When comparing Google Keep vs Any.do, the Slant community recommends Any.do for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” Any.do is ranked 14th while Google Keep is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose Any.do is:
Any.do splits all tasks up into groups. Tasks can be grouped either by date (today, tomorrow, upcoming, and someday) or in custom folders. Each group has a plus button next to it that allows adding new tasks to the group.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Easy to use
1-step to take a note on Android: tap 'take a note'.
Web version: cursor is on the note itself.
Pro Super fast to use
The focus on a minimal interface makes everything fast to use on both web and mobile. This comes in handy for when a note needs to be jotted down quickly, as there is little to no load times or faffing about trying to get to a space where the note can finally be recorded.
Pro Unlimited and seamless sync across all Google connected devices, from mobile to desktop
When a mobile device isn't in use, Google Keep can be accessed as a Chrome app or as a website. Basically, no matter the device being used or the OS on it, there is always a way to access the app. There is also no limitation to how many devices this can be done with, freeing up the user to always have access.
Pro Automatic saving
Automatically saves new changes so that nothing is lost.
Pro Useful Android home screen widget
The Keep widget lets users quickly see existing notes and add new ones.
Pro Notes can be grouped via labels
In addition to the ability to color-code notes, they can be labeled and navigated and grouped that way. This allows for easy organization, to then be found easily at a later date.
Pro Notes can be color-coded
Pro Cross platform
This app can be used seamlessly across all platforms including Android, iOS, and desktop computer platforms.
Pro Works as a great bookmarking tool as links added can optionally include a preview image
Keep has a great feature that allows you to save sites you visit as a special note type with a link and a preview image.
Pro Can share and collaboratively edit any item including lists
Keep allows sharing any item with other contacts and editing them together at the same time. This way a team can work together in real time, no matter their location.
Pro Really well implemented speech-to-text
Google has a lot of experience with speech-to-text functionality and they did a fantastic job with Keep. This means you can easily record spoken notes that can then be changed to a text based note.
Pro Notes can include photo and audio attachments
Notes can include multimedia attachments in addition to text.
Pro Supports drawing or writing notes by hand
Newer version of Google Keep now supports drawing on either a blank page, existing notes or in an image attached to the note.
Pro Both location- and time-based reminders
You can set reminders that bring certain notes to your attention when you arrive at a specified location or when it’s a specified time or date. Unfortunately you can only do one or the other for each note.
Pro Includes character recognition for text in images
Google Keep lets users take pictures of physical notes and makes the contents searchable within the app. This can be a convenient time saver for those that do not want to type out the necessary info, but rather take a quick snapshot of it.
Pro Drag and drop sorting
You can move cards manually, which is great for prioritizing to-dos. Within a card, you can also drag and drop items.
Pro Archives finished tasks
Any finished task is archived and can be searched at a later date.
Pro Clean, intuitive design
Any.do splits all tasks up into groups. Tasks can be grouped either by date (today, tomorrow, upcoming, and someday) or in custom folders. Each group has a plus button next to it that allows adding new tasks to the group.
Pro "Any.do Moment" makes to-dos manageable
"Moment" is a reminder to check all tasks that are planned for the day. It simplifies scheduling your day and let’s you quickly check off items as they're completed. It can be set it to prompt you in the morning or afternoon to review your day’s tasks and update whether or not you’ve accomplished them. This is really useful for managing a long to-do list without feeling overwhelmed.
Pro Web interface for desktop access
The web interface can be used to add items.
Pro Clever auto-complete
As tasks are added, Any.do attempts to guess what is going to be written and offers suggestions. It will search through contacts for names and information, allowing you to add people to tasks and offering suggestions for meeting spots that are convenient for everyone.
Pro Missed call reminder on Android
The mobile app reminds you of missed calls and helps manage them in the future.
Pro Folders for tasks
Users can create and edit folders for certain tasks, like “personal” and “work.”
Pro Has a system that allows collaborating on tasks
Any.do allows creating "hubs" for groups of people, like colleagues, family, and friends, where tasks can be shared or assigned to each other.
Pro Simple
Any.do includes the features that are needed and nothing more.
Pro Free version
Any.do has a free version and also offers a Premium plan that costs $3 a month.
Pro Cross-platform support and sync
The app runs on iOS, Android, as a Chrome extension and in browsers.
Pro Rewards for completing tasks
The app integrates with Kiip, a reward platform that gives free, real-life rewards when a to-do list is completed.
Pro Five simple widgets for Android
There are five widgets to choose from, all of which are simple and useful.
Cons
Con Google can access and mine your data
You have to be okay with Google analyzing and using your data in order to use Keep.
Con Messy if you have lots of notes
It can be difficult to organize notes because you can only create labels and not, for example, separate projects.
Con Organization is limited to just multiple tags for notes
There are no folders in Keep that you can move notes into. It makes the user interface more cluttered, and navigation gets more difficult.
Con Can be taken down some day
As Google is notorious for taking down services, you may end up with just a backup of your notes in XML format and a need to look for a substitute.
Con No ability to undo changes
There is no way to revert changes or restore text you may have accidentally deleted (however, you can restore entire notes for up to 7 days after deletion).
Con Synchronization bugs
There are some issues with synchronizing data including laggyness and returning old/deleted items.
Con No text formatting
No basic formatting like bold, italics. Makes it harder to do things like meeting notes. Keep is intended as a minimal and quick note taking app, but sadly for those that are looking for something more robust, the features are just not there.
Con Scrolling through notes is horrible
There are no options to decrease the surface area of the notes to make it easier to get an overview. Compare this to something like the Apple Notes or Evernote UI, for example. You can't organize nor have a glance of what you have.
Con Not free/libre
This application is proprietary, and thus cannot be modified or freely distributed.
Con Can be difficult to discover the features
Google Keep has slowly been introducing new features, but doesn't do a good job of helping you discover them.
Con Google account required
You're required to have a Google account in order to use the app.
Con Does not offer themes
There is no option for changing the color theme (such as a dark theme) unless you use a 3rd party extension.
Con Does not integrate with Google Calendar or Tasks
It does not integrate with Google Calendar or other Google Apps with the exception of "Google Now." Keep reminders can appear on Google Calendar, but you can not get reminders and use Tasks at the same time.
Con Too simplistic of an approach
Con No integrated social media sharing
There is no integrated social media sharing if you directly want to post your note to Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Con Not good at all for longer notes
With almost no formatting options whatsoever it's hard to actually use Keep for long-form notes.
Con Sharing within team doesn't work that well
You can share separate notes but not Projects, Wordspace, or Teams.
Con Not distributed
Cannot run on own servers as Keep will only run on Google's own servers. This increases the risks which are normally associated with handing over critical applications to a large (US) corporation.
Con No notifications when tasks are added to shared lists
Although the ability to collaborate on lists is advanced, Keep will not let you know when another person adds an item to a list you share.
Con No API
Con There is a label limit up to 50
Con No dedicated app for windows, linux, mac (except unofficial)
Con Cannot share groups of notes (e.g., labels)
Google's equivalent of groups are labels, which can't be shared. By comparison, Trello allows you to share boards with others. Trello also supports grouping through teams. Google Keep has no such concept.
Con Slow to save the updates
Saving is delayed by a moment and the saving status UI is unclear. You can lose updates if you close the tab too quickly.
Con Delay between to-do entries
The keyboard closes and reloads between to-do list entries, so the first letters or words may be missed if you’re trying to quickly create a list.
Con Notes get lost/deleted and can NOT be recovered
Since nothing is stored locally on the phone, everything can go missing. Google can't recover any of it.
Con No BlackBerry 10 app
No BlackBerry support apart from web.
Con No Windows Mobile app
No Windows Mobile app, and it is unlikely to ever be produced.
Con No Windows app or client
Unlike rival to-do list apps such as Todoist or Wunderlist, Any.do does not have an official app for Windows. There’s also no indication that the company plans to build this app in the near future.
Con Lack of power features like priority and labels
Any.do has only two levels of priority that can be assigned to tasks, namely Normal and High. There is no way to assign any sort of weights to tasks either. There is no feature to assign any sort of labels on them to be able to filter particular type of tasks. These features are very valuable to a power user.
Con If you pay once it charges recurring even after unsubscribe and notified to the team as well.
Only solution is downgrade to free plan and remove credit card details.
Con Limited Any.do moments in free version
The free version gives only five Any.do moments per month, limiting productivity.
Con Cannot see task details easily
To view subtasks, notes or other data you have to click or tap multiple times. There is no task view that shows everything you should know about the task.
Con Invasive App Permissions
In order to be a complete solution, Any.Do can seem to take over your phone. For example, it monitors missed calls so you can schedule a call back.
Con Offline access not available in free version
Since the addition of the Premium plan, offline access to lists is not available for free Any.do users.
Con Spotty auto-complete and voice recognition
Though the auto-complete feature is very smart in that it can access contacts and create a variety of tasks, it also might auto-complete with something entirely wrong. The voice recognition also has some issues with correctly understanding what is being said.
Con Slow animations and features
The app goes for a smooth feel with lots of things being automated and animated. This slows down it's use, especially on older phones.
Con Awkward data entry
You cannot simply start entering tasks, one after another. You must click or tap the add icon to get a text entry field.
Con All tasks default to "today"
While there is a 'someday' category, by default every task as an end date of today. This means you get constant notifications for quickly added tasks.
Con Incomplete keyboard control
There’s no clear way to select and mark tasks using keyboard.
Con No Android Wear and Apple Watch support
The Any.do app currently does not support Android Wear or Apple Watch, in contrast to rival to-do list apps such as Todoist or Wunderlist. Currently Any.do does not have plans to support these devices.