Student task management has a shape that most productivity apps are not designed for. The work is not a stream of small errands, it is four or five long assignments with fixed deadlines, plus recurring lectures, plus revision that has no deadline at all until suddenly it has the only deadline that matters. And the budget is usually zero.
So this comparison is about three specific things: how well the free tier survives a semester, whether deadlines are actually visible, and whether there is a timer for the part where you sit down and do the reading. I build one of the apps here, Taskaro, so discount that section as you see fit.
What Students Actually Need From the App
- A deadline view, not just a list. Four assignments due across three weeks need to be seen on a calendar, not sorted into a pile.
- Somewhere for notes that is not a task. Lecture scraps, reading references, a formula you keep forgetting. These are not to-dos and they clog a task list.
- A focus timer. Study sessions fail in the first ten minutes or not at all, and a timer is the cheapest intervention that exists.
- A free tier that lasts. A trial that expires in the third week of term is worse than nothing.
- Breaking big work into sessions. "Write essay" sitting unchecked for two weeks is how essays get written the night before.
The Options, Compared
| App | Free tier for a semester | Deadline view | Notes | Timer | Student pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | Yes, generous | If you build it | Best in class | No | Free education plan |
| Todoist | Yes, 5 projects | Upcoming list, board on Pro | Task comments | No | Occasional discount |
| TickTick | Tight, 9 lists | Calendar on Premium | Yes | Yes, Pomodoro | No standing discount |
| Google Tasks | Yes, unlimited | Via Google Calendar | No | No | Free |
| My Study Life | Yes, free | Yes, timetable-aware | Limited | No | Free |
| Taskaro | 3 tasks/day, 3 notes | Calendar week view, free | Yes, flat notes | Yes, 2 sessions/day free | No standing discount |
1. Notion: Best If You Will Actually Build It
Notion is the student favourite for a reason, and the education plan makes the good tiers free. Lecture notes, a reading database, an assignment board and a semester calendar can genuinely live in one place, and the note-taking is better than anything else on this list.
The catch: it is a blank page until you build a system, and building the system is extremely enjoyable procrastination. Every term there is a wave of students with a beautiful Notion dashboard and an unwritten essay. It is also slow to open on a phone between lectures. If you want the breakdown, Notion vs Taskaro covers the trade.
2. Todoist: Best Pure Task Manager
Type "essay draft due Friday 5pm" and Todoist parses it correctly. For deadline capture that is unbeaten, and the free tier's five projects maps neatly onto four modules plus admin.
The catch: no notes section, no timer, and the board and calendar layouts are Pro at about $4 a month. Revision with no fixed date tends to sink to the bottom of a list and stay there.
3. TickTick: Most Features, Tightest Free Tier
On paper this is the student answer: tasks, habits, a calendar and a Pomodoro timer in one app. The timer is the real draw, and it is on the free plan.
The catch: 9 lists with 99 tasks each, and the calendar and kanban views are Premium at about $3.99 a month. Term-long use on free gets cramped fast.
4. Google Tasks: Free, Already Installed, Very Basic
It is free forever, it sits in the Gmail you already check, and dated tasks show on Google Calendar next to your timetable. For a light course load, that is a complete system at zero cost.
The catch: flat lists only. No notes, no timer, no board, no way to break an assignment into sessions. The alternatives roundup covers where it runs out.
5. My Study Life: The Only One Built for Timetables
Worth knowing about because nothing else on this list understands a rotating timetable, terms, or which week you are in. It is free and it handles classes, exams and assignment deadlines in the right shapes.
The catch: it is a school planner, not a task manager. Weak for anything outside coursework, no timer, and thin notes. Plenty of students run it alongside a general app.
6. Taskaro: Board, Notes and a Timer, Small Free Tier
Mine. The fit for studying is specific: a kanban board so a missed essay deadline lands in the Overdue column instead of hiding as one unchecked line, a calendar week view for deadlines, a flat notes section with no folders for lecture scraps, and Focus Mode, a timer you start by tapping the task rather than retyping it into a separate app. Google sign-in, so no new password.
The catch, plainly: 3 tasks a day, 3 notes and 2 focus sessions a day on free, which is the tightest free tier here and will not hold a full semester. There is no iOS app, which rules it out for a lot of students immediately. No timetable support, no student discount, and the board is web only. Pro is $3.49 a month or $26.99 a year. If you are on an iPhone or you need a term timetable, pick from the five above.
Which to Pick
- Notion if notes are the bulk of your work and you will resist redesigning the dashboard.
- Todoist if you want deadlines captured fast and nothing else.
- TickTick if you want a timer and habits in the same app and can live inside the free limits.
- Google Tasks if your load is light and free matters more than structure.
- My Study Life if your timetable is the complicated part.
- Taskaro if you are on Android or web and want a board plus a timer with no setup.
The App Is the Small Part
Every app here can hold "essay due Friday." None of them will break it into "find four sources," "outline," "draft introduction," and none will sit you down on Tuesday evening. That part is a routine, not a tool, and it is worth more than the choice above. The exam season study routine is the one I would read next, and it works in any of these apps.