Last updated: January 2026
What Is Todoist?
In a world of complex project management tools with Gantt charts, resource allocation, and enterprise workflows, Todoist stands out by doing one thing exceptionally well: helping individuals and teams capture, organize, and complete their tasks. With over 30 million users, Todoist has become the gold standard for personal task management—elegant enough for daily use, powerful enough to handle real complexity.
What sets Todoist apart is its thoughtful design philosophy. Every feature serves the goal of reducing friction between thinking "I need to do this" and getting it done. Natural language input lets you create tasks as fast as you can type. Smart scheduling helps you decide when to do things. Karma gamification keeps you motivated. The result is a system that actually gets used.
Whether you're a freelancer juggling multiple clients, a professional managing work and personal responsibilities, or a student balancing coursework and life, Todoist adapts to how you think about your tasks.
Try Todoist Free — Personal Productivity Made SimpleKey Features of Todoist
Natural Language Processing
Todoist's standout feature is its natural language input. Type "Call mom every Sunday at 6pm" and Todoist creates a recurring task scheduled for Sunday evenings. Write "Submit report tomorrow #work p1" and you get a high-priority task in your Work project due tomorrow. This intelligence eliminates the friction of using date pickers and dropdown menus.
The natural language recognition covers dates, times, recurrence patterns, priorities, projects, and labels—all from a single input field. Once you learn the syntax (which is intuitive), adding tasks becomes almost automatic.
Projects and Hierarchy
Organize your tasks into projects, with support for sections within projects and sub-projects under projects. This hierarchical structure accommodates everything from simple personal lists to complex multi-phase projects.
Projects can be shared with collaborators, making Todoist work for team projects as well as personal task management. Each team member sees the same tasks, can assign ownership, and track progress together.
Filters and Views
While projects organize by category, filters let you see your tasks from different angles. Create custom filters like "All tasks due this week in Work projects" or "All high-priority tasks assigned to me." The Today and Upcoming views provide standard perspectives, but custom filters give you complete flexibility.
Labels and Priorities
Apply labels to tasks for additional categorization beyond projects. Common uses include context labels (@phone, @computer, @errands), energy levels (@quick, @deep-work), or any other dimension meaningful to your workflow.
Four priority levels (P1-P4) let you distinguish between urgent tasks and routine ones. Combine priorities with due dates for a clear picture of what needs attention first.
Recurring Tasks
Many productivity systems fall apart on recurring tasks—but life is full of regular commitments. Todoist handles complex recurrence patterns: "every weekday," "every 2nd Monday," "every month on the 15th," "every last Friday of the month." When you complete a recurring task, the next occurrence automatically appears.
Karma and Productivity Tracking
Todoist gamifies productivity through its Karma system. Complete tasks consistently, and your Karma score rises. Slack off, and it drops. Weekly and daily goals keep you accountable, while streaks encourage building productive habits. It's gentle motivation that works for many users.
Integrations
Todoist integrates with over 100 tools including Google Calendar, Slack, Gmail, Zapier, and IFTTT. Calendar integration is particularly valuable—tasks with times appear on your calendar, giving you a unified view of commitments and work.
Todoist Pricing in 2026
Free Plan — Up to 5 active projects, 5 collaborators per project, and core features including natural language input, due dates, priorities, and labels. Genuinely useful for personal task management.
Pro Plan — $5/month (billed yearly) or $6/month (billed monthly). Adds unlimited projects, reminders, filters, themes, automatic backups, and calendar integration. The most popular tier for serious users.
Business Plan — $8/user/month (billed yearly). Adds team workspaces, admin controls, centralized billing, and priority support. Designed for team deployment.
The free tier is more generous than many competitors, and the Pro pricing is reasonable enough that upgrading is an easy decision once you're hooked on the system.
Start Free — Upgrade to Pro When ReadyPros and Cons of Todoist
Pros
- Beautiful, intuitive design — Pleasant to use daily, which matters for a productivity tool
- Natural language is magical — Creating tasks feels effortless once you learn the syntax
- Cross-platform excellence — Native apps for every platform, all staying perfectly in sync
- Sensible defaults — Works great out of the box while allowing deep customization
- Reliable sync — Tasks appear instantly across all devices
- Generous free tier — Useful without paying, unlike some competitors
Cons
- Limited time blocking — Not ideal if you want to schedule specific time blocks for tasks
- Basic collaboration — Team features are functional but not as robust as dedicated project management tools
- No native Gantt or timeline — Not designed for complex project planning
- Sync can be slow on free tier — Pro and Business get faster sync
Who Should Use Todoist?
Individual Professionals — If you have lots of tasks across work and personal life, Todoist's organization system scales to handle complexity while staying usable.
Freelancers and Solopreneurs — Managing multiple clients and projects? Todoist keeps everything organized without enterprise-level complexity.
Students — Track assignments, deadlines, and personal tasks in one system. The free tier covers most student needs.
Small Teams — Teams that need shared task lists without full project management can use Todoist's collaboration features effectively.
GTD Practitioners — Todoist's projects, contexts (via labels), and filters align well with Getting Things Done methodology.
Todoist vs Alternatives
Things 3 is the closest competitor in design philosophy—beautiful and focused on personal productivity. Apple-only and no collaboration, but beloved by Mac/iOS users.
TickTick offers more built-in features (calendar view, Pomodoro timer, habit tracking) in a single app. Some find it more powerful; others prefer Todoist's simplicity.
Microsoft To Do is free and integrates with the Microsoft ecosystem. Functional but less elegant than Todoist.
Asana, Monday.com, and ClickUp are project management tools that include task management. Better for team projects but overkill for personal use.
Notion can be configured as a task manager but requires setup work. More flexible, less focused.
Try Todoist — Join 30 Million UsersGetting Started with Todoist
- Download and sign up — Get the app for your platform and create a free account
- Do a brain dump — Add all the tasks floating in your head—don't worry about organizing yet
- Create your projects — Set up projects for main areas of your life (Work, Personal, Side Project, etc.)
- Organize your tasks — Move tasks to appropriate projects, add due dates, set priorities
- Build the habit — Check Todoist in the morning, process your inbox, work from your Today view
- Refine your system — Add labels, create filters, and adjust as you learn what works
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I import tasks from other apps?
Todoist supports importing from CSV and integrates with many other task managers through Zapier. Direct import is available from some competitors.
Does Todoist work offline?
Yes, all Todoist apps work offline. Changes sync when you reconnect.
Can I use Todoist for team projects?
Yes, though it's designed more for task management than project management. For complex team projects with dependencies and timelines, dedicated project management tools may be better.
Is there a web clipper?
Yes, browser extensions let you create tasks from any webpage, add articles to read later, or turn emails into tasks.
How does Karma work?
Complete tasks to earn points, miss deadlines to lose them. Daily and weekly goals provide targets, and you can level up from Beginner to Enlightened. It's motivating without being stressful.
Final Verdict
Todoist succeeds by understanding that the best productivity system is one you'll actually use. Its focus on beautiful design, intuitive input, and thoughtful features creates a task manager that reduces friction at every step.
For personal task management and simple team collaboration, it's hard to beat. The natural language input alone is worth the price of admission—once you experience adding tasks by just typing naturally, other approaches feel clunky.
The free tier lets you experience most of what makes Todoist great, and upgrading to Pro for $5/month is an easy decision once you're relying on it daily. For individual productivity, Todoist remains the benchmark against which other tools are measured.
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