What is the best to do list app for ADHD?

Todoist, for most people. It's free, and Ramble lets you say a task out loud before you forget it. If you lose track of time more than tasks, Tiimo shows your day as a visual timeline and was built with ADHD in mind.

What is the best planner app for ADHD?

Tiimo or Structured. Both lay your day out as a timeline. Tiimo was co-designed with ADHD and autism experts, and Structured's free version includes the timeline, an inbox and a focus timer.

What is the best free planner app for ADHD?

Structured's free version: a drag-and-drop timeline, an inbox for quick ideas and a Pomodoro timer at no cost. Tiimo's free version works on iPhone or Android, and Goblin Tools' website breaks tasks into steps for free.

Is a paper to-do list better than an app for ADHD?

Paper wins if it's the list you'll look at. CHADD's advice is to keep your list where you'll see it and use it; an app earns its place when you need a reminder to find you.

9 best to do list apps for ADHD in 2026, free and paid

Q: What is the best productivity app for ADHD?

TickTick, if you want one free app. It holds a to-do list, calendar views, a habit tracker and a Pomodoro timer, and its free plan gives you 9 lists and 5 habits.

How we chose

The best to do list app for ADHD gets a task out of your head in seconds, then helps you start it. Every app holds tasks. The nine below also do one of the jobs a plain list leaves to you.

For the National Institute of Mental Health, inattention in ADHD means a hard time paying attention, sticking to a task or keeping things in order. A list that only stores tasks helps with none of them. So we asked six questions:

Can you get a thought in before it's gone, by typing one line or by talking?
Does it show you today, or a single task, instead of everything at once?
Does it put time on the screen, so you can see what's next and how long it takes?
Does it help you begin, with steps, a timer or a random pick?
Miss a day, and does it move things on quietly or leave a red pile of overdue tasks?
What does the free version cover, what does paid cost, and which devices does it run on?

Every feature and price here comes from the maker's own site, help pages or App Store listing, read on 30 October 2026. We didn't test the apps by hand, so there are no ratings or scores. Prices are US dollars; other countries' stores set their own.

An app is a tool, not treatment. If ADHD is getting in the way of work or home, talk to a doctor.

The 9 best to do list apps for ADHD

Todoist comes first because it's free and catches a thought fastest. Each pick after it wins at one job.

1. Todoist: best for catching a thought before it's gone

Todoist is a plain list with a fast way in. Its Quick Add help page shows dates typed in ordinary words, like "tomorrow at 4 PM" or "every other Tuesday". Rather talk? Open Ramble and say it. The Ramble page says it pulls out dates, times, priorities and project names from what you say, in 40 languages.

The free Beginner plan covers 5 personal projects, task reminders, Smart Quick Add and Ramble with a usage limit. Pro costs US$5 a month billed yearly (US$60), or US$7 month to month, and adds 300 projects, a calendar layout, task durations, deadlines and unlimited Ramble. It runs on Apple and Android phones and watches, and on computers.

Pick it if ideas arrive faster than you can write them down. Skip it if you need to see your day as hours, because the calendar layout isn't on the free plan.

2. Tiimo: best visual planner built for ADHD

Tiimo was built by and for neurodivergent people, and its App Store listing says it was co-designed with ADHD and autism experts. Your day sits on a visual timeline, with a countdown on the current task. With Pro, you type or say what's on your mind and its AI splits it into timed steps. Apple named it iPhone App of the Year at the 2025 App Store Awards.

The free version includes the basic planner, to-do lists, the focus timer and a few AI chats, on iPhone and Android only. Tiimo Pro adds the AI task breakdown, custom widgets and the web app. You pay monthly or yearly, the yearly plan has a 7-day trial, and the store shows your local price.

Pick it if you lose track of time more than you lose tasks. Skip it if you plan at a computer and won't pay, since the web app comes with Pro.

3. Structured: best free planner that shows your day as a timeline

Structured stacks your tasks and appointments on one timeline, so you can see the gap before your next thing. Its App Store listing puts a lot in the free version: the drag-and-drop timeline, an Inbox for ideas you'll sort later, sub-tasks, a Pomodoro focus timer and widgets, synced across Apple devices. There's an Android app too.

Structured Pro adds your calendars, repeating tasks and routines, AI day plans, and Replan, which moves missed tasks to a new slot. Pro is sold monthly, yearly or for life, at the price your App Store shows.

Pick it if you want a free timeline on your phone. Skip it if you need tasks that repeat and won't pay, because repeating tasks are a Pro feature.

4. Goblin Tools: best for breaking a big task into small steps

Goblin Tools is a set of small single-job tools, made mostly for neurodivergent people who find some tasks overwhelming. The one for your list is Magic ToDo. Type "sort out the spare room", press the button, and it writes the steps. A spiciness setting of one to five peppers tells it how hard the task feels, and the spicier you set it, the more steps you get.

The website is free, with no ads or paywalls, and its maker says it will stay that way. The iPhone app costs 99 US cents, and there's an Android app. Pro, at US$3.99 a month or US$39.99 a year, adds sync and shared lists. Goblin Tools' About page says plainly that its AI answers are guesswork. Read each step before you act on it.

Pick it if one task has sat on your list for weeks because it feels too big to begin. Skip it as your only list, and use it beside one: Magic ToDo exports to Todoist or as a calendar file.

5. TickTick: best free app with a list, habits and a timer

TickTick puts a to-do list, calendar views, a habit tracker and a Pomodoro timer in one app. Add a task by voice. Switch on Constant Reminder and the notification keeps ringing until the task is done, which is what you want if you swipe alerts away unread.

The free plan gives you 9 lists of up to 99 tasks, 2 reminders on each task and 5 habits. The paid plan costs US$49.99 a year and lifts those to 299 lists, 5 reminders a task and 299 habits. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux and the web.

Pick it if you'd otherwise juggle four apps. Skip it if lots of buttons make you freeze: TickTick has list, kanban, timeline and matrix views.

6. Llama Life: best for working through a list one timed task at a time

Llama Life is made for getting through today's list, not for storing every task you'll ever have. Each task gets its own countdown, with its start and end time beside it, and gentle chimes pull you back when you drift. Stuck? Ask for a random task and it picks where you start. Lists you run often save as presets.

There's no free plan. After a 7-day trial with no card needed, it costs US$6 a month or US$39 a year at full price, on a computer, iPhone and Android.

Pick it if a long list makes you freeze and one task with a clock on it gets you moving. Skip it if you want one app to hold every task you'll ever have, because Llama Life is built for today.

7. Amazing Marvin: best for building a system that fits how you think

Amazing Marvin calls itself a task manager built for ADHD minds. You switch on only the features you want, out of more than 100. Super Focus Mode shows one task at a time. Task Jar picks your next task at random when choosing is the hard part. The Procrastination Wizard walks you through a task you keep dodging, and Day Planning warns you when today's plan holds more than the day can. There's even an Accountability Pledge, where you put real money on a deadline and pay up if you miss it.

There's no free plan. After a 14-day trial with no card needed, it costs US$8 a month billed yearly (US$96). Students get 50% off, and Marvin's pricing page asks you to write in if cost is the barrier. It runs on the web, computers, iPhone and Android.

Pick it if you've dropped three apps because each forced its own way of working on you. Skip it if settings pull you in for hours, since Marvin has more than 300 of them.

8. Sunsama: best for a workday full of meetings

Sunsama is a daily planner for work. Each morning it walks you through planning a day you can finish, with tasks and meetings on one calendar where you block time for each task. You can mute distracting apps and run a Pomodoro timer, and a shutdown at the end shows what got done. It pulls in tasks from Gmail, Asana, Trello and Jira.

There's no free plan, and Sunsama says it won't add one. After a 14-day trial with no card needed, the Pro plan costs US$17 a month billed yearly, or US$22 month to month. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and Linux.

Pick it if your day is meetings plus tasks from five tools and you keep promising more than fits. Skip it for home life: at US$17 a month or more, it's priced for work.

9. ActivityTracker: best for your list, your routines and a timer in one place

ActivityTracker is our own app, so weigh this entry with that in mind. Type "call the dentist tomorrow 3pm" and the task gets its day and time, then rings at that time unless you change it. Plan my day takes your open tasks and fits them into the free gaps in your day, inside the work hours you set. Fall behind and Replan moves the blocks you haven't ticked off, so a lost morning doesn't leave a wall of overdue tasks.

When you sit down to a task, the Focus timer runs 15, 25 or 50 minutes, or a length of your own up to two hours, for up to four rounds with a break between. At the end you mark the task done on the same screen. Give a daily routine a time, say a 7:30 walk, and if it's still unticked at 7:30, the assistant nudges you on Telegram or WhatsApp.

One person pays SGD 34 a month, after a one-time setup fee that covers month one. It works in the phone's browser; iPhones ring only after you add it to the Home Screen.

Pick it if you want your list and a timer on the same screen as your routines. Skip it if you won't pay for a to-do app. Todoist and TickTick do the basics free.

What each one costs

Every price was checked on 30 October 2026.

App	Free version	Paid from	Best at
Todoist	5 projects	US$5 a month, yearly	Catching thoughts
Tiimo	Basic planner, phone only	See the App Store	Seeing time
Structured	Timeline, inbox, timer	See the App Store	A free timeline
Goblin Tools	The whole website	99-cent app	Breaking tasks down
TickTick	9 lists, 5 habits	US$49.99 a year	All in one
Llama Life	7-day trial	US$6 a month	One task at a time
Amazing Marvin	14-day trial	US$8 a month, yearly	Your own system
Sunsama	14-day trial	US$17 a month, yearly	Meeting-heavy days
ActivityTracker	No	SGD 34 a month	List, routines, timer

You can stay on the free version of four of them for good: Todoist, Structured, TickTick and Goblin Tools' website. Tiimo's free version works too, if you only plan on your phone.

Which one fits how you get stuck

Pick by the moment your day goes wrong.

Thoughts vanish before you write them down: Todoist, and talk to Ramble.
An hour disappears and you can't say where: Tiimo or Structured, where the day is a timeline you can see.
A task feels too big to touch: paste it into Magic ToDo and turn the peppers up.
A long list freezes you: Llama Life, or Super Focus Mode in Amazing Marvin.
You swipe reminders away and forget them: TickTick's Constant Reminder, or one of the reminder apps that keep nagging.
Your workday is back-to-back meetings: Sunsama.

Two apps is fine if each has one job, say Goblin Tools to break a task down and Todoist to hold the steps. A third is where things get lost.

Paper counts too. A card with today's three tasks beats an app you never open, and CHADD's advice is to keep your list wherever you'll see it and use it. An app earns its place when you need a reminder to come and find you.

If what slips is a habit rather than a task, like a morning walk or an hour of study, a routine app keeps the streak, which a to-do list doesn't.

When the free version is enough

For most people starting out, free is enough. Todoist and TickTick catch tasks fast and remind you at no cost, and Structured's timeline is free too.

Pay when a free limit blocks something you need:

Tasks that repeat: Structured keeps them for Pro, while Todoist repeats tasks on its free plan.
Your tasks laid out as hours: Todoist's calendar layout is Pro.
Planning at a computer: Tiimo's web app is Pro.

Llama Life, Amazing Marvin and Sunsama have a trial and no free plan, and none asks for a card to start. Put the trial's last day in your calendar the minute you sign up.

Make any to-do app stick

Whichever app you pick, the first two weeks decide whether you keep it.

Empty your head once. Give it twenty minutes and put every task you can think of into the app's inbox, unsorted.
Number three for tomorrow. On a long list, CHADD, the ADHD organisation, recommends numbering the three that matter most so they stand out.
Rewrite the vague ones. "Car" becomes "book the car in for its service on Thursday". If you can't picture yourself doing it, you won't start it.
Split anything over an hour into steps, by hand or with Magic ToDo.
Give the first task a time and a timer. Twenty-five minutes is easier to begin than "until it's done". Timeboxing runs a whole day on that idea, with a slot and a finish time for every job on the list.
Sweep each evening. Take five minutes to move what's undone to another day or delete it, then close the app.
Stay with one app for two weeks. Switching feels like progress and resets the habit every time.

Forgetting a task and avoiding it are different problems. If you keep pushing one job to tomorrow on purpose, read how to stop procrastinating.

In ActivityTracker you type a task in one line and it gets its day and time, Plan my day fits it into a free gap, and the Focus timer counts down while you do it.

See how tasks work

Sam's first two weeks with one app

Made-up example: Sam fixes bikes four days a week, and at weekends he builds tables to sell. Last month he missed a timber order and a dentist appointment.

On Sunday night he installs Todoist's free plan and talks to Ramble for ten minutes. Thirty-one tasks land in the inbox, from "renew the van's road tax" to "sand the oak table".

He numbers three for Monday and gives each a time: email the timber yard at 8:30, call the dentist at 12:15, sand the oak table at 6pm.

"Do my accounts" has sat on every list since spring. He pastes it into Magic ToDo, sets three peppers, and gets seven steps back. The first is "find last year's receipts folder", and he does it that evening in ten minutes.

On Wednesday a delivery runs late and two of the three slip. At his 5:30 sweep he moves both to Thursday instead of starting a fresh list.

After two weeks he has planned 30 tasks and finished 24. Goblin Tools stays for the tasks that won't start.