Discover the best to-do list apps for Mac—whether you’re a busy professional, a GTD power user, or just want a simple routine. From AI tools like Motion to clean offline apps like Think3, we’ve rounded up the smoothest, best-designed apps built specifically with Mac users in mind.
Many people are very careful what they download for Mac.
It has to be attractive, easy to use & maximize their screen, for to-do list apps, let's find the ones for you.
It’s important to get one that works buttery smooth on Mac and is easy to use when you’re travel as well. Offline use is another bonus that many Mac users like, but most importantly, design and quality of experience is the most important thing.
We’ve put together a list of a range of different to-do list apps, from some of the more intense ones for business professionals, all the way over to habit-based ones for more casual use.
Motion is first on our recommendations. It’s quite well known as an AI task management platform, and it’s probably not for more casual users. It does work well on Mac, and it’s easy to use. Designed with a simple user interface that can be changed in appearance, in dark mode and in light mode.
Many people like this application because it’s on a wide range of devices, but also comes with a clean look and feel that many people can manage their projects and tasks alike. Motion works for individuals and for teams, and it’s primarily based around AI prioritization, which means you can add your tasks and they’ll basically reorganise themselves into the right places, based on the context that you add.
So for Mac users, you’ll love this one as an easy-to-use, AI-powered application, but it will come at a price. The application is quite steep in price, with some plans charging $49 per month.
Good for AI-Powered workflows
Suitable for individuals and teams
Not in everyone's budgets
Next app, which is popular for more casual use, is an app called Structured.
Structured is the perfect app if you just want to create a systematic routine that you can follow every single day. For Mac users, they love it because it’s simple and does have some AI features, which can help you save time adding those tasks. You just speak into it, say what order you want to do the tasks in, and then it will help you to get them done in that order, but works well on Mac.
It’s not a massively complex application, if you compare it to other apps on the list like Motion, but it will just get the job done if you want a simple routine that you can work on during the day and for more casual use.
Easy to use and works offline
Uses AI (premium) to help organize the list
Great for basic users and comes at reasonable lifetime pricing
Superlist is a relatively new to-do list application (compared to others) but it’s well-built for Mac and credited as an easy-to-use experience.
It combines task management on Mac with your notes, so that you can create notes, checklists, and items like that, all in one location that you can collaborate with other team members on. A lot of people like this because you can share up to five team members in one workspace for free, allowing you to collaborate and there are loads of gestures and animations as part of the Mac app that make it fun to use.
Primarily, people like this one if the calendar is not massively important. Superlist lacks the ability to visualize all of your tasks on the calendar, which apps like Motion and others have on this list, but you’ll find it easy to use and a good base if you’re somebody that wants a balance between a good quality app with a low price to it.
Good for sharing tasks in a small team
Great gestures and easy to use for basic tasks
Lacks calendar views for time blocking
Blitzit is a very, very popular app at the moment on Mac for many reasons.
The first being that you can download on Mac and it comes as a one time fee for lifetime access. It makes it really affordable for a lot of people on Mac to download it and avoid the whole subscription cost. There is a subscription plan, but it’s per month. If you want the yearly or lifetime pricing, it makes it a lot cheaper overall.
Blitzit comes with some great features, like the ability to stack up your next tasks, start a timer to interact with each of the tasks, and it’s popular with the ADHD community to help you to better organise those tasks. It works really well on Mac, as it can be pinned to the menu bar and is easily accessible.
Nice and easy to use task stacking
Comes with a timer experience
Good for ADHD focused workflows
Things 3 is probably the best all-round Mac to-do list out on the market. It’s easy to use, fast, and comes with a gorgeous design. It’s almost like Apple should have designed this one instead of Apple Reminders. The experience is super easy to use.
It allows you to add tasks together along with lists and projects for your own personal goals. It’s not good for sharing with others because there are no sharing capabilities, but what it will do is help you to plan your goals alongside your tasks and really capture what’s important. This application comes at a one-time fee as well, a bit like Blitzit. For Mac users, it’s $49.99, which they’ll like to save a bit of money.
Stunning on Mac
Comes as a $49.99 one-time pricing
Does come with Cloud-based storage
Todoist is another great to-do list application as an all-rounder that works well on Mac.
Many people really like Todoist because it comes with good iOS and Mac support, which means that you get great widgets, very similar in nature to what you get with Things 3. The application works well on Mac and will allow you to do all the regular stuff, but just with a solid app that works incredibly well offline.
Todoist is the one app that we always recommend as a more generalistic application. It’s so underrated in terms of what it can do, and a lot of people really find it to just breeze well whilst on Mac. It’ll also work with Google Calendar now, allowing you to see upcoming items, but it does have the Mac menu bar, allowing you to see tasks that you’re working on. But sadly, it doesn’t have any timer experiences, which other apps like Akiflow and Blitzit do.
A solid offline to-do app for Mac
Works well for menu bar access
No grand gestures, design or abilities like Things 3
Akiflow is a good application if you’re a busy professional—someone who manages their tasks quite a lot and needs help with time blocking. It won’t be as extensive as an AI-powered task management platform like Motion, but it will be somewhere in between that and Todoist.
Akiflow presents itself with so many great features, allowing you to organize your tasks, bring tasks in from other applications like email, project management software, or other such tools, and also presents itself as a clean user interface to start dragging items in.
There is a timer baked into Mac Akiflow, and also there is a Mac menu bar for seeing upcoming meetings that connects with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar. It’s easy and approachable, but it will cost you starting from $19 per month.
Good for bringing tasks together in one place
Works with both Google Calendar & Outlook Calendar
Comes at a pricey $19 per month as more of a premium to-do app for Mac
One of our final recommendations is OmniFocus 4, which is really tailored towards GTD users, but works incredibly well on Mac because the OmniGroup that create these set of applications have built the application really strong for iOS and Mac devices. They also build it for Apple Watch very well too.
The application is a bit more serious in terms of its setup. It’s not for casual users, neither is it for busy professionals that are looking to use AI to help organize their lives. It’s very much a manualized setup for organizing your tasks using a systemized approach for GTD.
It’s got features like Forecast, and it’s just a solid application for working offline, and many people credit it as one of the most great to-do list apps for Mac that is more tailored towards GTD.
Solid Mac app for GTD focused users
Well-built app from OmniGroup, makers of the app
Not for everyone and definitely not for casual users