Microsoft To Do is the most underrated free task app there is. It is genuinely free, with no paid tier and no task limits, it is on every platform including a decent web app, and the My Day view is the best single idea in any to-do app I have used. If you are in Outlook all day, it is already the right answer and you can stop reading.
Taskaro is mine, and it loses on price, platforms and limits. It wins on exactly one axis. Here is the honest version of both.
What Microsoft To Do Gets Right
My Day. A list that empties itself every morning. You pull a few things into it from your lists, and tomorrow it is blank again. That single mechanic solves the biggest problem with flat lists, which is that yesterday's guilt accumulates until you cannot look at the app. Most task managers, including mine, do not have anything this good.
It is actually free. No tier, no cap, no ads, no upsell. Unlimited tasks, unlimited lists, steps within tasks, file attachments, sharing a list with someone else. Compare that with what other free tiers actually include and it is remarkable.
Outlook integration. Flag an email, it becomes a task. Tasks sync with Outlook and Microsoft 365. For anyone whose work arrives by email, the capture path is as short as it gets.
Everywhere. Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, web. Taskaro is Android and web only, which for a lot of people ends the comparison right there.
Where It Stops
Everything Microsoft To Do cannot do is structural, not missing-feature-list stuff:
- No board view. Lists and steps, that is the whole model. A task you started yesterday looks identical to one you have been avoiding for a month.
- No notes section. There is a note field inside a task, but nowhere for a thought that is not a task. So notes go to OneNote, and you are running two apps.
- No timer. Nothing for the part where you sit down and do the work.
- No stats or history. Completed tasks vanish into a collapsed section. There is no view that answers whether you were consistent this month.
- No export. No clean way to produce "here is what I did this week."
Side by Side
| Feature | Microsoft To Do | Taskaro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no paid tier | Free tier, Pro $3.49/mo |
| Task limit on free | Unlimited | 3 per day |
| Kanban board | No | Yes, default view |
| Daily reset view | Yes, My Day | No |
| Notes, separate from tasks | No | Yes, flat notes |
| Focus timer | No | Yes, 2 sessions/day free |
| Consistency stats | No | Year-long graph, Pro |
| PDF export | No | Yes, Pro |
| Email integration | Yes, Outlook | No |
| Sharing lists | Yes | No, solo only |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, web | Android, web |
What Taskaro Does Differently
One axis: structure instead of volume. A kanban board so overdue work is visible, a flat notes section with no folders, a calendar week view, a contribution graph of your whole year, and Focus Mode, a timer you start from the task itself. Google sign-in, Android and web, synced.
That is the trade in one sentence: Microsoft To Do gives you unlimited tasks with no structure, Taskaro gives you structure with very limited tasks. Three a day on free, 3 notes, 2 focus sessions. Pro at $3.49 a month or $26.99 a year removes the caps and adds the graph, meeting tracking and PDF export.
Where Microsoft To Do Is Simply Better
Being direct, because the price difference deserves it. If any of these matter, use Microsoft To Do and do not pay me anything:
- You have an iPhone or a Mac. Taskaro has no iOS app at all.
- Your work arrives as email, especially Outlook.
- You need more than three new tasks a day and do not want to pay.
- You share a list with a partner or a colleague.
- A list genuinely works for you. Then structure is overhead, not help.
Where the Trade Makes Sense
Pick Taskaro if your actual problem is the one Microsoft To Do cannot see: you keep starting things and losing them. A flat list cannot show that. My Day helps you choose today's work but says nothing about the essay that has been 40% written for two weeks. If you have been rewriting the same five items into My Day every morning for a fortnight, that is the signal, and no amount of unlimited free tasks fixes it.
Also pick it if you want notes and a timer in the same place rather than To Do plus OneNote plus a timer app, which is three installs for one workflow.
The Honest Verdict
Microsoft To Do is the better free app, full stop. It is free in a way nothing else here is, and My Day is a better daily mechanic than anything in Taskaro. If you can work from a flat list, it is the end of your search.
The reason to leave is specific and it is never price: you need to see what is in progress, you need somewhere for notes that are not tasks, and you want the timer attached to the task. If none of that describes you, stay. If all three do, three tasks a day will tell you within a week whether the structure was the missing piece. The wider roundup covers the other options either way.