The best Mac todo apps in 2026, honestly compared

There is no single best todo app for the Mac. There are six or seven good ones, and the right answer depends on how you actually work. This post walks through each of them honestly, including where they fail.

Most “best todo app” lists have the same problem: they all recommend the same three apps in the same order regardless of what you need. The order rarely matters. The fit matters.

Here are the six apps worth knowing about in 2026, what each one is actually good at, and how to figure out which one fits your day.

How to think about the choice

Before any app comparison, three questions decide most of the answer.

1. Where do your tasks live during the day? If you mostly think about tasks at your Mac, a Mac-first app is fine. If you capture them on your phone while doing other things, you need real iPhone parity. If your team also needs to see them, you need an app that does sharing well.

2. Do you want a workspace or a notepad? A workspace has projects, areas, filters, tags, and a today view that pulls from all of it. A notepad is a list with due dates. Both can be valuable. They are different products with different price points.

3. Are you okay paying every month? Subscriptions smooth out features and updates. One-time pricing locks the price forever. The five-year cost of a $5/month app is $300. The five-year cost of a one-time $10 app is $10. Past year two, the math runs hard in one direction.

With those answers in mind, the six apps below cover the main shapes of todo app available on a Mac in 2026.

Things 3

The benchmark for “beautiful Mac task app.” Things is a one-time purchase: $49.99 on the Mac, $9.99 on the iPhone, $19.99 on the iPad, sold separately. It has been on the market for over a decade and remains, by most measures, the best-designed task app on any platform.

What it gets right: typography, animations, the daily review flow, the today view, the way projects and areas are organized, and the quick-add window that pops up with a global hotkey. The natural-language date parsing is excellent. The keyboard shortcuts are thorough.

What it does not do: cross-platform support outside Apple, sharing tasks with anyone else, and any kind of collaboration. Things is a personal task system. If you need a colleague to see a list, this is not your app.

The other consideration is the up-front price. Buying it on all three Apple platforms costs about $80, which is more than most people expect from a single utility. Past year two of use, it is the cheapest of any serious option in this list.

Pick Things 3 if: you live entirely in Apple’s ecosystem, you appreciate beautiful software, you want one tool that runs your personal life, and you do not need to share tasks with anyone.

Todoist

The cross-platform standard. Todoist runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android, the web, Apple Watch, and basically everything else that has a screen. The Mac app is fine but not the showcase. The iPhone app is excellent. The web app is the real product.

What it gets right: ubiquity. If you switch between Mac and a work Windows machine, or you need an Android device to see the same list, Todoist is the obvious answer. The natural-language input is best in class. Filters and labels are powerful. Karma points are silly but motivating.

What it does not do: feel like a Mac app. The UI is the same on every platform, which means it feels foreign on macOS. It also charges a subscription: Pro is $5 a month or $48 a year, and Business is $8 a month per user. The free tier exists but caps you at five active projects.

Pick Todoist if: you work across operating systems, you need sharing or collaboration, or you have spent years building a workflow inside it and migration would cost more than the subscription does.

TickTick

The pragmatic Todoist alternative. TickTick is similar in shape to Todoist (cross-platform, account-based, subscription) but priced lower and slightly more feature-dense. It costs $35.99 a year for the premium tier, with a more generous free tier than Todoist.

What it gets right: a built-in Pomodoro timer, habits tracking, a calendar view, and a price that is genuinely competitive with Todoist’s. If you wanted Todoist but the subscription bothered you, TickTick is the obvious next look.

What it does not do: feel premium. The visual design is functional rather than considered. Some features feel grafted on rather than designed in. The Mac app is acceptable but not great.

Pick TickTick if: you want Todoist’s shape at a lower price, or you specifically want a Pomodoro timer and habit tracking built into the same app as your tasks.

Apple Reminders

The default that has quietly gotten good. The version of Reminders that ships with current macOS is genuinely usable. It supports tags, smart lists, location-based reminders, natural-language dates, sharing with iCloud contacts, and per-list customization. It syncs across all your Apple devices for free.

What it gets right: it is already installed, it costs nothing, and it integrates with Siri, Calendar, and Mail in ways no third-party app can match. The “remind me about this email” flow alone is worth using.

What it does not do: feel like a productivity app you would choose for yourself. The interface is built around Apple’s design language for system apps, which is intentionally bland. There is no global quick-add hotkey on the Mac without setting up a custom Shortcut. The keyboard navigation is limited.

Pick Apple Reminders if: you do not actually need a real todo app, you just need a place to write down “buy milk” and have it remind you tomorrow. Or, if you are deeply in iCloud and want zero friction.

OmniFocus

The power-user GTD machine. OmniFocus is the choice for people who run their life on Getting Things Done methodology and want every detail of that system implemented carefully. It is also the most expensive option here: $99.99 a year for the subscription, or $199.99 for a one-time perpetual license that gets one major version.

What it gets right: perspectives (custom saved filters that act like dashboards), deferred dates, contexts, project review workflows, scripting via Omni Automation, and a mature ecosystem of templates and add-ons. The depth is unmatched.

What it does not do: feel approachable. OmniFocus has a learning curve that is more like Logic Pro than like a notepad. If you do not already know what a “perspective” is or why you would want one, you are not the customer. People who love OmniFocus are clear that the depth is the point.

Pick OmniFocus if: you have read David Allen’s book, you know the GTD vocabulary, and you want software designed to match it. If you have not, start somewhere else.

TodoBar

A focused menu bar utility. TodoBar lives in your menu bar as a popover. There is no Dock icon, no separate window, and no account. Tasks sync between your Macs through your private iCloud account. The pricing is one-time: free for up to 10 active tasks, then a one-time unlock for unlimited.

What it gets right: getting out of your way. There is a global hotkey for capture, natural-language date parsing for inline phrases like “tomorrow at 9am,” and an interface that lives in your peripheral vision instead of demanding a window. It does one thing on one platform and asks for one payment.

What it does not do: anything Things 3 does that is not “capture and complete tasks.” There are no projects, no areas, no shared lists, no iPhone app yet, and no cross-platform support. If you need a workspace, this is the wrong product.

Pick TodoBar if: you live mostly at your Mac, you want a friction-free capture tool that disappears, you prefer one-time pricing, and you are okay with the scope being deliberately small. The home page has the App Store link and a free tier that goes well past kicking the tires.

How to actually pick

Three rules cut through the noise.

If you live in Apple’s ecosystem and have $80 to spend once, Things 3 is the safe answer. It will still feel good in five years.

If you live across platforms or you need to share tasks with someone else, Todoist is the safe answer, with TickTick as a cheaper alternative.

If you want a tool that disappears into your menu bar and stays out of your day, TodoBar is the answer in this category, with Apple Reminders as the no-cost default if you are not picky.

OmniFocus is its own thing. You either know you want it or you should not start there.

The trap to avoid is picking the most powerful option in the hope that you will grow into it. Most people do not. They spend a week setting up an elaborate GTD system, abandon it, and end up using Reminders anyway. Pick the tool that matches what you already do, not what you wish you did.

If you want a related read, the guide on choosing a menu bar todo app covers the six questions to ask before committing to any tool in that category.