Toodledo vs Any.do (2026): Which Free Plan Actually Works?

Most task-app comparisons judge the paid tiers. But most people never pay — so the honest question is: which free plan can actually run your life? Here's how Toodledo and Any.do compare in 2026 when you don't take out your wallet.

The short answer

Any.do's free plan is a polished daily planner with real limits on the features that matter long-term — as of this writing, things like advanced recurring tasks, color tags, and attachments sit behind Premium. Toodledo's free plan includes the structural features a real system needs: recurring tasks, contexts, the Hotlist, saved searches, and full cross-platform sync. If you want a beautiful "plan my day" ritual, Any.do free is pleasant. If you want a system that still works in month six, Toodledo free holds more weight.

What Any.do free does well

Credit where due: Any.do's mobile apps are among the cleanest in the category. The "My Day" review — a daily prompt to sweep your list and pick what matters — is a genuinely good habit built into the product. Grocery lists, a simple calendar view, and integrations with assistants and messaging apps make it a friendly light-duty planner. If your needs are a shopping list, a handful of reminders, and a daily nudge, it's a fine choice.

Where free plans usually break

Free tiers rarely break on day one. They break in week three, when you hit the feature that turns a to-do list into a system:

• Recurring tasks. The unglamorous backbone of every working setup — bills, reviews, medications, reports. Toodledo's free plan includes its full recurrence engine, including repeat-from-completion. Any.do has historically reserved its more flexible recurrence options for Premium; check the current plan page before committing.
• Self-maintaining lists. Toodledo's saved searches and Hotlist build rule-based lists that update themselves ("due in 7 days, high priority, at work"). Any.do organizes primarily by manual lists and My Day selections — fine for light use, laborious as volume grows.
• Fields and structure. Toodledo tasks carry due dates, start dates, contexts, folders, priorities, statuses, and tags on the free plan. More fields means smarter filters later — it's what your future setup is built from.

Head-to-head for common situations

You want a pretty daily planner: Any.do. Its design and My Day flow are the product's heart.

You run GTD or anything like it: Toodledo. Contexts, statuses like Waiting and Someday, and saved searches map directly onto the methodology. See our GTD weekly review setup.

You live on recurring routines: Toodledo, free, no asterisks.

You want your task app inside WhatsApp: Any.do — its messaging integrations are a real differentiator.

You're building a system to keep for years: Toodledo has run since 2006 with a stable data model and an open API. Longevity is a feature.

The bottom line

Any.do free is a lovely daily planner with a paywall where the durable features live. Toodledo free is a less flashy but structurally complete system — the pieces that make task management stick are all included. Try the setup from our "stop fighting your task app" guide on the free plan and see if it survives your week three. That's the only benchmark that matters.

Pricing and plan limits change; verify both vendors' current plan pages before deciding.