The Best Daily Planner Apps to Tame Your To-Do List

Remember that brilliant idea you had in the shower this morning? What about the grocery list you were mentally composing during a work call, or the sudden reminder that you need to schedule a dentist appointment? Our brains are fantastic for having ideas, but they’re notoriously bad at holding onto them all at once. Before you know it, your mind feels like a desktop cluttered with a dozen open windows, and that important task gets buried under a pile of digital sticky notes.

A great daily planner app is more than just a checklist; it’s a sanctuary for your thoughts. It’s a place to declutter your mind, turn chaos into a clear path forward, and finally free up your mental energy to focus on what truly matters. Forget the crumpled to-do lists and the panic of a forgotten deadline. Let's find a digital partner that can help you design your days with intention and a little more joy.

All-Rounder Task Managers

These apps are the swiss-army knives of productivity—powerful enough for complex projects but simple enough for your grocery list.

Todoist

Todoist is like that incredibly reliable friend who remembers everything you need to do, without ever getting overwhelmed. Its beauty lies in its simplicity, but underneath its clean surface is a powerhouse of organizational features ready for when you need them.

Key Features:

Type tasks like you speak with natural language input (e.g., "Finish report by Friday at 5pm #work").
Organize with sub-tasks, priorities, labels, and powerful filters.
Get started quickly with project templates for everything from meeting agendas to vacation planning.
View your tasks as lists, Kanban boards, or on a calendar.
Gamify your productivity with Karma points that track your progress.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Available on virtually every platform, beautifully intuitive design, amazing filtering capabilities.
Cons: Some essential features, like reminders, require a premium subscription.

Pricing: A solid Free plan gets you started. Pro and Business plans unlock the full suite of features.

TickTick

TickTick is the perfect blend of a task list and a life organizer. It masterfully combines your to-dos with habit tracking and focus tools, making it a one-stop shop for building a more productive and balanced life.

Key Features:

A built-in calendar view to see your tasks and events in one place.
A dedicated habit tracker to help you build and maintain good routines.
An integrated Pomodoro timer and white noise to help you get in the zone.
An Eisenhower Matrix view to help you prioritize what's truly important.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: The free version is incredibly generous with features; a fantastic tool for both personal and work life.
Cons: Advanced calendar features and a few other power-user tools are part of the premium plan.

Pricing: A feature-rich Free plan. The affordable Premium plan unlocks everything.

Any.do

Any.do is designed to bring calm and clarity to your day. It combines your to-do list, calendar, and reminders into a single, elegant interface, with a unique daily planning feature that encourages you to be intentional with your time.

Key Features:

A beautiful to-do list that integrates seamlessly with your calendar.
A smart grocery list that magically sorts your items by aisle.
The "Any.do Moment," a daily ritual to plan your day and focus on priorities.
A clever WhatsApp integration lets you create tasks right from your chats.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: A sleek and delightful user experience, perfect for personal organization.
Cons: Many of the most helpful features, like recurring tasks, are behind the premium paywall.

Pricing: A Free plan is available. The Premium plan unlocks all features.

The All-in-One Workspaces

For those who dream of a single place for their notes, projects, and plans, these apps are less like to-do lists and more like digital Lego sets for building your perfect productivity system.

Notion

Notion isn't just a planner; it's a blank canvas for your entire life. It combines notes, tasks, wikis, and databases into one infinitely flexible space. If you love tinkering and creating a system that is uniquely yours, you'll feel right at home here.

Key Features:

Flexible pages that can hold everything from simple text to complex databases and media embeds.
Powerful databases you can view as tables, boards, calendars, galleries, and more.
A massive library of community-created templates for any imaginable purpose.
Real-time collaboration that makes it a dream for team projects.
Built-in AI to help you write, summarize, and brainstorm.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Endlessly customizable, consolidates countless other apps into one, fantastic for knowledge management.
Cons: The learning curve can be steep, and it can feel a bit slow or over-the-top for simple task lists.

Pricing: A very generous Free plan for personal use. Paid plans (Plus, Business, Enterprise) add more collaboration tools.

ClickUp

ClickUp’s bold mission is to be the "one app to replace them all." It's an incredibly feature-rich platform that packs everything from tasks and documents to whiteboards and goals into a single, colorful interface.

Key Features:

Over 15 different ways to view your work, including Lists, Boards, Calendars, and Gantt charts.
Fully customizable statuses, fields, and automations to match any workflow.
Built-in tools for Docs, Whiteboards, Chat, and Goal tracking.
Robust features for managing team workloads and resources.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Unbelievably versatile and packed with features, highly customizable, and competitively priced.
Cons: The sheer number of options can feel overwhelming for new users or anyone looking for simplicity.

Pricing: A great Free Forever plan. Paid plans (Unlimited, Business, Enterprise) unlock even more power.

Visual Planners

If you're a visual thinker who needs to see your day to understand it, these apps transform your tasks and schedules into beautiful, intuitive displays.

Trello

Trello brought the magic of the Kanban board to the masses. Its simple system of boards, lists, and drag-and-drop cards makes managing projects feel less like work and more like play. It's the digital equivalent of a whiteboard covered in neatly organized sticky notes.

Key Features:

An incredibly intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
Cards that can hold checklists, due dates, attachments, and conversations.
"Power-Ups" that let you connect with other apps like Slack, Google Drive, and more.
"Butler" automation to handle repetitive tasks for you.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Super easy to learn and use, highly visual, excellent for tracking workflows.
Cons: Can feel a bit messy on very large projects; not ideal for text-heavy planning.

Pricing: A Free plan with some limits. Paid plans (Standard, Premium, Enterprise) add more boards and Power-Ups.

Structured - Daily Planner

Structured turns your day into a single, beautiful timeline. By merging your calendar and to-do list, it helps you visualize exactly how your day will flow, making it perfect for students, freelancers, and anyone who thrives on routine.

Key Features:

A gorgeous, visual timeline of your entire day from morning to night.
Effortlessly import events from your existing calendar.
A huge library of icons and colors to make your planner truly your own.
An inbox to quickly jot down tasks before you find a spot for them in your timeline.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Aesthetically pleasing and motivating, simple to use, wonderful for planning daily routines.
Cons: Not designed for managing complex, multi-stage projects.

Pricing: A Free version with limitations. A Pro subscription unlocks all features.

Amie

Amie calls itself a "joyful productivity app," and it lives up to the name. It combines your calendar and to-dos into a colorful, friendly interface and adds unique social features that make planning feel less like a chore and more like connecting.

Key Features:

A seamless, integrated view of your calendar and to-do list.
Easy scheduling links and availability sharing.
See what friends are up to with profile links.
Fun UI touches like Spotify integration and built-in weather forecasts.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: A fun and engaging interface, innovative social features that feel fresh.
Cons: Might be too simple for power users who need deep project management features.

Pricing: A Freemium model with a free tier and a Pro plan for more features.

Team & Project Powerhouses

These apps are built from the ground up to help teams get on the same page, providing clarity on who is doing what, by when, and why it matters.

Asana

Asana is a master of work orchestration. It’s designed to give teams a clear view of everything from daily tasks to company-wide strategic initiatives, eliminating confusion and ensuring everyone is aligned.

Key Features:

Multiple project views including List, Board, Timeline, and Calendar.
Portfolios to get a bird's-eye view of the status of multiple projects.
A workflow builder and automation rules to streamline common processes.
Workload management tools to help prevent team burnout.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Exceptional for team collaboration and complex project management, powerful reporting tools.
Cons: Can feel like overkill for personal use; pricing can be steep for smaller teams.

Pricing: A free Basic plan for individuals or small teams. Premium and Business plans are needed for most of the advanced features.

Plaky

Plaky is a project management tool that offers a shockingly powerful set of features completely for free. It's a fantastic choice for teams of any size who need a collaborative planner without the enterprise price tag.

Key Features:

Unlimited users, projects, and tasks on the free plan.
Multiple views, including Kanban boards and traditional lists.
Real-time collaboration and notifications.
Time tracking and reporting features included.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: An incredibly generous free plan, easy to use for team collaboration.
Cons: As a newer platform, it may not have the vast library of integrations that more established tools offer.

Pricing: Free.

Mindful & Focused Planners

These apps are designed not just to help you do more, but to help you do the right things with a sense of calm and intention.

Sunsama

Sunsama is a planner for busy professionals who want to reclaim their work-life balance. It guides you through a daily planning ritual, pulling tasks from all your other tools into a single view so you can build a calm, sustainable workflow.

Key Features:

Guided daily planning and shutdown rituals to start and end your day with intention.
Timeboxing and a built-in focus mode timer.
Integrates with Trello, Asana, Slack, and more to act as your central command center.
Tracks your workload to help you avoid overworking.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Promotes intentionality and deep focus, helps prevent burnout, fantastic integrations.
Cons: Premium pricing with no free tier (only a trial).

Pricing: Subscription-based, aimed at professionals and teams.

Akiflow

Akiflow is built for speed and for people who live and breathe by their calendar. It pulls all your tasks from different apps into a universal inbox, letting you drag, drop, and time-block your day in seconds.

Key Features:

A universal inbox to capture tasks from Slack, Gmail, Asana, and more.
A "Command Bar" that lets you take almost any action with a few keystrokes.
Powerful and fast time-blocking capabilities.
Easily share your availability and book meetings.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: A dream for users who embrace time-blocking, incredibly fast workflow.
Cons: Subscription-only model; it's very focused on the time-blocking method.

Pricing: Premium subscription model with a free trial.

Routine

Routine is a modern planner designed around the powerful trio of habits, notes, and time-blocking. It’s an elegant tool for designing your ideal week and then giving you the structure to actually execute it.

Key Features:

Built-in habit building and tracking.
An integrated space for your notes, tasks, and calendar.
A powerful console for quick actions and planning sessions.
Deep integration with Google Calendar.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: A beautiful and thoughtful design, a great focus on building sustainable routines.
Cons: It's a newer app, so some features are still in active development.

Pricing: Currently free while in development, with plans for a future premium tier.

The Apple Enthusiast's Corner

For those deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem, these apps offer an unparalleled level of polish, integration, and design that feels right at home on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

Things 3

Things 3 is a masterclass in design. It’s an award-winning task manager that makes organization feel less like a chore and more like a delight, thanks to its clean interface and thoughtful, fluid animations.

Key Features:

A beautiful, clean, and incredibly intuitive interface.
A clear structure for organizing with Areas, Projects, and Headings.
"Today" and "This Evening" lists for crystal-clear daily planning.
Flawless and fast syncing across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Stunning design and user experience, works seamlessly offline.
Cons: Only available on Apple devices; requires separate one-time purchases for Mac and iOS.

Pricing: One-time purchase for each app (Mac, iPhone/Watch, iPad).

OmniFocus

OmniFocus is a professional-grade task manager built for those who love the "Getting Things Done" (GTD) methodology. It’s a seriously powerful tool for wrangling complex projects and workflows with precision.

Key Features:

Deep organizational tools like projects, tags, and completely custom perspectives.
A dedicated "Review" perspective to ensure no project falls through the cracks.
Powerful automation through Omni Automation and Apple's Shortcuts app.
Deep integration with native Apple platform features.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Unmatched power for GTD enthusiasts, endlessly customizable.
Cons: A steep learning curve, expensive, and exclusive to Apple devices.

Pricing: Available as a subscription or a one-time purchase.

Fantastical

While it's primarily a calendar, Fantastical's task management features are so good it doubles as an excellent daily planner. Its claim to fame is its magical natural language parsing, which is the fastest way to get events and reminders out of your head and into your schedule.

Key Features:

Best-in-class natural language parsing (e.g., "Lunch with Sarah at noon on Tuesday at Cafe Lux").
A unified view of all your calendar events and reminders.
"Calendar Sets" that you can toggle based on your location or time of day.
Works with virtually any calendar service you can imagine.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: The fastest way to add events and tasks, a beautiful interface on all Apple devices.
Cons: Its core power is now behind a subscription; it's more of a calendar/task hybrid than a full project manager.

Pricing: Part of the Flexibits Premium subscription, which also includes the Cardhop contact manager.

The Simple & Straightforward

Sometimes you don't need a thousand features. You just need a clean, reliable place to write things down and check them off.

Microsoft To Do

As the spiritual successor to the beloved Wunderlist, Microsoft To Do is a clean, simple, and completely free to-do list app. It integrates perfectly with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, making it a no-brainer for Outlook users.

Key Features:

The "My Day" feature provides a clean slate each morning to focus on daily tasks.
Smart suggestions for what you should work on next.
Simple list sharing and task collaboration.
Deep integration with Outlook tasks and other Microsoft apps.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Completely free, clean and simple interface, fantastic Microsoft 365 integration.
Cons: Lacks advanced features like complex project views or robust filtering.

Pricing: Free with a Microsoft account.

The Time-Tracking Specialist

Understanding where your time really goes is the first step to planning it better. This tool is built to help you do just that.

Clockify

Clockify is first and foremost a time tracker, but its planning and calendar features make it a powerful tool for daily organization. By helping you see where your hours are spent, it empowers you to create more realistic and productive plans.

Key Features:

A simple time tracker and timesheets.
Project-based time tracking and budget management.
Detailed reports to analyze your time and productivity.
A calendar view to block out time and track it against your plan.

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Excellent and generous free time tracking, available on all platforms, great for freelancers and teams.
Cons: Its main focus is tracking time, not managing complex task dependencies.

Pricing: An excellent Free plan. Paid plans add more advanced features like scheduling and invoicing.