The best free task manager
Search that phrase and you get a list of apps that are not free in the same way. Some are capped plans built to sell you the paid one. Some cost nothing because a very large company already has your account. A few are free software, where the source is public and there is no paid version to upgrade to. All three can be a reasonable choice — but you should know which one you are installing. Here are seven, grouped by which kind of free they are, with what each one does well and where each one bites. Mindwtr is one of them, and it gets the same treatment.
What “free” actually means
Three different business models share one word, and it means something different in each of them.
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1 · A free tier
A capped plan whose job is to sell the paid plan. Todoist’s free Beginner plan allows 5 active personal projects, 3 filter views, and one week of activity history; Pro is $7 per month or $60 per year. TickTick’s free plan allows 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, 19 checklist items per task, 2 task reminders, 5 habits, and 1 attachment per day; Premium is US$49.99 per year. The product is the paid plan. The free plan is the sample.
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2 · A free product
No price and no upgrade, because the money is made elsewhere. Microsoft To Do and Google Tasks cost nothing and never ask for a card — they ask for an account instead. Your tasks live on the company’s servers (To Do stores them on Exchange Online), inside an ecosystem that already has your mail and calendar. That can be what you want. It is still a price, paid in something other than money.
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3 · Free software
The source is public under a license that grants you rights, and there is no paid version to be upsold to, because there is no paid version. Mindwtr (AGPL-3.0), Super Productivity (MIT), and Tasks.org (GNU GPLv3) are all in this group, funded by donations and sponsorship. If the project stops tomorrow, the code is still there and you can still build and run it.
Where the line actually sits
None of the three models is dishonest by itself. Freemium funds a lot of good software, and Todoist and TickTick are good software. The objection is narrower than that: a capped plan is a free tier, and calling it “free” without the noun makes a reader think they are getting something they are not. Say which one you are, and let people choose.
The third category has its own fine print worth reading. Free software can still sell a hosted service around itself. Tasks.org is a clear example: the app is GPLv3 and its site states that “F-Droid users do not require a subscription to unlock in-app features”, while the Google Play build asks for a subscription — you can name your own price from $0.99 per year — to unlock in-app features, and the optional Tasks.org Cloud sync service costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, or a GitHub sponsorship of $3 per month or more. That is a paid service around free software rather than a paywall inside it, and it is still worth knowing before you install.
Mindwtr’s own position, stated the same way we would want anyone else’s stated: free software under AGPL-3.0, no paid tier, no premium unlock, no trial, nothing held back from the app you install. Funded by donations.
The five with no paid tier, side by side
This table is limited to the five that are not free tiers — the free software and the free products — so every row means the same thing in every column; Tasks.org’s Play-store caveat is in the note below. Todoist and TickTick are profiled below with their free-plan caps and prices, and they appear as columns in the full feature-for-feature matrix. Rows where Mindwtr is not the answer are included.
Yes Partial No
| Capability | Mindwtr | Super Productivity | Tasks.org | Microsoft To Do | Google Tasks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open source | |||||
| Every feature available without paying | |||||
| Usable without an account | |||||
| Works offline | |||||
| Tasks kept on your device, not a company server | |||||
| You choose where data syncs | |||||
| Full GTD method out of the box | |||||
| Native apps on every platform, including Linux |
Method. Checked against official product, pricing, download, and help pages. “Full GTD” requires first-class Inbox, Next, Waiting, Someday, Review, and sequential projects; Super Productivity and Tasks.org are “Partial” because both give you projects, tags, and filters you can arrange into GTD — Tasks.org advertises “Filters, tags, lists, infinite-depth subtasks” and that it “works with nearly any productivity system!” — but neither documents a built-in review flow. “Native apps on every platform” requires Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android; Tasks.org is “Partial” because it is an Android app with a desktop build its own site labels “Desktop (alpha)”. “Every feature available without paying” is “Partial” for Tasks.org because its Play build gates in-app features behind a name-your-price subscription from $0.99/year while “F-Droid users do not require a subscription”, and Tasks.org Cloud sync requires $2.99/month, $29.99/year, or a GitHub sponsorship of $3/month or more. “No” means official sources do not document the capability — Google documents no offline mode for Tasks, and both it and Microsoft To Do require an account. Microsoft To Do is “Partial” on offline: Microsoft documents an offline mode but warns unsynced changes are lost on sign-out, and tasks are stored on Exchange Online servers. On price: Mindwtr, Super Productivity, Microsoft To Do, and Google Tasks have no paid tier; Todoist’s free Beginner plan caps 5 active personal projects, 3 filters, and one week of activity history, with Pro at $7/month or $60/year and Business at $10/user/month or $96/user/year, both effective December 10, 2025; TickTick Premium is US$49.99/year and its free plan is capped at 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, 19 checklist items per task, 2 task reminders, 5 habits, and 1 attachment per day. Sources: Mindwtr, Super Productivity, pricing and downloads, its repository, Tasks.org, its subscription page and repository, Microsoft To Do, its apps and supported accounts, Google Tasks and its help centre, Todoist pricing, offline mode, and TickTick plans.
The seven apps
Grouped by which kind of free they are, alphabetical within each group, so the running order is not an opinion. Free software first, then the free products, then the free tiers.
Mindwtr
Free software under AGPL-3.0, funded by donations, with no paid tier of any kind. It is a GTD app rather than a list app: an Inbox you process with the two-minute rule, separate Next, Waiting, and Someday lists, Areas, nested contexts and tags, sequential projects that surface only the step you can take, and guided daily and weekly review wizards. It runs natively on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, works offline as its normal state, and never asks for an account — tasks live in a local SQLite database with JSON and CSV export built in. Sync is opt-in and you pick the route: iCloud, Dropbox, WebDAV, a folder watched by Syncthing, or a small server you host, with an optional passphrase that encrypts file-based targets before they leave the device. On Android it is on F-Droid as well as Google Play.
The catch.
It is built for one person. There are no shared projects, no task assignment, and no comments — if two of you need the same list, this is the wrong tool. There is no habit tracker and no pomodoro timer. Automation runs through a local REST API, a CLI, and an MCP server rather than a hosted integration marketplace, so wiring it to another service is your work, not a toggle. There is no browser extension. Sync is not turned on for you; you have to choose a destination and configure it, which is a real step that a hosted account handles on your behalf. And it is a younger project than most of the apps on this page, with a smaller team behind it.
Best for: someone who wants the whole GTD method, on every platform they own, without an account, a subscription, or a copy of their tasks on someone else’s server.
Super Productivity
MIT-licensed, completely free — its pricing page reads “Super Productivity is 100% free. No trials, no premium tiers, no hidden costs.” Its distinctive angle is that time sits next to tasks: one-click time tracking, an integrated Pomodoro timer, timeboxing against calendar blocks, and work-logging metrics, alongside a normal task list with subtasks, notes, due dates, and Kanban and Eisenhower boards. It is unusually strong for developers, with issue integrations for GitHub, GitLab, Jira, Gitea, Redmine, and OpenProject that attach tracked time to the right ticket. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and in the browser, keeps a local database, and states “Zero tracking, zero accounts, maximum privacy.” Sync is yours to choose: Dropbox, WebDAV, or its end-to-end encrypted SuperSync, which you can self-host.
The catch.
It is a time-and-focus tool that happens to hold tasks, not a GTD system. There is no Inbox-processing flow, no Waiting or Someday status, no sequential projects, and no weekly review — you can build an approximation from projects, tags, and boards, but the method is your job to maintain. The feature surface is large and the interface shows it; people who want a quiet list often find it busy. And the Jira and GitLab integrations that make it shine are irrelevant if you do not live in an issue tracker.
Best for: a developer or freelancer on the desktop who wants to know where the hours went and to bill or report them, with the task list attached.
Tasks.org
Free software under the GNU GPLv3, and the best answer on this page for open protocols. It is an Android to-do and reminders app that speaks CalDAV directly, and syncs with Tasks.org Cloud, Google Tasks, DAVx⁵, CalDAV, EteSync, or DecSync CC — which means your tasks can live on your own Nextcloud or Radicale and show up in Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Reminders. Inside the app you get filters, tags, lists, infinite-depth subtasks, manual sorting, recurring tasks, and location-based reminders, with no ads and, in its own words, data that “is never shared with anyone”. On F-Droid every in-app feature is unlocked with no subscription.
The catch.
It is Android-first in a way that matters: the desktop build is labelled alpha on its own download page, and there is no iOS app at all, so a mixed-device household will need a second client that speaks the same CalDAV server. The Google Play build asks for a subscription to unlock in-app features — name your own price from $0.99 a year — and the hosted Tasks.org Cloud costs $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, or a GitHub sponsorship from $3 a month. It is deliberately a to-do list rather than a method: no Waiting or Someday status, no sequential projects, no review flow. And CalDAV is a lowest-common-denominator format, so structure that your server does not model can be lost in transit.
Best for: an Android user who already self-hosts a CalDAV server and wants tasks in the same place as their calendar and contacts.
Google Tasks
Free with a Google account, and the lightest thing on this list. Its real advantage is location: it sits in the side panel of Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive, so you turn an email into a task without leaving the tab, and anything with a date lands on your Google Calendar. You get lists, subtasks, dates and times, starred items, and daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly repeats, in apps for Android and iOS and on the web. If your working day already happens inside Gmail, nothing else is this close to hand.
The catch.
It is minimal by design, and the missing pieces are the ones a system is built from: no contexts or labels, no attachments, no notes beyond a plain details field, no priorities, no review, no filters. There is no desktop application on any platform, so on Linux, Windows, or macOS it is a browser tab. A Google account is required, your tasks live on Google’s servers, and Google does not document an offline mode. It holds a short list well and collapses under a real workload.
Best for: someone who lives in Gmail and Google Calendar and wants the shortest possible list, not a system.
Microsoft To Do
Free with a Microsoft account, with no paid upgrade to be pushed toward. It is more capable than Google Tasks without becoming complicated: lists and groups, steps that break a task into pieces, notes, due dates and reminders, starred tasks, and My Day, a daily planner that suggests what to pull in. Lists can be shared with other people, which nothing else in the free-software group on this page can do. It has apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android plus the web, and because tasks are stored on Exchange Online they show up in Outlook alongside your mail and flagged messages.
The catch.
The account is not optional, and the supported-account list is narrower than you might expect — personal Microsoft accounts and eligible work or school accounts only; Microsoft documents that on-premises Exchange Server accounts are not supported. Your tasks live on Microsoft’s servers, not your device; offline use works, but Microsoft warns unsynced changes are lost if you sign out. There is no Linux client. It is a list app rather than a GTD app: no contexts, no Waiting or Someday status, no sequential projects, no review. And it is closed source, so “free” here rests on Microsoft continuing to find it worth running.
Best for: someone already inside Microsoft 365 who wants Outlook-connected lists they can share with a partner or a colleague, at no cost.
TickTick (free plan)
A polished, dense product with a generous feature spread for the money: tasks, a calendar view, an Eisenhower matrix, a built-in habit tracker with statistics, a Pomodoro timer, widgets, and themes, across every major platform including Linux. The free plan is a real working app rather than a demo, and for a short personal list many people never hit the ceiling. Premium is US$49.99 per year.
The catch.
The caps are specific and they arrive sooner than expected: the free plan allows 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, 19 checklist items per task, 2 task reminders, 5 habits, and 1 attachment per day, and the plan table marks Filter, Timeline View, Task Duration, Integrations, and AI Features as Premium-only. Two reminders per task is the one that catches people first. A TickTick account is required, its help centre documents no offline mode, and it is closed source, so your tasks live on TickTick’s servers under their terms. GTD is something you assemble from lists, tags, and filters; there is no built-in review.
Best for: someone who wants tasks, habits, and a calendar in one polished app and is willing to pay US$49.99 a year once the free caps start to pinch.
Todoist (free plan)
The best capture experience in the category. Natural-language dates (“every second Tuesday at 9am”) work reliably, quick add is everywhere you might have a thought, and the apps are fast and stable on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and the web, with a large catalogue of hosted integrations behind them. Shared projects with assigned tasks and comments are built in. The free Beginner plan includes recurring dates and automatic reminders for tasks that have a date and time.
The catch.
The free plan is a tier with documented edges: 5 active personal projects, 3 filter views, and one week of activity history. Custom, time-based, location-based, and recurring reminders are Pro features. Pro is $7 a month or $60 a year and Business is $10 per user a month or $96 per user a year, both effective December 10, 2025. Offline works, but Todoist’s own help page warns you must sign in first — “Without doing so, you can’t access or make changes to your tasks or projects.” An account is required, it is closed source, and the GTD method is a structure you build from projects, labels, and filters rather than something the app ships with.
Best for: someone whose priority is frictionless capture and shared projects, who can live inside 5 projects or expects to pay for Pro.
How to choose
Five common situations and the honest answer for each. Only one of them is us.
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You want the lightest possible list, inside Google or Microsoft
Google Tasks if your day happens in Gmail and Google Calendar; Microsoft To Do if it happens in Outlook, and especially if you need to share a list with someone. Neither costs anything, both want the account you already have, and neither will ask you to learn a method.
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You want open-source time tracking and tasks on the desktop
Super Productivity. Nothing else here puts a timer, a Pomodoro, timeboxing, and Jira or GitHub issue attribution in the same window under an MIT licence, and it is free with no tier of any kind.
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You want open source on Android, synced over CalDAV
Tasks.org. It talks to your own CalDAV server, EteSync, or DecSync, it is GPLv3, and the F-Droid build unlocks every in-app feature without a subscription. Just check the platform list first if you also carry an iPhone.
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You want a polished freemium app and know what you are signing up for
Todoist or TickTick, with your eyes open. They are good products with real free plans and real caps — 5 projects and 3 filters, or 9 lists and 99 tasks per list. Read the ceiling before you build a system on top of it, and budget $60 or US$49.99 a year for the day you hit it.
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You want the complete GTD method, free forever, on every platform
Mindwtr. Inbox processing, Next, Waiting, Someday, Areas, sequential projects, and a guided weekly review, on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, with no account and no paid tier — provided you do not need shared projects, a habit tracker, or a browser extension.
Common questions
What is the best completely free task manager?
If “completely free” means no paid tier exists at all, the candidates on this page are Mindwtr, Super Productivity, Microsoft To Do, and Google Tasks, with Tasks.org free on F-Droid. Which of them is best depends on what you are doing: the whole GTD method on every platform points to Mindwtr, time tracking on the desktop to Super Productivity, and a short list beside your existing mail to Microsoft To Do or Google Tasks.
Is a free todo app safe to trust with my tasks?
The question to ask is where the data sits and what happens if the app goes away. On a hosted service your tasks are on the company’s servers under their terms, so read the export path before you commit. Open-source, local-first apps answer both questions differently: the data is a file on your disk, and the source can be read, forked, and built by anyone if the project stops.
Is Todoist’s or TickTick’s free plan enough?
For a personal list, often yes. Todoist’s free plan allows 5 active personal projects and 3 filter views; TickTick’s allows 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, and 2 reminders per task. The caps bind when you start treating the app as a system rather than a list — a GTD setup usually wants more projects and more saved filters than either free plan permits.
What is the best free task manager for Linux?
Mindwtr and Super Productivity both ship native Linux builds and cost nothing. Todoist and TickTick have Linux apps but on capped free plans. Microsoft To Do has no Linux client, and Google Tasks has no desktop application on any platform — on Linux it is a browser tab.
Keep reading
The full sourced matrix — seven task managers in one table — is on how Mindwtr compares. If you arrived here from one product in particular, these pages go deeper: the best Todoist alternatives and a free GTD app for Android. New to the method itself? What is GTD? takes five minutes.