Which todo app should you use?

There are too many todo apps. Search “todo” on the App Store and you’ll scroll forever. The real problem isn’t finding one — it’s knowing which one to pick.

While building Fecit, I spent a lot of time with other apps. Not as competitive research, but because I genuinely wanted to understand what makes a good task manager. Here’s what I found.

Todoist — The most popular choice

Probably the first name that comes to mind when you think of todo apps. It’s been around since 2007 — over 18 years.

The strength is clear: natural language input is excellent. Type “do laundry at 9am on Friday” and it just works. And the integration ecosystem is massive — Google Calendar, Slack, Zapier, you name it.

The downside: calendar view and reminders are Pro-only ($4/month). And while collaboration exists, it’s not particularly strong.

Best for: People who want simple task management with strong integrations.

TickTick — The feature powerhouse

TickTick is the “yes, it does that too” app. Task management is just the start — it has a built-in Pomodoro timer, a habit tracker, and even white noise. All in one app.

The price is fair too. Premium is $2.80/month. For what you get, that’s genuinely good value.

The flip side: it can feel overwhelming at first. “Why does my todo app have white noise?” is a fair question.

Best for: People who want tasks + habits + focus timer all in one place.

Things 3 — Beautiful GTD

Often called the best todo app in the Apple ecosystem. For good reason. The UI is stunning. And it’s the most faithful GTD implementation out there. Inbox, Today, Upcoming, Someday — GTD concepts are built into the structure itself.

The biggest differentiator: one-time purchase. Mac $49.99, iPhone $9.99, iPad $19.99. No subscription. Buy once, done.

The downside is obvious: Apple only. No Windows, no Android, no web app. And zero collaboration features.

Best for: Apple users who want proper GTD with beautiful design.

Microsoft To Do — The free standard

The successor to Wunderlist. Its biggest strength is being completely free with deep Microsoft 365 integration. Flag an email in Outlook and it shows up in To Do automatically. Teams and Planner sync too.

The “My Day” feature is impressive. Every morning, you pick what you’ll focus on today. Simple but effective.

Beyond that, it’s basic. No calendar view. No kanban. No activity tracking. No automation.

Best for: People already in the Microsoft ecosystem who want free, basic task management.

Apple Reminders — The one already on your phone

No installation needed — that’s the biggest advantage. Siri integration is the most natural of any app. “Hey Siri, remind me to prep for the meeting tomorrow at 10am.” It just works.

Location-based reminders are unique too. “Remind me when I get to the office” is possible. The grocery list auto-categorization is a nice touch.

But for power users, it falls short. No natural language parsing, weak project management, Apple-only.

Best for: Apple users who want quick capture via Siri without complexity.

So where does Fecit fit?

Honestly, Fecit hasn’t been around as long as these apps. It doesn’t have as many integrations. In terms of raw feature count, TickTick might win.

But the question I kept asking while building Fecit was: “Is the flow from writing a task to finishing it actually smooth?”

Most apps focus on managing tasks. Writing them down, categorizing, organizing. But support for actually finishing things is often thin. You check a task and it disappears. That’s it.

Fecit takes a different approach.

Writing it down — Minimally

A title is enough. But when you need it, you can expand to tactics, schedule, intention, and subtasks. Minimal to Maximal. Simple tasks stay simple. Complex tasks go deep.

Things 3 shares a similar philosophy, but Fecit structures it with “Tactics” and “Intention” — prompting you to think about why you’re doing this and how you’ll finish it.

Focusing — One at a time

Focus mode puts a single task on screen. Similar in spirit to TickTick’s Pomodoro, but it’s less about a timer and more about the state of focusing on this one thing right now.

After finishing — Retrospect

When you complete a task in Fecit, you can write a retrospect. Rate your satisfaction. Write down what you learned. This doesn’t exist in other apps.

A task doesn’t just get checked off and disappear. It becomes: “What did I learn from this?” And that retrospect feeds back into your templates.

Seeing the flow — Activity tracking

Heatmaps, streaks, weekly reviews. You can see whether you’re staying consistent. Similar to Todoist’s Karma system, but structured around weekly reflection and preparation for the next week.

Repeating — Routines and templates

Daily recurring tasks go into daily routines. Frequent task patterns become templates. You can even browse community templates to adopt other people’s workflows.

At a glance

What actually matters

There’s no perfect todo app. Each one does something well.

• Integrations matter? Todoist
• Want all the features? TickTick
• Apple + GTD + design? Things 3
• Free + Microsoft? Microsoft To Do
• Already installed? Apple Reminders

Fecit is being built for people who want the entire flow — write → organize → finish → reflect — in one app.

It’s still rough around the edges. Not many integrations, no web version, not widely known. But I believe the approach to “the experience of finishing tasks” is different.

Try it and decide for yourself.