TickTick

Best for: Individuals who want a single app for tasks, habits, a pomodoro timer, and a built-in calendar view, without switching between multiple tools.

TickTick packs more features into one app than almost anything else in this price range. Tasks, habits, a calendar, a pomodoro focus timer, and a Eisenhower matrix view all live in the same product. The habit tracker is genuinely good, not a bolted-on afterthought. Calendar view gives you a sense of how your tasks distribute across the week. The apps are available on every major platform and stay in sync reliably.

For users who want a lot of functionality without paying for multiple subscriptions, TickTick is unusually good value. It is squarely a personal productivity tool, though. Collaboration exists but is not where the product shines.

Watch out for: The interface can feel dense. If you want calm, minimal design, TickTick might feel like too much. Team project management is shallow compared to dedicated work management tools.

3. Things 3

Best for: Apple ecosystem users who want the most thoughtfully designed personal task manager available on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and who are happy to pay a one-time price.

Things 3 is the standard against which Apple-platform task managers are measured. The design is quiet and intentional in a way that almost no other productivity app achieves. The task entry flow, the way projects and areas of responsibility are organized, and the Today view all feel considered rather than assembled. It is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, which is increasingly rare.

If you are on Apple devices and your productivity needs are personal rather than collaborative, Things 3 is difficult to beat. The limitation is equally clear: there is no Android or Windows app, no real collaboration, and no web version. It is a single-player tool.

Watch out for: It is Apple-only, full stop. If anyone on your team uses a different platform, or if you need to share work, Things 3 is not the right choice. There is also no free tier; you pay upfront for each platform separately.

4. Mattering Productivity

Mattering Productivity is a team product that an individual can also use on their own. That distinction matters. It is not a better personal list app, and it is not trying to replace your pocket capture habit. It is the option for the reader who wants their personal to-do list to live in the same place as the shared project work, rather than in a separate app.

The organizing idea is the widget canvas. Instead of adopting one fixed layout for every project, you compose a canvas from widgets that match the actual shape of that project. A software project might use a kanban task board, a linked document, and a knowledge base widget side by side. A personal goal might sit on a canvas with a habit tracker and a to-do list widget right next to it. The same canvas model works for an individual's weekly review or for a team's product roadmap. Because the to-do list widget, task widgets, goal widgets, and habit widgets can all live on the same canvas, you are not context-switching between a personal app and a work app; everything is in one place.

The calm-by-default stance means that power features such as Gantt timelines, linked records, and whiteboards are there when you need them, but they do not crowd the interface when you do not. You opt into complexity rather than navigating around it.

Mattering Productivity is per-seat paid with a free tier. It connects to the broader Mattering suite through a shared automation engine; a third-party service is connected once for the organization and becomes available across Mattering apps, so there is no need to rewire integrations tool by tool. A Sales CRM is rolling out across the suite in 2026. See how Mattering Productivity works.

Best for: Teams, and individuals embedded in team work, who want personal tasks, shared project work, goals, habits, documents, and a knowledge base all on one canvas-based platform rather than spread across several apps.

Watch out for: Mattering Productivity is a team tool at its core. If you are a solo user with no shared work and you just want a clean personal list app, one of the tools earlier in this list will fit better.

5. Any.do

Best for: Users who want a personal task manager with a focus on daily planning, reminders, and a clean mobile experience, including light grocery-list and family-sharing features.

Any.do covers the basics with a simple, attractive interface and a daily planner view that encourages you to review your tasks each morning. Recurring tasks, reminders, and shared lists work without much setup friction. There is a calendar view and integrations with Google Calendar and other services. The app feels lightweight and approachable.

For users who liked Microsoft To Do's simplicity but wanted something with a slightly fresher design and a better daily planning flow, Any.do is a natural comparison. It is not a project management tool and does not try to be.

Watch out for: The free tier is fairly limited. Some features that feel like they should be standard require the premium plan. Collaboration is limited to simple shared lists rather than structured project work.

6. Google Tasks

Best for: Gmail and Google Workspace users who want the simplest possible task layer integrated directly into the tools they already use all day.

Google Tasks is even more minimal than Microsoft To Do. Lists, subtasks, due dates, and a basic integration with Google Calendar and Gmail are the entire feature set. If you already live in Google Workspace, the appeal is that tasks show up in the sidebar of Gmail and Calendar without installing anything extra.

As a standalone task app, Google Tasks is not trying to compete on features. It competes on zero friction. If you spend most of your working day in Gmail and want to capture tasks without leaving your inbox, it earns its place.

Watch out for: The feature ceiling is very low. There are no priority levels, no tags, no project-level organization beyond lists, and no collaboration beyond assigning tasks in Google Workspace apps. Users who have already outgrown Microsoft To Do will likely outgrow Google Tasks even faster.

7. Notion

Best for: Users who want maximum flexibility to build their own system from scratch and are willing to invest time in setup and maintenance.

Notion is less a task manager and more a blank canvas for building whatever system you have in mind. Databases, linked views, kanban boards, calendars, wikis, and documents are all building blocks you assemble yourself. For users who find every other tool too opinionated, Notion is the answer. The templates help beginners get started, and the community has produced an enormous library of ready-made systems.

The tradeoff is setup cost. Notion does not come with a task management workflow; you build one. Maintaining that system over time requires ongoing effort. Notifications and reminders are weaker than dedicated task apps. And because everything is so flexible, teams can end up with wildly inconsistent structures that are hard to navigate. (We also ranked the best Notion alternatives.)

Watch out for: Flexibility is the feature and the problem. If you want an app that tells you how to work rather than letting you invent it, Notion will feel like homework before you can be productive.

Quick comparison table

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free alternative to Microsoft To Do?

Several tools on this list offer free tiers: Todoist, TickTick, Mattering Productivity, Any.do, Google Tasks, and Notion all have free plans. Google Tasks is entirely free. The depth of the free tier varies significantly, so it is worth checking what specific features are paywalled before committing to a workflow on a free plan.

Can I import my Microsoft To Do tasks into another app?

It depends on the app. Todoist supports import from several task managers, and some tools can pull from CSV exports. Microsoft To Do allows you to export lists, though the format and how cleanly it maps to another tool varies. The most reliable approach is to export your data from Microsoft To Do, then check the import documentation for whichever tool you are evaluating.

What is the best Microsoft To Do alternative for teams?

For teams, the tools built around personal task management, including Todoist, TickTick, Things 3, Any.do, and Google Tasks, all have meaningful limitations on shared project work. Mattering Productivity and Notion are the two on this list designed for teams and collaborative work. Mattering Productivity gives you structured views and a canvas model out of the box; Notion gives you more flexibility but requires more setup.

Should I use Microsoft To Do or Microsoft Planner?

They serve different purposes within the Microsoft ecosystem. Microsoft To Do is for personal tasks and individual lists. Microsoft Planner is for team task boards and shared project work. If you are staying inside Microsoft 365 and need collaboration, Planner is the more appropriate tool. If you are looking outside that ecosystem, the options in this guide are worth exploring.

What is the best Microsoft To Do alternative for Apple users?

Things 3 is the most praised Apple-native option and has a loyal following for good reason. If you want collaboration or need to work with people on other platforms, Todoist or TickTick are better choices because they have full-featured apps across all major platforms.

How to choose

Start with the question that matters most: are you working alone or with others? If you are solo and just want a cleaner or more capable personal task manager, Todoist or TickTick will serve most people well, and Things 3 is worth serious consideration if you are all-in on Apple. If you want maximum simplicity and already live in Google Workspace, Google Tasks is the path of least resistance. If you want to build your own system and have the patience for it, Notion is flexible enough to become almost anything.

If your main frustration with Microsoft To Do is that it sits in a silo while your real work happens elsewhere, that is a different problem and it calls for a different answer. Mattering Productivity is designed for the reader who does not want to maintain a personal task app on one side and a team project tool on the other. The to-do list widget, project canvases, goal tracking, and habit widgets share the same space, and the automation engine connects that space to the rest of the Mattering suite. It is a team product at its core, so if you are truly working alone with no shared projects on the horizon, one of the personal apps earlier in this list is the more honest recommendation. But if shared work is part of your day, keeping everything on one canvas is worth a look.