Before you start
What this list is, and what it leaves out.
Most to-do apps have a usable free version. This page groups them by what they’re good at, so you can skip the ones that don’t match how you work.
The first five groups are free enough for personal use, and each entry names the limit you will hit first. The last group is six apps that only look free. Claims were rechecked in August 2026. Platform chips open that app on that platform. If the list itself is the problem, start with how to write a good to-do list.
At a glance
Twenty-two free apps, and the limit each one hits first.
Every app that is genuinely free to use, with the ceiling you will run into rather than the feature list you will not. Sort your own priorities first: if signing up is the thing you want to avoid, five of these never ask you to.
| App | Platforms | Sign-up | Free plan stops at |
|---|---|---|---|
 Airtable | Web + mobile | Required | 1,000 records per base |
 Any.do | Web + mobile | Required | Recurring tasks and reminders |
 Apple Reminders | Apple + web | Account you have | Apple devices, in practice |
 Asana | All | Required | 2 users, no timeline view |
 Basecamp | Web + mobile | Required | 1 project, 20 users |
 ClickUp | All | Required | 5 spaces, 60MB of storage |
 Do! | iPhone, iPad | Not required | Ads, until a $20 unlock |
 Flask.io | Web | Not required | One saved list without an account |
 Google Keep | Web + mobile | Account you have | Shares your Drive quota |
 Google Tasks | Web + mobile | Account you have | No priorities, tags or sharing |
 Linear | All but Android | Required | 250 issues, 2 teams |
 Microsoft To Do | All | Account you have | Nothing meaningful |
 MinimaList | iPhone, iPad | Not required | A $5.99 unlock for the rest |
 Monday.com | All | Required | 2 seats, 3 boards, 200 items |
 Notion | All | Required | 5MB uploads, 7-day history |
 Super Productivity | Desktop + Android | Not required | Nothing, all of it is free |
 TickTick | All | Required | 9 lists, 99 tasks in each |
 Todoi | Web | Not required | The browser session |
 Todoist | All | Required | 5 projects, 3 filters |
 Trello | All | Required | 10 boards, 10 collaborators |
 Tweek | Web + mobile | Required | 2 calendars, no recurring tasks |
 Workflowy | All | Required | 250 new bullets a month |
Six more apps are listed as free almost everywhere and are not; they are in Not actually free with what each one really costs. The groups below say what each app is like to use.
Available Everywhere
Five apps that run on web, desktop, and mobile, and sync across all of them.
These run on the web, desktop, and mobile and sync across all of them, so your list looks the same on every device.
Lists that sit beside a calendar view, with sharing for the tasks you split with someone else. Strongest on mobile. Free covers tasks, lists and calendar sync; recurring tasks, reminders and every integration sit behind Premium.
Bundles docs, goals and several task views (list, board, calendar) into one app, which is either thorough or exhausting depending on the day. Free gives unlimited tasks and unlimited members but stops at 5 spaces, 60MB of storage and 100 uses of features like Gantt charts.
A workspace built on databases and docs, where a task list is one of many things you can assemble. Free is unlimited for one person, with 7-day page history, 5MB uploads and 10 guests; add a second workspace owner and a 1,000-block cap appears.
Puts a Pomodoro timer and habit tracking next to the task list, and the paid tier is cheap if you outgrow the free one. Free stops at 9 lists, 99 tasks per list and 5 habits.
For Teams & Power Users
Six heavier tools: projects, dependencies, and automations.
Heavier tools for teams and anyone who wants more than a flat list: projects, dependencies, and automations.
A spreadsheet that behaves like a database, which earns its keep when tasks carry more than a title and a date. Free gives unlimited bases but 1,000 records in each, 1GB of attachments and 5 editors.
Structured projects with timeline and dependency tracking, plus integrations with most common work tools. The free plan is down to 2 users on accounts opened since November 2025, with no custom fields, rules or timeline view.
Opinionated and flat: message boards, to-dos and automatic check-ins instead of a board you configure yourself. Free is one project, up to 20 users and 1GB of storage.
Fast, keyboard-driven issue tracking with strong opinions about how software work should flow. Free keeps unlimited members but stops at 250 issues and 2 teams.
Color-coded boards you can bend into almost any process, at the cost of a long setup. The free plan is the tightest here: 2 seats, 3 boards and 200 items in total.
Stripped Down
Five pared-back apps that capture tasks and check them off.
Pared-back apps that do little beyond capturing tasks and checking them off.
No account needed to start, and each list gets its own shareable URL that can be embedded elsewhere. Free throughout; signing up only matters once you want to keep more than one list.
Open source and local-first, with time tracking and a focus mode wrapped around the list, plus import from GitHub, GitLab and Jira. Free with nothing above it: no ads, no premium tier, nothing held back.
No account, no server. One project in list, board, and calendar views over the same tasks. Work lives in the browser session, so closing the tab clears it - a scratchpad for a working day, not an archive.
A weekly grid that reads like a paper planner, with unfinished tasks rolling forward on their own. Free covers the grid but stops at 2 calendars and 3 Someday columns, with no recurring tasks, subtasks or reminders.
Made for Apple
Three Apple-first apps, with the system hooks that come with that.
Built for Apple platforms first, with the system hooks that come with that: widgets, Siri, and Handoff.
The tightest Siri, widget, Handoff and location-trigger integration on this page, because it ships with the system. Free with an Apple account and nothing to upgrade to; the limit is that it only behaves this well inside Apple’s ecosystem.
A pen-and-paper feel, with color tags and Dropbox backup. Free with ads, and removing them is a one-time $20, which is steep for what the app does.
A focus mode and Pomodoro timer wrapped around a deliberately plain list. Free covers lists, reminders and widgets; the rest sits behind a $5.99 lifetime unlock.
Already in your account
Three apps you are almost certainly already paying for.
Bundled with an account you already hold, which makes them free in the only sense that matters: nothing new to sign up for and nothing extra to pay. Apple Reminders belongs here too, and sits in Made for Apple because the system hooks are the reason to use it.
Voice memos, location reminders and text pulled out of photos, closer to sticky notes than to a task manager. Free with a Google account, drawing on the same Drive storage as everything else.
Ties into Gmail and Google Calendar, so an email becomes a task without leaving the inbox. Free with a Google account, and deliberately thin: no priorities, no tags, no sharing.
Not actually free
Six apps that show up on free-app lists and should not.
These six are recommended as free almost everywhere, and none of them are. Each one gives you a trial or a demo and then asks for money, so the only thing a free-app list buys you is an afternoon spent setting up a workspace you will have to abandon. They are good apps. They are just not free ones, and knowing that before you start is worth more than a shortlist.
Pulls tasks from your other tools into one inbox and drags them onto a calendar. No free plan at any level, and around $34 a month after a short trial.
Schedules your tasks into your calendar automatically and reshuffles when the day slips. Seven-day trial, then from about $19 per user a month on the annual plan.
Built around Getting Things Done, with custom perspectives and a forecast view that maps tasks onto your calendar. Fourteen-day trial, then a subscription from around $10 a month, or a one-time license.
A guided daily planner that makes you commit to a realistic day rather than an infinite list. Fourteen-day trial, then roughly $17 to $22 per user a month.
Paper-simple interface with automatic task rollover and Someday lists. The iOS app stands on its own, but the web app needs a $3 a month subscription once the trial ends.
Common questions
The six that come up every time someone goes looking.
Is there a free to-do app that doesn’t need an account?
Five on this page. Todoi and Flask.io run in a browser tab with nothing to sign up for, Super Productivity keeps everything on your own machine, and Do! and MinimaList are iPhone apps that never ask. Each has a trade: Todoi uses the browser session as its storage, so closing the tab clears it, and Flask.io wants an account only once you keep more than one list.
What is the catch with a free to-do app?
Usually a ceiling rather than a paywall. Todoist stops at 5 projects, TickTick at 9 lists, Monday.com at 200 items, and Workflowy at 250 new bullets a month. Every entry above names the limit you will reach first, so you can judge it before you move your work in. The other catch is apps that are not free at all, which is why six of them are listed separately.
Which free to-do app works on every device?
Todoist, TickTick, Notion, ClickUp, Trello, Workflowy, Asana, Monday.com and Microsoft To Do all run on web, iOS, Android, macOS and Windows. Of those, Microsoft To Do is the one with no free-tier ceiling worth worrying about, as long as you already have a Microsoft account.
Is any to-do app completely free, with no paid tier above it?
Super Productivity is open source and has no premium tier at all. Apple Reminders, Google Tasks, Google Keep and Microsoft To Do are free in the sense that you already pay for the account they sit inside. Everything else here is the free tier of a product that would like you to upgrade.
Are Things, OmniFocus, Sunsama, Motion, Akiflow and TeuxDeux free?
No, although free-app lists keep saying so. Things is paid up front on every platform, with no trial and no free version. OmniFocus, Sunsama, Motion and Akiflow each give you a trial and then a subscription. TeuxDeux’s iPhone app stands on its own, but the web app needs a paid plan. What each one actually costs is in Not actually free, above.
What is the best free to-do app for a Mac?
Apple Reminders, for most people. It is already installed, it costs nothing beyond the Apple account you have, and nothing else matches it for Siri, widgets and Handoff. If the same list has to open on a Windows machine, Todoist or TickTick. If you would rather it never touched Apple’s servers, Super Productivity.
Which one to use
Eight starting points, so you leave with a decision.
Nobody needs a shortlist of twenty-two. Find the line that sounds like you and start there; every app named below is free enough to abandon if it turns out to be wrong.
| If you want | Start with |
|---|---|
| Somewhere to type a list in ten seconds, with no sign-up | Todoi, Flask.io |
| The same list on a phone, a laptop and the web | Todoist, TickTick |
| Notes and tasks living in one place | Notion, Google Keep |
| Everything on your own machine, nothing on a server | Super Productivity |
| Siri, widgets and a Mac that already has this built in | Apple Reminders |
| Whatever works with the Microsoft 365 you already pay for | Microsoft To Do |
| A board you drag cards across, and nothing more | Trello |
| A team, with dependencies and dates that matter | Asana, Linear |
The app you stay with matters more than the one with the longest feature list, and the habit matters more than either. Pick the one that opens fastest on the device you actually reach for, give it two weeks, and change your mind then rather than now.
If the list itself is the part that keeps failing, no app fixes that: how to write a good to-do list is the one to read instead. Otherwise, open the Todoi workspace and start typing.