The 6 best to do list apps for Windows in 2026

It seems like every productivity app lives in the browser these days, but there are still good arguments to be made for native software. Apps that run natively on your Windows desktop perform better, integrate into the operating system with tray icons and widgets, and won't get lost in the sea of tabs in your browser. And to-do list apps are no exception.

There are a bunch of great Windows to-do list apps out there, if you know where to look. I spent a couple weeks testing all the top options to see how they stacked up.

Based on my experiences with the apps, these are the best to-do list apps for Windows.

The best Windows to-do list apps

• Microsoft To Do for the best all-around option

• Todoist for cross-platform syncing

• Singularity for keeping everything in one place

• TickTick for blending simplicity with power

• Workflowy for notepad users

• Super Productivity for privacy and open-source features

What makes a great to-do list app for Windows?

In my decade-plus of reviewing software across all manner of platforms, I've tried my fair share of to-do list apps. While none of them can put in the work of organizing your life for you, a good to-do list app can make all the difference. There's no perfect organizer for everyone, but there are apps that excel within their chosen systems of organization and at different price points.

In my testing, I put these apps through their paces by adding both work and personal tasks; organizing them into lists, projects, sub-projects, and various levels of importance; and assigning them due dates, time blocks, and similar criteria. I then based my final decision on the experience of using the app, the feature set, and the value it provides in terms of both money and time you'd need to put in to get the most out of it.

Regardless of which to-do list app you choose, my favorite choices all have some basic things in common. 

• Easy to use, with an uncomplicated interface and easy onboarding.

• Multiple ways to organize your tasks, using different lists or projects; by adding priorities, tags, and labels; or with more advanced options like assigning tasks to individuals. 

• Accessible across multiple devices via cloud syncing (unless there's a really good reason not to offer this, like privacy).

• Some degree of customization, from appearance to behavior.

• Provide something a little extra, like habit trackers or integrations with other apps you use to make them even more powerful and accessible.

With these criteria in mind, here are the best Windows to-do list applications. Some are free, and all paid apps offer free trials, so try a few and see what works.

The best Windows to-do list apps at a glance

Best all-around Windows to-do list app

Microsoft To Do (Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone and iPad, Web)

Microsoft To Do pros:

• Plan daily tasks with "My Day" view

• Add tasks with natural language and get suggestions based on usage

• Collaborate with others by sharing lists and assigning tasks

Microsoft To Do cons: 

• Not many customization options

Microsoft To Do comes bundled with Windows 11, so you don't even need to download anything to get started. The app combines a friendly user interface with powerful features in a package that should suit most users.

Microsoft takes a straightforward approach to organization. You can create lists, complete with custom icons. You can add due dates for tasks, then view your tasks for the day. Tasks can be added using simple natural language prompts like "email Deb tomorrow at 9am," and To Do will create a reminder at the relevant time.  

Microsoft To Do uses a My Day system to help you plan your time. After populating your various lists with tasks, click the plus icon next to each task to add it to your day. You can schedule tasks in advance, so they automatically appear in the My Day view. Best of all, the app will suggest items to add here so you can quickly plan out your day based on your outstanding items.

Tasks sync via your Microsoft account with Outlook and other instances of the To Do app on Mac, Android, iPhone, and the web. You can pin individual lists to your Start menu, meaning you'll see them throughout the day. You can also share lists by right-clicking on them, then assign tasks to the folks you've invited. And To Do integrates with Microsoft Planner for use in the workplace.

Microsoft To Do also integrates with Zapier, allowing you to orchestrate intelligent, end-to-end workflows that extend beyond your to-do list. For example, you can automatically turn Slack messages into To Do tasks, use AI to summarize context and assign due dates, and then sync those tasks into your team's project management tool. Learn more about how to automate Microsoft To Do.

Microsoft To Do price: Free

Best Windows to-do list app for cross-platform syncing

Todoist (Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, Watch, macOS, Web)

Todoist pros:

• Great cross-platform syncing

• Incredibly powerful without being overwhelming

• Works well for tracking lots of projects and collaboration

Todoist cons: 

• Limited free version

Todoist is one of the most prominent to-do list apps out there for a few reasons. It's available for basically every platform on earth (even wearables like the Apple Watch). Todoist also offers a nice blend of power user features with a relatively uncluttered interface. Tasks can be organized using projects, due dates, labels, and filters, meaning you'll have all kinds of tools for keeping organized—yet it never quite feels overwhelming.

The Windows version builds on that with an interface that feels right at home on modern Windows computers. Native notifications let you know about upcoming deadlines. You can quickly add new tasks by right-clicking the taskbar icon. You can even pin any list to the Start menu, meaning you'll see what's there regularly. All this makes Todoist's Windows version well worth checking out, especially for folks who need to sync to other platforms.

Todoist's organization features are also some of the best around. Tasks can be added to projects, with sections to keep different aspects separate. You can clone these projects, save them as templates, archive them, and dig them out of the archive at a later date. Use the handy calendar layout on the Today screen to quickly organize your day using time-blocking. There's even a nifty little Productivity tool that keeps track of daily and weekly tasks, celebrates progress, and awards "karma" points to keep you motivated.

Todoist's most useful standout features and some essential ones, like setting a deadline, are limited to the Pro plan, so it best suits folks who are happy to pay a premium for a to-do list manager that goes the extra mile. The most notable of these advanced tools is the AI assistant, which can help you break down large to-dos into sub-tasks and offer tips on how to finish them, based on your existing schedule.

Zapier's Todoist integration opens the app up to tons of intelligent, cross-app workflows that adapt to your routines. For example, when you flag a message you want to come back to, Zapier can automatically turn it into a Todoist task and create a corresponding event in your calendar, grouping it with similar to-dos. Discover more ways to automate Todoist.

Todoist price: Free for up to 5 active projects, 5 guests, and limitations like no reminders. $5/month (billed yearly) for the Pro plan to unlock up to 300 active projects, 25 guests, and greater upload limits.

Best Windows to-do list app for keeping everything in one place

Singularity (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone)

Singularity pros:

• An all-in-one tool for managing everything from tasks and projects to calendars and checklists

• Unique paper planning features work great for teams

• Built-in habit tracker and Pomodoro timer

Singularity cons:

• Free plan is fairly limited (10 projects, 3 habits, no calendar view)

On first glance, Singularity appears to be just another to-do list app. Its interface is familiar in that it looks a lot like Todoist, with an inbox-first approach to triaging incoming tasks. This is a good thing, since this tried-and-tested system makes it easy to load up the app with tasks that need to be completed.

Lists take the form of projects that live in the sidebar, and you can get deep into organization by nesting projects within projects and sections within sections. Tasks can also have sub-tasks (called checklists), deadlines, and tags. There's even the ability to mark an item as Canceled rather than completed. Drag tasks onto your projects, or right-click to assign priorities and deadlines.

However, the more you explore Singularity, the more complex and capable it gets. Few task management platforms can match its feature list. Singularity works like an all-in-one productivity hub, offering polished tools to do just about anything you'd expect, including the ability to journal your thoughts, encrypt your sensitive to-dos, and more. You can even plug in your own AI model and have it analyze your projects and ask it questions about your tasks. But I particularly liked that Singularity still has a mode where you can hide the rest of these supplementary features and focus solely on one project. 

Plus, Singularity has one standout feature that I didn't see in any other app of its kind: paper planning. Using a desktop version of the app, you can organize and then print out a day plan using the File > Print Day Plan option. From there, work through the list on paper by ticking things off as you go. At the end of the day, use the mobile version of Singularity to scan the sheet and keep the app up to date. Just keep in mind that you'll need to sign up for the Pro plan to use this feature—and many others (including the Pomodoro timer and calendar view for your tasks).

Singularity price: $3.99/month or $40/year

Best Windows to-do list app for blending simplicity with power

TickTick (Windows, macOS, Android, iPhone and iPad)

TickTick pros:

• Desktop widgets for viewing tasks and calendar, plus integration with Gmail and Outlook

• Great for managing lots of projects, including archiving tools

• Includes Eisenhower matrix, Pomodoro timer, and habit tracker

TickTick cons:

• Calendar view limited to Premium subscribers

TickTick is probably most similar to Todoist in its approach to task list management. Like Todoist, the app is absolutely packed with features but keeps things simple with a clean interface that feels responsive and right at home on the Windows desktop. This simplicity is bolstered with native Windows widgets for showing your task list and calendar view—and there's even a sticky note widget.

Tasks can be added to the Inbox and delegated to separate lists or added to lists directly. These items can take the form of tasks with nested sub-tasks, or notes, which you can convert back to tasks at any time. Right-click on a list and archive it to remove it from the list, then unarchive it from the Archived Lists folder when you need it again. You can further organize your tasks with tags and filters, bringing tasks together by category, due date, and other metrics, regardless of which list they appear on.

TickTick integrates with third-party calendars, including Google and Outlook, meaning you can see your tasks and your appointments in the same place. It also includes a few extra nice-to-have features like a habit tracker, Eisenhower matrix organization, and a Pomodoro timer (which you can trigger by right-clicking a task). All of this means TickTick is well worth a spin for Windows users, with versions for other major platforms and mobile too.

With TickTick's Zapier integrations, you can orchestrate dynamic workflows across the rest of your tech stack. For example, you can use AI to convert off-the-cuff notes into clearly-defined TickTick tasks, complete with suggested priorities or deadlines. Zapier can also automatically schedule recurring tasks, keeping routines, habits, and ongoing work organized and on track without manual setup. Learn more about how to automate TickTick.

TickTick price: Free with some limitations, like no calendar view, no reminders, and limited themes. Pay $4.99/month to unlock the full functionality.

Best Windows to-do list app for notepad users

Workflowy (Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android)

Workflowy pros:

• Effortless to document and organize to-dos

• Powerful third-party integrations

• Customizable to-do pages

Workflowy cons:

• Pricey subscription 

• An optional onboarding screen would have been nice for non-tech-savvy users

Workflowy lives up to its tagline: "Your brain is complicated enough. Your tools shouldn't be." It's designed for people who have struggled to move on from paper lists and find it cumbersome or who just don't have the time to organize to-do apps. 

When you launch Workflowly (unlike others, which take you on a minutes-long onboarding tour), you're greeted with a blank canvas. As you begin typing, Workflowly files that as the title of a new folder (which the app calls a "node"), and you can then hit Enter to turn it into a bulleted list and continue to add more tasks. Similarly, you can just mention a time and a date next to a bullet list item, and Workflowly adds it to your calendar and shows it in the Today section when it's due. 

Each page or node isn't limited to plain text, either. You can import all sorts of layouts and formats to it, like a Kanban board, media files, and a table. All the pages can be linked internally if you're working on a larger project and want to import your notes and documents in Workflowy. 

Workflowy starts as a simple to-do service, but it can quickly be upgraded to a more powerful environment if and when you need. You can enable third-party integrations, for example, which allow AI models to analyze and control your projects.

Workflowy also integrates with Zapier, so you can connect it to all the other apps you use at work. Automatically create tasks based on actions that happen in other apps, so you can focus on doing the work, not tracking it.

Workflowy price: Workflowy's free version limits you to 100 nodes. For more, you'll have to subscribe to the $6.99/month (billed annually) plan. 

Best private and open-source to-do list app for Windows

Super Productivity (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone)

Super Productivity pros:

• Powerful time-tracking features

• Customizable design

• Fast and private

Super Productivity cons:

• Slight learning curve and no onboarding screen

Super Productivity is built to encourage deep work. Like most to-do apps, of course, you can create lists, add tasks in quick succession, and categorize them all with tags and project folders. But its time-tracking features are what help it stand out. You can set how long you think you'll take to complete each to-do, and Super Productivity prominently shows you the hours you'll have to put in on a day. 

A simple F key press activates the Focus mode, where you can kick off Pomodoro timers and countdowns to track how long you actually took. By default, when you're in neither of these sessions, Super Productivity assumes you're on a break, and adds that to your daily log. 

Apart from that, Super Productivity is an open-source service, which unlocks two crucial perks: without the typical bells and whistles of an account-based to-do app, it's private and can keep your data offline as long as you like. It's also the fastest app on this list and won't take up much space on your computer. 

That doesn't mean Super Productivity lacks those tools. It can sync your data across platforms and even supports a variety of third-party plugins, like AI assistants and GitHub. I also appreciated how personalized the interface can get. You can pick which utilities you want to have on the app and hide the rest. Themes can be customized, as well, and you can use your images as backdrops. Best of all, it's completely free. 

Super Productivity pricing: Free

Other options for a Windows to-do list app

I tried dozens of Windows to-do list apps, and while the ones above are my picks for the best, there are a handful of others that came close to making the cut, but just didn't quite meet my criteria. So here are a few more options to consider:

• Trello isn't a to-do list, per se, but you can use it to organize your life, and there's a solid Windows app.

• Amazing Marvin is a to-do list manager that tries to help you avoid procrastination.

• ZenKit To Do and Nozbe are a bit more team-focused, but they're worth investigating if you'll be collaborating on your to-do list.

• Vikunja is a collaborative to-do list manager with a free self-hosted option or a hosted premium plan.

• Notion is a personal organizer that's much more than a to-do list manager.

Related reading:

• The best email clients for Windows

• The best calendar apps for Windows

• Your keyboard doesn't have an em dash symbol—here's what to do

This article was originally published in February 2019 by Justin Pot and has also had contributions from Tim Brookes. The most recent update was in August 2026.