Comparison

TaskForge vs Alcove

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

Head to head
About

TaskForge

Manage your Obsidian tasks directly from your mobile device with real-time sync and notifications. Visualize your workload with calendar and Kanban views, and stay organized with powerful search and filtering. Create and edit tasks using familiar Markdown syntax.

Highlights
  • Real-time push notifications for tasks
  • Home screen widgets for at-a-glance task viewing
  • Deep integration with Obsidian vaults
  • Calendar and Kanban board task visualization
  • Advanced search and filtering capabilities
  • Markdown-powered task creation and editing
  • Cross-platform sync via iCloud
Features
Read full description

Bring your tasks, notes and calendar together without creating a TaskForge account. Your tasks and notes stay in local Markdown files you can open in any editor. Create tasks, write notes and view your calendar for free. Note editing is in beta. Start with a folder of your own or use your existing Obsidian vault, with nothing to import or convert. A real to-do list and task manager on every screen you use: iPhone, iPad and Mac. Widgets, notifications, a month calendar with your own events beside your tasks, kanban, search, and your notes in the same app. "After trying many apps and workflows, this is the first one that actually stuck and made me productive!" (user review) Works with your vault Reads and writes Obsidian Tasks emoji fields, Dataview fields, Task Genius and TaskNotes YAML frontmatter with your own field mapping. Every edit goes back to the original file. Home Screen widgets Today, overdue, a tag, a saved filter or any section of a space, in every size up to XL. Check a task off without opening the app. iPhone, iPad and Mac. Notifications and reminders Push notifications for due and scheduled work, several reminders on one task, and a daily summary. Calendar, built in Your device calendars (iCloud, Google, Exchange) sit beside your tasks in the month view, in spaces and in widgets. Events come from those calendars, not from files. Notes and daily notes Open, read and edit any note in your vault, next to the tasks inside it. Every workspace gets a daily note, one tap from search or the calendar agenda. Lists, kanban and search Spaces that stack task and event sections. Custom filtered lists, a kanban board with drag and drop, tags, contexts, projects, priorities, recurring tasks, and start, scheduled and due dates. Search and multi-condition filters across the whole vault. Archive completed tasks instead of deleting them. Quick capture Type a task the way you would say it and TaskForge fills in the date, priority and tag. Optional tools for your AI agent Use your own AI agent to turn meeting notes into tasks or update your task list. TaskForge generates a guide to your folder's format. The free taskforge desktop CLI and local MCP server, installed separately on your computer, give compatible agents tools to read and edit tasks and notes. These tools run locally without network access. They do not include an AI assistant or subscription. Your chosen AI provider's account requirements and data handling still apply. Privacy No TaskForge account, no analytics. Tasks and notes work offline. TaskForge does not upload your task or note files to its own servers. External sync and AI services handle data under their own terms. TaskForge Premium The task list, kanban, search and filters, notes and daily notes, quick capture, viewing your calendar, and priority names and colors are free. Premium unlocks Home Screen widgets, notifications and per-task reminders, creating and editing calendar events, your own custom spaces and lists, task defaults, accent color and app font, and editing many tasks at once. Buy it once and keep it, or subscribe monthly with a 7-day free trial. A monthly subscription renews unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage it in your Apple ID settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian.md or Anthropic.

About

Alcove

Features
Read full description

Alcove is a calm to-do list, daily planner and notes app in one place. Capture tasks in plain words, plan your week on a calendar, keep notes that do the maths, and move work along on kanban boards. Tick tasks off from a widget, and find the same lists on your Mac, kept in step by your own iCloud. TYPE IT THE WAY YOU'D SAY IT Write "Call mum Friday 6pm" or "Stand-up every weekday 9:30 15m /Work" and Alcove picks out the day, time, length, repeat, priority, list and tags as you type. On the Mac, press Option-Space from any app to add a task. SPEAK YOUR TASKS Say everything on your mind at once. Alcove turns it into separate tasks, each with its date, time and list. PLAN YOUR DAY AND WEEK • Today, Upcoming and a calendar with an hour grid and an all-day row • Drag a task to a new time or day • Repeating tasks for any rhythm: every few days, weeks, months or years, chosen weekdays, or counted from when you finished REMINDERS AS LOUD AS THE TASK Pick quiet, a notification, or an alarm. On iPhone with iOS 26, an alarm rings through silent mode and Focus, with Stop and Snooze. Mark a task done right from its reminder. NOTES THAT DO THE MATHS Headings, checklists, code, quotes and tables, written with Markdown shortcuts. End a line with = and it's worked out, and tables add up their own totals. Paste a checklist or table from another app and it arrives as one. Turn any checklist line into a task. KANBAN BOARDS Lay tasks out in To do, Doing and Done, or columns of your own. Tasks stay in their lists and in Today, and a card dropped in Done is finished everywhere. WIDGETS, SIRI AND SHORTCUTS • Widgets for the Home Screen, Lock Screen and Mac desktop, with tasks you can tick without opening the app • Controls for Control Center and the Lock Screen • Siri adds tasks, reads out your day and takes notes • Shortcuts actions for your own automations MADE FOR THE MAC A menu bar list with a live count, a main window with a sidebar of every list, board and note, floating windows that stay on top, and keyboard shortcuts throughout. AI assistants can work with your tasks too, but only once you turn them on, only with the permissions you approve, and every call is logged. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account to create, no ads and no tracking. Your tasks and notes sync through your own iCloud. Progress shows what you finished against what you added, worked out on your device, with no streaks and no scores. AND THE DETAILS • 100 steps of undo, and six months of history for every task • Search across tasks, notes, tags and attachments • Lists with colours and icons, folders and tags • Six accents and five papers, in light and dark ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION Download free and try everything for 14 days, starting whenever you're ready. Then a single purchase unlocks Alcove for good on your Mac, iPhone and iPad, and Family Sharing includes your family. If you don't unlock, your tasks and notes stay readable and exportable, and nothing is deleted. Privacy Policy: https://alcovetasks.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

TaskForge4 screens
Alcove4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: TaskForge at 4 against Alcove's 2. TaskForge also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.4). 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. TaskForge sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Alcove sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
TaskForge versus Alcove: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTaskForgeAlcove
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (108 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings108 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size163 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAzhar DewjiMuhammed Basil E

In-app purchases

3 purchases

TaskForge

Subscriptions2
  • TaskForge Premium (Monthly)7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • TaskForge Premium (Yearly)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • TaskForge Premium (Lifetime)$49.99
2 purchases

Alcove

One-time2
  • 14-day TrialFree
  • Alcove Unlock$29.99

Questions

Is TaskForge free?
TaskForge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Alcove free?
Alcove is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do TaskForge or Alcove have ads?
Neither TaskForge nor Alcove shows ads.

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