What's the best to-do list app?

There isn't one answer, because the right one depends on where you spend your day. If you live in Slack, pick one that works in Slack. If you drive a lot, pick one you can talk to. We built 42 Todo! for people who are rarely at a desk when they remember something, so it works in ChatGPT, Claude, Slack, Alexa, and CarPlay as well as on your phone.

Should I pay for a to-do list app?

Only after the free version has proven itself for a few weeks. Adding tasks, due dates, and reminders should be free. Paying makes sense when you want the extras, like sharing with a household, automations, or an API. Paying on day one because this time you're going to stick with it never works.

How do I move my tasks from my old app?

Export from the old one and keep the file, then retype only what you still owe someone. Almost every to-do app can export to CSV or JSON, and 42 Todo! can import that. The mistake is trying to bring five years of finished tasks along with you.

What if I've already quit three of these?

Then the pattern is worth more than the apps. Look at how each one ended, and it's usually the same way: you stopped adding things, the list went stale, and you quit trusting it. That points at how hard the app made it to save something, not at your discipline.

How to pick a to-do list app

We make a to-do list app, so you already know which one we're going to say. Better to put that at the top than to pretend we're neutral.

Here's the part we'd tell you even if we sold nothing. Almost every "best to-do list app" list you'll read tests a morning that never breaks anybody.

Every roundup tests the same quiet morning

Watch how these get made. Somebody opens ten apps on a laptop, types in a few sample tasks, takes screenshots, and rates the layout and the price. As a test of a calm Tuesday at a desk, it's fair enough.

But nobody quits an app because the font was wrong. People quit in March, in the middle of a rough stretch, when they stopped putting things in for a few days and the list went stale. No roundup tests March.

Four things worth checking

First, how much work is it to save one thing? Not the demo version where you're already looking at the app, but the real version where you're driving or mid-conversation. If saving a task means unlocking a phone and filling out boxes, you'll skip it, and the skipping is what kills lists¹.

Second, does it come back to you? A list that waits quietly for you to open it is counting on a habit, and habits break during exactly the weeks you need the list most.

Third, does it work in the places you already spend your day? Your phone, sure, but also Slack if that's where you work, your car if you drive a lot, or ChatGPT if that's where you think out loud.

Fourth, can you get your stuff back out? Every app in this category is one bad year away from being sold or shut down, and you should be able to walk with your tasks. If the export is buried or partial, that tells you something.

The one that settles it

If you're only going to test one thing, make it the first one, and test it for real. Try to add a task while your hands are full.

Groceries in one arm, phone in the other. Or driving. Or three minutes before a meeting starts. Whatever the app makes you do in that moment is what it's actually asking of you every day, and the pretty screenshot has nothing to say about it.

Switching costs less than you think

A lot of people stay with an app they've soured on because moving feels like a project. Usually it isn't. Most of what's in there is old and dead, and the ten things that matter this week you already know by heart.

So don't migrate five years of history. Export it, park the file somewhere, and hand-type the handful of things you actually owe someone. Twenty minutes, and you find out fast whether the new one is any better.

What we'd tell a friend

Try two, not six. Give each one a real week, including a bad day. Notice which one you reach for when you're annoyed and busy, because that's the only honest signal you'll get.

The best app is the one you were still using in March, and you can't tell that from a screenshot.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best to-do list app?: There isn't one answer, because the right one depends on where you spend your day. If you live in Slack, pick one that works in Slack. If you drive a lot, pick one you can talk to. We built 42 Todo! for people who are rarely at a desk when they remember something, so it works in ChatGPT, Claude, Slack, Alexa, and CarPlay as well as on your phone.
Should I pay for a to-do list app?: Only after the free version has proven itself for a few weeks. Adding tasks, due dates, and reminders should be free. Paying makes sense when you want the extras, like sharing with a household, automations, or an API. Paying on day one because this time you're going to stick with it never works.
How do I move my tasks from my old app?: Export from the old one and keep the file, then retype only what you still owe someone. Almost every to-do app can export to CSV or JSON, and 42 Todo! can import that. The mistake is trying to bring five years of finished tasks along with you.
What if I've already quit three of these?: Then the pattern is worth more than the apps. Look at how each one ended, and it's usually the same way: you stopped adding things, the list went stale, and you quit trusting it. That points at how hard the app made it to save something, not at your discipline.

Footnotes

What a to-do list app is actually for the one job, and why most of the feature list is preference. ↩
Stop opening your to-do list what happens to a list that waits for you to come back to it. ↩