Todoist Alternatives for Building Daily Routines (2026)

Last updated: 2026-08-21

Quick answer: The best Todoist alternative depends on what stopped working. TickTick is the closest swap if you want tasks and habits in one place, Structured suits people who think in a daily timeline, Things 3 replaces a subscription with a one time purchase, and Routinery is the fit when the problem is getting through the routine once you are standing in the kitchen.

People leave Todoist because they tried to use it for something it wasn't built for. A morning routine is the same seven steps, every day, in roughly the same order, and a checkbox does not help much with the part that is hard.

This guide covers six alternatives. We checked every price, rating and platform below against the official pricing page, the App Store listing or Google Play on 2026-08-20.

What Todoist does well: the case for not switching

Todoist is a task manager with more reach than anything else here, and that is the reason to stay. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, iPadOS, Android, watchOS, WearOS and visionOS, plus browser extensions, according to its official downloads page. Very few productivity apps cover that much ground. The iOS listing sits at 4.8 stars from about 128,000 ratings.

It also handles repetition. Recurring tasks will put "stretch" back on your list every morning without you touching it, and location based reminders can fire when you get home. If your problem is that things fall out of your head, Todoist already solves it.

Switching away from a tool that works is usually a mistake. Read the next section first and see whether the failure you are having is the one described there.

Where a task list stops helping: what the research says

A checkbox records that something happened, after it has happened. In the SMARTER trial, 502 adults were asked to self monitor their diet for twelve months. Average adherence to self monitoring was 51.6 percent (SD 39.3), and higher adherence was associated with greater odds of losing at least 5 percent of body weight (adjusted OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.31). Logging helped, and half the people could not keep doing it.

The second finding is closer to what a to do list does to a routine. A 2025 qualitative study in BMC Public Health interviewed 27 people about how they behave when they cannot meet their own standard. Participants chose to do nothing rather than adjust the plan. The sample was small and skewed, with 85 percent white and 89 percent female participants, and the authors call it a first look, not a prevalence estimate. The mechanism still matches what a list of unchecked boxes looks like on a bad morning.

Six red items reads as a verdict on the morning.

A task app is very good at telling you what you did not do, and it has nothing to say about the twenty minutes where you're supposed to be doing it.

The six alternatives: what each one actually is

TickTick keeps the list-and-project structure Todoist users already know, then puts a habit section beside it. TickTick's own blog puts the free tier at 19 lists, 99 tasks per list and 5 habits. It also ships a Pomodoro timer, which Todoist does not have. Its iOS rating is the highest in this group at 4.9 from about 45,000 ratings.

Structured puts your day on a vertical timeline instead of in a list. The App Store listing includes the Pomodoro focus timer in the free tier and reserves calendar sync, recurring tasks and AI day planning for Pro. There is no Android app. Android users go through web.structured.app instead, which the official site confirms.

Things 3 changes the shape of the bill. There's no subscription and no free tier. You buy it once per device, which comes to $79.97 across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Apple only.

Microsoft To Do has no in app purchases on either store. There is one tier and it is free. It also carries the largest review base here, with 265,441 iOS ratings and roughly 460,000 on Google Play.

Notion answers a different question. There is no dedicated habit feature, so you build a database and the database becomes your tracker. That appeals to a specific kind of person, and if you're not that person the setup gets abandoned. Ask yourself honestly which one you are before you spend the evening on it.

Routinery starts from the other end. Instead of a list you check, you get a sequence that runs, with a timer on each step and a voice telling you what is next. The free tier covers two routines. Checklists are unlimited.

Feature comparison: Todoist versus Routinery

Todoist wins on reach and on the raw craft of task management. It has more platforms, more ratings, and sub-projects, filters and shared assignments that nothing here matches.

The first row is the one that matters for routines. Todoist's own help article on Pomodoro sends you to a separate app, which is a reasonable answer for a task manager and an unhelpful one at 6:40 in the morning.

How to choose: start from what broke

• Stay put if things keep falling out of your head. Todoist solves that, and nothing here solves it better.
• You want habits and tasks in one app. TickTick. It's the smallest change from what you already know.
• Structured suits people who think in hours, not lists, as long as you're on Apple hardware. If you are not, read time blocking versus routines first and then look at what runs on your devices.
• You are tired of paying monthly. Things 3, at $79.97 for three devices. It pays for itself against a $59.99 annual subscription in the second year, and not before.
• Microsoft To Do costs nothing and has no upsell, because there is no paid tier to sell you.
• You enjoy building systems. Notion. Budget an evening for setup.
• You know exactly what to do and still do not do it. That is a different category of app. The roundup of routine apps with timers covers the options.

Getting started: one routine, one week

Pick the routine that fails most often. For most people that is either the first hour of the day or the last hour before bed, and it is usually the one with the most steps.

Write the steps down in the order you actually do them, not the order you wish you did them. Put a time on each. Seven steps at three minutes each is a twenty one minute routine, and knowing that number changes how the morning feels, because a vague morning routine feels like it'll take an hour.

Then run it for seven days without changing anything. Don't add steps or reorder them. You are collecting data on whether the sequence is realistic, and one week is enough to find out.

Moving off a habit tracker is a different set of tradeoffs, and the guide to habit tracking app alternatives walks through them.

Frequently asked questions: switching away from Todoist

What is the best Todoist alternative for routines?

TickTick is the best direct alternative for most people. It keeps the task management you already rely on, then adds a habit section and a Pomodoro timer that Todoist lacks. Its free tier allows 5 habits, and paid access is $3.99 per month or $35.99 per year, which is below Todoist Pro at $6.99 and $59.99. If the problem is execution and not tracking, TickTick won't fix it either. A routine runner that times each step is the category to look at.

Can Todoist track habits?

Yes, through recurring tasks, and the App Store listing describes them as a way to build habits. A recurring task reappears on the schedule you set and you check it off. You don't get a dedicated habit view, a streak record, or any sense of how the routine went beyond done and not done. There is also no built in timer. Todoist's own help article on Pomodoro technique points readers to separate timer apps and integrations, so it's a documented gap, not a hidden one. For simple daily repetition, recurring tasks are enough.

Is there a free Todoist alternative?

Microsoft To Do is completely free with no in app purchases listed on the App Store or Google Play. There is no paid tier at all, so nothing is held back. TickTick, Structured, Notion and Routinery all run free tiers with limits, and those limits are the thing to check before you commit. TickTick caps you at 19 lists and 5 habits. Routinery's free tier covers 2 routines with unlimited checklists. Structured includes its Pomodoro timer for free and charges for calendar sync and recurring tasks. Things 3 has no free version.

What is the best Todoist alternative without a subscription?

Things 3 is the only app here with no subscription option at all. You pay once per device, at $9.99 for iPhone, $19.99 for iPad and $49.99 for Mac. Buying all three costs $79.97, which is more than a single year of Todoist Pro and less than two. Structured offers a $99.99 lifetime purchase alongside its subscriptions, so that is a second route out of monthly billing. Both are Apple first, and Things has no Android or Windows version at all, which rules it out for anyone on mixed hardware.

Which Todoist alternative works on Android?

TickTick, Microsoft To Do, Notion and Routinery all ship native Android apps. Things 3 does not, and its official pricing page lists only Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Vision Pro. Structured has no Android app either, though Android users can reach it through the web version. If you share tasks across a household with mixed devices, TickTick and Microsoft To Do give the widest coverage, and Todoist itself remains the broadest of all with nine platforms plus browser extensions. Platform reach decides this one.

References: peer-reviewed sources cited above

• Sereika SM, et al. Self monitoring adherence and weight loss in the SMARTER trial. 2025. n=502, twelve month randomised trial.
• Hoover LV, et al. All or nothing thinking and health behaviour change. BMC Public Health, 2025. n=27, qualitative.

About the author. Written by the Routinery team. Routinery builds a routine app that times each step of a sequence and guides you through it by voice. Competitor prices, ratings and platform support in this article were taken from official pricing pages, App Store listings and Google Play on 2026-08-20, and each claim links to the source it came from.