Comparison

Pidgy vs Todoist

Todoist is the place you put tasks. Pidgy is the place tasks come from. One is a polished list you feed by hand, the other reads your Outlook and Gmail and hands you the list already written, with the reply drafted and the calendar slot waiting.

Last updated September 2026 11 min read By the Pidgy team
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Short version

Pidgy vs Todoist comes down to who does the capturing. In Todoist, every task exists because you typed it, forwarded an email to a project address, or clicked an add-on button. In Pidgy, tasks appear on their own because the agent reads your Outlook and Gmail as mail arrives, pulls out the asks, notices the things you promised in your own replies, and ranks the lot. From there Pidgy groups the tasks into projects with a live percentage, lays them into calendar blocks with Plan mode, drafts the reply in your voice, chases the thread that stalls, and tracks one Inbox Health score. Todoist remains the better choice for a life-wide, cross-platform list with best-in-class quick add and a strong free tier. If your work arrives by email, Pidgy removes the typing.

Pidgy vs Todoist is really a question about capture

Both give you a list to work from. Only one of them writes it.

A task manager can only manage what it has been told. Todoist has spent years making the telling as fast as possible, with quick add that understands "every Mon 9am", labels, filters, and apps on every platform. Still, the moment before the typing is yours. You read the email, spot the request in paragraph three, remember what you said you would do, and then add it.

Pidgy starts one step earlier. It reads each message as it lands in Outlook or Gmail and lifts the action items out, ranks them, and in some cases delegates them for you. If you wrote "I'll get the figures to you by Thursday" in a reply, that becomes a task too, which is the one most lists never see. You keep the ability to add tasks by hand, so the personal errand or the idea from a phone call still has a home.

Everything else on this page follows from that difference in starting point.

What Pidgy does before you would open Todoist

Four steps that run on their own from the moment mail arrives. In Todoist, each of these is a thing you do.

01 The asks come out of the mail
InboxOutlook + Gmail
PNPriya NairCould we have the revised fee quote by Friday?
DHDorset HoldingsEngagement letter still unsigned on our side, sorry.
KAKen AbaraPayroll data export attached, needs a check.
To-dosalready written
Send revised fee quote to PriyaDue Fri
Check Abara payroll exportDue Thu
Get Dorset letter signedHanded to Lena
3 tasks extracted · 1 delegated · sorted by what needs you
Dorset Holdings year-end 58%
5 docs · 14 emails · 4 open tasks
Abara payroll migration 27%
3 docs · 6 emails · 6 open tasks
Nair fee renewal 76%
2 docs · 8 emails · 1 open task
Mon
Revised fee quote08:30 · 20m
Tue
Wed
Payroll export check10:00 · 1h · due Thu
Thu
Nudge Dorset on letter09:30 · 10m
Fri
Year-end file review14:00 · 45m
Drop each task on a day · choose a length · add a reminder · send to calendar
82
Inbox Health
+24 since Monday
Close 4 overdue threads+10
Answer 2 clients waiting since Monday+8
Block tomorrow's first hour+5
A single number for how on top of your inbox you are. Think Strava, for email.

The life of a task in each tool

Follow one task from the moment it exists to the moment it is done, and see who does the work at each stage.

StagePidgyTodoist
Getting the task into the list
Extracted from each email as it arrives
Type it, forward it, or click the add-on
Catching the promise you made in a reply
Your own commitments become to-dos
Nothing looks at sent mail
Adding something that never touched email
Add by hand any time
Anything, from anywhere
Typing a task in plain English
Through Ask Pidgy or an email
Quick add reads "every Mon 9am"
Sorting tasks into projects
Grouped for you from the mail
You create and file each one
Seeing how far a project has come
Live percentage per project
No automatic progress figure
Fitting the task into a day
Plan mode, drag into a time block
Calendar layout and Google sync on Pro
Writing the email the task requires
Drafted in your voice, you send
Not a Todoist job
Following up when the other side goes quiet
Chase queued automatically
A reminder, then it is on you
Staying motivated to finish
Inbox Health score, tied to real commitments
Karma points, streaks and levels
Working from a phone, or offline
Web-first during early access
iOS, Android, desktop, offline
Paying for it
Early-access pricing
Free plan; Pro around $5 a month on annual billing
Handled well Partly, or only on some plans Not covered

If you already use Todoist

Notes for people with years of projects, labels and Karma behind them. Nothing here asks you to throw that away.

Your forwarding habit

Stop forwarding, start reading

If you forward emails to a Todoist project address or hit the Gmail and Outlook add-on a dozen times a day, that is the work Pidgy takes over. It reads the inbox itself, so the forwarding step disappears. Todoist's Email Assist can pull details from a message, but only from the one you hand it.

Your projects

Folders you built versus groups that build themselves

A Todoist project is a container you named and filled. It is as current as your last tidy-up. Pidgy's projects are assembled from the mail, documents, tasks and messages about one piece of work, and each shows a percentage that moves as tasks close. Dorset Holdings year-end sits at 58% without anyone dragging a card.

Your Karma

Two scores, two meanings

Karma rewards completing and scheduling tasks, and it does that well after years of tuning. Pidgy's Inbox Health score is about obligations rather than checkboxes. Closing overdue threads and answering clients who are waiting move it most, and it updates every day.

What you would miss

Quick add, filters and the phone

Todoist's natural-language entry, its filters, and its offline apps on iOS, Android and desktop are ahead of what Pidgy offers during early access, which is web-first. If those are the features you open Todoist for, keep it. Pidgy still takes the email side off your plate.

What stays manual in each

An honest ledger of the work that remains yours.

With Todoist, capture is manual by design. So is filing into projects, so is setting a due date, and so is deciding when in the week the task happens, even with the Pro calendar layout and two-way Google Calendar sync, which reviewers often describe as stopping short of proper time-blocking. When a task involves writing back to someone, Todoist ends at the reminder. The email itself is a separate job in a separate app.

With Pidgy, the send is always manual. Drafts appear in your voice, in Professional, Friendly, Direct or Urgent, but nothing leaves until you click. Placing tasks into the week is a drag in Plan mode rather than an automatic schedule. Tasks that never touched your inbox, the dentist, the birthday present, still need typing in, and Pidgy does not try to be the app for those.

Put the two ledgers side by side and the split is clear. Todoist leaves the front of the process to you and automates very little of the back. Pidgy automates the front, the capture and grouping, and keeps you in charge of the moments that matter, the send and the schedule.

Try this for one working week

A low-risk way to find out which side of the capture line you live on.

On Monday, connect Outlook or Gmail to Pidgy and leave Todoist exactly as it is. Do not forward anything for five days.

On Wednesday, open Pidgy's ranked list and compare it with your Todoist inbox. Count the tasks Pidgy found that you never added, and look for at least one promise from your own sent mail that you had forgotten.

On Thursday, use Plan mode once. Drag the three biggest tasks into the week, pick a duration for each, set a reminder, and add them to your calendar. Then check whether Todoist's calendar layout would have got you there faster.

On Friday, read the Inbox Health score next to your Karma. If the tasks Pidgy captured were the ones that mattered, you have your answer for work email. If most of your list lives outside the inbox, Todoist keeps its job and Pidgy handles the mail.

Who each one is for

Two good tools, two different starting points.

Pidgy is the fit if
  • Your to-do list is mostly things other people emailed you
  • You forget the promises you make in your own replies
  • You want projects assembled for you, with a progress figure
  • You want the reply written and the silence chased, not only the task logged
  • You work from Outlook, Gmail, or both at once
  • You still want a manual add for the odd non-email task
Todoist is the fit if
  • You want one list for your whole life, not only work mail
  • You enjoy typing tasks fast and organising them by hand
  • Labels, filters and natural-language dates are how you think
  • You need mature mobile apps and offline access
  • You want a capable free plan today

The list that writes itself, from the inbox you already open.

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Pidgy by the numbers

800+
professionals already on early access
2
inboxes, Outlook and Gmail, read as one
4
tones for every drafted reply
0
emails you have to forward to capture a task

Pidgy vs Todoist, common questions

Can Pidgy replace Todoist for work tasks?
For tasks that arrive by email, yes. Pidgy reads Outlook and Gmail and writes the to-dos itself, including the promises in your own replies, then groups, plans, drafts and chases. For a life-wide list that includes tasks with no email behind them, Todoist is still the stronger manual tool, and many people keep it for that.
How do tasks get from my email into Todoist?
You move them. Forward a message to a Todoist project address, click the Gmail or Outlook add-on on a specific email, type the task yourself, or hand a message to Email Assist to extract the details. Pidgy skips that step by reading the inbox continuously and creating the tasks on its own.
Does Pidgy notice things I promised in my own replies?
Yes. When you write that you will send a document by Thursday, Pidgy turns that sentence into a task with the deadline attached. Todoist does not read sent mail, so a promise only becomes a task if you remember to add it.
Which is better for time-blocking, Todoist or Pidgy?
Pidgy's Plan mode places inbox tasks into calendar blocks in one move, with a duration and a reminder, and adds them to your calendar. Todoist Pro offers a calendar layout and two-way Google Calendar sync, which is good for dragging tasks onto days but is often described as falling short of full time-blocking.
Does Pidgy have a mobile app?
During early access Pidgy is web-first. Todoist has mature iOS, Android and desktop apps with offline access, so if phone-first task capture matters most, Todoist is ahead on that point today.
How much do Todoist and Pidgy cost?
Todoist has a free plan, and Pro costs about $5 a month when billed annually. Pidgy is on early-access pricing, which you receive when you are invited in from the waitlist.
Will Pidgy send an email or complete a task without me?
No email leaves without your click. Pidgy drafts replies and queues follow-up chasers, but you send every one. It will extract and rank tasks on its own, and it can delegate some, but the send button stays with you.

Let the inbox write the list

Connect Outlook or Gmail and Pidgy extracts the tasks, groups them into projects, plans them into your week, and chases what stalls. Request early access below.

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