The Best Task Management Apps for Mac in 2024

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Finding the best task management apps for mac isn't about chasing the longest feature list. It's about finding a tool that actually fits how you work. For those all-in on Apple, Things 3 delivers a beautifully native experience. If you need something that works everywhere, Todoist offers incredible cross-platform power. And for those of us who want our tasks and notes to live together, an Obsidian workflow powered by Obsibrain creates a single, connected space for thinking and doing.

Choosing Your Ideal Mac Task Management App

Picking the right task management app for your Mac is a deeply personal choice, one that shapes your daily productivity. This isn't just about making checklists; it's about adopting a system that clicks with how you think, plan, and get things done. The market is packed with options, but a few contenders consistently stand out for Mac users who demand great design and powerful features.

This guide breaks down three very different approaches. We'll look at the award-winning, Apple-only design of Things 3, the flexible, team-ready power of Todoist, and the deeply customizable, knowledge-first method of using Obsidian for task management. Each one represents a unique philosophy on productivity.

A minimalist desk with an iMac displaying three playful app icons on a wavy path.

A Quick Comparison

To give you a head start, here’s a high-level look at our top picks. This table cuts straight to their core strengths and the kind of user they’re built for, helping you see which one might be your best fit before we dive into the details.

Top Mac Task Management Apps at a Glance

This quick comparison highlights the core philosophy behind each app, helping you match a tool to your personal workflow and ecosystem preferences.

App	Best For	Key Differentiator	Pricing Model
Things 3	Individuals deep in the Apple ecosystem	Elegant, native macOS/iOS design and user experience	One-time purchase
Todoist	Cross-platform users and teams	Natural language input and robust collaboration tools	Freemium, Subscription
Obsidian	Knowledge workers who want integrated notes	A highly customizable, link-based system for tasks	Free, plugins may vary

Each app serves a distinct need, reflecting a broader trend. The global to-do list app market was valued at around USD 1.02 billion and is expected to climb to USD 2.20 billion by 2032. This surge shows a real demand for better digital tools, especially from Mac users who value performance and a cohesive experience.

The best productivity system is the one you genuinely enjoy using. An app’s design philosophy—whether it values simplicity, power, or integration—often matters more than its raw feature count.

Ultimately, the goal is to close the gap between your ideas and your actions. Some people thrive with a dedicated, structured to-do app. Others need their tasks to live right alongside their research, notes, and creative thinking. This is where a solution like Obsibrain really comes into its own, providing a way to build a completely interconnected system. You can explore its capabilities in our deep dive on task management within Obsibrain. Let's figure out which path is right for you.

Comparing the Top Contenders for Mac Productivity

Picking the right task management app for your Mac isn't just about features; it's about finding a philosophy that clicks with how you work. The best tools have a strong opinion on how to organize your life. Let's dive into the big players and see where they shine—and who they’re really for.

Three app cards comparing the interfaces of popular task management tools: Things 3, Todoist, and Microsoft To Do.

Things 3: The Gold Standard for Apple Purists

Things 3 is what happens when developers obsess over the Apple ecosystem. It’s an Apple Design Award winner for a reason—the app feels like it was designed by Apple itself. It’s built exclusively for macOS, iOS, and watchOS, and that singular focus results in an incredibly polished, seamless experience.

The app's magic lies in its structured simplicity. It gently nudges you into organizing your life with Areas (like "Work" or "Personal"), Projects (for specific goals), and individual To-Dos. This hierarchy feels intuitive, not rigid, guiding you toward clarity.

What really makes it special is the user experience. The animations are buttery smooth, the keyboard shortcuts make sense, and the whole vibe is just calm and collected. This makes it one of the best task management apps for Mac for anyone who values a beautiful, native-feel app above all else.

Things 3 isn’t just a to-do list; it’s a beautifully crafted personal organization system. Its core differentiator is its commitment to the native Mac aesthetic, offering a friction-free experience that feels like a natural extension of the operating system itself.

Think of a freelance designer juggling clients. They could use Areas to separate each client, Projects for specific deliverables ("Logo Redesign"), and then fill them with tasks and checklists. The clean interface keeps the focus on creative work, not on managing the tool. The downside? It’s Apple-only and has zero collaboration features, making it a non-starter for teams or cross-platform users.

Todoist: The Cross-Platform Powerhouse

Where Things 3 creates a beautiful walled garden, Todoist tears down the walls. It’s available on pretty much every device you can think of, ensuring your tasks are right there whether you're on your Mac, a Windows PC at work, or an Android phone. This universal access is its superpower.

Todoist is famous for its slick natural language processing. Just type "Submit project report every Friday at 4pm #Work p1," and the app instantly creates a recurring task, puts it in the "Work" project, and flags it as high priority. This feature alone saves so much time and makes adding tasks feel effortless.

It’s also built from the ground up for collaboration. You can share projects, assign tasks, and drop comments, making it a fantastic choice for small teams, families, or anyone sharing responsibilities. With tons of integrations for apps like Slack, Google Calendar, and Dropbox, it slots into almost any workflow.

This cross-platform, subscription-based model is a huge part of the productivity app market, which was valued at around USD 12.26 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit USD 29.56 billion by 2035. Much of this growth is happening in North America, where tools like Todoist are king. You can find more market insights over at businessresearchinsights.com.

For a marketing team planning a campaign, Todoist is a perfect fit. The manager can create a shared project, assign writing tasks, hand off design work, and see everything happening in one place.

Microsoft To Do: The Ecosystem Integrator

If you live and breathe the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, Microsoft To Do is a no-brainer. Its biggest strength is its deep, native integration with other Microsoft apps. A flagged email in Outlook can become a task in To Do, and tasks assigned in Planner show up there, too.

The app’s signature feature is "My Day," a simple daily planner view that encourages you to pick a few priorities for the day. Every morning starts with a clean slate, helping you pull from your master list and focus on what truly matters. It’s a great way to fight overwhelm.

Microsoft To Do may not have the design flair of Things 3 or the powerhouse features of Todoist, but it excels at convenience for a certain crowd. If your work revolves around Outlook and Teams, it just works, keeping your tasks and communication tightly connected.

Picture an account manager who spends their entire day in Outlook. They can flag an important client email, and poof—it’s a task in To Do. That direct link between communication and action is where the app really delivers. It's a practical, straightforward tool that’s perfect for Microsoft-centric workplaces.

When to Look Beyond Traditional Apps

While these apps are great for managing straightforward lists, they often create a disconnect between your tasks and the context behind them. This is where a new approach can be a game-changer.

For students, researchers, or writers, tasks often spring directly from notes, articles, or brainstorming. Juggling those action items in a separate app creates an artificial barrier. An integrated system like Obsibrain, which lets you manage tasks directly inside Obsidian, keeps everything connected.

For instance, a PhD student can create a task like "Analyze survey data" right inside their research notes, linking it directly to the relevant papers and methodologies in their vault. This kind of connected workflow means the context is never lost, bridging that critical gap between thinking and doing.

A Knowledge-First Approach to Task Management with Obsidian

Dedicated apps like Things 3 and Todoist are fantastic for managing discrete to-do lists. But they often create a sharp divide between what you need to do and why you're doing it. For knowledge workers, researchers, writers—anyone whose tasks bubble up from a sea of information—this gap is a real source of friction.

This is where Obsidian, especially when paired with a system like Obsibrain, flips the script entirely. It offers a completely different, and for many, a much more powerful way to work.

Obsidian isn't a to-do app in the traditional sense. At its heart, it's a personal knowledge base. When you start managing tasks inside this environment, they stop being isolated items on a list. Instead, they become connected nodes in your own network of ideas, creating a deeply contextual workflow where every action is directly linked to its source—be it meeting notes, project plans, or research papers.

Building an Integrated System

The magic of using Obsidian for tasks really comes from its foundation of bi-directional linking. A task is no longer just a checkbox; it's a living, breathing part of your knowledge graph. This means you can build dynamic, self-updating project dashboards that automatically pull in tasks from dozens of different notes scattered across your vault.

The most effective productivity systems don't just help you manage tasks; they help you think better. By embedding tasks directly within your notes, you eliminate the cognitive load of switching between your thinking space and your doing space.

This approach is also incredibly customizable. With a few community plugins, you can add dates, priorities, and recurring schedules to your tasks, effectively rebuilding the core features of dedicated apps. The big difference? It all happens with the massive benefit of deep integration into your notes. If you're looking to push this further, learning about Obsidian's integration capabilities can show you how to connect it to the other tools in your workflow.

Here’s a glimpse of what an Obsibrain dashboard can look like, pulling together different elements into one central hub.

This single view brings together tasks, daily notes, and project overviews, giving you a holistic perspective on your work that's tough to get when your apps are all siloed.

Practical Use Cases for Obsibrain

The real power of this method shines when you apply it to scenarios where context is king. It’s easily one of the best task management apps for Mac for anyone who values interconnected thinking over simple list-making.

Just think about these examples:

• For the Academic Researcher: A researcher can type [ ] Analyze data from the Smith study right inside their literature review notes. That task is now permanently linked to the source paper, their annotations, and every related concept in their vault. When they look at their "Today" list, they can jump straight back to the original context without a second thought.

• For the Content Writer: A writer planning their editorial calendar can embed a task like [ ] Write first draft of SEO article directly inside the content brief. This instantly connects the to-do item with all the keyword research, the outline, and source links, keeping everything just one click away.

• For the Project Manager: During a meeting, a project manager can tag action items with #task. Later, a central project dashboard automatically scoops up all these tasks from various meeting notes, creating a comprehensive, live overview of all deliverables without any manual copy-pasting.

Let's be clear, this knowledge-first system isn't for everyone. It does require some initial setup and a willingness to build your own workflow instead of just adopting a pre-made one. But for anyone who finds traditional apps a bit restrictive, it offers a way to build a productivity system that is as unique as your own brain.

If you're curious to see how this feels, our detailed guide on how to get started with Obsibrain is the perfect next step.

Which Task Management App Wins for Your Use Case

The best features on paper don't mean a thing until you pit them against real-world demands. A task management app needs to fit your workflow, not force you into a new one. This is where we go beyond feature lists and get into practical, situation-based recommendations.

To find your best fit, start by understanding your core need. Are you mainly managing a list of separate tasks, or are you trying to connect those tasks to a larger body of knowledge? This simple choice is the first fork in the road.

A simple flowchart starting with 'START', branching to 'YES' with a checklist icon, and 'NO' with a brain icon.

This flowchart gets to the heart of the matter: traditional to-do apps are built to manage defined lists, while knowledge-first systems like Obsidian are designed to weave tasks into their context. Your answer points you toward the right tool for the job.

Feature Comparison for Different User Needs

Before diving into specific scenarios, let's break down how these three contenders stack up on key features. This table offers a high-level view of their strengths and weaknesses, giving you a quick reference point for what matters most to you.

Feature	Things 3	Todoist	Obsidian
User Interface	Clean & Minimalist: Apple-like design, very intuitive.	Functional & Versatile: Good balance of power and simplicity.	Highly Customizable: Can be minimalist or complex; you decide.
Collaboration	None: Strictly a personal productivity tool.	Excellent: Shared projects, comments, and assignments.	Limited: Requires workarounds like Git or shared cloud drives.
Offline Access	Full: Native app with seamless syncing.	Good: Basic offline access, but full sync needs a connection.	Full: All files are stored locally on your device.
Integrations	Limited: Basic integrations via AppleScript and Shortcuts.	Extensive: Connects to Slack, Google Calendar, IFTTT, and more.	Plugin-Driven: Almost limitless integration via community plugins.
Customization	Low: What you see is what you get.	Medium: Filters, labels, and different project views.	High: Completely modular with themes, plugins, and CSS.
Task & Knowledge Linking	Poor: Tasks are isolated from external notes and files.	Poor: Tasks can have links, but they don't live with the info.	Excellent: Tasks are just another piece of your knowledge graph.

This comparison highlights the core philosophy of each app. Things 3 prioritizes a serene, personal experience. Todoist is built for collaborative action and connecting with other services. Obsidian is a blank canvas for building a deeply integrated personal system. Now, let's see how they perform in the wild.

Scenario 1: The Student and Researcher

For students and academics, tasks are never just tasks. They're tangled up with research notes, lecture summaries, and project deadlines. The real challenge is keeping all those threads connected without constantly jumping between apps.

• Things 3: Gives you a clean, project-based structure that’s great for planning a semester. You can set up an "Area" for each course and "Projects" for big assignments. The problem? It struggles to link a task directly to your actual research material.

• Todoist: Its cross-platform strength is a huge win for students bouncing between a Mac, an iPad, and a lab computer. The natural language input is fantastic for capturing thoughts on the fly. But like Things 3, it silos your tasks away from the knowledge they relate to.

• Obsidian with Obsibrain: This is where the knowledge-first approach just clicks. A student can type [ ] Write thesis chapter introduction right inside their literature review note. That task is now permanently tethered to all the relevant sources, quotes, and ideas, cutting out the friction of finding context later.

For the Student and Researcher, context is everything. While Things 3 and Todoist manage lists well, Obsibrain wins by transforming tasks from isolated items into connected nodes within a personal knowledge base, making it ideal for deep, project-based learning.

Scenario 2: The Busy Professional

The modern professional is a master juggler, balancing team projects, meeting follow-ups, and integrations with company software. Their perfect app needs to handle collaboration effortlessly and plug right into their existing digital toolkit.

If you’re focused on implementing strategies for managing multiple projects simultaneously, you need an app with the right structure and tools built-in.

• Things 3: Its lack of collaboration features is a non-starter in a team setting. It’s a powerhouse for personal productivity, but it simply can't manage a shared project workflow.

• Todoist: This is where Todoist truly shines. With shared projects, task assignments, comments, and deep integrations with tools like Slack and Google Calendar, it’s built from the ground up for teamwork. A manager can assign a task, the team member gets a notification, and all conversation happens right there on the task.

• Obsidian with Obsibrain: It’s an amazing tool for individual knowledge workers, but its collaboration isn’t nearly as straightforward as Todoist. A consultant using Obsibrain could create a client portal that links meeting notes to deliverables, but sharing and real-time updates for a full team are more complex than dedicated tools.

For the Busy Professional, collaboration is king. While Obsibrain offers unmatched personal organization, Todoist is the clear winner for its native, easy-to-use features for sharing projects, assigning tasks, and integrating with team-based tools.

Scenario 3: The Creative Freelancer

Creative freelancers have to balance client projects, capture scattered ideas, and maintain a sane work-life balance. They need a tool that's structured enough for deadlines but flexible enough for that flash of inspiration.

This user often needs a mix of rigid project management and fluid idea capture. The best tool will handle both without feeling chaotic or restrictive, making it one of the best task management apps for Mac for this niche.

• Things 3: Its elegant design and clear hierarchy (think Areas for clients, Projects for deliverables) creates a calm, focused space that many creatives love. It helps organize a heavy workload without adding to the visual noise.

• Todoist: The flexibility of boards, lists, and priorities lets freelancers build a system that works for them. Using Kanban boards to track a project from "Idea" to "Invoiced" provides a fantastic visual overview of their entire pipeline.

• Obsidian with Obsibrain: This offers a unique edge for creatives whose work is research-heavy. A freelance writer or designer can create project hubs that pull together client briefs, mood boards, research notes, and related tasks into one dynamic dashboard. The tight loop between inspiration and execution is a game-changer.

For the Creative Freelancer, the link between ideas and execution is what matters most. While Things 3 offers focus and Todoist provides flexibility, Obsibrain wins for its ability to create a unified space where creative briefs, research, and project tasks live together, reducing friction and fostering a more connected workflow.

How to Migrate and Set Up Your New System

Choosing a new app is the fun part. The real work starts when you have to make it feel like your own. A smooth transition is everything for building good habits, and each of the best task management apps for Mac has its own way of getting started on the right foot.

The goal here isn't just to move your data—it's to move your workflow. A classic mistake is trying to perfectly copy your old system into a new tool. Instead, think of this as a digital spring cleaning. It’s your chance to ditch outdated tasks and rethink how you organize your life from scratch.

Initial Setup for Todoist and Things 3

For focused apps like Todoist and Things 3, getting set up is pretty straightforward. These tools are built to get you organizing with as little friction as possible.

• Importing into Todoist: Todoist is great at pulling in your data. You can import tasks from other apps using CSV files or their own importer tools. Once everything's in, take some time to sort tasks into projects and add labels to build a structure that actually fits what you need today.

• Structuring Things 3: Things 3 is all about its clean, simple hierarchy. A good first step is creating broad Areas like "Work," "Personal," and "Health." From there, you can set up specific Projects for any goal that has more than a few steps. This initial setup is what creates that calm, organized feeling Things 3 is famous for.

With either app, the next critical step is connecting it to the rest of your digital life. Link up your calendar so you can see deadlines next to your appointments, and set up email forwarding to turn messages into actionable tasks. This keeps your to-do list from becoming just another isolated island of information.

Configuring Your Obsidian Vault for Task Management

Going with an Obsidian-based system using a template like Obsibrain is definitely a more hands-on process. But the payoff is huge in terms of customization and how deeply it can integrate with your notes. You're not just setting up an app; you're building a productivity environment designed by you, for you.

The real power of an Obsidian workflow comes from building it yourself. It forces you to be intentional about how you organize tasks, notes, and goals, creating a system that’s a true reflection of how you think.

Your first move is to establish a core structure. Obsibrain gives you a P.A.R.A. (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) framework right out of the box, which is a proven method for organizing a digital life. Start by creating notes for your active projects and your main areas of responsibility.

Unlike other systems where migration is a bulk import, moving into Obsibrain is more gradual and thoughtful. If you already have notes, you can find great info on how to migrate data from an old Obsidian vault to make sure your knowledge base comes along smoothly.

The real magic for tasks comes from embedding them directly inside your notes. For example, a project manager can create a meeting note and add action items right there in the file. Those tasks can then be automatically pulled into a central dashboard, keeping them tied to their original context—something standalone apps just can't do. Your task list becomes a living, dynamic part of your knowledge base.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jumping into a new productivity system always brings up a few questions. Whether you're trying to figure out where to start, how a tool fits with your team, or if a new workflow is right for you, here are a few common questions that come up.

What Is the Best Free Task Management App for Mac?

If you're looking for a powerful tool that won't cost you a dime, Microsoft To Do is a solid bet, especially if you're already in the Microsoft ecosystem. It plays incredibly well with the Office 365 suite and has a robust feature set on its own.

But don't sleep on what's already on your Mac. The built-in Apple Reminders app has become surprisingly capable over the years. With shared lists, location-based reminders, and perfect syncing across Apple devices, it’s a fantastic zero-cost option for anyone committed to Apple hardware.

Is Obsidian Good for Task Management If I Am a Beginner?

Obsidian is incredibly powerful, but it does come with a steeper learning curve than a dedicated app like Things 3 or Todoist. Its main strength is its near-infinite customization, which can feel like a lot to take in when you're just starting out. A great first step is to simply use checklists inside your daily notes.

Once you get the hang of that, you can start exploring community plugins to add more structure and automation to your setup.

Obsidian for task management is a journey, not a quick setup. It rewards those who invest time in building a personalized system. The value comes from creating a workflow that perfectly mirrors how you think, connecting tasks directly to your knowledge base.

If you want a powerful, structured entry point without the initial legwork, a template like Obsibrain is perfect. It gives you a complete, pre-built system right out of the box, letting you tap into an integrated workflow immediately. A great use case for a beginner is tracking reading goals: you can create a note for each book, add tasks like "[ ] Read Chapter 5," and see them all on a central dashboard without complex setup. This makes it one of the best task management approaches on the Mac for anyone who wants the power of Obsidian without the setup headache.

Which App Is Better for Team Collaboration?

This one's easy: Todoist is the clear winner for team collaboration. It was built from the ground up for sharing projects, commenting on tasks, and assigning work to other people. Since it works on virtually every platform, you can be sure every team member can access the workflow, no matter what device they use.

Things 3, on the other hand, is designed purely for personal productivity and has no team features to speak of. And while you can share an Obsidian vault using something like Git, it's a clunky solution that doesn't offer the seamless, real-time experience that teams need.

Can Obsibrain Replace a Dedicated Task Manager?

Absolutely. For many people, Obsibrain can completely replace a dedicated task manager. It’s a game-changer for anyone whose tasks are deeply connected to their notes, research, or project plans. For example, a developer can manage a sprint by creating tasks directly within their technical planning documents, linking each task to the relevant code specs and architectural notes. When your to-do list lives inside your knowledge base, you cut out the friction of jumping between a "thinking" app and a "doing" app.

However, if all you need is a simple list-maker without any deep contextual links, or if real-time team collaboration is non-negotiable, a dedicated app like Todoist might still be a better fit. It all comes down to whether you value standalone simplicity or integrated, knowledge-first productivity.

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Ready to stop juggling apps and build a truly integrated productivity system? Obsibrain turns your Obsidian vault into a central hub for tasks, notes, and goals. Start building your connected workspace today.