Todoist

Review Summary

Todoist is a fast and focused task manager. It works on nearly every device imaginable. The app excels at quickly capturing your thoughts. It organizes them into clear, actionable lists. This makes it ideal for personal productivity. The free plan is quite limited. It lacks core features like reminders. You must upgrade to the Pro plan to unlock the app's true potential. This makes the free version feel more like a trial.

What is Todoist

Todoist is a to-do list application. It helps you organize your work and life. The company has been building the app for over 19 years. It has a user base of over 30 million people. The core idea is simple. Capture tasks quickly. Organize them effectively. Complete them on time. Todoist is available on web, desktop, mobile, and even smartwatches.

Its main strength is personal task management. You can create projects for different parts of your life. Tasks can have due dates, priorities, and labels. It also offers features for team collaboration. You can share projects and assign tasks. However, it is not a full-featured project management tool. It is best for individuals or small teams needing a shared task list.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Excellent Cross-Platform Sync: Apps for every major platform sync flawlessly.
• Fast Natural Language Input: Capture tasks with dates and projects just by typing.
• Clean, Minimalist Interface: The design is uncluttered and easy to navigate.
• Flexible Organization: Supports simple lists or complex GTD workflows.

Cons

• Reminders Are a Paid Feature: A basic function is locked behind the Pro plan.
• Limited Free Plan: Only 5 active projects are allowed on the free tier.
• No Native Calendar Functionality: The calendar view only shows tasks, it doesn't replace a calendar app.
• Team Features Are Basic: Not powerful enough for complex team project management.

Key Features

Todoist has a polished set of features. They are designed for speed and clarity. The app avoids overwhelming users with options.

Quick Add is a standout feature. It lets you add tasks using natural language. You can type "Schedule dentist appointment for next Tuesday at 2pm #Personal". Todoist automatically parses this. It creates a task with the correct date and time. It also assigns it to your "Personal" project. This makes capturing ideas incredibly fast. It removes the friction of filling out multiple fields.

Views and Filters help you focus on what matters now. The default views are "Today" and "Upcoming". These show you immediate and future tasks. Pro users can create custom filters. You could create a filter for "High-priority work tasks due this week". The free plan is limited to 3 filters. The Pro plan allows up to 150 filters. This makes it a powerful tool for managing a heavy workload.

Projects and Boards provide structure for your tasks. You can organize tasks into lists or Kanban-style boards. Each project can have sections for better organization. You can also create sub-tasks within a main task. This allows for detailed project breakdowns. The free plan limits you to 5 projects. The Pro plan increases this to 300 projects.

Todoist Assist is the app's AI-powered feature. It is available on paid plans. Task Assist can help break down large tasks into smaller steps. It can also suggest actions to complete a project. Filter Assist helps you create complex filters using plain language. This adds a layer of intelligence to your task management.

Pricing

Todoist offers three main pricing tiers. The free plan has significant limitations.

The Beginner plan is free. It includes up to 5 personal projects. You can add up to 5 people per project. File uploads are limited to 5 MB. Activity history is only kept for 1 week. Crucially, this plan does not include reminders. This makes it difficult to rely on for important deadlines.

The Pro plan costs $5 per month when billed annually ($60 per year). Monthly billing is $7 per month. This plan unlocks the full potential of Todoist for individuals. It increases limits to 300 personal projects and 100 MB file uploads. It adds task reminders, a calendar layout, and full activity history. You also get access to Todoist Assist and 150 custom filters.

The Business plan costs $8 per user per month when billed annually ($96 per year). Monthly billing is $10 per user per month. It includes everything in Pro. It adds a shared team workspace and up to 500 team projects. It also provides admin controls and centralized billing. This is for teams that need a shared, organized space for tasks.

Final Verdict

Todoist is an excellent choice for personal task management. It is perfect for individuals who value speed, simplicity, and cross-platform sync. If you live on your to-do list, the Pro plan is worth the investment. It provides a calm, organized way to manage your life.

The biggest dealbreaker is the restrictive free plan. Locking reminders behind a paywall is a major limitation. If you need reminders but do not want to pay, you should look elsewhere. Built-in apps like Apple Reminders may be a better starting point.

Try the free Todoist plan to see if its workflow fits you. Just know that to truly use it effectively, you will need to upgrade to Pro.