When comparing TickTick vs Todo.txt, the Slant community recommends TickTick for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” TickTick is ranked 6th while Todo.txt is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose TickTick is:
On each task you can choose between a text description or a checklist.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Create checklist for a task
On each task you can choose between a text description or a checklist.
Pro Cross-platform
It’s accessible on the web, via a Chrome extension, on Android (phone/tablet, with widgets), and on iOS.
Pro Flexible recurring tasks
Recurring tasks are simple to set, and can be created according to custom rules.
Pro Customizeable Android widget
You can change the opacity, themes, lists, and cosmetic features of the widget.
Pro Smart date parsing
You can type "buy milk tomorrow 5pm" it will turn into a task as "buy milk" and reminder set as tomorrow 5pm automatically.
Pro Multiple reminders
You can add up to five reminders for different time to a single task.
Pro Smart List
Allows you to set custom filters, making it easier to find tasks.
Pro Multiple reminders
Supports up to 5 reminders per task.
Pro Advanced sorting options
Tasks can be sorted by dragging and dropping them in the list.
Pro Google Calendar integration
You can integrate TickTick with Google Calendar.
Pro Lightweight app
TickTick is resource-light, which is great if you run multiple programs or are using an older device.
Pro Clean UI
TickTick takes a minimalistic approach in order to keep things simple.
Pro Easy to add tasks
Just start typing to add a task.
Pro Has a calendar view
Pro version of the software allows tasks to be laid out in an easy to overview calendar view.
Pro Supports #hashtags (labels)
Just click a hashtag to filter your labeled tasks.
Pro Description and checklist all together
Paid users can add description and checklist into a single task all together.
Pro Set list color
You can set a different color for each list.
Pro Free task tagging
Tags are a native feature; up to five tags can be applied to each task.
Pro Great support to recurring tasks
Easy to set recurring tasks and a lot of possibilities to do that.
Pro Share task lists for collaboration
You can share a list through an email or a shareable link.
Pro Location reminder
Remind you of a task when you reach specific location.
Pro Can set duration of a task
You can set starting and ending date and time for tasks.
Pro Follows Android design guidelines
The mobile Android app of TickTick follows the Android design guidelines for a familiar interface.
Pro Keyboard shortcuts
TickTick supports keyboard shortcuts that makes it easier to work with.
Pro Custom themes for pro users
Paid users can enjoy pro themes.
Pro Recover from trash
Easy to see and recover tasks from trash if you deleted them by accident.
Pro Print tasks
Easy to print any task you want to.
Pro Siri integration
You can add tasks via Siri.
Pro Folder with concluded tasks
Easy to see all concluded tasks by date of conclusion.
Pro Support team is great
Support team responds quickly.
Pro Integration with calendars by URL
Shows your events on other calendars (like Outlook) in your task list.
Pro Easily editable format
Todo.txt can be edited in plain text and then displayed with neat styles.
Pro Editable from any text editor without needing any proprietary software
Because todo.txt is just a todo standard with various compatible apps to edit it, you can update it from any device as long as it can edit text and you can access your todo.txt file
It's convenient to be able to access your todo list quickly via your programming environment so you don't have to switch contexts, and to have a separate todo.txt file per project.
Pro Works with lots of apps for every platform
Todo.txt lists can be edited in virtually every text editor ever made and accessed on devices that support Dropbox. The user community has also created a number of apps for dozens of platforms.
Pro Command line support
You can edit your lists using the command line (e.g., Terminal) via a supplied bash script.
Pro Full control over your to-dos
You have full access to the underlying programming rules, and therefore total control over your task lists.
Pro Extensible
Has been extended to include most things people want, including a multiple of interfaces and app for all platforms.
Pro Easy syncing
Todo.txt automatically and seamlessly syncs through Dropbox.
Pro Wide range of interface apps
The community has developed a wide range of apps that interface with the basic file structure. These apps vary in how much they accomplish, how much hand-holding they do, their level of glitz, etc. They range from plugins for an editing app like vim to stand-alone, platform-specific GUI's. So YMMV depending on what you use. (todopy is particularly nice, a Python program that has a "console" mode which provides a keyboard-driven GUI.)
Pro Follows the unix philosophy
Does one thing: to do lists
Pro It's free
It runs on MacOS, Android, and Python (in the Mac's Unix CLI) -- all for free.
Pro Easy to sync up between lots of devices and interfaces
At a bare minimum you just need to be able to edit text, but there are many apps and advanced interfaces you can install on many devices to supplement your to-do list editing.
Cons
Con No native integrations with IFTTT or Zapier
The app doesn't feature native integration with these services, but you can use this functionality by fiddling with the custom email address that is provided by TickTick.
Con unable to sync with gtasks, only imports
Con Intelligent date and time entries don't work everywhere
In some apps, you can type "call Ben tomorrow at noon" and the date and time fields will be automatically populated with "tomorrow" and "noon". TickTick has recently implemented this feature, but it doesn't work flawlessly via the webapp or via a widget. The functionality does work good within the Android app, however.
Con Free version is limited
TickTick's free version is limited to 19 task lists, 1 attachment per day, and 1 collaborator.
Con Abo model is too expensive
Con Translation to Portuguese is not professional
For Portuguese speakers, the Portuguese translation seems very amateurish.
Con No search of non-latin languages in web
The web version has no ability to search non-latin languages (e.g. Russian, Greek).
Con Interface is not clear
It has too much information, causing some confusion sometimes.
Con No support for reoccurring tasks
Tasks have dates corresponding to creation and completion, but there is no explicit support for due dates or for tasks that reoccur.
Con Nested tasks not supported
Many todo tasks for developers end up having sub tasks that need to be performed for a parent task to be completed, but the todo.txt format does not have any nesting.
Con Android app not updated since 2013
The app only seems to support Dropbox. It would be nice to see support for different and newer file storage services.