Which tool is best for your team?


Trello and Todoist are examples of powerful, detailed, and high-quality project management software that can help workers navigate through their days, weeks, months, and more at work.

  • Trello is a browser-based project management ecosystem that can tackle projects large or small. It works by creating cards that resemble sticky notes. The cards represent tasks that can be assigned to users. These cards are then pinned onto boards, with each board representing a particular project. It's easy to organize cards by status, such as “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done.”
  • Todoist is a cross-platform task tracking environment that runs on a variety of operating systems and devices, including Windows, Apple, Chromebooks, and even smartphone watches. It also offers extensions for browsers and email clients, which save web pages as tasks.

However, it is important to note that Trello recently suffered a massive data breach that affected millions of personal accounts.

Trello vs Todoist: comparison table

Characteristics
Trello
Todoist
Initial price (billed annually)
$5 per user per month
$4 per user per month
Initial price (billed monthly)
$6 per user per month
$5 per user per month
Always free
Yes (unlimited users)
Yes (up to 5 personal projects)
File Upload (Free Plan)
Unlimited storage (10 MB/file)
5 megabytes
File uploads (paid plans)
Unlimited storage (250 MB/file)
100 megabytes
Integrations
More than 200 power-ups
90+
AI
Atlassian Intelligence
AI assistant
Multiple views
Yes (dashboard, timeline, table, calendar, map)
Yes (list, board, calendar)
Activity history
Unlimited activity log
1 week for free plan and unlimited for paid plans
Task management
Yeah
Yeah

Trello vs. Todoist: Pricing

Trello is designed more for collaborative team project management, with extensive automation and integration features through Power-Ups. The free plan is generous in terms of member and board limits, but can get restrictive with its limit on automation actions. Upgrading to higher levels provides more automation capabilities and advanced project views, such as timelines and dashboards, which are crucial for larger teams that need extensive project tracking and management.

Todoist's simplest approach focuses on individual productivity and small team collaboration. The free plan is basic and suitable for personal use or small projects. The Pro plan is affordable and offers extensive features for advanced users who need advanced task management and reminders. The Business plan adds the administrative features necessary for team management, making it ideal for small and medium-sized teams.

Trello Pricing

  • Free: No cost for unlimited users.
  • Standard: $5 per user per month, billed annually, or $6 per user per month, billed monthly.
  • Premium: $10 per user per month, billed annually, or $12.50 per user per month, billed monthly.
  • Company: Varies between $7.38 and $17.50 per user per month, billed annually.

To learn more, read our full Trello review.

Todoist Pricing

  • Beginner: No cost for up to 5 personal projects.
  • Pro: $4 per user per month, billed annually, or $5 per user per month, billed monthly.
  • Business: $6 per user per month, billed annually, or $8 per user per month, billed monthly.

To learn more, read our full Todoist review.

Trello vs Todoist: Feature Comparison

Task management

Winner: Trello

Trello uses a kanban board technique where tasks are represented as cards that can be moved between lists to represent different stages of the project. Cards can contain a large amount of information, including due dates, checklists, attachments, and comments. Trello is designed for visual organization, making it easy to see the status of tasks at a glance.

Figure A: Kanban view of Trello. Image: Trello

Todoist focuses on list-based task management, where tasks can be sorted into different projects and categorized by tag. It also supports subtasks, which is useful for breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Todoist project tracking view.
Figure B: View of Todoist project tracking. Image: Todoist

Collaboration

Winner: Trello

Trello offers extensive collaboration features, including unlimited members on boards (even on the free plan), comments on cards, and the ability to assign tasks to specific team members. Higher-level plans introduce features like multi-board observers and guests, making the tool suitable for team project management.

Trello board attachment and comment.
Figure C: Trello board attachment and comment. Image: Trello

Todoist enables collaboration by sharing projects and tasks with team members. It includes basic collaboration features such as comments and task assignments, but lacks the depth of Trello's collaborative tools.

Automation

Winner: Trello

Trello provides built-in automation through Butler, allowing users to create custom rules and automate repetitive tasks. Trello's automation capabilities are extensive and can be integrated with various Power-Ups to enhance functionality.

Todoist offers basic automation features through integrations with third-party services like Zapier. While useful, these automations are not as deeply integrated into the platform as Trello's Butler.

Integrations

Winner: Trello

Trello supports a wide range of integrations, known as Power-Ups, that can be added to enhance boards with tools like Google Drive, Slack, and others. These integrations allow users to tailor Trello to their specific needs.

Figure D: Todoist integration.  Image: Todoist
Figure D: Todoist integration. Image: Todoist

Todoist integrates with several vital tools, such as Google Calendar, Gmail, and various communication and time tracking tools. However, the range of integrations is not as wide as Trello's.

Mobile and desktop applications

Winner: Tie

Trello offers robust mobile and desktop apps that provide almost all the functionality available in the web version. This ensures that users can manage tasks and projects on the go without losing key features.

Todoist also offers excellent mobile and desktop apps, which are praised for their clean design and usability. These apps are well integrated with the leading platform and maintain a consistent user experience across devices.

Prices

Winner: Todoist

Trello's free plan includes up to 10 boards per workspace and 250 automation actions per month. Higher level plans unlock unlimited dashboards, advanced automation, and additional views (chronology, calendar). Pricing ranges from $5 to $17.50 per user per month, depending on the plan.

While Todoist's free plan is more limited, with up to 5 active projects and basic task management features, the Pro plan is more affordable, starting at $4 per user per month, billed annually. Offers 300 active projects, reminders and productivity tracking. The Business plan costs $6 per user per month when billed annually and adds administrative features and team management tools.

Easy to use

Winner: Todoist

Trello is designed to be very intuitive, especially for users who prefer a visual approach to task management. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to move tasks between stages and visually track progress. Todoist is known for its clean and simple interface, which is easy to navigate and use, making it ideal for users who prefer a simple, list-based task management system.

Pros and cons of Trello

Advantages of Trello

  • Easy and simple to use.
  • Project management with a key visual component.
  • Offers more integrations than Todoist.
  • Easy for collaboration and communication.

Cons of Trello

  • Advanced features are tied to the highest level.
  • Highly dependent on Power-Ups (integrations).
  • Had a recent data breach that affected millions of users.

SEE: Top 10 Trello Alternatives and Competitors

Pros and cons of Todoist

Todoist Advantages

  • More affordable than Trello.
  • Intuitive user interface.
  • Automatic cross-platform synchronization.

Cons of Todoist

  • Limited free plan.
  • Limited storage.

SEE: Top 7 Todoist Alternatives and Competitors

Should your organization use Trello or Todoist?

Trello is the winner for collaborative and team-based project management, focusing on visual organization and automation. Todoist excels at individual productivity and task management, offering a simpler and more affordable approach.

However, keep in mind that Trello recently suffered a data breach that affected 15 million users, so you may want to stay away until it shows security improvements.

Choose Trello yes. . .

  • You prefer a visual project management tool.
  • You work in a collaborative environment.
  • You need extensive integrations and automation.

Choose Todoist yes. . .

  • Your primary need is to manage individual tasks and to-dos rather than complex project workflows.
  • You need affordable premium features.
  • You manage small teams or projects.

Review methodology

To write this review, we evaluated the official pricing pages and feature lists of Trello and Todoist to get the most up-to-date information straight from the source. We conducted hands-on testing of both platforms to understand first-hand their interfaces, usability, and key features.

This included setting up projects, adding tasks, testing collaboration features, and exploring automation capabilities. Finally, we reviewed user feedback from trusted sources to gather information about user experiences and common pain points.

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