A question we often get from the GTD community is, “What are the best apps for GTD?” While we would love to give you a simple
answer that tells you exactly what to use, it’s not as simple as that.
GTD is tool neutral
One of the first things to understand is that GTD is tool neutral. That’s the good news! As long as you understand the methodology, you have many options for which tools to use for your implementation. You won’t be restricted with using a single tool that David Allen has deemed the one and only way to successfully implement this methodology. In reality, your GTD setup will very likely include a variety of tools, such as a list manager, a calendar, your email, and tools for storing reference.
Start with a list manager
One of the primary tools you will need for your GTD implementation is a list manager. This is a place to store your lists and is most often what people mean when they ask what the best app is for GTD. In the Getting Things Done book, David Allen recommends starting off with 10 lists:
- Projects
- Next Actions sorted by context: Agendas, Anywhere, Calls, Computer, Errands, Home, Office
- Waiting For
- Someday/Maybe
If you’ve been searching for a GTD app or done a search for “GTD software,” you know your choices for list managers are seemingly endless. To see the ones we have extensively tested to know they will work for GTD, check out our official GTD Setup Guides. Some of the more popular list managers include Outlook®, Nirvana®, Todoist®, Trello®, OmniFocus®, Wunderlist®, Google Tasks®, iOS Reminders®, Evernote®, OneNote®, and Things®.
Questions to help you choose a list manager for GTD
- Are there any tools already in place that you plan/need to still use?
- Where is your email? Not required, but certainly helps to have your email and lists near each other.
- Who else needs to see your data? Will you want sharing/collaboration features?
- What do you tend to be drawn to—paper or digital? Many very tech-savvy people use paper list managers.
- Is security a concern? Does your company require your data to be stored in certain places?
- Do you want cloud access or local?
- What are you willing to carry around?
- What tools are you already familiar with?
- Would you trust putting almost anything into it?
- Is it scalable?
- Can you easily learn how to use it?
- What are you willing to pay for it?
- What does it need to sync to?
Resources for setting up apps for GTD
Coaching by our Global Partners
Webinars & videos on GTD Connect
Is there a perfect GTD system out there? Yes, it’s the one you trust and use so your mind is free.
I think one of the best tools is RTM
Thanks Treysse, would you be so kind to expand on what led to quote RTM?
I think that you should test Toodledo: https://www.toodledo.com/.
I have tested most of the apps of your above list.
I think that Toodledo is the best GTD app: powerful and easy to use, on a smartphone and on the web from any browser, in SaaS mode with synchronisation.
I’m using Google Keep for list manager and tasks.
the one I am using and think is really good tool is https://nozbe.com
have you tried that?
Let’s not forget the other types of app mentioned e.g. calendar, email. Finding a good app for storing reference is really important for me. As an Apple user, I’m using Keep It, which is a bit like Evernote but based on the Mac and iOS. I like that I can keep documents, web pages , bookmarks and e-mails all in one place and organise these in folders for topics and project support, in the same way as for my paper General Reference files.
https://reinventedsoftware.com/keepit/
I agree with Toodledo. It’s flexible and inexpensive (can be free but I need all the features).
Toodledo es una buena opción, permite configuración superior a las otras herramientas disponibles en el mercado, tiene interfaces con muchos programas de terceros.
Traductor de Google:
Toodledo is a good option, allows configuration superior to the other tools available in the market, has interfaces with many third-party programs.
I would like to see a GTD guide for Toodledo. Also, I’d like to see some suggestions on how to use projects vs tags (irrespective of the framework). Many things can be done with either approach, but it seems that if both features are available, it can be extra rope to hang yourself with…
I have no idea how to organize my tasks. I’m so worried I’ll never learn. I’m so stressed out. I always forget everything I have to do.
I’ve been listening to the podcast and my interest is piqued, enough so that I’m commenting on an article which I never do.
Really curious how others manage when you have a company based tool suite MS, restrictive company security and a personal reliance on a different eco system at home MAC.
I have the ability to share tasks and calendar info between the two which is a plus, but I run my life from my phone and run my profession (I enjoy it too much to call it work) including projects and multiple teams from my work environment.
With going back to school on the near horizon I fully expect another stream and system to integrate with the other two.
Thoughts? Recommendations?
Hi Sean. You might get some helpful responses to this in our public forums: https://forum.gettingthingsdone.com
I will try Trello and let you know how that helped me pros and cos
How are you doing with Trello? I am thinking to try it out. What are your experiences?
I have been using doit.im for years. It’s an excellent app that isn’t overly complex – available across all platforms, and specifically geared towards the GTD philosophy. http://doit.im/
I have used so many, but I want to go back to something simple and clean, because I was even using notion, but if anyone has used it, they know that it has everything and one ends up getting lost in it, I like simplenote, although I guess we should start with one and then see what we get.
I used to use OmniFocus, but it was too complicated and got in my way. I spend more time using it than getting things done. I now use iOS Reminders, which I find wholly adequate in every respect.