What People Love About TickTick
Before we get into where Start Page HQ goes further, credit where it's due.
- A genuinely good combo of todo, Pomodoro, and habits in a single polished app.
- Native apps on every major platform — Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, plus smartwatch support.
- A solid free tier that covers most personal task management.
- Multiple calendar views (yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, agenda) with NLP date parsing.
- A loyal community and 40+ themes for visual customization.
Where Start Page HQ Goes Further
Specific differences, not vague claims.
A Dashboard, Not Just a Task App
TickTick is a dedicated app for tasks, Pomodoro, and habits. Start Page HQ puts those same three widgets alongside RSS, weather, calendar, notes, AI tools, and 40+ others — your full day on one screen.
On Every New Tab, No App Launch
TickTick is a destination you have to open. Start Page HQ lives on every new tab — your todo list, Pomodoro timer, and habit streaks are visible the moment a tab opens.
50+ Widgets in One Plan
TickTick is three tools (todo, Pomodoro, habits). Start Page HQ ships those plus Kanban tasks, notes, calendar, RSS, podcasts, weather, AI tools, and dev utilities — all included.
Multi-Page Dashboards by Context
Build a Focus page with Pomodoro and Todo, a Personal page with Habits and Calendar, a Reading page with Feed and Hacker News. Switch with a click.
One Lifetime Price, No Annual Renewal
TickTick Premium is around $35.99/year and renews indefinitely. Start Page HQ Lifetime is $49 once — typically pays back inside two years compared to a TickTick Premium subscription.
Hosted Web App on Any Browser
Use startpagehq.com on any browser, or install extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. No native install required to get going.
Side-by-Side Comparison
An honest line-by-line look at how the two stack up.
| Feature | TickTick | Start Page HQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free or ~$35.99/yr Premium | $25/yr or $49 lifetime |
| Free tier | Yes (limited) | Free demo only |
| Lives on every new tab | No | Yes |
| Chrome | Yes | Yes |
| Firefox | Yes | Yes |
| Safari | Yes | Yes |
| Edge | Yes | Yes |
| Hosted web app | Yes | Yes |
| iOS / Android apps | Yes | Web app (PWA) |
| Native desktop apps | Yes | No |
| Cross-device sync | Included | Included |
| Natural-language task input | Yes | No |
| Todo / task list | Yes | Yes |
| Pomodoro timer | Yes | Yes |
| Habit tracker | Yes | Yes |
| Kanban tasks widget | Premium tier | Built-in |
| Calendar widget | Yes | Built-in |
| Multi-page dashboards | No | Yes |
| Notes / quick capture widget | Notes feature | Built-in |
| RSS / news / podcasts | No | Yes |
| AI tools (image gen, translation, summary) | No | Included |
| Developer tools (JSON, regex, diff) | No | Yes |
| Lifetime plan | No | $49 one-time |
Widgets That Replace TickTick
Drop these onto your dashboard and you've covered TickTick's core features — plus a lot more.
Frequently Asked Questions
For the core combo of todo, Pomodoro, and habits — yes. The Todo, Pomodoro, and Habit Tracker widgets cover all three workflows, and you also get 47 more widgets in the same plan. If you rely on TickTick's natural-language date parsing or its smartwatch apps, those are still TickTick's strengths.
There is a free public demo at startpagehq.com/demo where you can try the Todo and Pomodoro widgets without signing up. Full access requires a paid plan: $25/year or $49 one-time. Both plans include all 50+ widgets, cross-device sync, and AI credits.
TickTick Premium runs about $35.99/year ($2.99/month) and renews indefinitely. Start Page HQ Annual is $25/year, and the Lifetime plan is $49 once. The lifetime plan typically pays back inside two years compared to a TickTick Premium subscription.
Yes. Cross-device sync is included in the base price. Sign in once and your todos, Pomodoro stats, and habits sync across every browser and device automatically.
There is no automated TickTick importer. Most users export their TickTick lists to CSV and recreate them in the Todo widget in a few minutes. The Links widget is a handy place to pin your most-used TickTick URLs alongside the new dashboard.
Start Page HQ's Todo widget uses standard date pickers rather than parsing free-form text. If natural-language input is core to your workflow, TickTick still has the edge on that one feature.