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Todoist is a task management app by Doist Inc., available on macOS, Windows, Linux, iPadOS, iOS, Android, and as a web app. It follows a freemium model, where you can use the basic version for free, or upgrade to the Pro version for $5/month for individuals or $8/user/month for businesses, with a discount for annual payments. In this review, we’ll focus on the free web version using Google Chrome to see if Todoist is right for you and your team.
Adding a new task in Todoist is straightforward, thanks to its minimalist design. You can name your task and add a description with options to format the title—making it bold, italic, or even adding code and links, which is a unique feature we haven’t seen in other apps. The description field also allows for similar formatting, including headings, quotes, and both numbered and unnumbered lists, making it possible to create detailed and organized tasks. You can also set a due date and time, with a time zone option. Typing in the time is quicker than in many other apps.
Todoist’s priority system uses color flags with unusual names, which can be confusing compared to the more common high, medium, and low priorities. Tags, on the other hand, are more useful for adding important details to tasks and offer a decent alternative to traditional priorities.
Reminders, however, are only available in the Pro version. Some users who prefer to turn off notifications might not mind this limitation, but it would be helpful if the developers made Pro features more easily identifiable.
For repeating tasks, Todoist uses natural language processing, which means you type in sentences like “every Friday at 2 pm” to set a repeat. While this is an interesting feature, it can become tiresome over time, and the natural language support is somewhat limited. A traditional repeat option with a scroll-through menu would be more user-friendly, similar to how you can quickly type in a time.
When you mark tasks as complete, they are removed from the list but can be shown again, with a strikethrough and dimmed appearance to distinguish them from incomplete tasks. We appreciate apps that clearly mark completed tasks.
In Todoist, a project is essentially a list of tasks. You can name the project, choose a color, and decide whether to view it as a list or a board. You can also group and sort tasks within the project by various criteria. Projects in Todoist are simple and functional.
Collaboration is possible with up to five people in the free version. Inviting team members to a project is easy, but everyone you invite has full control, meaning they can even remove you from your own project. This is one of the worst collaboration features we’ve encountered in any app.
You can assign tasks to team members, and they can assign tasks to you, but Todoist doesn’t have a dedicated “assigned-to-me” smart list. You can create a filter for this, which works, but it’s not as convenient as having it built-in.
Comments on tasks can be formatted, making them useful for teamwork. You can also attach documents up to 5 MB or record an audio clip of up to four minutes, allowing team members to discuss tasks directly within the app.
Todoist’s organization system has its pros and cons. Subtasks can be as detailed as the main tasks, and you can even have subtasks within subtasks, though one subtask level is usually enough. However, the list view is the only one that displays subtasks clearly, and even with indentation, it’s not always easy to distinguish between main tasks and subtasks. Sections might make more sense for organizing tasks than subtasks in Todoist.
Projects in Todoist can have sub-projects up to four levels deep, which seems excessive for a task management app. Above these, there are basic smart lists that are easy to navigate. The Inbox contains all tasks that don’t belong to any specific project.
Filters and Labels are meant to help you create custom smart lists, but they require typing in specific codes and formats, which can feel like coding. This approach can be off-putting unless you’re committed to using Todoist as your main task manager. This complexity is unnecessary when other apps, like Apple Reminders, offer similar features in a much simpler way.
Todoist’s terminology can be confusing—what it calls “projects” are essentially lists, and “labels” are tags. You can name and color-code them, and the tags are universal, available for every task you create. You can also mark items as favorites.
Searching in Todoist is fairly simple, allowing you to search through projects, tasks, filters, and tags. However, detailed search results are only available for tasks and comments, and to get the most out of search, you might need to revert to query coding, which can be exhausting.
Todoist has a productivity tracker that keeps track of all your completed tasks, showing them grouped by the date of completion. It also includes filters to view your activity, which can be helpful. The tracker displays your daily and weekly goals, as well as “karma” levels—a motivational system that rewards you with points as you complete tasks and use advanced features in the app. The idea of karma points is fun and adds a bit of excitement to getting things done.
The productivity tracker color-codes your completed tasks by project, but it would be more helpful if hovering over a color provided more information.
Overall, while Todoist has some powerful features, many of them are more complex than they need to be, especially compared to other apps in the same category. Whether the paid version is worth it depends on your specific needs and how much you value the extra features.
