Comparison

Principal Task vs Deadline Guard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Principal Task

This app helps you manage tasks by tracking your completion rate against new tasks created. It offers a unique 'Task Velocity' score to show if you're keeping up with your workload. Organize with folders, contexts, and priorities, with advanced features available through a premium subscription.

Highlights
  • Task Velocity score
  • GTD-native structure
  • Due dates and repeating tasks
  • Markdown support
  • Kanban boards
  • Private templates
Features
Read full description

Track your Task Velocity — the ratio of tasks you complete against the ones you create, updated every day. See at a glance whether you're ahead or falling behind, not just what's on your list. Principal Task is a GTD-native task manager built for people who've outgrown to-do apps. Folders, contexts, priorities, statuses, and unlimited nested subtasks — organized the way real work actually happens. TASK VELOCITY Your 30-day completed-vs-created ratio, shown as a simple multiplier. Free members see their current score. Premium unlocks the full history, filterable by folder, context, priority, and status. SYSTEM HEALTH A live verdict — Healthy, Strained, or Overloaded — so you know where things stand today, separate from where they're heading. BUILT FOR GTD Folders and sub-folders, contexts, priorities, statuses, and stars. Subtasks nest as deep as you need, with independent completion — no forced parent-child status. KANBAN, HEATMAP, TEMPLATES See your work as a board. Watch your activity over time. Turn repeatable processes into templates you can apply in one tap. BUILT FOR AI ASSISTANTS Principal Task connects to AI assistants over MCP — read and write your tasks, subtasks, and folders directly from the assistant you already use. SHARE WITHOUT FRICTION Share a task list with a four-word link. No account required to view. You control how long it stays open. Free, no credit card. Premium is about $3/month or $24/year, and it doesn't limit how much you can do — it unlocks Task Velocity history, Kanban, the Activity Heatmap, and private templates. Principal Task. Software that gets out of the way. Terms of Use: https://principaltask.com/terms

About

Deadline Guard

Read full description

DeadlineGuard helps you track important deadlines and due dates - without cloud accounts or data collection. • Track deadlines for contracts, bills, subscriptions, or tasks • Overdue confirmation workflow • Escalating notifications • Tags for organization • Works fully offline • No accounts. No tracking. No ads. Designed for reliability and peace of mind.

Screenshots

Principal Task4 screens
Deadline Guard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Deadline Guard at every 3 weeks against Principal Task's every 3 months. Principal Task's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Principal Task sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Deadline Guard sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Principal Task ships an update every 3 months, Deadline Guard every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Principal Task versus Deadline Guard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrincipal TaskDeadline Guard
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZechariah SchwenkManuel Laggner

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Principal Task

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$3.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription$29.991 Year
1 purchases

Deadline Guard

One-time1
  • Deadline Guard PRO$2.99

Questions

Is Principal Task free?
Principal Task is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Deadline Guard free?
Deadline Guard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Principal Task or Deadline Guard have ads?
Neither Principal Task nor Deadline Guard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Principal Task or Deadline Guard?
Principal Task ships an update every 3 months, and Deadline Guard every 3 weeks. Most recently, Principal Task was updated on October 18, 2026 and Deadline Guard on October 20, 2026.

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