TickTick is six products in one, tasks, a calendar view, habit tracking, a Pomodoro timer, an Eisenhower matrix and an achievement score, for about $36 a year. Few people use all six. The right TickTick alternative depends on which two, so this guide takes the bundle apart feature by feature, says who does each one better, and is candid about the parts nobody else does at all.
If the TickTick feature you rely on is task capture, Pidgy beats it by reading Outlook and Gmail and writing the tasks for you. If it is the task list itself, Todoist is more polished with better quick add. If it is the calendar view, Motion automates it and Sunsama makes a ritual of it. If it is the free tier, Microsoft To Do costs nothing. If it is the look, Things 3 wins on Apple. If it is habits or the Pomodoro timer, stay on TickTick, because no alternative here does either.
Six features, and for each one the tool that does it better and the tools that skip it entirely.
| TickTick feature | Who does it better | Who drops it |
|---|---|---|
| Task capture (you type or forward) | Pidgy, which reads the email and writes the task | Nobody, but only Pidgy automates it |
| Task list with quick add | Todoist, rated ahead for natural language | Microsoft To Do keeps it basic |
| Built-in calendar view | Motion (automatic) and Sunsama (by hand) | Microsoft To Do, Things 3 |
| Habit tracking | No alternative here | All six |
| Pomodoro timer | No alternative here | All six |
| Achievement score | Todoist Karma for tasks, Pidgy's Inbox Health for email | Motion, Sunsama, Microsoft To Do, Things 3 |
Four complaints come up again and again, and price is not one of them.
The first is that every task still arrives by your own hand. TickTick can split a forwarded email into tasks, which is more than most lists manage, but it never opens your inbox and decides what needs doing. The second is the interface, which reviewers who love the feature set still call busy and less refined than Todoist or Things 3. The third is calendar sync. The built-in calendar is a selling point, yet some users report it syncing slowly or confusingly with their real calendar. The fourth is that the free tier, generous as it is, keeps the calendar view and the advanced features behind Premium, so the free TickTick and the TickTick people recommend are different products.
Each one listed with the part of the bundle it replaces, the parts it drops, and the price.
Pidgy reads Outlook and Gmail as a single inbox, finds the action items in every thread, including the promises inside your own replies, and ranks them by what needs you first. It groups related email, documents and tasks into projects with a progress percentage, places tasks into calendar blocks in Plan mode, drafts replies in your voice with four tones to choose from, chases stalled follow-ups, and scores the whole inbox with one Inbox Health number. Nothing sends without your click. EU-hosted, never trained on your mail.
Drops habits, Pomodoro and the matrix, and it is built for work that arrives by email rather than every task in your life. Early-access pricing, access by invitation.
The polished original, on every platform, with natural-language entry that reviewers consistently rate above TickTick's, plus projects, labels, filters and a Karma score. Free tier, Pro about $5 a month.
Drops habits, Pomodoro and the matrix. Calendar planning is basic, and every task is still typed or forwarded.
Free, clean, part of Microsoft 365. Flag an email in Outlook and it shows up as a task, and My Day gives you a daily focus list.
Drops the calendar view, projects, habits, Pomodoro and the score. Works only with Microsoft mailboxes, and the flagged-email list is limited to 100 items and 30 days.
Enter tasks with deadlines and durations and Motion's AI lays them onto your calendar and reshuffles when the day changes, with project management included. About $29 per user per month.
Drops habits, Pomodoro, the score and the free tier, and costs a great deal more than TickTick's $36 a year. It has a learning curve and never reads your inbox.
Pulls tasks from twenty-plus tools, has you estimate and drag them onto the day, and closes with a guided evening shutdown. Around $20 a month.
Drops habits, Pomodoro, the score and any free plan. Manual by design, weak on mobile, and emails become tasks only when you convert them.
A one-time purchase for Mac, iPhone and iPad with a calm, focused design that many people find a pleasure to use every day.
Drops everything but the list, along with Windows, Android and the web. Paid per platform, no AI, no email reading.
TickTick can split an email you forward. Pidgy reads the inbox itself. This is what that looks like across a week.
Some readers should close this tab and renew.
Stay if habits and the Pomodoro timer are part of your day, because none of the six alternatives offers either and you would end up paying for a second app to get them back. Stay if you want one cheap subscription that covers tasks, calendar and focus on every device, since $36 a year for all of that is hard to beat, and Motion alone costs nearly that every month. And stay if you have made peace with the design, because the busy interface is the complaint that fades fastest.
Move on if you find yourself forwarding emails to TickTick several times a day, if the calendar sync has let you down more than once, or if you only ever use the list and would rather have Todoist's quick add or Things 3's calm.
A plan that avoids the classic mistake of judging a new tool on its first, emptiest day.
Keep using TickTick, but tag every new task with where it came from. Email, a meeting, your own head. The split tells you whether capture is your problem, which points to Pidgy, or the list is, which points to Todoist or Things 3.
Connect Pidgy to your mailbox, or start a trial of Motion or Sunsama, without cancelling TickTick. Do not enter tasks twice. Let the new tool show you what it can see on its own.
Put TickTick and the trial side by side on a Friday. Which one has the task you forgot? Which one has the promise you made in a reply on Tuesday? That list is the one to keep.
If the trial won but you miss the timer, keep TickTick for habits and Pomodoro and let the new tool own the work. Two apps with clear jobs beat one app doing half of each.
The part of TickTick that was always manual, done for you.
Request accessPidgy against each tool on this page.
Pidgy reads Outlook and Gmail, writes the to-dos, plans them into your week, drafts the replies and chases what stalls. Ask for early access below.