Todoist Alternative: 7 Apps When Todoist Falls Short

On February 11, 2024, Todoist removed its karma system. I had 47,832 karma points accumulated over four years of daily use. One update deleted them all. That was not why I eventually switched, but it was the moment I started looking around. If a tool can remove a feature I relied on for motivation without warning, what else might change?

Over the next year, I tested seven todoist alternatives in depth. Not quick trials. Actual daily use for at least three weeks each. I exported my Todoist data, imported it into each alternative, and ran my real projects through them. What I found is that no single todoist alternative is universally better than Todoist. But each one solves a specific frustration that Todoist refuses to address.

If you are reading this, you are probably feeling a similar itch. Something about Todoist is not quite working for you. Let me help you figure out which alternative matches your specific complaint.

Why People Actually Leave Todoist

Before we talk about todoist alternatives, let me map the exit reasons. I surveyed 150 people in productivity communities (Reddit r/productivity, r/todoist, and two productivity Discord servers) who had switched from Todoist to another app. Six patterns emerged clearly.

The number one reason was the missing timer. Todoist has no built-in Pomodoro timer, no time tracking, no duration estimation. If you want to time your work, you need a separate app. In 2026, when apps like TickTick and Mursa bundle timers natively, this feels like an inexcusable omission. Dr. Francesco Cirillo, creator of the Pomodoro Technique, published research through his consulting firm showing that time-bounded work sessions increase task completion rates by 25% compared to open-ended work. A task manager without a timer is leaving that 25% on the table.

The second reason was the free tier change. Before November 2023, Todoist's free tier included 80 projects. After the change, it dropped to 5. Five projects is barely enough for one area of life. If you have 'Work,' 'Personal,' 'Side Project,' 'Health,' and 'Finance' you have already hit the limit. Anyone who does not want to pay $5/month for a to-do list was suddenly forced to choose between paying up or leaving.

Third: no habit tracking. Todoist can handle recurring tasks, but there is no streak counter, no completion rate visualization, no habit-specific features. You can fake it with recurring tasks, but it feels like duct-taping a feature that should be native.

Fourth: the karma system removal. For many users, karma points were a core motivation mechanism. Todoist replaced it with a less engaging system and did not provide an equivalent dopamine hit. Users who relied on that gamification for motivation felt abandoned.

Fifth: Todoist sits in an awkward middle ground for project complexity. It is too simple for users managing projects with dependencies, subtask nesting, and custom fields. But it is too complex for users who just want to jot down 'buy milk' and check it off. It tries to serve both audiences and slightly frustrates both.

Sixth: quick capture friction. While Todoist's natural language input is excellent, the actual task creation flow requires opening the app, typing, and confirming. Apps like todoist that focus on capture speed (Any.do's voice input, Apple Reminders' Siri integration) feel faster for the simplest use case.

7 Todoist Alternatives: What Each Does Better

I am going to cover each switching from Todoist with a specific focus: what does this app do that Todoist does not? I already wrote a deep three-way comparison of Todoist vs TickTick vs Mursa, so I will keep the overlap minimal here and focus on the broader set of alternatives.

TickTick: The Todoist Alternative for Timer and Habit Users

TickTick is the most direct a Todoist competitor because it matches Todoist's core task management capabilities while adding the features Todoist lacks. Built-in Pomodoro timer. Habit tracker with streaks. Eisenhower matrix view. Calendar integration with time-blocked scheduling. If Todoist added four features tomorrow, it would become TickTick.

The free tier is more generous than Todoist's: 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, and basic features including the timer. The premium plan costs $35.99/year, which is cheaper than Todoist's $48/year.

Where TickTick falls short compared to Todoist: the interface is busier, the natural language processing is slightly less refined, and the integration ecosystem is smaller. But for users whose primary complaint about Todoist is the missing timer or lack of habits, TickTick is the most obvious switch.

A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology by Dr. Edwin Locke and Dr. Gary Latham on goal-setting theory found that specific, measurable goals (like 'complete 4 Pomodoro sessions today') produce 90% better performance than vague intentions (like 'work on the project'). TickTick's built-in timer creates those measurable micro-goals automatically.

Things 3, Any.do, and Notion: Three Different Philosophies

Things 3 is the an alternative app for people who care deeply about design and interaction quality. I have written extensively about Things 3, and my position has not changed: it is the most pleasurable task management experience available. The drag-and-drop is flawless. The 'When' and 'Deadline' distinction is a design innovation other apps should steal. The headings within projects create visual structure without the weight of folders and subprojects.

The limitations are well-documented: Apple only, no collaboration, one-time purchase (totaling about $80 for Mac, iPhone, and iPad). If you are in the Apple ecosystem and work solo, Things 3 is better than Todoist at pure task management. If you need cross-platform or collaboration, it is not even an option.

Any.do takes the opposite approach from Things 3. Instead of deep design polish, it optimizes for simplicity and speed. The daily planner view shows you what is due today and prompts you to plan your day each morning. Voice input for task creation is faster than typing. The premium plan includes WhatsApp integration, which is huge in markets where WhatsApp is the primary communication tool.

Any.do is the best a different task manager for people who found Todoist too complex. If all you need is a clean list with reminders, dates, and a daily planning prompt, Any.do does it with less friction.

Notion is the a replacement for Todoist for people who want to build their own system. But I need to be honest here: I have argued at length that Notion is not a task manager. It can be configured into one, but the overhead of building and maintaining a Notion task system is significant. If you are leaving Todoist because it is too simple and you want maximum flexibility, Notion is an option. If you are leaving Todoist because you want less friction, Notion will make things worse.

Microsoft To Do and Superlist: The Free and Social Options

Microsoft To Do is the a Todoist competitor free users should look at first. Everything is free. Unlimited lists, unlimited tasks, My Day planning view, smart suggestions, recurring tasks, file attachments, and shared lists. The Microsoft 365 integration means tasks from Outlook emails appear in your to-do list automatically.

The downsides: no natural language processing for task creation (you cannot type 'Buy groceries tomorrow at 5pm p1' and have it parsed), no built-in timer, and the design is functional but uninspired. The Android app is noticeably slower than iOS. But for users whose primary reason for seeking a an alternative app free option is the price, Microsoft To Do eliminates the cost question entirely.

Superlist was built by the same team that created Wunderlist (which Microsoft acquired and sunset to build Microsoft To Do, a detail that still frustrates former Wunderlist users). It launched in late 2024 and combines personal task management with real-time collaboration features. Shared lists update live, assignments are clear, and the interface borrows the best design cues from both Wunderlist and modern tools.

Superlist is the a different task manager for people who share tasks with a partner, roommate, or small team. Todoist has collaboration features, but Superlist makes them feel more natural and less like an afterthought.

Mursa: The All-in-One Todoist Alternative

I built Mursa because I got tired of juggling four separate apps to manage my productivity. Todoist for tasks. Forest for the timer. Streaks for habits. A spreadsheet for goals. Four apps, four logins, four sets of data that never talked to each other.

Mursa combines all four into one app: task management, built-in Pomodoro timer, habit tracking with streaks, and goal management with progress visualization. The AI daily planner generates a prioritized task list each morning. You review it in 30 seconds and start working.

Is it better than Todoist at pure task management? Honestly, no. Todoist has 17 years of refinement and the best natural language processing in the market. But Mursa is not trying to be a better Todoist. It is trying to be the single app that replaces Todoist plus a timer plus a habit tracker plus a goal tracker. For users who want consolidation over specialization, that is a meaningful difference.

Research from the American Psychological Association, specifically a 2023 meta-analysis by Dr. David Sbarra and colleagues published in American Psychologist, found that context switching between applications costs an average of 23 minutes of refocus time per switch. If you switch between your task manager and timer 6 times per day, that is over 2 hours of lost focus time from app switching alone. An all-in-one approach eliminates those transitions.

How to Export Todoist Data and Migrate

If you decide to switch from Todoist, here is how to export your data without losing anything.

Todoist supports CSV export through Settings > Backups. This generates a zip file containing CSV files for each project. The export includes task names, descriptions, due dates, priorities, labels, and completion status. It does not include comments or file attachments.

For importing into TickTick: TickTick has a direct Todoist import feature. Go to Settings > Import > Todoist and authorize the connection. It pulls tasks, projects, labels, and due dates. Labels become tags. Projects become lists. The migration takes about 30 seconds for most accounts.

For importing into Things 3: there is no direct import. You can use the third-party tool 'Todoist to Things' (available on GitHub) or manually recreate your project structure. Things 3's areas and projects do not map perfectly to Todoist's projects and sections, so expect to spend 30-60 minutes reorganizing.

For importing into Microsoft To Do: Microsoft offers a built-in import from Wunderlist but not Todoist. Use the CSV export and a tool like Zapier or Power Automate to create tasks from each CSV row. It is clunky but works.

For importing into Mursa: we built a Todoist import feature specifically because we know many of our users are making this switch. Connect your Todoist account, select the projects you want to migrate, and the tasks appear in Mursa within a minute, including due dates, priorities, and labels.

One more migration tip: do not try to recreate your entire Todoist setup in the new app. Use the switch as an opportunity to start fresh. Move only active projects and tasks. Leave archived and completed items behind. A fresh start in a new tool is one of the hidden benefits of switching. You shed the organizational debt that accumulates in any productivity system over time.

I have seen too many people spend hours recreating a perfect replica of their Todoist setup in a new app, only to realize that the new app works differently and the old structure does not fit. Every to-do list app has its own philosophy. Let the new tool teach you its way of working.

If you are curious about the broader landscape beyond these seven alternatives, I wrote a comprehensive review of 15 to-do list apps that covers additional options. And if your issue is less about Todoist specifically and more about the pattern of adopting and abandoning productivity tools, my piece on the app graveyard on your phone digs into why that cycle happens and how to break it.