Amazing Marvin vs Microsoft To Do: Comprehensive Comparison
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Overview
In today's fast-paced world, choosing the right productivity tool can make all the difference. This comprehensive comparison between Amazing Marvin and Microsoft To Do will help you understand which tool best fits your workflow and productivity needs.
⚡ Quick Summary
Aspect | Amazing Marvin | Microsoft To Do |
|---|---|---|
Best For | Highly customizable task manager and productivity app with behavioral psychology principles, ideal for users with ADHD or complex workflows. | Microsoft To Do is a free task management app integrated with Microsoft 365. It helps organize daily tasks, set reminders, and sync across devices. Ideal for personal use and light collaboration, it features "My Day" planning and seamless Outlook integration. |
Pricing | $12/mo or $300 lifetime | Free |
Platforms | Web, Mac, Windows | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac |
What is Amazing Marvin?
Amazing Marvin is a highly customizable task manager, daily planner, time tracker, project management tool, calendar, habit and goal tracker designed to reduce procrastination, minimize stress, and boost productivity through behavioral psychology principles. It offers extensive customization options allowing users to tailor the app's appearance, behavior, workflows, and features to fit personal needs, making it feel like a 'make your own productivity app.' The app is particularly praised for its focus tools and advanced features that help users with ADHD and complex workflows.
🌟 Key Features of Amazing Marvin
✦Extensive customization with toggleable plug-ins and multiple views
✦Built-in timers (Pomodoro/Sandlock) and time tracking
✦Full calendar integration with 2-way Google Calendar sync
✦Habit and goal tracking with behavioral psychology features
✦Weekly scheduler with visual timeline and time blocking
✦Analytics and stats with productivity charts and graphs
What is Microsoft To Do?
Microsoft To Do is a simple, intelligent to-do list app that helps users manage tasks in one place, with features like daily planning via "My Day" and integration across Microsoft apps. It's designed primarily for individual task management with basic collaboration features through shared lists. The app is completely free and works best for users already in the Microsoft 365/Outlook ecosystem.
🌟 Key Features of Microsoft To Do
✦My Day Planning: Daily task focus with intelligent suggestions from your lists.
✦Task Details: Add due dates, reminders, subtasks (Steps), file attachments up to 25MB, and notes.
✦Task Prioritization: Star tasks for importance and organize with hashtags/categories.
✦List Sharing and Collaboration: Share lists with others and assign tasks with "Assigned to me" view.
✦Microsoft Ecosystem Integration: Seamlessly works with Outlook, Teams, Planner, and flagged emails.
✦Cross-Device Sync: Available on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac with reliable synchronization.
📊 Feature Comparison
Feature | Amazing Marvin | Microsoft To Do |
|---|---|---|
📅 Calendar Integration | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
✅ Task Management | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
⏰ Time Blocking | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
🗣️ Natural Language Processing | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
🔔 Notifications | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
🌍 Time Zones Support | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
📆 Scheduler | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
📈 Analytics | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
🔗 Integrations
Amazing Marvin
Zapier, Make, Integrately, Google Calendar, Slack, Notion, Todoist, Google Tasks, Trello, Microsoft Outlook, Evernote, ClickUp, TickTick
Microsoft To Do
Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Planner, Cortana, Outlook flagged emails, third-party apps via Zapier and Power Automate (Google Calendar, Slack, Notion, Todoist)
💰 Pricing Comparison
Amazing Marvin
$12/mo or $300 lifetime
$12/month subscription, $300 lifetime plan, or $96/year annual option. Student discount 50% off. 14-day free trial available.
Microsoft To Do
Free
Free
💡 Things to Consider
When Choosing Amazing Marvin
→Steep learning curve - expect time investment to master the extensive customization options
→Mobile app experience is weaker than desktop, particularly on Android
→Best suited for advanced users or those with ADHD rather than simple task list needs
When Choosing Microsoft To Do
→You're in the Microsoft Ecosystem: Excellent integration with Office 365, Outlook, Teams, and Planner, but limited native integrations outside Microsoft services.
→You Value Simplicity Over Advanced Features: Perfect for basic task lists and personal productivity, but lacks project management, custom fields, advanced views, and extensive customization options.
→You Need Basic Task Management: Completely free with solid core features, but may feel limiting if you need advanced collaboration, time tracking, detailed reporting, or complex project workflows.
⭐ User Reviews
Amazing Marvin
"Amazing Marvin receives high praise for its extensive customization and powerful features, particularly from ADHD users and those with complex workflows. Users love the flexibility and transformative productivity boost, with ratings like 4.9/5 on AlternativeTo. However, it has a steep learning curve that can be overwhelming initially, and the mobile app (especially Android) needs improvement compared to the desktop version."
Microsoft To Do
"Microsoft To Do is a simple, free task management app that works best within the Microsoft ecosystem. Users appreciate its clean interface, reliable cross-device sync, tight Outlook integration, and features like "My Day" planning. However, it lacks advanced customization, project management capabilities, and has limitations like no undo function, basic recurring task options (minimum 1-day intervals), and limited team collaboration features compared to competitors."
🎯 Conclusion
Both Amazing Marvin and Microsoft To Do are excellent productivity tools with their own strengths.
Amazing Marvin excels in Extensive customization with toggleable plug-ins and multiple views, while Microsoft To Do shines with My Day Planning: Daily task focus with intelligent suggestions from your lists.. The best choice depends on your specific needs, workflow preferences, and budget.
We recommend trying both tools to see which one fits better with your productivity style.
