Todoist is a good practical task management app for managing your personal life. It does what you expect, nothing more, nothing less. The best part? It's simple enough that your grandma can use it.
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Todoist AlternativesNot sure if Todoist is the right fit for you? Check out these alternatives:
MotionBestBest AI to-do app for organizing tasks and time
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SunsamaRecommendedBest for time blocking tasks on your calendar
Best for time blocking tasks on your calendar
What is Todoist?
What is Todoist?Todoist is one of the longest-standing task management apps (founded in 2007!). You get exactly what you'd expect from Todoist — the ability to create tasks, prioritize them, and organize them with labels. You can view your tasks in a list, kanban view, or calendar view (paid tier).
Who is Todoist For?
Who is Todoist For?We recommend Todoist for individuals looking to manage personal life tasks and want a bit of structure around them.
If you are coming from using something like Apple Notes or pen and paper, Todoist is going to feel 10x more powerful, but with that, it could be a touch overwhelming so just take your time easing into it.
At the same time, if you are looking to manage professional tasks or projects, Todoist is a touch too simple. There are more powerful to do apps that give you more business features (everything from meeting scheduling links to full-blown project management and daily blocking of tasks onto your calendar).
So with that, Todoist fits into a weird spot. It's a good basic-ish task management app for someone who wants to be able to just quickly create tasks, set a priority and deadline, and check them tasks quickly.
You'll get more value from Todoist app on the paid tier, as you'll unlock the calendar view (getting to see you tasks on a calendar format is kinda cool), plus you get task reminders and automatic backups.
More than that, Todoist tends to have Upgrade banners everywhere which are a bit overwhelming/distracting if you're genuinely using the app daily. With that, we'd say use Todoist is you're at least open to purchasing Todoist Pro (or if you don't care seeing the upgrade button at every turn 😅).
Key Features
Key FeaturesLet's go over the features that make Todoist stand out.
Task Management
Task ManagementTodoist is your all around task management app for your personal life. You get multiple views such as task lists, kanban boards or calendar view. Set reminders, priority levels, and off you go.
Todoist Calendar View (Pro Tier Only)
Time Blocking
Time BlockingWith the rising popularity of time blocking, Todoist has received immense pressure from it's customers to build a calendar view and allow for task time blocking. Time blocking is where you add a task right onto your calendar and carve out a specific time of the day to get it done.
A few things to keep in mind—this feature is only available on Todoist paid plans (told ya, to get the most of Todoist, you'll need to upgrade, so don't get too sucked into the free tier 😬).
Secondly, the calendar view and time blocking are secondary features for Todoist (remember Todoist was founded in 2007!). If time blocking is a key feature you're interested in to increase productivity, make sure to check out the newer Daily Planners on the market that do task management and time management really well.
Natural Language Processing
Natural Language ProcessingTodoist is incredibly easy to use, I'm quite certain that even my 83-year old grandma could catch on. Simply type in "Do laundry at 9 am on Friday" and viola. Your task is created! Not to mention Todoist is super fast and has a great user experience. The learning curve is truly minimal.
Ramble
RambleMy favorite feature 🫶 You can add tasks quickly by just speaking out things like "buy Oatly, honey, do laundry, call mom, get dress for June wedding". It separates out each task for you.
This feature helps me most before bed when my brain is still overloaded. I turn on ramble and brain dump, and then it creates tasks for me. This is the only thing that makes my brain relax (I also do this in ChatGPT at times when I'm more so circling thoughts rather than tasks).
Integrations
IntegrationsTodoist For Business
Todoist For BusinessIn 2023, Todoist doubled down on their team features—but even said that "the individual experience is still at the heart of everything we do". When it comes to their team features, you get task lists (exactly the same as the personal experience), but with the ability to assign tasks to other team members and collaborate via comments.
Team Features
Team FeaturesTodoist is barebones when it comes to team features (hence the price tag compared to project management software). While you have the ability for basic collaboration with team members, they are very much a task manager rather than a project management tool as they are missing things like task dependencies and longer term planning views like gantt charts and team workload.
Limitations
LimitationsTodoist is one of the longest standing task management apps, but with that, there are newer task management + time management apps called Daily Planners that offer both task and time management capabilities. It's worth checking those out and if after reading about daily planners, you find they are too complex for your needs, then Todoist could be the perfect fit.
Pricing
Pricing- Beginner: Free. Best for individuals looking to manage and organize their personal lives.
- Pro: $7 monthly ($60 yearly). Best for serious users.
- Business: $10 monthly ($96 yearly). Best for small teams who need a dedicated workspace to assign projects and unify team billing.
Final Verdict
Final VerdictIs Todoist worth it? Yes, for $4/month it's worth paying for Todoist to help manage your personal life. It will surely keep you more organized than pen and paper or your Apple Notes.
And hey, if you grab it, make sure to get yourself a Todoist discount too.
Screenshots
Screenshots
Todoist
Categories
CategoriesTodoist fits into multiple categories based on what it actually helps you do. Each category highlights a different strength and the efficiency points it earned, helping you compare tools not just by features, but by how well they actually perform.
Keep exploring the best software across categories, or explore Todoist alternatives
