ProgressCove vs TickTick: from a TickTick user who wanted an overview

We make ProgressCove, so read this like any maker's comparison. But I'll be straight: of all the to-do apps I tried, TickTick was the best. This isn't a page about how TickTick let me down. It's about the two things I wanted that it didn't do, and how wanting them turned into building this.

It started as a TickTick dashboard

Here's the real origin. I used TickTick, and the thing I kept missing was an overview. I could see my tasks, but not the bigger picture: how a whole project was going, how close it was to done, what actually mattered right now. So I started building a dashboard on top of TickTick, something I could glance at on a smart display or in my home setup and just see where things stood.

Building that taught me something. A good overview needs structure underneath it. And TickTick's structure was wide open, which was the second thing.

Too much freedom, too easy to add

TickTick gives you lists, folders, and tags, and no opinion about what any of them is for. A list can be a project, a category, a someday-pile, or a grocery run, the app treats them all the same. And adding things is very easy, which sounds good until you realize you've been dropping tasks in for weeks without ever deciding how it all fits together. For people who arrive with a system in their head, that freedom is great. For me, it was a growing pile I didn't know how to organize.

ProgressCove goes the other way on purpose, a bit more structure, gently enforced. There are levels, and each one means something: an area (Work, Home, Learning) holds projects, a project holds tasks, and a task can have subtasks if it needs them. You're guided into a place for everything instead of facing a blank canvas. Onboarding sets yours up in about a minute, and if you'd rather just keep a flat list, you can skip all of it and the structure stays out of your way until you want it.

That structure is what makes the overview I wanted possible. Because a project is a real thing with tasks inside it, ProgressCove can show you how far along it is, what's done, what's left, how close to finished, at a glance. The dashboard idea that started this became a built-in part of the app.

One more thing: the whole family

The last piece was practical. In TickTick, everyone in the house needs their own account to keep their own things. I wanted one plan that just covered the household. So ProgressCove includes family use in a single subscription, each person gets their own space to add and organize their tasks, and you only pay once.*

And no overdue, anywhere

One smaller difference worth noting. Like most task apps, TickTick turns a passed date into an overdue marker. ProgressCove has no overdue state at all: a task you haven't done yet is simply ongoing. Dates are optional, nothing turns red, and what the app counts and shows is progress, not how late you are.

Side by side

TickTick details reflect its publicly listed features and pricing at the time of writing, check their site for current specifics.

Who should stay with TickTick

A lot of people, honestly. If you use the Pomodoro timer, track habits, need iOS or desktop today, or already have a list system that works for you, TickTick is mature, affordable, and genuinely good, and moving would cost you things you use. ProgressCove isn't trying to out-feature it.

Who ProgressCove is for

People who want the same kind of app, pointed in a slightly different direction: a bit more structure so you always know where a task goes, an overview that shows how your projects are actually doing, and one plan that covers the whole family instead of an account each. That's what I wanted from TickTick and couldn't get, so I built it.

* One subscription covers the primary account plus up to 7 additional household member accounts, so each person can keep their own tasks.

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