Top 5 Goal Tracking Apps to Boost Your Productivity

"Goal tracking app" covers very different tools. Some are habit checklists, some are games, some are task managers with a goals feature, and some are built for multi-month projects. The best one for you depends on which of those problems you actually have.

This list covers five well-known options. For each one we say what it's good at, where it falls short, and who it suits. We make GoalTracker Online, so it's listed first. We've tried to be as honest about its limits as about the others.

How we compared them

We looked at four questions:

1. Goal structure: Can you break a big goal into smaller steps, or is everything one flat list?
2. Daily habits: Does it track streaks or repeated check-ins?
3. Setup cost: How long before you're actually tracking something? Do you need an account?
4. Where your data lives: On a company's server, in your browser, or on your phone?

Features and pricing change often, so check each app's own site before you commit. If price decides it for you, what "free" really means in a goal tracking app covers the trial and freemium catches to look for.

1. GoalTracker Online

Best for: breaking big goals into steps, with no sign-up.

GoalTracker Online is a free web app built around a three-level structure: a goal, its subgoals (each with an optional due date and markdown notes) and microgoals under each subgoal for the next small actions. It also has a daily streak with a calendar history.

• Strengths: Opens in the browser with no account. Your goals are stored locally in your own browser, and you can export or import them as a file. The goal → subgoal → microgoal structure suits projects that take weeks or months.
• Limits: Because data lives in one browser, there is no automatic sync between your phone and laptop. You move data by exporting and importing. There are no charts beyond progress bars and the streak, no reminders, and no team features.
• Suits: People who want one clear home for a few big goals and would rather not create another account.

If you want to plan the goal before you track it, the free goal planner turns one big goal into subgoals and if-then plans, then imports into the tracker.

2. Habitica

Best for: making habits into a game.

Habitica turns your habits, dailies and to-dos into a role-playing game. You create an avatar, earn experience and gold for completing tasks, and lose health when you miss dailies. You can join parties with friends, which adds social accountability.

• Strengths: The game layer genuinely helps some people stick with routines. It's available on the web and mobile, and the core is free.
• Limits: It's built for repeated tasks, not multi-stage goals, and the game mechanics can feel like noise if you just want a list.
• Suits: People motivated by rewards and streak penalties. We compare the two apps in detail in GoalTracker vs Habitica.

3. Strides

Best for: numeric targets and charts.

Strides is a goal and habit tracker focused on Apple devices. It supports several tracking types: habits, target values with a deadline, averages and milestones. Charts show whether you're ahead of or behind the pace needed to hit your target.

• Strengths: Very good for measurable goals like "save a set amount by December" or "run a set number of kilometres this month". The pace line makes it obvious when you're falling behind.
• Limits: It's built for Apple devices, and many features sit behind a paid plan. Numeric tracking works less well for goals that are mostly a series of steps.
• Suits: People whose goals are numbers and who like to see the trend.

4. Todoist

Best for: tasks, with goals as projects.

Todoist is a task manager rather than a goal tracker. People use projects as goals and recurring tasks as habits. Its Karma feature adds points and daily or weekly targets for completed tasks.

• Strengths: Excellent for capturing and scheduling tasks, with apps on every platform and quick natural-language entry.
• Limits: A long-term goal ends up as one more project in the task list. There's no built-in way to see how daily work adds up to a bigger outcome.
• Suits: People who already live in a task list and mainly need their goal tasks scheduled. See Todoist alternatives for goals if the goals keep getting lost.

5. Way of Life

Best for: simple yes/no habit tracking.

Way of Life is a mobile habit tracker. Each day you mark a habit green (done), red (not done) or skip, and it builds a colour chain and trend charts over time.

• Strengths: It's fast to use each day and the colour history is easy to read. It works for habits you want to do and habits you want to stop.
• Limits: It tracks habits only, not goals with milestones or deadlines, and the free version is limited.
• Suits: People who want a daily habit check-in and nothing else.

Quick comparison

How to choose

• If your goal is a number (weight, savings, distance), try Strides.
• If you need fun or social pressure to keep going, try Habitica.
• If your problem is scheduling tasks, stay with Todoist.
• If you only need errands and reminders next to Gmail, Google Tasks may be enough; see GoalTracker vs Google Tasks.
• If your goals are team projects at work, a project tool fits better; see Asana vs GoalTracker for personal goals.
• If you only want a daily habit chain, try Way of Life, or print the free 30-day habit tracker.
• If your goal is a project with stages, like a book, a certification or a launch, use GoalTracker Online.

Whichever you pick, the app matters less than using it every week. A tool you open every Sunday for a weekly review will do more for you than a better one you forget about.