Comparison

ByDesign

TickTick

ByDesign vs TickTick

TickTick gives you the tools. ByDesign gives you the plan.

TickTick packs tasks, habits, a calendar and a focus timer into one app. ByDesign starts from the plan: say the goal, get it scheduled on a preview you approve, see your whole year on one canvas, and give your notes, goals and team a real home.

Try ByDesign free See the comparison

What you get with ByDesign that TickTick doesn’t offer

A plan that lands on your calendar
Say the goal and ByDesign builds the tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines, then schedules them. AI scheduling is drafted on your calendar with conflicts shown. TickTick’s AI Assistant plans in a chat, with no preview on the calendar.
Your whole year on one canvas
Year, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface, with sticky notes, images and pinned pages. TickTick’s Year view previews dated tasks, with an optional heatmap; it isn’t a canvas for notes, images or pages.
Pages, goals and courses, not just notes
Nested pages with tables, embeds and backlinks, goal pages with progress, and Hub courses you can schedule. TickTick has Markdown note lists and no goal pages.
Built for working together
Share pages with view, comment or edit access, assign tasks, @mention in comments, chat in the app, and add seats on a team plan. TickTick shares lists and comments; there is no chat and no team plan.

ByDesign vs TickTick, feature by feature

Only the differences. What both apps do the same is listed underneath.

Included
Limited
Not available

Feature	ByDesign	TickTick
AI planning
AI goal plans	Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: AI Assistant via promptsBreaks a goal into stages, tasks and habits; no goal page
AI scheduling with a preview you approve	Included: Preview on the calendarConflicts shown; accept, or undo step by step; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Plan in chatThe assistant plans in text; no preview on the calendar
Auto-schedule around your hours	Included: Rules you setWork hours, breaks, buffers, max hours a day, split long tasks	Limited: Through the AI assistantFits unscheduled tasks into free time when you ask; no working-hours rules
Voice control	Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: AI Voice Add and SiriSpeech to tasks and Siri commands
Planning views
Year-to-day planning canvas	Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Year, month, week and timeline viewsYear view previews dated tasks, with an optional heatmap; no planning canvas
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar	Included: Yes	Not available: Desktop sticky notes live outside the calendar
Customisable dashboard	Included: Drag-and-drop widgetsScore board, tasks, habits, inbox, pinned pages, Kanban	Limited: Statistics and achievements
Notes, goals and courses
Notes and pages	Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web	Limited: Note lists with MarkdownHeadings, lists, code blocks, attachments and [[ task links; no sub-pages or backlinks
Goals with progress	Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable	Limited: Through AI AssistantNo goal page with progress tracking
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub	Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar	Limited: Habit Gallery onlyNo courses or roadmaps
Habits with friends	Included: Shared streak boardInvite friends, comments and likes	Not available: No
Collaboration
Built-in chat	Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls	Not available: Comments on tasks
Team plans	Included: Per seatAdd or remove members in settings	Not available: No team planSharing a list with more than one member needs Premium

AI planning

AI goal plans
ByDesign
Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans
TickTick
Limited: AI Assistant via promptsBreaks a goal into stages, tasks and habits; no goal page
AI scheduling with a preview you approve
ByDesign
Included: Preview on the calendarConflicts shown; accept, or undo step by step; AI and AI Plus plans
TickTick
Limited: Plan in chatThe assistant plans in text; no preview on the calendar
Auto-schedule around your hours
ByDesign
Included: Rules you setWork hours, breaks, buffers, max hours a day, split long tasks
TickTick
Limited: Through the AI assistantFits unscheduled tasks into free time when you ask; no working-hours rules
Voice control
ByDesign
Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans
TickTick
Limited: AI Voice Add and SiriSpeech to tasks and Siri commands

Planning views

Year-to-day planning canvas
ByDesign
Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans
TickTick
Limited: Year, month, week and timeline viewsYear view previews dated tasks, with an optional heatmap; no planning canvas
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar
ByDesign
Included: Yes
TickTick
Not available: Desktop sticky notes live outside the calendar
Customisable dashboard
ByDesign
Included: Drag-and-drop widgetsScore board, tasks, habits, inbox, pinned pages, Kanban
TickTick
Limited: Statistics and achievements

Notes, goals and courses

Notes and pages
ByDesign
Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web
TickTick
Limited: Note lists with MarkdownHeadings, lists, code blocks, attachments and [[ task links; no sub-pages or backlinks
Goals with progress
ByDesign
Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable
TickTick
Limited: Through AI AssistantNo goal page with progress tracking
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub
ByDesign
Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar
TickTick
Limited: Habit Gallery onlyNo courses or roadmaps
Habits with friends
ByDesign
Included: Shared streak boardInvite friends, comments and likes
TickTick
Not available: No

Collaboration

Built-in chat
ByDesign
Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls
TickTick
Not available: Comments on tasks
Team plans
ByDesign
Included: Per seatAdd or remove members in settings
TickTick
Not available: No team planSharing a list with more than one member needs Premium

TickTick column based on help centre, AI Assistant, Google Calendar, MCP, widgets and upgrade on October 23, 2026. If something has changed, email info@bydesign.io.

Both apps cover the basics

Tasks with subtasks, priorities and tags
Recurring tasks, due dates and reminders
Natural-language quick add and an inbox
Kanban boards
Pomodoro timer and focus time tracking
Habit tracker with statistics
Day, week and month calendar views
Google and Apple calendar sync
AI assistant chat
MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT
Templates
Email to task and attachments
Shared lists with assignments and @mention comments
Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android apps
Widgets on iOS and Android
Dark mode
Multiple languages
Keyboard shortcuts

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Why people switch from TickTick to ByDesign

Say the goal. Get a scheduled plan.

Tell ByDesign what you want to achieve. It asks a few questions, then builds the tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines and schedules them around the life you already have. Replan in one message.

TickTick: TickTick’s AI Assistant can break a goal into stages, tasks and habits when you prompt it, and add them to TickTick from the chat.

ByDesign AI goal plan with tasks, tags and durations

Preview the week before it saves

Say “plan my week” and ByDesign drafts the changes on a preview of your calendar, conflicts included. Accept, or undo step by step. Nothing is saved until you say so.

TickTick: TickTick’s assistant proposes a plan as text in the chat; otherwise you arrange tasks on the calendar by hand.

ByDesign week view with the planning assistant previewing changes

Your whole year on one surface

The planning canvas zooms from the full year down to a single day. Pin goals, notes and milestones where they belong, drag anything, and the plan keeps up.

TickTick: TickTick has year, month, week and timeline views, but none of them holds notes, images or pages.

ByDesign planning canvas showing a full year of plans

A workspace your team can live in

Share pages with view, comment or edit access, assign tasks, @mention people in comments and chat without leaving the app. Add seats from the app on a team plan.

TickTick: TickTick shares lists with edit, comment or read-only access and supports @mentions in comments. There is no chat and no team plan, and sharing a list with more than one member needs Premium.

Don’t take our word for it.

From E
I really like ByDesign - a lot. I was looking for something that works for me but is also simple and intuitive enough to work for my 12 yr old daughter who needs to start planning out her homework and chores around her other calendar events. I think this is it - and I have looked at a lot of your competitors - Notion, Motion, Tick Tick, To-Do, Todoist. None have the simplicity of user interface combined with the rich features (but not overly complex). love it😍
From TuneOutlyson003
I just wanna say that I have FINALLY found a to-do list app where I can have recurring tasks and habit/org systems in one place. This is awesome because I keep wondering if one day my autonomous self will break....this is awesome so far!
From Petey M.
I used to keep a calendar, a to-do list, and a project app. ByDesign replaced all of them. It’s clean, it works, and I haven’t needed anything else.

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Make the switch in three steps

No setup project. Start free, connect the calendar you already use, and give ByDesign your first goal.

Start your free trial. No credit card.
Connect your Google, Apple or Outlook calendar.
Say your first goal and watch the plan land on your calendar.

Ready to plan your year, not just your list?

Start free. No credit card. Tell ByDesign a goal and watch the plan land on your calendar.