Any.do vs TickTick: Which Fits Your Daily Workflow?

Choose Any.do if you want a handpicked daily shortlist, calendar integration on the free plan, or dedicated Family and Workspace options. Choose TickTick if you want tasks, timed planning, habit tracking and focus tools together.

The most useful distinction is how you build your day: deliberately select a shortlist in Any.do’s My Day, or organize dated tasks and routines through TickTick’s views. Neither approach is automatically better.

Prices, plans and features checked October 2026, using official documentation. This guide is published by SelfManager.ai and compares documented workflows rather than claiming hands-on performance testing.

Any.do vs TickTick at a Glance

Official plan and workflow documentation supports these distinctions.

SelfManager.ai is the “neither fits” option. The main decision here remains Any.do versus TickTick.

1. Daily Planning: Choose a Shortlist or Work from Dated Tasks

Any.do’s My Day is an intentional selection of what you want to work on. A task due today does not automatically appear there: you add it manually, accept a suggestion or pin it.

The view resets each day without deleting the underlying tasks. Pinned items stay until completed or unpinned. My Day is private, including when you select tasks from a shared board, and it is available on every plan.

TickTick provides smart lists including Today, Tomorrow and Next 7 Days, alongside your individual lists. These bring tasks together according to their dates and other conditions.

Imagine you have eight tasks due today but realistically can finish four.

• In Any.do: Select those four for My Day while keeping the wider workload in its lists or boards.
• In TickTick: Inspect Today, then use dates and priorities to decide what to tackle and what needs rescheduling.

Verdict: Any.do is the better starting point if you want to consciously choose a daily shortlist. TickTick fits if you prefer your dated tasks to form the starting view.

A shortlist still needs a backlog review. Choosing four priorities does not make the other four obligations disappear.

2. Calendar Planning: Seeing Meetings is Different from Assigning Task Durations

Any.do includes calendar integration on its free plan. Its calendar mirrors an existing provider rather than operating as a separate calendar service.

On mobile, it uses device calendars. Web and desktop connect directly to one Google, Outlook or iCloud account. Calendar integration needs setup on each device.

There is a separate limitation worth knowing: Any.do’s personal-task documentation says personal tasks cannot have a duration with start and end times. Seeing a task alongside a meeting is therefore different from reserving a 90-minute task block.

TickTick Premium explicitly includes multiple calendar views and task durations. Its feature documentation also describes dragging tasks in Timeline view to adjust durations or start times.

Verdict: Any.do is attractive for free visibility of events and tasks together. TickTick Premium is the stronger starting point when assigning durations to personal tasks is central to your planning.

Test a realistic morning: two meetings, a 90-minute writing task and an errand. Check whether the app shows enough information to make a sensible commitment.

3. Reminders: Compare the Actual Rule and Delivery Channel

Any.do’s free plan supports one-time reminders and basic daily, weekly, monthly or yearly recurrence. Paid plans add advanced recurring rules and location reminders. Location reminders work on mobile; a personal task uses either a time-based or location reminder.

Any.do also supports WhatsApp task creation and reminders on paid plans. You can forward a message to its bot to create a task. Recurring reminders must be configured in the main app, and the documented recurrence workflow requires completing the reminder there to continue it.

TickTick supports reminders and recurring tasks, plus natural-language date recognition during capture. Its advantage here is having those tasks connected to its wider planning toolkit.

Verdict: Choose Any.do when its WhatsApp workflow or location reminders answer a specific need. For ordinary dated and recurring tasks, test both.

For example, try “send the Friday report” and “replace this item three months after I finish.” Check how each app handles a missed occurrence and rescheduling before moving your routines.

If Your Tasks Need More Context

If the difficulty is remembering what happened after the task was added, try SelfManager.ai’s seven-day free trial.

Create today’s tables, add your tasks, use the time tracker and leave comments explaining decisions or blockers. Start with that daily record; explore AI planning and review afterward. No credit card is required.

4. Habits and Focus: TickTick Has the Broader Dedicated Toolkit

TickTick includes a dedicated habit tracker with logging and feedback. Its help center documents habit setup and options for displaying habits in Today or Next 7 Days.

That makes it a natural starting point for someone combining work tasks with recurring exercise, reading or study goals.

Any.do also has a focus timer. Its paid Focus Mode uses timed sessions and a growing-tree visual, but the current help page limits it to Android and iOS and personal tasks. It is unavailable on web and desktop, and board tasks do not support it.

TickTick documents Pomodoro and Stopwatch focus modes, with focus statistics. Its current desktop widget documentation also includes focus controls.

Verdict: TickTick wins for a workflow built around habits and focus tools. Any.do can still suit someone who wants a mobile focus session alongside a daily shortlist.

Do not assume that a focus timer is a complete record of client work. Decide whether you need motivation, elapsed time, reporting or all three.

5. Sharing: A Household Space, Shared Lists or a Work Workspace?

Any.do separates personal planning from collaboration.

Premium upgrades your personal experience; it does not itself provide a shared Family Space or Workspace. Family supports up to four members and four shared boards or grocery lists, with assignments, task chat and mentions. Each member also retains a private personal space.

TickTick supports shared lists and task assignments. Its FAQ says free users can add one other member to a shared list, while Premium users can add up to 29. Both free and Premium users can join shared lists.

For professional workflows, Any.do Workspace documents shared boards, Kanban/Table/Calendar/Gantt views, automations, permissions, manual time tracking and completed-task reports. You can start with one member; billing is per seat.

Verdict by use case:

Any.do should not be dismissed as only a personal checklist. Its Workspace plan is a different product experience from its personal Premium plan.

6. Platforms: Check the Feature on the Device Where You Will Use It

Both offer web access, Android and iOS apps, and Mac and Windows desktop apps. TickTick also lists a Linux app; Any.do’s platform documentation says it does not offer one.

Availability does not guarantee feature parity. Any.do Focus Mode’s mobile-only limitation is particularly relevant if you spend most of your day at a desktop.

Verdict: Both cover common phone and desktop setups. TickTick is the clearer choice if an official Linux desktop app is required.

Before paying, test three operations on your main device: capture a task, plan it and complete it. Repeat on your phone to see whether the workflow remains comfortable.

7. Free Plans and Current Pricing

Any.do Free includes personal tasks and lists, My Day, calendar integration and basic reminders. Its getting-started guide describes unlimited personal tasks and lists.

TickTick Free lists nine lists with 99 tasks per list. Premium increases those capacities and adds premium planning features.

US prices checked October 2026:

Any.do’s annual figures are the monthly equivalents displayed on its pricing page, not month-to-month subscriptions. Confirm the checkout total, currency and taxes before purchasing. TickTick’s figure is its official annual upgrade offer.

Verdict: TickTick has the lower advertised annual cost for the compared individual paid options. Any.do Free is worth considering if your priority is a daily shortlist and calendar visibility without payment.

Compare Family and Workspace separately. They purchase shared environments, not simply additional personal features.

If Neither Fits: Planning by Day and Reviewing the Work

Perhaps your main requirement is a workspace for each date, containing the tasks, time and explanations you will want later.

SelfManager.ai organizes work in dated tables. You can keep client work, business development and personal obligations in separate tables within the same day. Tasks, statuses, priorities, the time tracker, notes and comments form the core workflow.

An illustrative client-work record might contain:

• Task: Test the revised checkout.
• Tracked time: 45 minutes.
• Status: Blocked.
• Comment: Waiting for the client’s shipping rules before completing the final test.

The purpose is to retain the explanation alongside the work. Completed tasks stay attached to their dates, giving you something concrete to revisit. Read how date-based planning works.

AI is the additional layer: generating plans, summarizing tables and reviewing periods of recorded work. See AI planning and review.

Time tracking alone is not exclusive to SelfManager.ai. TickTick documents focus-time recording, and Any.do Workspace documents manual time tracking. SelfManager’s fit here is its date-centered structure and retained review context.

It is an installable web app. It does not sync external calendars or automatically schedule around meetings. Individual costs $8/month or $72/year; Team costs a flat $30/month or $300/year with unlimited collaborators.

Final Verdict: Which Should You Choose?

Choose Any.do for its daily shortlist and the specific personal, household or Workspace experience you need. Choose TickTick when habits, focus and timed personal planning are the center of your workflow.

If neither fits because you want to preserve the day’s work and decisions, start SelfManager.ai’s seven-day free trial. Build a real daily table, track a task and add a useful comment. Then try AI review with that context. No credit card is required.

For a wider shortlist, read Any.do alternatives. If Todoist is also under consideration, use the separate Any.do vs Todoist and TickTick vs Todoist comparisons.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Any.do better than TickTick?

Any.do is a better starting point for a handpicked daily shortlist and dedicated household or Workspace planning. TickTick is a better starting point for combining tasks with habit tracking and focus tools. The recommendation depends on your workflow.

Is TickTick cheaper than Any.do?

For the compared individual paid options, yes. Checked October 2026, TickTick advertises Premium at $49.99/year. Any.do advertises Premium at $4.99/month billed annually, or $7.99 with monthly billing. Both offer free plans.

Does Any.do My Day delete unfinished tasks?

No. Its daily reset clears the view without deleting tasks from their original lists or boards. You can pin an item to keep it visible until completed or unpinned.

Does Any.do have a Pomodoro or focus timer?

Yes. Paid plans include Focus Mode for personal tasks on Android and iOS. The current documentation says it is unavailable on web and desktop. TickTick also offers focus tools.

Can I share tasks with Any.do Premium?

Premium is a personal upgrade. Any.do’s shared environments are Family and Workspace. TickTick supports shared lists, including limited sharing on its free plan.

Which should I choose for work reviews?

TickTick provides task, focus and habit statistics. Any.do Workspace documents completed-task reports and manual time tracking. Consider SelfManager.ai if your preferred review starts from dated tables containing tasks, tracked time and comments, with optional AI summaries.