Pricing, Pros, Cons & Alternatives

Planning your day feels like an accomplishment until you have to follow through. A tool that makes it easier to stay on track wherever you go is OmniFocus. It’s a productivity tool that you can use to manage your life while on the go or at home. In this OmniFocus review, we explore their capabilities, benefits and drawbacks for Apple product users.

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What is Omnifocus?

OmniFocus is a productivity and task management app for Apple users. It can only be used on iOS and Mac devices. In the application, users can create tasks (called actions), organize tasks and stay on top of deadlines for each task. It offers multiple task views and filters for customization, as well as dark and light modes for accessibility.

OmniFocus pricing

v3 Standard License iOS

This app version applies to iPhone and iPad only. Mobile versions lack certain UI elements, like the Quick Entry keyboard shortcut.

v3 Pro License iOS

This app version applies to iPhone and iPad only. The Pro mobile version includes app customizations like adding a forecast tag or your own views in Perspectives. It won’t have AppleScript for automation or the focus mode for increased concentration.

v3 Standard License Mac

This app version applies to Mac only. Mac versions have access to all features, excluding ones unique to mobile devices like Siri.

v3 Pro License Mac

This app version applies to Mac only. In the Pro version, users can add more custom filters and views, like a forecast tag or their own Perspective views. The Mac version also allows AppleScript for automation and a special focus mode to improve concentration.

OmniFocus for the Web

This is the web version of OmniFocus, which requires an active subscription on your Mac or iOS mobile device. With this version, you can access all your other app data in one place. The web version lacks view options, notifications, reminders and most customization tools.

Subscription

In the general subscription, you can use it on the web, Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Core Omnifocus features

OmniFocus has several built-in navigation tools for productivity. They call tasks, or to-do’s, actions in their feature descriptions.

Action management

Figure A

When you create actions (or tasks) in OmniFocus, you can organize them and set reminders and due dates. Users can put together projects with their actions and then put their projects into folders. Actions can also have descriptive notes and tags to help you find them easily.

Forecast

Figure B

The Forecast view is designed to help you stay on top of deadlines. The view displays upcoming actions for the month or year. It will include all or specified calendars, depending on what you choose. It has built-in color codes for overdue and urgent actions and customization options to change what you see.

Tagging

Figure C

You can categorize your actions or projects with special tags to indicate urgency and overall task effort. Your tags are custom and can indicate people involved, difficulty level, location, needed items and more. From there, your tags will make it easier to search the app for relevant categories.

Perspectives and View Options

Figure D and Figure E

In the app’s task lists, your View Options are the different actions shown, as well as their detailed information and order of operations. Perspectives in the apps are your choices for how you view your data. It can be under Projects, Forecast, Flagged or Review section to remind you. Tags are the new perspective going forward to replace the older Contexts Perspective. You can order actions in Perspectives according to the View Options lists. The pro version of OmniFocus allows you to create your own Perspectives.

Siri

Figure F

OmniFocus allows Siri integration for hands-free use. Users can add action reminders using the Siri voice command when they’re not able to use the keyboard. This way, while you’re on the go, you can still set up reminders for future tasks like groceries, last-minute gifts or sudden schedule changes.

OmniFocus ease of use

The application offers a simple user interface (UI) that is beginner-friendly and filled with options for personalization. If users do experience a learning curve, the main site offers several video tutorials.

Omnifocus customer service and support

When it comes to support offerings, there are no specific plan subscriptions. They have resources listed for everyone on their support page.

Support

OmniFocus offers a support page with links to services and a search bar to find answers to specific questions.

Email and Phone

For direct help, you can email your inquiries to their listed support email. If you prefer to call they do have a general phone number, with posted business hours being Monday through Friday, 10 am to 5 pm, pacific time (PT).

Manuals

On the support page, OmniFocus lists Manuals, as one of their self-service options for users. They have an OmniFocus 3 manual for web, iOS and MacOS. Inside, you can look through a table of contents to get help with different features like the Perspectives or help navigating.

OmniFocus pros and cons

Best use cases for OmniFocus

Most productivity apps have a universal target demographic because everyone needs organization in their life to some degree. OmniFocus has more niche use cases for their application.

Individuals

The software is great for personal use. You can create tasks for work, family and personal goals. It’s also easy to learn and great for simple tasks.

Professionals

Whether you are a consultant, independent business owner or freelancer, the software can be a great way to manage deadlines. The customization features in the app and mobile access will make it great for very busy users trying to achieve a work-life balance.

Apple lovers

First and foremost, OmniFocus is an app built for Apple devices. They feel Apple devices allow their software to operate to its fullest capacity and don’t have plans to offer it for other operating systems.

OmniFocus alternatives and competitors

Asana

Asana is a popular project management solution for teams of all sizes. You can use the software to handle complex data, collaborate and manage deadlines for tasks or projects. Their paid versions are great for established groups that want to collaborate while tracking progress with advanced reporting and productivity features like setting task dependencies or building workflows. The freemium version is great for small teams or individuals who want to meet task deadlines and build detailed calendar views of their upcoming goals.

Trello

Trello is an intuitive project management tool for fast onboarding and simple collaboration. Most of the application work views like Gant, calendar and map are in higher tiers but the free version has a beginner-friendly kanban view. Planning out Agile sprints or upcoming tasks, events or milestones comes with easy collaboration. You can add notes, comment and tag other users to cards with important information.

Todoist

Teams that want a simple and affordable task management solution should consider Todoist. The application is very simple, with a few different work views and a couple of noteworthy features like their task AI assistant, task duration tracking and task reminders. Their biggest benefit is collaboration features like guest users, up to 500 projects in the highest tier and the ability to control team permissions. The free version is fairly basic, but you can use it for managing your projects and daily tasks.

OmniFocus review methodology

For this review, we critically evaluated the application’s features and resources. We made sure to consider tutorials, the user interface and overall functionality for a new user experience. The cost was another big consideration, with care to elaborate on the different pricing options in the application purchase model. Alternatives with the ability to increase productivity for individuals with small teams were offered to help buyers with decision-making.