Best to do list app for Mac in 2026: 8 picks, free and paid

The best to do list app for Mac, for most people, is Apple Reminders. There's nothing to install and nothing to pay, and the list on your Mac is the same list on your iPhone. Every other app on this page had to beat it at something specific, or it stayed off.

A to-do app earns its place on a Mac in the first two seconds. A thought arrives while you're writing an email, and you want it out of your head and into the list without opening a window or losing your place. Then the list has to follow you out of the door, because half of what you need to do comes up while you're away from the desk.

So five questions decided the list:

1. Can you add a task from anywhere on the Mac with a keyboard shortcut?
2. Does the list sync to your phone, and does it matter whether that phone is an iPhone or an Android?
3. What does the free version hold back? And if there's none, is it a one-time purchase or a subscription?
4. Can you keep the list in view, as a desktop widget or a small window?
5. Which version of macOS does it need?

We built the list from each maker's own website and its US App Store page, all read on 30 October 2026, with prices in US dollars. Nothing here was tested by hand, so you won't find star ratings, scores or speed tests. If you also want team tools, the best task management apps covers shared projects.

Read down until one sounds like the way you work. Plenty of people can stop at the first one.

1. Apple Reminders: best for most people

Reminders comes with your Mac and costs nothing, and Apple's App Store page for it lists the parts you'd reach for every week: smart lists such as Today and Scheduled, tags, subtasks, repeats, and reminders that go off when you arrive somewhere. iCloud keeps one copy of the list on all your Apple devices.

You can write a reminder the way you'd say it. Apple's own example is "Jog every other morning", which becomes a repeating reminder with no date picker involved. Grocery lists sort themselves into sections such as dairy and produce. On a Mac, the Reminders guide shows how to view a list as columns, so a list with sections becomes a simple board, and anyone you share it with can add reminders or be assigned one.

Pick it if every device you own is made by Apple and you want a list that works today. Skip it if you also carry an Android phone or work on a Windows PC, since Apple lists Reminders only for its own devices.

2. Things 3: best Mac app you pay for once

Things 3 on the Mac App Store costs US$49.99, once, with no subscription. The iPhone app is a separate US$9.99, the iPad app is sold separately as well, and sync between them runs through Cultured Code's free Things Cloud. You can try the Mac version free for 15 days from the Things website.

Start with Quick Entry: press its shortcut in any app and a small window opens for the new to-do. The Autofill version goes one step further and turns the web page or email you're looking at into the to-do itself. Today and Upcoming show your tasks beside your calendar events. A spot called This Evening holds the jobs for after dinner, and you sort the rest into Areas, like Home or Work, and Projects with headings. It needs macOS 13.3 or later.

Pick it if you add tasks all day on a Mac and an iPhone and you'd rather pay once than every year. Skip it if a Windows PC or an Android phone is part of your week, because Things only runs on Apple devices.

3. Todoist: best when not every device is Apple

Todoist runs almost everywhere. Its downloads page has apps for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android, plus browser extensions and add-ons for your email. Type "gym Thursday 7am" into quick add and the task lands on Thursday at 7am, with no date picker. Projects and labels do the sorting. Once the list grows, a saved filter shows just the slice you need right now.

Todoist's pricing page gives the free Beginner plan 5 personal projects, task reminders, list and board layouts and 3 filter views. Pro costs US$60 a year, or US$7 a month billed monthly, and adds 300 projects, a calendar layout, task durations, custom reminders and deadlines.

Pick it if you switch between a Mac at home and a Windows laptop at work, or your phone is an Android. Skip it if you want a calendar view of your tasks for free, because the calendar layout sits in Pro. If you're torn between this and Google's app, read Todoist vs Google Tasks.

4. TickTick: best for tasks, habits and a timer in one app

TickTick puts a to-do list, a habit tracker and a Pomodoro timer in one app. Its Mac App Store page gives it a keyboard shortcut for new tasks, Command+Shift+A, along with priorities, checklists inside tasks and tasks that repeat. It needs macOS 12.0 or later, an older version than Things or OmniFocus will run on, and it's on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android and the web as well.

TickTick's pricing page caps the free plan at 9 lists with 99 tasks in each, with reminders, list and kanban views and sync across devices. The paid plan is US$49.99 a year, or US$4.99 a month on the App Store, and adds 299 lists, more calendar views, task durations, email reminders and themes.

Pick it if you want habits and a focus timer in the same app as your tasks, with a free plan to start on. Skip it if you keep more than 9 lists, because that's where the free plan stops.

5. Microsoft To Do: best free pick if you use Outlook

Microsoft To Do is free, with no paid tier at all. Microsoft's To Do page says it syncs your lists across the web and iOS, Android and Windows devices. On the Mac, the App Store listing needs macOS 13.0 or later.

Its daily planner is called My Day, and it suggests tasks from your other lists to add to it. Flag an email in Outlook and it lands in To Do as a task. You can share lists with family or classmates, break a task into steps, set one-time or repeating reminders and attach files up to 25 MB.

Pick it if your email lives in Outlook and you want a free list that works on every device you own. Skip it if you never open Outlook, because its best trick, flagged emails turning into tasks, depends on it.

6. OmniFocus 4: best for big projects with many steps

OmniFocus is for people with a lot going on: a house move, a course, a side business and the weekly shop, all at once. You sort tasks into projects and folders, tag them and give them dates. Then you jump between views of them from the Perspectives Bar. A keyboard shortcut drops a task into your inbox from anywhere, and Omni's sync service is free and end-to-end encrypted.

The download is free with a 14-day trial. After that, the App Store listing sells a one-time Standard purchase for US$74.99 or Pro for US$149.99, and one purchase covers your Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. Pro adds Focus, which hides everything outside the projects you pick. It needs macOS 15.2 or later. Windows and Android get only OmniFocus for the Web.

Pick it if your list runs to hundreds of tasks across a dozen projects. Skip it if your Mac can't run macOS 15.2, or if your list fits on one screen and you'd only use a fraction of what OmniFocus does.

7. Superlist: best for lists you share and notes beside tasks

Superlist keeps notes and tasks in the same list, so the details sit right under the to-do they belong to. Lists nest inside lists and tasks have subtasks. Type "Dentist Friday at 2pm" and it becomes a reminder, and reminders can repeat, daily or monthly.

Superlist's pricing page calls the free plan free forever: up to 5 lists, private or shared, with up to 5 people in a shared list, and no cap on tasks or notes. It runs on macOS, iOS, Android and the web. Basic costs US$59 a year and adds unlimited lists, all integrations and voice input. Pay US$249 a year for Super and you also get AI meeting notes and an AI chat.

Pick it if you share a few lists with a partner or housemates and want the notes next to the jobs. Skip it if you need more than 5 lists and don't want to pay, or you'll never use the AI features that fill the top plan.

8. Sunsama: best for planning each day on a calendar

Sunsama is a daily planner first and a list second. Each morning you pick today's tasks and give each one a slot on your calendar, so you see whether the day actually fits. It pulls tasks in from tools like Asana, Trello and Jira, syncs with Google, Outlook and Apple calendars, and has a Pomodoro timer and weekly goals.

There's no free plan. Sunsama's pricing page offers a 14-day trial with no card, then US$22 a month billed monthly, with a lower price on a yearly plan. It has apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and iPadOS, and Android.

Pick it if your tasks keep spilling into evenings and you'll spend ten minutes each morning planning. Skip it if you want a list to tick, not a ritual, or if US$22 a month is more than a to-do app is worth to you. For other ways to give each task a slot, see the best time blocking apps.

Prices are in US dollars, as of October 2026, from each maker's site or App Store page.

Two apps have nothing to sell you: Reminders and Microsoft To Do. Three keep a free version and charge for more room, and the limit is what to watch. Todoist stops at 5 projects, TickTick at 9 lists, Superlist at 5 lists. Things 3, OmniFocus and Sunsama give you a trial, and then you pay.

A one-time price looks steep next to a monthly one until you count three years of using it on a Mac and an iPhone.

Things 3 costs less over three years than any subscription here, and OmniFocus Standard is close behind. One-time doesn't mean forever. Omni charged earlier owners to move up to version 4, and its listing still sells that upgrade for US$37.49. The subscriptions do win on reach. All four of them run on Android, and Todoist and Sunsama have Windows apps, which neither one-time app does.

The cheapest choice is still the free one you'll keep using. If Reminders does everything on your list, the table above is money you don't need to spend.

A list you can't see is a list you forget, and on a Mac it hides behind every window you open. Desktop widgets fix that, and Apple's guide to Mac widgets gives the steps:

1. Control-click the wallpaper and choose Edit Widgets.
2. Search the gallery for Reminders, or for your own to-do app. Things, for one, has widgets for the desktop and Notification Center.
3. Drag the widget to a spot on your desktop, then click Done at the bottom right of the gallery.
4. When windows cover it, click the wallpaper and they move aside.
5. If your app only has an iPhone widget, open Desktop and Dock settings and turn on Use iPhone widgets.

Then learn one shortcut, because capture is where most lists fail. Things has Quick Entry, TickTick has Command+Shift+A, and OmniFocus drops a task into its inbox from any app. A widget shows you the list, and the shortcut keeps it filled.

Find the line that sounds like you.

• Every device you own is Apple: Apple Reminders.
• You'd rather pay once for an app that feels like it was made for the Mac, and never see a renewal email: Things 3.
• There's a Windows PC or an Android phone in your week: Todoist.
• Habits and a focus timer next to your tasks: TickTick.
• Outlook runs your email: Microsoft To Do.
• Several big projects at once, each with its own pile of steps: OmniFocus 4.
• Shared lists at home: Superlist.
• Your days overflow and you're willing to plan each morning before you start: Sunsama.

Then put every task in that one app. Keep half in Reminders and half on sticky notes and you'll check each one half the time. If the real trouble is too much to do, not the app, how to get organized starts with the clear-out.

• Apple, Reminders on the App Store, read 30 October 2026
• Apple Support, Reminders User Guide for Mac, read 30 October 2026
• Apple Support, Add and customize widgets on Mac, read 30 October 2026
• Cultured Code, Things 3 on the Mac App Store (price, Quick Entry, macOS 13.3), read 30 October 2026
• Cultured Code, Things 3 on the App Store for iPhone (price), read 30 October 2026
• Cultured Code, Things, read 30 October 2026
• Doist, Todoist downloads, read 30 October 2026
• Doist, Todoist features, read 30 October 2026
• Doist, Todoist pricing, read 30 October 2026
• TickTick, TickTick on the Mac App Store, read 30 October 2026
• TickTick, Upgrade (free and paid plans), read 30 October 2026
• Microsoft, Microsoft To Do, read 30 October 2026
• Microsoft, Microsoft To Do on the Mac App Store, read 30 October 2026
• The Omni Group, OmniFocus, read 30 October 2026
• The Omni Group, OmniFocus 4 on the App Store (purchases, macOS 15.2), read 30 October 2026
• Superlist, Home, read 30 October 2026
• Superlist, Pricing, read 30 October 2026
• Sunsama, Home, read 30 October 2026
• Sunsama, Pricing, read 30 October 2026