Todoist vs TickTick for ADHD: task managers compared

Is Todoist or TickTick better for ADHD?

Neither is better for everyone. Todoist is simpler to live in, and TickTick packs in more.

Todoist's pricing page lists a Beginner plan at $0 and Pro at $5 a month billed yearly or $7 monthly. Pro lifts the cap from 5 personal projects to 300 and from 3 filter views to 150, and adds a calendar layout, task duration, custom reminders and deadlines. Our data shows about £6.99 a month in sterling.

TickTick's home page lists a habit tracker, a 25-minute Pomodoro timer, calendar views from daily to yearly and apps for phones, computers, tablets and watches. Sign-up is free. We could not confirm premium pricing from the maker's page, which returned an error when we checked; third-party sites quote different yearly prices.

If you want one app for lists, habits and a work timer, choose TickTick. If you want to add a task in two taps and forget the rest, choose Todoist.

What should you look for in a task manager?

Look for fast capture, a view of time and a low penalty for falling behind.

• Capture speed. Can you add a task from your lock screen, by voice or by email?
• Time on the page. Duration, time blocks or a calendar view show whether a day is possible.
• Reminder control. Can you set your own, and more than one?
• Rescheduling. One tap to move overdue work beats a red wall of guilt.
• Cost against caps. Free plans cap projects and reminders. Paid planners cost $15 to $34 a month; decide if the calendar link is worth that.

We have not tested any of these. The details come from each maker's pricing page on 2 November 2026.

Which planners schedule your day against your calendar?

Sunsama, Akiflow, Morgen and Motion pull tasks and meetings into one view, and none has a free plan we could find.

Sunsama is the most guided of them. Akiflow is the dearest. Morgen is the cheapest on annual billing and gives the longest refund window. Motion makes the boldest promise, scheduling tasks for you with AI, but its pricing page showed its paid plans as unavailable when we looked, so we would not build a routine around it until that clears.

Do these tools help with executive function?

We cannot say they do. These are scheduling tools, and we make no claim that any app changes how your brain works.

What they do offer is mechanical: a place to put things, a view of the week, a nudge. Some people find a blank calendar slot for a task easier to obey than a list. Others find automatic rescheduling stressful because the plan keeps moving. Try the trial with a real week before paying.

What is the difference between a task manager and a planner?

A task manager holds the list. A planner puts the list on a calendar. Todoist and TickTick sit mostly in the first group; Sunsama, Akiflow, Morgen and Motion sit in the second.

That matters because a list never tells you the hours do not exist. If you have six hours of meetings and ten hours of tasks, a list still looks fine. A planner shows the collision. Pay for a planner only if you recognise that problem. If your trouble is forgetting things, a list with good reminders is enough, and a free plan may cover you.

Cost grows quickly too. A planner at $15 to $34 a month is $180 to $408 a year, against a few pounds a month for a list. That is a lot to spend on a tool you may stop using in March, so use the trials fully: put a real week into it, including the bad days, before you decide.

How do you choose without wasting a month?

Run two apps against the same week. Put your actual commitments in both, and see which one you open without being told to.

Check four things in the trial. How fast is it to add something while walking? What does a missed day look like? Can you get your tasks back out as a file if you leave? And does it work on every device you use at work and at home? If an app fails any of those, drop it, however good the demo looks.

Which should you pick?

Start free, then pay only if a limit stops you.

• Plain and quick: Todoist.
• Lists plus habits plus a timer: TickTick.
• Meeting-heavy week: Sunsama or Morgen, on their trials.
• Many apps to merge: Akiflow, if the price makes sense.

Our guides on calendar planning apps and work tools go further for work.

Things to know

• Dollar pricing. Most of these apps price in US dollars, and tax is added.
• Plans change. Motion's plans showed as unavailable when we checked; others may change too.
• Cancel before a trial ends. Akiflow takes a card up front and charges when the trial ends unless you cancel.
• AI features can be wrong. Check any auto-planned day against your actual commitments.