TickTick vs. Google Tasks Summary
Who is TickTick for?
TickTick is a feature rich task management app that also integrates productivity features found in other apps: habit tracking, note taking, Eisenhower matrix, Pomodoro timers etc.
TickTick is ideal for people who need a generalist to-do app that can do many things at once and thus replace multiple other apps such as habit trackers or simple note apps.
Who is Google Tasks for?
Google Tasks is a task management app that is simultaneously extremely easy to use, but also very simple and limited in what features it offers. It does however have an excellent integration with Google Calendar.
This ease of use and limited features makes Google Tasks perfect for users who just need an app where they can write down a task, set a reminder and have it synchronized with Google Calendar.
In exchange for this simplicity, users sacrifice various features such as customization, collaboration, complex calendar views, organization and filters etc.
Ease of use
TickTick ease of use
TickTick’s user interface is simple and straightforward, but is also very modular and easy to configure.
For example, you can customize the “Add task” button itself. You can change what features are available to customize the task: tags, convert to note, add image, set priority etc.
Similarly, you can also customize what features you want to use (or not use) in the bottom navigation bar: calendar view, Pomodoro timer, habit tracker, search function, countdown etc.
The modularity of TickTick is one of its greatest strengths, since you can make it as complex or as simple as you want.
However, this modularity can also make its interface appear cluttered and chaotic if you use all of its features.
Google Tasks ease of use
Google Tasks is probably one of the easiest to use task management currently available.
You open the app and all you see is a simple screen where you see:
- Your lists of tasks.
- Favorite tasks.
- An Add Task button
- Completed tasks.
That’s it.
No tagging features, no collaboration, no calendar view, no filters etc. Google Tasks doesn’t even have a Settings button.
On a psychological level, this makes Google Tasks feel very low stress since opening and using the app doesn’t feel like work.
Organization
TickTick organization
TickTick lets you organize tasks in the following ways:
- Lists: such as Work, Personal, Inbox.
- Sections: sub divisions of lists.
- Priority: From High to No Priority.
- Labels: custom labels you can attach to any task.
- Subtasks: for simplifying a task into smaller steps.
If you want to save information, you can choose to convert a task into a note. This lets you write quickly write down a lot of information. It’s not as advanced as Evernote or Google Keep, but it’s great for saving information in the same place as tasks.
You can also attach checklists to individual tasks or subtasks, so you can better visualize all the steps required to complete the to-do.
The extra flexibility the features provide is great, but it does take a while to train your eyes so you can immediately recognize what is a task, what is a checklist, and what is a note.
Overall, TickTick gives you lots of different ways to store your tasks and ideas, and then to organize each one into its own little corner.
Unfortunately, TickTick doesn’t have a search function or good filtering features. If you are an intensive user you have to properly organize and label your tasks, otherwise you risk having “orphan” tasks and projects that are hidden away and easy to forget.
Google Tasks organization
Google Tasks lets you organize tasks in 3 ways:
- Lists
- Subtasks.
- Tasks saved to Favorites.
The absence of a tagging feature is very noticeable, since many users rely on that feature to better sort and organize their tasks.
You can however save certain tasks to a Favorite list which can contain tasks from all of your lists.
Google Tasks lets you create subtasks for each task. However, the app does not let you create a chain of subtasks.
For example, in Todoist and TickTick, you can attach a subtask to a subtask, and then another subtask to that subtask.
In Google Tasks, this is not possible and you can only have a main task/sub task organization.
Very importantly however, subtasks in Google Tasks function as normal tasks, meaning you can attach individual descriptions and reminders for every subtask.
Although these features might seem basic, not all task management apps allow such features for subtasks.
Finally, Google Tasks only has basic sorting features where you can sort tasks by date, title, default order or recently saved.
Scheduling and reminders
TickTick scheduling and reminders
Ticktick’s reminder features lets you schedule reminders for both one-time tasks, or repeating tasks.
For repeating tasks, you can schedule them to repeat in any time configuration you want:
- Repeats every day, except on weekends.
- Repeat every week, but only Monday and Tuesday.
- Repeat every month on the first workday etc.
- First workday or last workday of the month.
- Second or third Wednesday of the month etc.
The paid version of TickTick adds more features such as:
- Constant Reminders. A reminder that stays active for 5 minutes (on Android) or non-stop (iOS) until manually stopped.
- Task duration for calendar view.
- Location reminders.
Google Tasks scheduling and reminders
Google Tasks scheduling and reminder features is better than nearly every other to-do app on the market.
Tasks can be scheduled to be either one time only, or to repeat themselves at regular intervals.
Repeating tasks can be scheduled in every possible configuration:
- Repeats every week, but only on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Repeats once every 3 months
- Repeats every month on the last Friday
- Repeats every 3 weeks.
- Etc.
We would have liked it if Google Tasks had the option to attach multiple reminders to a single task (such as 1 hour before start, 30 minutes before start, 10 minutes etc.) but that’s a minor complaint.
Calendar and other integrations
TickTick calendar and other integrations
Unfortunately, TickTick calendar integrations are only available on the paid version of the app.
This means the free version of TickTick doesn’t let you add new tasks and to-do’s on your Google, Outlook or iCloud calendar.
You can however allow TickTick to read and display events from your calendars inside the app.
Besides the calendars, TickTick also supports a handful of other major integrations such as: Notion, Gmail, Outlook and IFTTT.
Google Tasks calendar and other integrations
One of the biggest advantages of using Google Tasks is its deep integration with Google Calendar. This integration is automatic, you don’t need to do anything.
Adding a reminder to a task automatically creates a Google Calendar entry, without you having to synchronize Google Tasks and Google Calendar.
Unfortunately, Google Tasks doesn’t provide the option to directly integrate with other calendar apps such as iCal or Outlook Calendar,
Finally, Google Tasks doesn’t directly integrate with other programs such as Notion, Evernote, Slack etc.
Instead, you will have to integrate other apps with Google Calendar, and any information those other apps save into Google Calendar should be viewable into Google Tasks as well.
AI Features and Integrations
TickTick AI Features and Integrations
TickTick doesn’t natively support any integrations with AI/LLMs such as ChatGPT.
You might be able to improvise something using various tools such as IFTTT, but it’s not guaranteed it will work properly.
TickTick also has a very basic implementation of natural language processing. In theory, this feature should let you save tasks by writing them, and then having the app figure out the title, date, repeat times etc.
However, TickTick’s implementation is slow and doesn’t work that well, which is probably why the feature is turned off by default.
Google Tasks AI Features and Integrations
Google Tasks doesn’t have any AI features within the app, meaning there aren’t any buttons or options where you can ask an AI to create tasks or reminders.
Instead, Google Tasks integrates with Gemini or Google Assistant, and you can create or read tasks from those apps.
Based on our usage, Google’s own Gemini app seems to work best with Google Tasks, but it does have limitations. For example, Gemini can’t break down a large task into subtasks.
Other AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude can also be integrated into Google Tasks/Calendar, but requires you to setup a Zapier account to do so.
Special or unique features
TickTick special or unique features
TickTick is a generalist to-do app that combines many different kinds of features into a single package. Out of all these features, these are the ones we like the most:
- Customization. In our experience, TickTick is the most modular and customizable to-do app on the market. You can make it as simple or as complex as you want.
- Notes and checklists. Great for users who want to add more context and information to their tasks.
- Various tools such as: Eisenhower matrix, habit tracking, Pomodoro focus timer, etc. TickTick is great for people that use these features, since it removes the need for installing multiple apps.
Google Tasks special or unique features
Google Tasks is very simple compared to many of its competitors, but it still has a few, highly distinct features:
- Integration with Gemini/Google Assistant. It feels very nice to chat with an AI about your tasks, or to ask the AI to create new tasks itself. Unfortunately, you have to use Gemini for this to work properly.
- Excellent integration with Google Calendar. Google Tasks has the best integration with Google Calendar out of any task management app we’ve tested.
- Overall simplicity. Google Tasks has very few features compared to competitors, but this also makes the app very simple to use and understand.
Cross-platform compatibility
TickTick cross-platform compatibility
TickTick is available for download on the following platforms:
- Desktop/laptops: Windows and macOS.
- Mobile: Android and iOS.
- Other: Android and iOS smartwatches.
TickTick also has a web version for both mobile and desktop.
Google Tasks cross-platform compatibility
Google Tasks can be downloaded on the following platforms:
- Mobile: Android and iOS.
- Other: Android and iOS smartwatches.
Importantly, Google Tasks doesn’t have a downloadable version for Windows or macOS. For those platforms you will have to use the web version instead.
Collaboration and sharing
TickTick collaboration and sharing
TickTick offers a basic form of collaboration, where two or more users can work together to complete tasks found within a list.
Users can assign tasks to other users, and even comment on tasks to provide more information.
This is about the extent of TickTick’s collaboration features. In our opinion, they are sufficient for sharing tasks with family and friends, or even small work projects.
Google Tasks collaboration and sharing
Google Tasks has no built-in collaboration features. This means you cannot share a shopping list with your partner, or share a list of work tasks with your colleagues.
Any task saved into Google Tasks is yours and only yours.
The only exception to this is for companies that have paid for and set up a Google Workspace. From within Google Workspace, a person can share or assign tasks to others from within Gmail, Google Chat etc.
Pricing
TickTick pricing
The paid version of TickTick has a single subscription plan:
- Premium: $4 per month / $36 yearly ($3 per month).
The paid version of TickTick unlocks numerous features:
- More calendar views (monthly/weekly/day/3-day).
- Integrations with calendars from Google, Outlook, iCal etc.
- Notion integration.
- More attachments per day (99 vs 1 in free).
- More tasks per list.
- Etc.
Google Tasks pricing
Google Tasks is completely free.