Todoist vs TickTick in 2026: Which To-Do List App Should You Use?
⚡ Quick verdict
- → TickTick wins on price (~$36/yr vs ~$60/yr) and built-in tools (habits, Pomodoro, calendar).
- → Todoist wins on AI features, natural language input, and team integrations (80+ apps).
- → Both have usable free plans; TickTick's free tier is slightly more generous.
Todoist vs TickTick is the most common to-do app question in 2026 — and both apps deserve the attention. Todoist keeps things intentionally minimal and leans on AI to organise your tasks. TickTick bundles a calendar, habit tracker, and Pomodoro timer into the same app at a noticeably lower price. We used both daily for four weeks to give you a direct, honest comparison rather than just a feature list.
The core philosophy difference
Todoist does one thing and does it exceptionally well: capturing and organising tasks. Its natural language input is the best in the category — type "email Sarah about the budget every Tuesday at 9am" and it parses the date, time, and recurrence correctly without you touching a date picker. The interface stays deliberately minimal, which is either a relief or a limitation depending on how you work.
TickTick takes the opposite approach. Alongside tasks, you get a full calendar view with drag-and-drop time blocking, a built-in Pomodoro timer that links to your tasks, habit tracking with streaks, an Eisenhower Matrix view, and ambient focus sounds. It's a genuine productivity suite inside a to-do app — not just a list.
If you're also choosing a note-taking app to go alongside your task manager, see our Notion vs Obsidian comparison.
Pricing: TickTick is noticeably cheaper
After a price increase in December 2025, Todoist Pro now costs around $60/year (roughly $5/month billed annually). TickTick Premium costs about $36/year (roughly $3/month) — close to 40% cheaper for a feature set that includes more built-in tools, not fewer. Both apps offer a usable free plan: Todoist caps you at 5 active projects with no reminders; TickTick allows 9 lists with 99 tasks each — more generous for everyday use before you'd need to upgrade.
Verdict on price: TickTick wins clearly if value-per-dollar is your priority.
AI features in 2026
Todoist has the deeper AI suite in 2026: Task Assist breaks projects into smaller steps automatically, Ramble turns spoken voice notes into structured tasks across 38 languages, and Email Assist can extract action items when you forward an email to your inbox project. TickTick caught up meaningfully with AI Mode voice input and MCP support that lets you connect assistants like Claude or ChatGPT directly to your task data — but Todoist still leads on depth and polish of its AI features.
Verdict on AI: Todoist leads, though the gap has narrowed significantly this year.
Built-in tools: TickTick's biggest advantage
This is where TickTick genuinely stands apart. Its habit tracker shows streaks and completion charts that can replace a separate habit app entirely. The built-in Pomodoro timer starts a focus session directly from any task. The full calendar view supports real drag-and-drop time-blocking — something Todoist still only offers in a limited paid-tier version. If you want one app instead of three, TickTick is built around exactly that idea.
Integrations and team use: Todoist pulls ahead
Todoist connects to over 80 third-party apps, including deep integrations with Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Zapier. TickTick offers roughly 30 integrations — noticeably fewer. The same gap shows up in team features: Todoist's workspaces separate personal and work tasks cleanly with comments, assignments, and activity logs, while TickTick's collaboration tools are better suited to simple shared lists than serious team workflows. For anything involving a team of three or more, Todoist is the clearer professional choice. For solo use, this gap rarely matters.
Quick comparison
| Category | Todoist | TickTick |
|---|---|---|
| Paid price/year | ~$60 | ~$36 |
| Free plan limits | 5 projects, no reminders | 9 lists, 99 tasks each |
| Natural language input | Best in class | Good, less sophisticated |
| Built-in calendar | Basic (paid tier) | Full drag-and-drop |
| Habit tracking | Not included | Built in, with streaks |
| Pomodoro timer | Requires separate app | Built in, task-linked |
| Integrations | 80+ | 30+ |
| Best for | Teams, AI tasks, collaboration | Solo all-in-one planning, lower budget |
Which is better for ADHD?
TickTick tends to suit ADHD users particularly well: visual urgency cues, countdown timers, a "won't do" option to reduce list overwhelm, and its "Annoying Alert" for repeated reminders on high-priority tasks all provide more external structure than Todoist's minimalist approach. That said, some people with ADHD find Todoist's clean, single-focus interface easier to actually stick with — fewer panels means fewer places to get distracted. This one comes down to whether you respond better to structure or to simplicity.
For more ways to build a complete system without paying much, see our best free productivity apps guide.
The honest bottom line
- Choose Todoist if: you want clean, fast task capture, stronger AI assistance, and you collaborate with a team.
- Choose TickTick if: you want habits, a Pomodoro timer, and a real calendar bundled in at a lower price point.
- Use both if needed: some people run TickTick for personal planning and Todoist for work, syncing key tasks via CSV export.
Both apps will genuinely make you more organised. The right one depends on whether you want a minimalist tool that gets out of your way, or an all-in-one system that keeps everything in one place — at roughly 40% less per year.
Frequently asked questions
Is TickTick cheaper than Todoist?
Yes. TickTick Premium costs about $36/year while Todoist Pro costs around $60/year — roughly 40% cheaper, with more built-in tools (habits, Pomodoro, calendar) included at that lower price.
Which to-do app is better for ADHD?
TickTick tends to suit ADHD users well due to its visual urgency cues, countdown timers, and built-in Pomodoro. However, some ADHD users prefer Todoist's cleaner, less distracting interface. It depends on whether you respond better to structure or simplicity.
Does Todoist have a free plan?
Yes. Todoist's free plan allows 5 active projects with no reminders. TickTick's free plan is slightly more generous: 9 lists with up to 99 tasks each, plus a built-in Pomodoro timer and habit tracker.
Pricing verified on Todoist's pricing page and TickTick's pricing page as of June 2026.
Driftnote Editorial Team
We used both Todoist and TickTick as our primary task manager for four weeks each — personal tasks, work projects, and habit tracking — before writing this comparison.