Trello vs. TickTick Summary
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.
Who is TickTick for?
TickTick is a feature rich task management app that also integrates productivity features found in other apps: habit tracking, note taking, Eisenhower matrix, Pomodoro timers etc.
TickTick is ideal for people who need a generalist to-do app that can do many things at once and thus replace multiple other apps such as habit trackers or simple note apps.
Ease of use
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.
TickTick ease of use
TickTick’s user interface is simple and straightforward, but is also very modular and easy to configure.
For example, you can customize the “Add task” button itself. You can change what features are available to customize the task: tags, convert to note, add image, set priority etc.
Similarly, you can also customize what features you want to use (or not use) in the bottom navigation bar: calendar view, Pomodoro timer, habit tracker, search function, countdown etc.
The modularity of TickTick is one of its greatest strengths, since you can make it as complex or as simple as you want.
However, this modularity can also make its interface appear cluttered and chaotic if you use all of its features.
Organization
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.
TickTick organization
TickTick lets you organize tasks in the following ways:
- Lists: such as Work, Personal, Inbox.
- Sections: sub divisions of lists.
- Priority: From High to No Priority.
- Labels: custom labels you can attach to any task.
- Subtasks: for simplifying a task into smaller steps.
If you want to save information, you can choose to convert a task into a note. This lets you write quickly write down a lot of information. It’s not as advanced as Evernote or Google Keep, but it’s great for saving information in the same place as tasks.
You can also attach checklists to individual tasks or subtasks, so you can better visualize all the steps required to complete the to-do.
The extra flexibility the features provide is great, but it does take a while to train your eyes so you can immediately recognize what is a task, what is a checklist, and what is a note.
Overall, TickTick gives you lots of different ways to store your tasks and ideas, and then to organize each one into its own little corner.
Unfortunately, TickTick doesn’t have a search function or good filtering features. If you are an intensive user you have to properly organize and label your tasks, otherwise you risk having “orphan” tasks and projects that are hidden away and easy to forget.
Scheduling and reminders
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.
TickTick scheduling and reminders
Ticktick’s reminder features lets you schedule reminders for both one-time tasks, or repeating tasks.
For repeating tasks, you can schedule them to repeat in any time configuration you want:
- Repeats every day, except on weekends.
- Repeat every week, but only Monday and Tuesday.
- Repeat every month on the first workday etc.
- First workday or last workday of the month.
- Second or third Wednesday of the month etc.
The paid version of TickTick adds more features such as:
- Constant Reminders. A reminder that stays active for 5 minutes (on Android) or non-stop (iOS) until manually stopped.
- Task duration for calendar view.
- Location reminders.
Calendar and other integrations
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.
TickTick calendar and other integrations
Unfortunately, TickTick calendar integrations are only available on the paid version of the app.
This means the free version of TickTick doesn’t let you add new tasks and to-do’s on your Google, Outlook or iCloud calendar.
You can however allow TickTick to read and display events from your calendars inside the app.
Besides the calendars, TickTick also supports a handful of other major integrations such as: Notion, Gmail, Outlook and IFTTT.
AI Features and Integrations
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.
TickTick AI Features and Integrations
TickTick doesn’t natively support any integrations with AI/LLMs such as ChatGPT.
You might be able to improvise something using various tools such as IFTTT, but it’s not guaranteed it will work properly.
TickTick also has a very basic implementation of natural language processing. In theory, this feature should let you save tasks by writing them, and then having the app figure out the title, date, repeat times etc.
However, TickTick’s implementation is slow and doesn’t work that well, which is probably why the feature is turned off by default.
Special or unique features
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.
TickTick special or unique features
TickTick is a generalist to-do app that combines many different kinds of features into a single package. Out of all these features, these are the ones we like the most:
- Customization. In our experience, TickTick is the most modular and customizable to-do app on the market. You can make it as simple or as complex as you want.
- Notes and checklists. Great for users who want to add more context and information to their tasks.
- Various tools such as: Eisenhower matrix, habit tracking, Pomodoro focus timer, etc. TickTick is great for people that use these features, since it removes the need for installing multiple apps.
Cross-platform compatibility
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.
TickTick cross-platform compatibility
TickTick is available for download on the following platforms:
- Desktop/laptops: Windows and macOS.
- Mobile: Android and iOS.
- Other: Android and iOS smartwatches.
TickTick also has a web version for both mobile and desktop.
Collaboration and sharing
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.
TickTick collaboration and sharing
TickTick offers a basic form of collaboration, where two or more users can work together to complete tasks found within a list.
Users can assign tasks to other users, and even comment on tasks to provide more information.
This is about the extent of TickTick’s collaboration features. In our opinion, they are sufficient for sharing tasks with family and friends, or even small work projects.
Pricing
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.
TickTick pricing
The paid version of TickTick has a single subscription plan:
- Premium: $4 per month / $36 yearly ($3 per month).
The paid version of TickTick unlocks numerous features:
- More calendar views (monthly/weekly/day/3-day).
- Integrations with calendars from Google, Outlook, iCal etc.
- Notion integration.
- More attachments per day (99 vs 1 in free).
- More tasks per list.
- Etc.