The 6 Best Google Tasks Alternatives in 2026

Why upgrade from Google Tasks?

Google Tasks is free, and if you live in Gmail and Google Calendar it's wonderfully frictionless. But it's deliberately minimal: no natural-language input, a thin mobile app, no real project structure, and few reminders or views. Once your task list grows past a handful of items, you feel the walls. The good news is that every alternative below imports easily and most keep the same simplicity you liked — just with more room to grow. Here are the six best, sorted by how much more you actually want.

1. Microsoft To Do — the best free upgrade

If you want more than Google Tasks without paying, Microsoft To Do is the answer: completely free with any Microsoft account, with a nicer interface, a "My Day" focus view, reminders, due dates, shared lists, and sync across Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and web. It's the obvious upgrade — especially if you also use Outlook or Microsoft 365 — and it stays as simple as Google Tasks while doing more.

2. Todoist — the best for power features

Todoist is the step up for people who've outgrown simple lists: fast natural-language input ("email team every Friday 9am"), projects, labels, filters, and a polished app on every platform. In early 2026 it added Ramble, an AI voice-to-task feature. The free plan covers 5 projects; Pro is about $5/month. The pick if you want your task manager to scale with you — see our free Todoist alternatives if the free cap is tight.

3. TickTick — the best all-in-one value

If you want tasks plus a calendar view, habits, and a Pomodoro timer in one app, TickTick bundles it all for $35.99/year (about $3/month) on every platform, with a usable free tier. It's a bigger jump from Google Tasks' simplicity, but excellent value if you want your list to grow into a full system. More in our TickTick comparison.

Want more than a list — a day that plans itself? Productivity Genie's AI coach does that, free to start on iOS and Android.

4. Productivity Genie — if you want a plan, not just a list

Sometimes the real problem isn't the task app — it's that a list, however tidy, never tells you what to actually do today. Productivity Genie adds the missing layer: an AI coach, Mo, takes your tasks and plans them into your day, alongside habits, a focus timer, and a short review. Free to start on iOS and Android. It's brand new and mobile-only, and it's a bigger shift than swapping one list app for another. But if you've been managing tasks in Google Tasks and still end days wondering where the time went, the plan-my-day layer is the upgrade that actually changes things.

5. Any.do — the polished middle ground

Any.do sits between Microsoft To Do's simplicity and TickTick's depth: tasks, lists, reminders, and calendar sync in a clean, well-designed app across Android, iOS, and web, with a usable free tier. A good pick if Google Tasks felt too plain but Todoist or TickTick feel like too much.

6. Google Keep — if you just want it simpler and visual

Not every upgrade means more features. If Google Tasks felt clunky and you mostly want quick, visual capture, Google Keep — also free and inside Google — offers colorful notes and checklists that some people find friendlier than Tasks for lightweight to-dos. A sideways move, but the right one if simplicity was never the problem.

How to choose

• Free upgrade, still simple: Microsoft To Do.
• Power features that scale: Todoist.
• All-in-one value: TickTick.
• A plan, not just a list: Productivity Genie.
• Polished middle ground: Any.do.
• Simpler and visual: Google Keep.

Whichever you pick, moving apps is a chance to simplify rather than port clutter — our guide to simple task management shows how to keep the list lean.