Microsoft To Do vs Google Tasks in 2026 One follows Outlook. The other lives in Gmail.

Both are free and both turn a typed line into a task. They differ on which inbox they sit next to, how you enter a date, whether the day gets its own list and how you share.

Jacky Fakkeldij Building Driftto, on his own · Updated 23 October 2026

I build Driftto, an iPhone app for getting a thought into the right place without first finding the app, waiting for it to open and picking a list. Google Tasks is one of the places it writes to and Microsoft To Do is not, so I wanted to know what you gain or give up by choosing one over the other.

In October 2026 I went through Microsoft's To Do help center, Google's help for Tasks, Chat and Gemini, and both US App Store listings. Where a page says nothing about a feature, I say so instead of guessing.

The short answer

Pick Google Tasks if your day runs through Gmail and Google Calendar and you want a plain list. Pick Microsoft To Do if you live in Outlook, or want typed dates, a fresh My Day list each morning and shared lists with assigned tasks. Both cost nothing on an iPhone, so the real choice is which inbox you use.

Outlook versus Gmail

Each app is built around its own mail. Microsoft says To Do tasks are stored on Exchange Online and appear in Outlook. Flagged Outlook messages can become tasks: the task takes the email's subject, a text preview sits in its details, and Open in Outlook takes you back to the message. You turn it on from the list menu with Flagged email, then Create. It starts with your 100 most recently flagged emails from the last 30 days, and it only works with Microsoft-hosted accounts such as Outlook.com, Hotmail.com and Live.com. It reads your primary mailbox only, not shared folders or shared mailboxes. The page does not mention Gmail.

Google Tasks is part of the house. In Gmail you open a message and choose Add to Tasks, and the task keeps a link back to that email. The side panel in Gmail, Calendar, Chat and Drive, and in files open in Docs, Sheets and Slides, shows your lists next to your work. A task with a date appears in Google Calendar, and a deadline shows in the all-day row.

If your mail is Gmail, Microsoft's pages describe no mail link for To Do. If your mail is Outlook, Google's pages describe none for Tasks. This one question settles most cases.

Typing a task with its date

Microsoft To Do reads dates out of the title. It calls this smart due date. You type "Friday", "tomorrow 5pm" or "every Monday" with the task name, To Do highlights the words and applies them when you save. Microsoft's page lists iOS and Windows, and says other platforms are in progress. On Windows it needs version 2.66 and works in English only; the page gives no language list for iOS. Recognition does not work when you edit a task in the details view.

If it picks up a word you meant as plain text, press Backspace on the highlighted word and it stays in the title. Settings has a switch to turn recognition off, and another to take the recognized words out of the title once they are set.

Google Tasks works through a form. You write the title, then tap to set a date and time, a deadline, a repeat and a list. Google's help does not describe reading dates out of the text.

Lists, steps and My Day

Google Tasks has lists, tasks and subtasks, and that is the structure. You choose a list when you create a task and can move it to another list from Task options. Google sets the ceiling at 100,000 tasks across all lists and 20,000 open tasks in one list.

Microsoft To Do has lists too, and you can create any number of them. Inside a task you break the work into steps, and a counter shows how many are done. The App Store listing says you can attach up to 25 MB of files to any task. Google's pages I read mention no file attachments.

My Day is the feature To Do is known for. Each day starts with an empty list for the tasks you want to do today. Tasks you add to it also stay in their own list, and unfinished ones come back as suggestions the next day. Suggestions appear from the light bulb icon, but only after at least one day of use. Google Tasks has no such list in the pages I read.

Repeats, reminders and deadlines

In Microsoft To Do you open a task and set a due date, a reminder and a repeat. Due dates offer today, tomorrow, next week or a date you pick. Reminders offer later today, tomorrow, next week or a date and time you pick. Repeats offer daily, on weekdays, weekly, monthly, yearly or a custom pattern. Microsoft's page lists a time only for reminders. It describes no deadline apart from the due date.

Google Tasks repeats every day, week, month or year, or on a custom pattern with an end date. The rules are strict. A task with subtasks cannot repeat, a shared task cannot repeat, a repeating task cannot move to another list, and once you stop a series you cannot make it repeat again. A task with a time notifies you at that time; one without a time, or with a deadline, notifies at 9 AM. A deadline is part of every account.

Sharing and assigning

Microsoft To Do shares whole lists. You open the sharing option at the top of a list, choose Create invitation link and send it by email or any messaging app. You can limit access to current members, which turns the link off, or stop sharing so only you keep the list. Once people join, you can assign a task to any member from its details. Moving an assigned task to another list removes the assignment. Microsoft's pages state no member limit and do not say whether the people you invite need a Microsoft account.

Google Tasks shares single tasks, not lists. In a Google Chat space you create group tasks and assign them to members. In Google Docs you type @task and assign it, which Google limits to eligible Workspace plans. The assigned task shows up in the other person's own list. Shared tasks cannot have subtasks and cannot repeat.

For a household list, Microsoft's shared lists fit better. For work that already happens in Chat and Docs, Google's way fits.

Price and where each one runs

Both are listed as Free in the US App Store with no in-app purchases. Google Tasks needs a Google Account. Microsoft To Do needs a Microsoft account, and its welcome page does not state a price.

The Microsoft listing shows iPhone (iOS 17.6 or later), iPad and Apple Watch. Its welcome page also offers downloads for Windows, Mac and Android and signs you in on the web. Google Tasks has iPhone, iPad and Android apps. On a computer it lives inside Calendar and the side panel of the other Google apps rather than in a separate desktop app.

Everything else, side by side

The rest, checked against Microsoft's and Google's help pages and App Store listings in October 2026.

Which one I'd pick

If you read mail in Outlook, use Microsoft To Do. Flagged emails land in a list you also open on your phone, typed dates save a tap, My Day gives you a short list each morning, and you can share a whole list with someone and hand them tasks.

If you read mail in Gmail and plan in Google Calendar, use Google Tasks. It is already in the side panel, an email becomes a task in one click, and a dated task shows on your calendar. Plan around its repeat rules if your routines have checklists under them.

If you are also weighing Apple's app, I compared it with Google's in Google Tasks vs Apple Reminders, and I put Google's next to a heavier tool in Todoist vs Google Tasks. Whichever list you choose, it only works if things actually get into it.

Capture into the one you picked, in one step

Into Microsoft To Do: open a list, type the title in the add-task field and press Return, with the date in the title if you want smart due date to pick it up. To use Siri, add your Outlook.com or Exchange account in iPhone Settings, turn on Reminders for it, set it as the default Reminders list, then say "Hey Siri, remind me to...". Microsoft's article for that covers iOS 11 to 13 only.

Into Google Tasks: in Gmail on your iPhone, open the email and choose Add to Tasks. Or ask the Gemini app to "Add call the garage to my to-dos."

With Driftto, you open it to a capture field with the keyboard already up, type or speak the thought, and tap where it goes. Google Tasks is one of those places: into the list you chose, with an optional due date, date only. A one-line note becomes the task title. A longer note keeps its first line as the title and lands whole in the task's details. Driftto does not write to Microsoft To Do, so it can't help you there. It only adds new tasks and never reads or changes what is already in Google Tasks. You can also say "Hey Siri, new capture in Driftto" and it goes to the destination you picked for Siri.

Questions

Driftto is in the App Store now.