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Free Todoist alternatives with no account required

Todoist is polished but its most useful features sit behind a paywall — and every alternative requires you to hand over an email address. Here's what to use instead.

6 May 2026 · 3 min read

Why people leave Todoist

Todoist is a well-designed task manager. The natural language input ("every Tuesday at 9am"), the keyboard shortcuts, the filters — it's clearly been built by people who actually use task managers. The problem is the paywall.

Todoist's free tier is intentionally limited: five projects, no reminders, no filters, no calendar view, no activity log. These aren't edge features — they're the things that make a task manager useful for more than a week. Paying $4–6/month for a task list is a reasonable price, but it's a hard commitment to make when you're not sure you'll stick with the tool.

The bigger issue: nearly every Todoist alternative still requires an account. You're trading one subscription for another, or at minimum giving over your email address to a new service.

The no-account alternative: Easy Todo Note

Easy Todo Note is a Chrome side-panel extension. Install it, click the toolbar icon, and write tasks. No account. No email address. No sync setup. Nothing stored anywhere except locally in your browser.

What it does:

What it doesn't do:

For the daily task list you work from in your browser — this is faster to open and lower overhead than Todoist. For anything that needs to sync across devices or remind you at a specific time, you need something else.

Todoist alternatives with more features

DayViewer — for planning beyond a task list

If you want calendar integration, project scheduling, and a planning dashboard alongside your task management, DayViewer is worth looking at. It's a business planning and information management platform — calendars, scheduling, tasks, and dashboards in one place, with no AI bloat or blank-canvas setup. Unlike Todoist, it's designed for structured planning rather than a lightweight capture-and-complete workflow.

Many people end up using both: Easy Todo Note for the running daily task list in the browser, DayViewer for scheduling and project planning.

TickTick — for the closest Todoist replacement

TickTick's free tier is more generous than Todoist's — you get unlimited tasks, a habit tracker, and a basic calendar view without paying. The premium features (advanced filters, calendar sync) are behind a subscription, but the free tier is functional enough for most users. It requires an account.

Microsoft To Do — free with a Microsoft account

Completely free, recurring tasks, integration with Outlook and Microsoft 365. The catch is the Microsoft account requirement — if you already have one, this is one of the best free Todoist alternatives. If you don't, you're creating a new account dependency.

Apple Reminders — free on Apple hardware

If you're on Apple devices, Reminders has gotten substantially better — recurring tasks, smart lists, tags, location reminders. Completely free, no separate account, syncs via iCloud. The limitation is the Apple ecosystem lock-in.

Choosing the right replacement

If you mainly used Todoist to keep a running task list in the browser and check things off: Easy Todo Note. No account, no cost, opens in one click.

If you used Todoist for recurring tasks, reminders, and due dates: TickTick or Microsoft To Do.

If you want calendar-integrated planning: DayViewer.

If you're on Apple devices and want something built in: Apple Reminders.

Common mistakes

Paying for another subscription immediately. Most Todoist alternatives want a subscription too. Give the free tier (or the no-account option) an honest trial before committing to a new monthly cost.

Migrating elaborate Todoist filters and labels. If you built a complex filtering system in Todoist, rebuilding it in a new tool carries the same maintenance overhead. Consider starting fresh with a simpler setup.

Choosing based on features you don't use. Todoist's natural language input and recurring reminders are useful — but only if you were actually using them. Identify which features you used regularly before choosing an alternative that matches those specifically.

FAQ

What does Todoist's free tier actually include?

Todoist's free plan allows 5 active projects, 5 collaborators per project, and 300 tasks per project. Reminders, filters, calendar views, automatic backups, and activity logs are all paid features. The free tier is enough to evaluate the app but not enough to rely on it for serious task management.

Is Easy Todo Note a full Todoist replacement?

For daily browser-based task management, yes. Easy Todo Note handles nested subtasks, countdown timers, and a scratch notepad — all locally in Chrome. It won't match Todoist's recurring tasks, due date reminders, natural language input, or cross-device sync. If you need any of those, see the alternatives below.

What's the best free Todoist alternative with recurring tasks?

TickTick has a more generous free tier than Todoist and includes recurring tasks, though some calendar features are gated behind a subscription. Microsoft To Do is completely free with recurring tasks, though it requires a Microsoft account.

What if I need planning structure beyond a task list?

DayViewer is the right step up — it adds calendar integration, scheduling, and planning dashboards. It's a business planning and information management platform designed for individuals and small businesses, not just a task list with a premium tier.