Best Menu Bar To-Do List Apps for Mac in 2026

A to-do list that’s always visible on a Mac has two good homes: the menu bar, which stays on screen in almost every app, and the MacBook notch in the middle of it. Apps that live there keep your tasks one click or one hover away, so checking what’s next doesn’t mean hunting for a window.

I make NotchOwl, so it’s on this list; I’ve tried to be fair about where other apps are the better pick. Every app was compared from its website, help pages, GitHub page or App Store listing in November 2026, and prices are US prices as of November 2026.

Quick picks

• Best for tasks, a timer and reminders in the notch: NotchOwl
• Best free menu bar app for Apple Reminders: Reminders MenuBar
• Best for one task at a time: One Thing
• Best small paid list with nothing to sync: ToDoBar
• Best full task manager with a menu bar window: TickTick
• Best AI capture in the notch: Notchable
• Best for Setapp members: MacNotch
• Best quick capture into a cross-platform list: Todoist
• Best quick capture for Things users: Things 3

What to look for in a menu bar to-do app

• What the menu bar shows. An icon, a count, the next task or a running timer. The more it shows, the less you click.
• How fast capture is. A global shortcut and natural-language dates (“dentist friday at 10”) save the most time.
• Where the tasks live. Some apps keep their own list, some use Apple Reminders, which puts tasks on iPhone for free, and some need a cloud account.
• Whether it’s maintained. Check the last update date on the App Store or GitHub.
• Notch or menu bar. On a MacBook with a notch, menu bar icons can disappear behind the notch when there are too many. Notch apps use that space instead; check whether they also work on an external monitor.

Comparison table

The best menu bar to-do apps for Mac

NotchOwl: best for tasks, a timer and reminders in the notch

NotchOwl is a Mac planner that lives in the MacBook notch and the menu bar, with no Dock icon. Hover the notch or press Option–N, and today’s tasks, a focus timer, a daily notepad and today’s Calendar events open in the notch; the menu bar owl offers quick task entry. In Settings, NotchOwl’s menu bar item can also show today’s progress (tasks done out of the total) or the task you are focusing on, next to the owl. NotchOwl costs $9 once for up to 3 Macs, with lifetime updates and a 14-day money-back guarantee, and needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later. NotchOwl doesn’t need a notch: external monitors get one drawn at the top, and Macs without one open NotchOwl at the top center of the screen.

• Best for: people who want the whole day, not just a list, one hover away.
• Strengths: natural-language capture and on-device dictation; reminders open the notch with a chime and Snooze and Done buttons; a Week view with an Inbox; unfinished tasks carry forward; optional two-way Apple Reminders sync to iPhone and Apple Watch; a local MCP server for Claude Code, the Claude app and Cursor; data stays on the Mac.
• Drawbacks: Apple silicon only, no free tier or trial, no iPhone app, read-only Calendar, no shared lists, and no media controls or file shelf (Clips holds recent screenshots, recordings and copied items).
• Link: download NotchOwl.

Reminders MenuBar: best free menu bar app for Apple Reminders

Reminders MenuBar is a free, open-source (GPL-3.0) app that puts Apple Reminders in the Mac menu bar. Reminders MenuBar needs macOS 12 Monterey or later, and version 2.2.0 came out on September 8, 2026. You can create reminders with natural language for due dates, lists and tags, mark them complete, edit due dates, priorities and recurrences, search, and filter by list or tag. The menu bar item can show an icon, a counter or the next upcoming reminder, and a global shortcut toggles it.

• Best for: anyone who already uses Apple Reminders on iPhone and wants it one click away on the Mac.
• Strengths: free, open source, no new account, and everything stays in Apple Reminders, so it syncs through iCloud.
• Drawbacks: no timer or notepad is mentioned, and it isn’t on the Mac App Store: install it from GitHub or with brew install --cask reminders-menubar.
• Link: Reminders MenuBar on GitHub. For more ways to do this, see how to see Apple Reminders in the menu bar or notch.

One Thing: best for one task at a time

One Thing by Sindre Sorhus puts your single most important task or goal in the menu bar as text, and nothing else. One Thing is free with no in-app purchases, runs only on the Mac, and its App Store listing requires macOS 26.6 or later; version 2.0.5 came out on November 5, 2026.

• Best for: people who work best with one visible priority instead of a list.
• Strengths: Markdown styling and links, dragging text onto the menu bar item, a global shortcut, Shortcuts and scripting support, a share extension, and an optional dated history. A setting caps the item’s width, since macOS can hide menu bar items that don’t fit on notched Macs.
• Drawbacks: One Thing holds one item, not a list, and needs the newest macOS.
• Link: One Thing on the Mac App Store

ToDoBar: best small paid list with nothing to sync

ToDoBar by Softal Limited is a $2.99 one-time menu bar list that can show today’s pending task count, or your next pending task, in place of its icon. ToDoBar needs macOS 13 or later, keeps all data on the device, sends notifications before deadlines, and exports tasks as CSV.

• Best for: a small, private list with no account.
• Drawbacks: no iPhone access, and the last update (version 2.1.0) was on February 19, 2025.
• Link: ToDoBar on the Mac App Store

TickTick: best full task manager with a menu bar window

TickTick is a full task manager whose Mac app adds a menu bar mini window: Command–Shift–O opens your tasks from the menu bar and can start a focus session, and Command–Shift–A captures a task without leaving the app you’re in. TickTick’s free plan allows 9 lists and 99 tasks per list, and Premium costs $49.99 a year. TickTick runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web.

• Best for: people who want a complete task manager, with the menu bar as a shortcut into it.
• Strengths: a Pomodoro timer, a habit tracker, calendar views, and constant and location reminders. TickTick lists MCP servers among its Premium features.
• Drawbacks: caps on the free plan, and the full app is still a separate window.
• Link: TickTick for Mac

Notchable: best AI capture in the notch

Notchable is an ADHD-focused task manager in the MacBook notch: hover the notch, type or speak, and AI files each capture with a date, priority, category and effort estimate. Notchable costs $9.99 once for Lite, which runs an on-device model on Apple silicon, or $19.99 once for Standard, which uses cloud AI through Notchable’s server and also runs on Intel Macs. Notchable needs macOS 14 or later and has a 3-day trial.

• Best for: brain dumps, and tasks in the notch on an Intel Mac.
• Strengths: a Focus/Pomodoro dial in the notch, live activities for a running session, a due reminder or the next event, and two-way Apple Reminders sync.
• Drawbacks: Standard sends capture text to a server, and the trial lasts only 3 days.
• Link: notchable.com. For a closer look, read NotchOwl vs Notchable.

MacNotch: best for Setapp members

MacNotch is a notch app sold through Setapp with a task list that syncs with macOS Reminders, quick notes and a Pomodoro timer, beside calendar countdowns, music controls, a widget grid, system stats and AirDrop. MacNotch alone costs from $4.99 a month on Setapp, or it comes with a Setapp membership from $14.99 a month, with a 7-day free trial; no standalone purchase was listed. MacNotch needs macOS 14 or later.

• Best for: Setapp members, or people who want music controls and file actions next to their tasks.
• Drawbacks: subscription only, and tasks are one feature among many.
• Link: MacNotch on Setapp

Download any notch app only from the developer’s own site, the Mac App Store or Setapp. In July 2026, a fake DynamicLake ad on X spread Mac malware.

Todoist: best quick capture into a cross-platform list

Todoist’s help pages don’t describe a task list in the Mac menu bar. What they document is a global Quick Add (Option–Space by default, while the desktop app is open, even minimized) and a Todoist menu bar icon that starts Ramble voice capture. Todoist’s Beginner plan is free with 5 personal projects and 10 Ramble sessions a month, and Pro costs $5 a month billed yearly or $7 monthly. Todoist runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web.

• Best for: fast capture into a list you also use on Windows or Android.
• Drawbacks: to see the list, you still open the app window.
• Link: todoist.com

Things 3: best quick capture for Things users

Things 3 has no menu bar app, but Quick Entry (Control–Space) opens a small capture window over any app, and Quick Entry with Autofill (Control–Option–Space in Safari, Mail or Finder) also saves a link to what you’re viewing. Things 3 costs $49.99 once on the Mac, $9.99 on iPhone and Apple Watch, and $19.99 on iPad, with no subscription, and runs only on Apple devices.

• Best for: Things users who want to capture without leaving the current app.
• Drawbacks: no list in the menu bar; widgets are the closest thing to an always-visible view.
• Link: culturedcode.com/things

NotchOwl is a $9 one-time Mac app that keeps today’s tasks, a focus timer and reminders in the MacBook notch, with an owl in the menu bar for quick entry and optional two-way Apple Reminders sync to iPhone and Apple Watch.

Also worth knowing

NotchNook Pro 2.0 by lo.cafe, released October 28, 2026, added a fuller to-do window and a Pomodoro timer to the notch (NotchNook Classic gained a simpler to-do widget in September 2026). NotchNook Pro costs $19 lifetime or $3 a month, with a 48-hour free trial, and its strengths are elsewhere: a file tray with AirDrop, clipboard history, a calendar with meeting join buttons, and approving Claude Code and Codex commands from the notch. See NotchNook’s site and the best notch apps for Mac for the wider field.

When NotchOwl is the wrong choice

• You want a free app. Reminders MenuBar and One Thing are free, and so is TickTick’s basic plan.
• You want one line in the menu bar, nothing more. One Thing or ToDoBar does exactly that.
• You have an Intel Mac. NotchOwl is Apple-silicon-only; Notchable Standard runs on Intel.
• You want an iPhone app. TickTick, Todoist and Things 3 have one. NotchOwl reaches iPhone only through Apple Reminders.
• You share lists with others. NotchOwl has no shared or team lists.

If focus is a bigger struggle than the list, the best ADHD apps for Mac compares planners with visual timers and gentle reminders.