Todoist vs. Trello: Which Is the Best Task App in 2025?

Todoist vs. Trello Summary

Who is Todoist for?

Todoist is one of the most feature-rich to-do app currently available. Unlike other to-do apps, Todoist is entirely focused around adding, managing and completing tasks.

By contrast, other to-do apps combine task management with other features such as habit tracking or Pomodoro timers.

Thus, Todoist is primarily designed for users that want a to-do app with as many features as possible.

Who is Trello for?

Trello is a project management app for individuals and companies and is built around the principles of Kanban.

Kanban is a work visualization method where you organize work into boards, and tasks have to traverse multiple boards from start to finish.

For example, let’s say you have a task called “Repair kitchen door”, and four Kanban boards:

Define problem.
Define requirements.
Implementing solution.
Quality assurance test.

In Kanban, the “Repair kitchen door” task starts in the “Define problem” board. There you write what exactly needs to be fixed: the hinges, handle, the door frame itself etc.

One that’s done, you move the task to the “Define requirements” board. There you specify how the problem can be fixed: getting new hinges, replacing the handle, fixing the door frame etc.

The task then goes to the “Implementing solution” board where you detail how the door was fixed, and from there to the “Quality assurance test” where you test the door to make sure it was fixed properly.

If you like this Kanban process, then Trello is the app for you. While primarily a project management app, the free version has a bunch of features found in traditional task management and to do apps such as reminders, completing tasks etc.

Ease of use

Todoist ease of use

Todoist’s interface is clean and minimalistic, only showing you a few buttons and navigation menus.

The first screen you see when opening the app is called the “Inbox”. From there you can add, edit or complete tasks.

You can also better organize the Inbox by adding different sections to it, such as Work, Parenting or more.

What we like about Todoist’s interface is that the buttons for “View” and “Options” reveal a lot of powerful functionality such as multiple filter types, sorting options, activity logs, comments etc.

One feature we really liked was the ability to select multiple tasks at once and modify them by adding tags, labels, changing priority levels or moving them to different projects or sections.

Almost no other task management app has this, so you have to edit tasks one by one.

Overall, Todoist has a simple interface, but it elegantly places its settings options in multiple, relevant locations.

This allows you to learn Todoist at your own pace, without feeling overwhelmed by the number of settings and options available.

Trello ease of use

As a project management app, Trello is more feature rich but a bit more complicated to use compared to personal task management and to-do apps such as Todoist or Google Tasks.

Properly using Trello requires an initial time investment to set everything up properly, but also learning how to integrate a project management tool into your life.

The reward is that Trello offers a more structured way of handling tasks and projects, excellent collaboration features, and a pleasant UI once you learn Trello’s work philosophy.

Organization

Todoist organization

Todoist lets you organize your tasks in multiple ways:

Inbox. Contains all tasks and sections that don’t belong to a project.
Projects: such as Work, School, Family etc.
Sections. These are basically lists within projects.
Priority: from 1 to 4, where 1 is most urgent.
Labels: custom labels you can attach to any task.
Subtasks: divide a large task into multiple smaller tasks.

In other task management apps, this level of organization would make them very hard to navigate. This is because you would constantly have to move between different projects, sections or labels to find the tasks you want.

Todoist solves this problem through a powerful filter function that lets you combine multiple sorting options into a single filter.

For example, you can create a filter that only retrieves tasks in the Work project, have a priority of 1, and are labelled as “Reports”.

This filter function is unique to Todoist, and is incredibly useful for dedicated users that have dozens of active tasks all the time.

Finally, there’s also a search function that is buried deep within the settings of the app.

Trello organization

Trello’s interface is built around Boards, Lists and Cards. A card represents an actual task, to which you can attach information such as photos, documents, descriptions etc.

A board contains lists, and lists contain cards.

Normally, boards in Kanban are supposed to represent what stage of work a certain task is in.

Trello however is quite flexible, so you can just as easily structure boards to be the equivalent of a list or a project in traditional to-do apps.

Besides boards and cards, Trello also lets you add labels to cards (tasks).

Using the search function, you can then filter through cards based on what is written in the label.

Finally, you can also add checklists to cards. Unfortunately, checklists in Trello are quite limited and don’t have many features found in task management apps such as Todoist:

Checklist items cannot have individual reminders.
Checklist items do not have their own start date and due date.
You cannot add comments, attachments or descriptions to checklist items.

Scheduling and reminders

Todoist scheduling and reminders

Todoist lets you schedule tasks that are one time only, or tasks that repeat themselves at regular intervals.

For repeating tasks, you can schedule them in lots of different configurations:

Repeats every week, but only on Fridays and Saturdays.
Repeats once every 3 months.
Repeats every month on the same day (10^th for example).
Repeat every 2 months.
Repeats every 3 weeks.
Etc.

The paid version of Todoist adds other very useful reminder features:

Extra reminders for a task (free version only allows 1 reminder per task)
Deadline feature.
Task duration for calendar view.
Location reminder.

Trello scheduling and reminders

In Trello, cards (tasks) can have a start date and a due date. Task reminders are only triggered if there is a due date attached to the card. You are also limited to just one reminder per task.

Using standard settings, Trello lets you make only one-time cards/tasks, but not repeating tasks.

You can activate this feature, but it requires you to go to the desktop or web version, activate the “Card Repeater” plugin and then configure a card/task to repeat itself at certain intervals.

Unfortunately, you can only do this on the desktop or web version, so you cannot schedule repeating tasks on mobile.

Because repeating tasks are so tedious to use and limited only to desktop users, we consider that Trello doesn’t have a properly functioning repeating task feature.

Calendar and other integrations

Todoist calendar and other integrations

Currently, Todoist integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar, but no Apple Calendar unfortunately.

This is a pain point for iOS users, but there are certain workarounds for this. For example, you can synchronize Google Calendar with Apple Calendar.

Afterwards Todoist tasks added to Google Calendar are automatically pushed to Apple Calendar as well. While not 100% perfect, it should be good enough in most situations.

However, Todoist has a big advantage over competitors because it has 80+ integrations with many other productivity programs.

For example, Todoist can integrate with:

Note taking apps: Evernote, Capacities, Fireflies etc.
Time tracking: 2Day, Toggl, Flowmo etc.
Email: Gmail, Outlook, Spark, Airmail etc.
Messaging: Slack, MS Teams.
And many other integrations.

Todoist has so many integrations, it’s almost guaranteed you will find at least one that will fit your needs.

Trello calendar and other integrations

Trello doesn’t have free native integrations for the Google or Outlook calendar apps.

Instead, this is a paid plugin which you must activate on the web or desktop version of Trello.

In fact, this is a common problem with Trello. A large number of Trello features must first be activated from the desktop or web version, but even then it might not work on the mobile version of Trello.

Most of these plugins are also paid, so you have to take that into consideration.

However, Trello has so many plugins available that you can personalize and add new features that might not be available on other to-do or task management apps.

AI Features and Integrations

Todoist AI Features and Integrations

The free version of Todoist doesn’t have any integration with AI/LLMs such as ChatGPT or Gemini.

To get an AI integration you’ll need a paid subscription, and even the AI feature will only work on the desktop version of Todoist (so not available on Android/iOS).

However, Todoist has an excellent system of natural language processing, which makes the need for an AI integration mostly obsolete.

Natural language processing allows a user to type a single, coherent line of text that the app intelligently understands and then sets the task title, but also its due date, project, labels, and priority level.

Trello AI Features and Integrations

Trello’s free version doesn’t have any AI features integrated into the app.

You will need to subscribe to the $10 monthly plan to get access to AI and other features. Or you can try any of the various AI plugins available in the Trello plugin list.

Finally, Trello doesn’t have any natural language features that can transform written sentences into cards, reminders etc.

Special or unique features

Todoist special or unique features

Todoist has many interesting features built into the app. Here are the ones we think are most noteworthy:

Natural Language Processing. This allows you to create and schedule tasks simply by writing what you need instead of pressing buttons and navigating menus.
Powerful filtering functions. Todoist has the most powerful filtering and sorting function of any task management app we’ve tested. This can greatly help users who tend to have dozens or hundreds of active tasks.
Karma score. Todoist’s Karma transforms productivity into a game. Users gain points when completing tasks, but lose points when tasks are overdue. As users accumulate points, they advance through eight distinct Karma levels, starting at “Beginner” (0-499 points) and progressing all the way to “Enlightened” (50,000+ points).

Trello special or unique features

Trello is an old and very feature rich project management app that has lots of unique features for the right users.

Here are the features we think set it apart:

Intuitive Kanban UI. Many other task management or project management apps have integrated Kanban features, but in our opinion Trello still does Kanban better than everyone else.
Plugins and ecosystem. If you need Trello to do a certain task, then it’s almost certain you can find a plugin for it.

Cross-platform compatibility

Todoist cross-platform compatibility

Todoist can be downloaded on the following platforms:

Desktop/laptops: Windows and macOS.
Mobile: Android and iOS.
Other: Android and iOS smartwatches.

Todoist also has web versions for both mobile and desktop.

Trello cross-platform compatibility

Trello can be downloaded on the following platforms:

Desktop/laptops: Windows and macOS.
Mobile: Android and iOS.
Web versions for both mobile and desktop.

Todoist collaboration and sharing

Todoist comes with many collaboration features, even in the free version.

To collaborate with someone, you create a project, such as “Work” and then invite someone else to edit that project.

The free version allows you to create 5 projects, and for each project you can invite up to 5 collaborators.

Todoist Business offers many common project management features such as: team projects, task comments, notes, file uploads etc.

That being said, Todoist Business cannot fully replace project management tools such as Trello or Asana because it doesn’t have many essential features such as: work boards, Kanban views, Gantt charts, workload views etc.

Todoist also doesn’t have many powerful automation features such as:

Sending notifications to certain people, but only on certain channels.
Real time collaboration on certain documents or projects.
Deep integrations with CRMs such as HubSpot or Salesforce etc.

In general, the collaboration features found in Todoist should be sufficient for small teams and families, but anything larger than that requires a dedicated project management tool.

Trello collaboration and sharing

Trello is entirely built around working with others and has excellent collaboration features.

To start, you can even give someone access to your entire workspace (which contains all your boards and cards).

If that sounds too much, you can invite them to access only a certain board. From there, the other person can leave comments, create tasks, attach files etc.

As a board owner, you can also assign cards to other people, or approve/deny changes.

The free version of Trello allows up to 10 collaborators per workspace, which should be enough for families and small businesses.

Pricing

Todoist pricing

The paid version of Todoist has two different subscription plans:

Pro: $5 per month / $48 yearly ($4 per month).
Business (per user): $8 per month / $72 per year ($6 monthly).

The paid version of Todoist unlocks numerous features:

300 personal projects (free version has 5).
AI assistant.
Deadlines feature.
Custom reminders. Ability to add more reminders for each task.
Deadlines.
Task duration.
Team collaboration (for business users).

Trello pricing

Trello has a very good free version, but the paid plans unlocks even more features.

For individual users, Trello offers a Standard plan ($5 per month) and a Premium plan ($10 per month).

Some of the features unlocked by paying include: native AI integration, custom fields, list colors, uploading files up to 250 MB, different views: calendar, timeline, table, map etc.