TickTick Alternatives

Asana is my first pick among TickTick alternatives when a personal list has become shared project work. Makagiga is the free desktop pick for tasks beside notes. This shortlist uses official plans, features and public feedback. None reproduces TickTick's calendar, habits and focus tools as one identical package, so choose the part of that routine you actually want to replace.

Why people look for TickTick alternatives

• They want more calendar planning without paying. An August 2, 2026 TickTick discussion asks for a free visual calendar while praising the rest of the app. TickTick's full calendar is in Premium.
• The list has become team work. Asana's official plans put forms, task fields and reporting in a shared-project product. Those features answer different needs from an individual's reminder list.
• Tasks need structured records. Airtable's official product describes a database-style workspace; a task may need links to a client, asset or other record.
• They want to run the server. Nextcloud's Tasks and Deck apps offer a different hosting model from a personal cloud subscription.

TickTick Premium is $49.99 per year in US dollars, checked October 9, 2026. Free users get nine lists and 99 tasks per list. A replacement needs to improve your actual limit, not just have a longer feature menu.

Quick picks

• Best for shared delivery: Asana, when someone else needs to own a task.
• Best free desktop workspace: Makagiga, for tasks and notes on Windows/Linux.
• Best for product teams: Linear, for issues, projects and cycles.
• Best open-source server route: Nextcloud Tasks or Deck.
• Best for visual planning: Miro, when the map of work is the main result.

Comparison table

Official plans checked October 9, 2026. Server costs and minimum checkout quantities are separate from software or per-user headline prices.

Asana: turn requests into assigned project work

Asana is the strongest switch when your problem is coordination. Its pricing page gives Personal to two users for free, with unlimited tasks and projects. Paid Starter adds forms, custom fields, automations and reporting.

The advantage is a shared structure. A request can arrive with the information you need, become a task and have an owner. That's easier to manage than copying instructions from a chat into one person's private planner.

It is also a change in emphasis. TickTick's habits and focus tools belong to an individual's day; Asana's fields and reports belong to a project. Moving to Asana because a team needs accountability makes sense. Moving only to get a cheaper personal calendar may leave you paying for the wrong set of features.

Starter costs $10.99 per user per month billed annually, or $13.49 monthly. A per-user number isn't the final bill; inspect the checkout quantity for your workspace. The free two-user tier may be enough for a small shared project.

My verdict is Asana for work that passes between people. Its weakness for a solo reader is the amount of project structure around a simple daily list. You don't need a request form to remember a dentist appointment.

Switch if tasks need owners, project fields or incoming requests. Stay with TickTick if the calendar, reminders and personal routines are the main reason you use it.

Makagiga: tasks beside the notes you keep

Makagiga combines a to-do manager, notepad and RSS reader. Its official site lists Windows and Linux support and distinguishes stable 6.34 from the later 6.35 beta.

That gives it a clear job: a desktop workspace for someone who produces notes and actions while reading. It doesn't need a hosted team account to justify its place. You can use the tools together without making every task part of a shared project.

My recommendation is the stable release for ordinary work. A beta can be appropriate if you want to try changes, but a later date on a download shouldn't be confused with a stable production recommendation.

The software is free and open source. That makes it an appealing alternative to a paid personal planner if the task list and notes cover your needs. It isn't a like-for-like substitute for TickTick's mobile calendar and habits.

The official FAQ says automatic data/file synchronization isn't supported. That is its biggest practical weakness for a person who starts tasks on a laptop and finishes them from a phone. A portable desktop app and an automatically synced cloud planner are different setups.

Switch if your work lives on a Windows or Linux desk and notes belong beside tasks. Stay with TickTick if your phone and computer need to share a personal planning routine throughout the day.

Linear: issues with a product-development rhythm

Linear is for teams whose tasks are product issues. Its pricing page includes issues, projects and cycles, with a free plan allowing unlimited members, two teams and 250 issues.

The interesting limit is the issue allowance, not the member count. A small team can invite its people for free and still outgrow the plan through work volume. That is a different price trigger from Asana's free two-user cap.

My pick is Linear when the work needs the language of product development. A bug, a feature request and a planned release can be easier to organize when the tool starts from issues and projects instead of asking you to create that structure yourself.

Basic is $10 per user per month billed yearly, with five teams and unlimited issues. Business is $16 per user per month billed yearly and adds more team and customer-request tools. Only the annual prices shown on the checked page are used here.

Its weakness as a TickTick replacement is personal life planning. A shopping list and a habit streak don't become more convenient because they can be written as issues. Linear is a work-system switch, not my general recommendation for a reminder app.

Switch if you're organizing product work with teammates. Stay with TickTick if the list mostly describes your own schedule, habits and everyday reminders.

Airtable: when a task needs links to other records

Airtable is a stronger fit when the work is also a database. A task can sit beside records for clients, assets or planned content, with fields that describe the work in a consistent way.

The official pricing FAQ has a detail worth noticing: Team and Business billing charges people with edit permissions in at least one base. Read-only collaboration and form submissions don't carry the same billing role.

That changes the cost question. The right count isn't necessarily everyone who sees a record. It is who edits the workspace under the plan's rules. Team is $20 per user per month billed annually; Business is $45 per user per month billed annually. A free tier is available with lower capacity.

My verdict is Airtable for work where fields and relationships explain the project better than a flat task list. An editorial calendar linked to publications and assets is a reasonable example. A short list of things to do today is a weak reason to build a database.

The downside is setup. Someone must choose the fields and keep the records understandable. More columns can make a plan harder to use if nobody knows which ones matter.

Switch if your tasks need structured information and linked records. Stay with TickTick if a title, date, reminder and a few labels already describe the work well.

Nextcloud: choose the server, then choose Tasks or Deck

Nextcloud isn't one task interface. Its Tasks app handles lists and task details, while Deck provides card-based planning. Choose the app around the work you need to store.

This is the open-source route for someone who already operates Nextcloud or has a provider running it. The software price and the hosting bill are separate. A managed provider may charge for the server and support even when the task app itself is free software.

The Tasks release page lists version 0.18.1 from June 29, 2026 and compatibility information for supported server versions. That is a better installation guide than assuming every old Nextcloud instance can accept the newest app.

My recommendation is Nextcloud if server ownership is a real part of the decision. It can put task work beside files and other server apps. Its weakness is the operating work around that choice: someone handles updates, backups and compatible client connections.

A card board in Deck isn't a copy of TickTick's calendar planner. A task list in Tasks isn't a promise that every TickTick habit, focus session and repeating setting imports. The app choice matters after the server choice.

Switch if you already have supported Nextcloud hosting and want tasks there. Stay with TickTick if you want a personal cloud app whose server maintenance belongs to its operator.

Miro: replace a planning meeting, not every reminder

Miro is the specialist pick when work needs a visual canvas. Its pricing page lists formats including Kanban, tables, timelines, docs and diagrams. That is a good match for mapping a project before the team executes it.

The free plan has three editable boards. You can create more, but the three most recent remain editable. That is the limit to compare with your workflow: a team maintaining several active projects may need more than three working boards.

Paid plans start above the free tier. The checked page didn't give a clear static US paid number for this draft, so the actual checkout is the place to compare the seat bill. Free boards are accessible to team members by default; selective board access is a paid-plan feature.

My verdict is Miro for a shared view of the plan. It is weak as the sole replacement for a personal reminder app. A diagram can show how work connects while a task system still holds dates and owners.

If the problem is that a team keeps losing the big picture, a canvas can help. If the problem is forgetting a small dated task on your phone, adding a whiteboard is extra work around the same missing reminder.

Switch if visual planning and workshops are the part you want to improve. Stay with TickTick if you need a compact daily list with reminders and calendar planning.

Other common picks

Todoist is another familiar task-list choice. Microsoft To Do is worth a look for people already working in Microsoft's account ecosystem. Check their current calendars and reminder features against the specific TickTick tools you're replacing.

Migrating from TickTick

Keep the original export before changing your working account. Task names and dates are only part of the routine: lists, notes, attachments, repeating rules, habits and focus history may have different destinations.

Asana documents CSV import for new tasks; Airtable supports structured record imports. That doesn't prove a TickTick export matches either format without mapping. Use the destination's documented fields and inspect a small import before the full move.

For a server app, identify the accepted format before uploading a file. Nextcloud Tasks and Deck have different data models. Rebuilding a few active lists can be a better move than importing a large archive that puts every old task into the wrong structure.

Do the move around current work. Keep a separate copy of old material if you need it as a record. A new planner shouldn't begin with hundreds of outdated tasks competing with this week's commitments.

FAQ

What is the best free TickTick alternative?

Asana Personal is my free pick for a project shared by two people. Makagiga is the free desktop choice for tasks beside notes on Windows or Linux. Neither reproduces every TickTick calendar, habit and focus feature, so choose based on the work you need to carry over instead of the word “free” alone.

Which alternative is best for teams?

Asana is the broad team-project pick, while Linear is the product-development pick. Asana Starter adds forms and reporting to shared tasks; Linear organizes issues, projects and cycles. Both paid plans use per-user billing. A team that mainly plans visually may add Miro, but a canvas isn't an automatic replacement for a task system.

Is there an open-source TickTick alternative?

Makagiga is free, open-source desktop software, and Nextcloud offers open-source Tasks and Deck apps. Makagiga lists Windows and Linux support. Nextcloud needs supported hosting and an appropriate app/server combination. The software can be free while the server, updates and support still cost time or money outside the app price.

Can I move all my TickTick data?

Don't assume a task export transfers every part of the account. A destination may accept task titles and dates while handling attachments, habits, focus history and repeating rules differently. Keep your original export, follow the destination's import documentation and check a small batch for recognizable dates and list structure before the main move.

Sources

Official TickTick, Asana, Makagiga, Linear, Airtable, Nextcloud and Miro pages checked October 9, 2026. The linked August TickTick discussion supplies the free-calendar request. Makagiga's FAQ and Nextcloud's release page supply the limits named in their sections.