12 Open-source Free Task Management Apps for macOS

Tasks and to-do managers are essential tool to keep your task organized as well as daily routine tasks. They are tools for everyone, professionals, students, designers, and software developers.

Task management app is designed to streamline the process of creating, and managing tasks and task lists. It lets you plan, organize and prioritize all your tasks so that you can finish them within in the most efficient and productive manner.

In this article, we offer you a list of the best open-source and free task management app for macOS, that you can download, install, and use totally free of charge.

1- Focalboard

Focalboard is an amazing kanban task manager for desktop and server. Imagine Trello for your desktop. It allows you to manage and organize your tasks and projects without having to deal with so much configuration or hidden settings.

Focalboard is available for macOS as well as Linux and Windows.

You can install it as a standalone desktop app, or self-host the web edition on your server or local machine.

I have been using Focalboard on macOS and Linux for some time, and it is proven reliable and productive.

Focalboard: OS Trello Alternative with full desktop support for Windows, Linux and macOS

Focalboard is a kanban-based app for server and desktops. It is totally free open-source app which team and individuals can install and use without any charge. The app works smoothly on macOS (M1 edition), and we start using it on regular basis. It also does not require a steep learning

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2- Sleek

Sleek is a simple multi-platform task manager that works with macOS, Linux, and Windows. It uses the portable todo.txt data format, but within a fancy super productive interface.

Sleek offers many handy shortcuts that eases your creation, checking and managing tasks and projects.

You can also export your task files and use it in any other todo.txt supported programs.

Sleek: A simple To-do app that makes use of todo.txt file format

Todo.txt is a small yet a useful way to organize to-dos in one readable text file. It’s popular among developers, software engineers, DevOps and nerdy Linux/ Unix users. Any text editor or IDE can be used to create, manage and update the todo.txt files. I use Visual Studio

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3- Zim

Zim is a remarkable desktop wiki system and note-taking software. It allows you to create many notebooks, pages and sub-pages, and connect them together. It also has many useful plugins that extend its functionalities.

You can use Zim to write books, manage projects, tasks, or create your personal local knowledge base.

I used it over the years to manage my tasks and take notes, and I still use it to write reports, and documents, as it has several exporting options.

Zim: A Free Desktop Wiki and Note App

Zim is an open source free lightweight note-taking application in a form of desktop wiki. It allows you to organize your notes, articles, resources, and ideas all in one place, connect them together using page links, attach media and documents and more. By default, Zim supports wiki syntax and a

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4- Joplin

Joplin is a multipurpose note-taking app that can be used as a task and project management tool for the web, mobile and desktop. Unlike other note-taking apps, Joplin supports videos, PDFs, audio files, and to-do lists.

Joplin also allows you to sync your notes to the cloud and take regular backups and keep them save.

For the task management, Joplin supports nested sub-tasks, which you can check and uncheck in a snap.

Joplin is An Amazing Open-source Note-Taking app and Evernote Alternative

Joplin - an open source note taking and to-do application with synchronisation capabilities for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.

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5- TiddlyWiki and Projectify

TiddlyWiki is an amazing one-file wiki, and a personal organizer that can be used to manage tasks, notes, projects, and many more.

You can customize TiddlyWiki as task/ to-do manager app, with simple hacks. However, you can also choose to use Projectify which is a custom theme/ system that convert your simple TiddlyWiki into a complex task manager and project management system.

Projectify: A TiddlyWiki powered Personal Project manager

TiddlyWiki is a lightweight, portable multipurpose note-taking app. Created by Jeremy Ruston and powered by a strong community, TiddlyWiki became productivity tool for many. Because it is highly customizable and portable, you can use it for almost anything. Besides, It has a growing ecosystem fill…

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6- Do it

The Do it app is a native macOS to-do management app that you can install and use it for free. It features a clean clutter-free interface that allows you quick access to all task lists, search, filter, and sort tasks, and more.

The app is available to download for free from the App Store.

7- Elisi

If you want something compact to manage more than your tasks, we recommend Elisi.

Elisi is a stunning app to manage task lists, habits, goals, expanses, notes, and user journals. It is basically, a personal organizer app.

Elisi also allows you to create many workspaces per project or activity, track your goal, and more.

Recommended as a personal organizer and a habit tracker.

Elisi a Free Task Manager App That Levels up your productivity

What is Elisi? Elisi is a free task and goal management app for anyone who want to keep track of their performance with a simple workflow. Elisi is your one-stop shop for productivity and personal achievement. View your whole week ahead, clearly laid out, all in one app: tasks to

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8- Taskwarrior

Taskwarrior is a terminal task and project management app for people who like old school terminal type-focused apps.

With Taskwarrior you can add, edit, archive, check tasks, add them to lists, set task priority, tag, and due date.

It is a highly customizable and configurable app, and comes with many useful commands that are easy to memorize.

Taskwarrior: The most underrated open-source Task manager

What is Taskwarrior? Taskwarrior is an open-source, free to-do/ task lists manager that works from command-line as a terminal application. Taskwarrior first release was on 3 June 2008, by Paul Beckingham, as it gained popularity over time, it gets an active open-source developer community that kee…

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9- Taskline (Taskbook)

Taskline is a simple to-do management app that you can use from your terminal. Despite its minimal file size, it comes with a rich feature set, that include different views, search, task note, statistics, time tracking, and data export.

Taskline: manage your tasks with style

If you are a digital minimalist, you are most likely using or at least tried Taskwarrior; a command-line minimal yet features-rich to-do app. Taskline is a new stylish successor for Taskwarrior with less complicated learning curve. Taskline turns your terminal into a powerful task management tool w…

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10- Pomtaez

Pomtaez is a mix of to-do and task management app packed with a pomodoro timer that helps you stay focus and productive.

Beside macOS, Pomtaez is available for Linux, and Windows systems.

Pomatez: a Pomodoro Productivity Timer Appwith more to offer

Pomatez is an open-source Pomodoro timer application aimed for simplicity and productivity. It features a customizable breaks, session count, notification and to-do (tasks) lists. Furthermore, Pomatez runs on Windows, Linux and macOS. So, if you use different or multiple operating systems in your…

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11- mdSilo

mdSilo is yet another free knowledge-base app with super task management features. You can create unlimited task list files, and open folder files directly.

You can organize your data simply by using tags. You can also browse your notes using several available views that include: graph, task, chronicle, and normal note view.

mdSilo is an outstanding open-source note-taking app for the active mind

What is mdSilo? mdSilo is a super lightweight knowledge-base and note-taking software for people who constantly taking notes. It leverages Markdown for note-taking, internal tagging and backlinks, and building a connected network between notes for easy browsing. mdSilo is built using Tauri, a rev…

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12- Task Coach

Task Coach is a feature-rich task management app that allows better organizing and managing of your daily routine, and project tasks. The app is straightforward to use has different ports for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.

Task Coach Is a Multi-platform Task Manager

Task Coach is an open-source lightweight task management app that help you keep track and organize your messy task and project workspaces. It is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. There is also an Android separate project. With Task Coach, you can add your tasks, organize them in lists, cate…

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If you know of any other open-source and free task manager for macOS that we did not mention here, let us know.