The Best Free Goal Tracking Apps
Using apps to help you achieve your goals is more common than you might think.
Thirty-three percent of the global population used fitness tracking devices or apps to track their health. The best goal tracking apps can help you set achievable goals and develop positive habits. There are also goal-tracking apps for organizations to meet business goals.
There are some premium goal tracker apps that cost money, but many of the best free goal tracking apps are equally effective. In this article, you will learn about the best goal tracking apps, the key features that set them apart, and how they can help you or your business track goals.
What Is a Goal Tracking App?
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A goal tracking app is an application that helps individuals and organizations to set goals and monitor their progress. For example, suppose you set a goal to learn how to code. When you add the goal to your goal tracker app, you will get reminders to stay on track, and you’ll see visual representations of your progress.
Why Do People Use Goal Tracking Apps?
Goal tracking apps help people turn ambitious goals, like building a personal brand, into manageable tasks, while tracking their progress over time. Goal tracking apps allow users to monitor their daily tasks and build healthy habits. Most apps have a free, basic version and a paid, premium version.
How the Best Goal Tracking Apps Can Help You Develop Good Habits
Many of us have bad habits we want to get rid of and good habits we want to develop. Goal tracking apps are excellent tools to get us on track to do both. There are a few common features that best goal tracking apps use, and we’ll explain a few below.
Reminders
Habit tracking apps allow you to track your goal progress with a reminder feature. This feature allows you to set reminders for specific tasks. Say you want to stop procrastinating. You can set a reminder to start working on a project at a particular time, and the prompt will not disappear until you complete the activity or hit a preset target.
Dashboards
A dashboard allows you to see how much progress you are making in reaching different goals. It may contain progress charts or progress reports that show how much time you spend doing something or how effective you were at handling a task. The dashboard feature lets you see the areas where you are behind so you can create a plan to get back on track.
Time Tracking
Tracking the time you spend on good and bad habits can be extremely helpful. The information recorded on the app will show you how much time you spend on different activities. You can then set reminders or prompts to nudge you in the right direction when you are spending too much time or too little time on something.
The 10 Best Goal Tracking Apps: Overview
| App | Availability | Notable Features | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | Windows, iOS, Android, macOS | Easily customizable layout, real-time reporting | $0 – $19/month |
| Clockify | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Web | Flexible reporting schedules, invoicing, excellent time tracking features | Free |
| Coach.me | iOS, Android, Web | In-app social network, accountability records | Free |
| Fabulous | iOS, Android | Easy-to-use interface, created by behavioral scientists | $0 – $39.99/year |
| GoalsOnTrack | Web, iOS, Android | Task management features, supports multi-level goal structures | $68/year |
| Habitica | iOS, Android, Web | Gamified user interface, in-game rewards, punishments | $0-$12/month |
| Lifetick | Web | Structured goal-setting approach, journaling feature | $0 – $20/month |
| Strides | iOS | Detailed habit tracking tools, flexible template customization options | $0 – $4.99/month |
| Toodledo | Web, iOS, Android | Custom list creation, time tracking, location-based reminders | $0 – $2.99/month |
| Way of Life | iOS, Android | A unique color-coding system, trend charts and statistics | $0 – $4.99 |
The Best Goal Tracking Apps to Make Your Life Easier
A goal tracking app can help you manage your time, activities, and projects. Tracking the progress of each task on your goal list gives you an idea of how well you are achieving your goals. The section below discusses some of the best goal tracking apps running on iOS, Android, Windows, and the web.
ClickUp | $0 – $19/month
- Best Feature of Paid Version: East to integrate with third-party software such as Salesforce and Evernote
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: Can’t export Dashboards
ClickUp is a goal management app and productivity tool that allows businesses and teams to track their progress in real-time. With ClickUp you can set goals, targets, and tasks that you need to achieve within a specified timeframe. It also has weekly scorecards and a goal dashboard where all your progress is displayed.
Fabulous | $0 – $39.99/year
- Best Feature of Paid Version: Detailed display of task routines
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: Limited habit setting options
This app is an excellent choice for individual users who want to adjust their daily routines for personal growth and professional development. The app’s main appeal is its science-based approach to habit tracking. One of its key features is daily coaching sessions.
GoalsOnTrack | $68/year
- Best Feature of Paid Version: Supports multi-level goal structures
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: The many ways to view and organize goals can be confusing
This app is well known for its vision board feature, allowing users to view their progress. The app has a goal dashboard, which displays all your goals, complete with a progress bar and completion percentage. The SMART Goal feature helps you make smart, measurable, and time-bound goals that increase your productivity.
Habitica | $0 – $12/month
- Best Feature of the Paid Version: Group task board with chat function
- Biggest Downside of the Paid Version: Fewer to-do list features than other time management apps
Many of us struggle with goal setting, in part because it isn’t rewarding in the short-term. Habitica makes the process more fun by turning your habits into a game. Your online character earns rewards in the app as you form better habits, but your character will lose health points if you stop working on your goals. This app is designed for tech-savvy users who enjoy role-playing games.
Lifetick | $0 – $20/month
- Best Feature of Paid Version: Constant widget and email reminders
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: Limited integration with other apps
In the free version of this web-based app, you or your team can set and track up to four goals. With the paid version, you get a set of guided questions and custom lists to help you establish your short-term and long-term goals. This app also comes with a progress chart and tracker feature that tracks your goals and targets.
Strides | $0 – $4.99/month
- Best Feature of Paid Version: Accounts sync across all devices in real-time
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: Only available on iOS
Strides has four major goal tracking options: project, target, average, and habit. Each option allows you to set a goal under specific parameters and track your progress accordingly. The app also supports habit stacking, which will enable you to label daily habits and group them for a particular goal.
Toodledo | $0 – $2.99/month
- Best Feature of Paid Version: Strong goal organizational and sharing tools
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: Complicated user interface
Toodledo contains comprehensive to-do lists, notes, custom lists, and habit tracking features. One of its best features is the customizable alarm system that reminds you to complete tasks promptly. The app also allows you to import and export data from other applications, track other individuals’ progress, and share your success with your family and friends.
Way of Life | $0 – $4.99/month
- Best Feature of Paid Version: Clean, easy-to-use interface
- Biggest Downside of Paid Version: Difficult to use with weekly or less frequent goals
If looking at bar charts, pie charts, and graphs that indicate your goal progress interests you, the Way of Life app is a great choice. The app allows you to pick a goal action, suggests whether the step will be good or bad for you, and sends you daily reminders to record your activities. Way of Life motivates you to continue your daily habits by encouraging you to maintain a daily streak.
The Best Free Goal Tracking Apps
The best free goal tracking apps come with useful habit trackers and progress bars without constant prompts to upgrade your service. Here are our favorite free goal-setting apps.
Clockify
- Best Feature: Easy-to-use interface
- Biggest Downside: Limited multi-task tracking
This time management app has some of the most advanced time tracking tools and is great for both personal use and team projects. The dashboard allows you to see how much time you’ve spent on different tasks. It’s easy and precise for those who want to track their time on various projects in greater detail.
Coach.me
- Best Feature: Users to track their progress and collaborate with an in-app social network
- Biggest Downside: It has limited project tracking features
Coach.me has one of the best user interfaces across its platforms and is free to use, although you may use a personal coach for a fee. The free app links you with a community of goal setters, and you can interact with this network of other motivated people trying to reach their goals.
Which of the Best Goal Tracking Apps Should I Choose?
All the apps in this list come with great features as well as limitations. Some are designed for a specific kind of goal, like time management, while others can be used for any kind of goal. If you want to make your goal tracking fun and engaging, Habitica is a great choice. However, if you want to see data on your habits and goals, Clockify, Strides, and Toodledo are better options.
If you are looking for a goal-setting app to use for a business or organization, ClickUp has the best project management tools on this list.
Best Goal Tracking Apps FAQ
Goal tracking apps help you achieve your goals by breaking larger goals down into smaller, easily achievable tasks as part of a goal achievement plan. They also give you a reasonable timeframe to complete each step, and you can review your progress frequently, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. Most apps also let you establish a reward system for completing different goals.
Some goal tracking apps are free to use, while others have both free and paid versions. The free versions have a few limitations compared to paid apps. However, the best free goal tracking apps are good enough to help you achieve most of your daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, and quarterly goals.
The biggest advantage of a goal tracking app is to have a program reminding you of what you want to accomplish. This keeps your mind on your goals and helps you develop the habits or behaviors needed to achieve those goals.
Yes, there are a few drawbacks to using goal tracking apps. Goal tracking apps require you to spend more time on your computer or mobile device. Using a goal tracking app doesn’t guarantee that you will achieve the goal you set for yourself. Only about 20 percent of people were able to achieve their weight loss goal using an activity tracking app.
