With the new (and some might say final) year underway, there's no better time than now to get your life in tip top shape. These six task management apps will help you to manage and organize everything from remembering what to pick up at the grocery store to managing complex projects with multiple team members.
1. Workflowy
This is one app that has been getting some tremendous buzz lately and its easy to see why. The beauty of Workflowy is that it doesn't force you to create to-do lists in any particular way, it is a completely free-form task management app that lets you build and organize lists exactly the way you want to. Also its completely free so there's no reason not to give it a try.
Pro Tip: Use Fluid on OSX to create a WorkFlowy experience that is sheer bliss.
Pros
- completely free-form lists
- supports tagging
- lighting quick
- completely free!
Cons
- lackluster collaborative support
- no dedicated mobile app
- ridiculous name
Price: free
2. Checkvist
Checkvist is very similar to Workflowy except that it puts one constraint on you, top level items are treated as projects whereas inner items are simply treated as list items. Checkvist does have some nice features that Workflowy doesn't have like smart date recognition as you type, progress bars for projects with multiple to do items, and better collaborative support.
Pros
- supports tagging
- smart date recognition
- progress bars - quick visual indicators
- free!
Cons
- forces top level items to be projects
- not a fan of the colour scheme
- no dedicated mobile app
- ridiculous name
Price: free
3. Task Paper
http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper
Unlike Workflowy and Checkvist, Task Paper is not a web-app but can instead be downloaded as an OSX app via the App Store (they also have an iPhone app available). I found Task Paper to be slightly less intuitive than WorkFlowy and Checkvist and offer even fewer features. Like WorkFlowy and Checkvist however, Task Paper also supports infinite child lists and tagging.
Pros
- completely free-form lists
- supports tagging
- nicely integrated into OSX
Cons
- no support for sharing of lists
- expensive
- no built in support for syncing of lists
Price: $29.99
4. Wunderlist
http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist/
Thanks to Apple featuring Wunderlist numerous times in the App Store this app has gained significant popularity. The best thing about Wunderlist is that it is available everywhere. And I mean everywhere: iPhone, iPad, OSX app, web app, Android, heck they even made a Windows Phone version. This app isn't nearly as free-form as WorkFlowy, Checkvist, and Task Paper, as it only allows for one level of grouping, but, Wunderlist almost makes up for it with its beautiful interface.
Pros
- easy on the eyes
- supports tagging
- available everywhere
- free
Cons
- fairly rigid list structure - only supports one level of grouping
- minimal collaborative support
Price: free
5. Strike
From the always wonderful folks at ZURB comes Strike, a dead simple to-do list web app. Compared to the other apps on this list Strike offers almost no features. There is no grouping of list items, no support for multiple projects, and no tagging support; Strike is completely bare bones. But, what Strike is is fast! If you need to share a quick to-do list with a team member or client in a pinch there is just nothing faster or easier to use than Strike. It requires no sign-ups or logins and has almost no learning curve.
Pros
- well designed
- no learning curve
- lighting fast (no sign-ups or logins)
- free
Cons
- perhaps its slightly too bare-bones
- long and difficult to remember list URLs
- if you forget your list's URL there's no way to retrieve it
Price: free
6. Asana
Of the apps that force a list structure on you (ie. a forced hierarchy structure), Asana seems to be one of the fastest to use due to the plethora of keyboard shortcuts it supports. Like Flow (below) Asana also offers many features for collaborating on lists with multiple team members. After trying both, I would recommend Asana over Flow due to its speed (not to mention its attractive price-point).
Pros
- excellent collaborative support
- easy to use
- lots of keyboard shortcuts
- well designed
- free
Cons
- slower to use than some of the more free-form options above
- forces you to use a loose structure for your lists
- a calendar view would be greatly appreciated in this app
Price: free (for up to 30 team members)
7. Flow
Flow is bar far the most expensive app on this list but it is also one of the most feature rich. Flow has fantastic support for collaborating with team members and clients on large and expansive to-do lists. Flow is also extremely nice to look at and is very reminiscent of the iCloud web interface.
Pros
- excellent collaborative support
- feature rich
- easy to use
- well designed
Cons
- slower to use than some of the more free-form options above
- forces you to use a loose structure for your lists
- expensive
Price: $9.99/month
I can't seem to find one task management app that works exactly the way I'd like it to, but, WorkFlowy has certainly come the closest. In my opinion the only major things that WorkFlowy is missing are better collaborative support and a dedicated mobile app (and perhaps a little more esthetically pleasing interface).
That being said, if you're looking to collaborate on lists with co-workers or friends, WorkFlowy's minimal collaboration tools just might not suffice. I would recommend Checkvist instead if you're planning on frequently collaborating as its fairly similar to WorkFlowy (though not quite as free-form). Checkvist offers a number of tools that make managing lists among multiple team members much easier than with WorkFlowy.
What task management and to-do apps are you currently using and why? Any task management apps you feel we’ve glaring left out? Tell us in the comments below!
