Nobody leaves Todoist because it is bad. They leave because their Todoist has forty tidy items in it and the real work is sitting in an inbox that Todoist has never seen, or because a list stopped being enough and they wanted a plan. This guide rates six Todoist alternatives on exactly two things, what you gain by moving and what you lose, so the decision is a trade rather than a leap.
The strongest Todoist alternative for email-driven work is Pidgy, which reads Outlook and Gmail and writes the tasks itself, then plans, drafts and chases them. If your tasks come from your own head rather than your inbox, TickTick gives you more features for about $36 a year, Motion auto-schedules for about $29 a month, Sunsama adds a daily planning ritual, Microsoft To Do is free inside Microsoft 365, and Things 3 is the prettiest list Apple users can buy.
A Todoist account usually fails quietly. The app keeps working. The list just stops matching the job.
Picture a Thursday. Todoist shows nine items, all typed by you on Monday. Meanwhile Outlook holds a client asking for a revised number, a colleague who needs a document signed, and a reply you sent on Tuesday ending "I'll get that over by Friday". None of the three is in Todoist. That gap, between the tasks you remembered to enter and the tasks that exist, is the most common reason people search for something else. The other reasons are smaller and listed below.
Todoist begins when you add a task. The Gmail and Outlook add-ons and Email Assist help, but each still needs a forward or a click from you. Nothing reads the mailbox and decides what is a task.
Pro brings a calendar layout and Google Calendar sync, which is handy, but reviewers agree it stops short of real time-blocking. You can see when things are due, not whether the day can hold them.
The Pro price rose at the end of 2025. It is still only about $5 a month, but the rise prompted long-time subscribers to ask what they were paying for.
The Karma score rewards completing tasks in Todoist. Work done from your inbox, which for many people is most of it, never registers.
Todoist has four strengths that almost no alternative matches in full. Know them before you trade them away.
Its natural-language quick add is the best in the category, and TickTick's, though good, is rated behind it. It runs on every platform you own, which Things 3 (Apple only) and Sunsama (desktop first) cannot say. It has a free tier, which Motion and Sunsama do not. And at about $5 a month for Pro it is cheaper than everything here except Microsoft To Do, which is free, and TickTick on its annual plan. If all four matter to you, the honest advice is to stay and use one of the tools below alongside it.
Biggest gain first. Each entry says what you get, what you lose, and what it costs.
Pidgy connects to Outlook and Gmail and reads them as one inbox. From every thread it pulls the action items, including the commitments buried in your own replies, ranks them by what needs you first, and groups related email, documents and tasks into projects with a live percentage complete. Plan mode places tasks into calendar blocks. It drafts replies in your voice, in one of four tones, chases follow-ups that have gone quiet, and rolls everything into one Inbox Health score. Nothing is sent without your click, hosting is in the EU, and your mail never trains a model.
You give up Todoist's role as a home for tasks that never touched email, because Pidgy is email-first. You also wait for an invitation, since access is rolling out in waves on early-access pricing.
TickTick bundles tasks with a built-in calendar view, habit tracking, a Pomodoro timer, an Eisenhower matrix and a gamified achievement score, on every platform, for about $36 a year. For most people it is the cheapest way to get more than Todoist offers.
You give up Todoist's polish. The interface looks dated beside it, the quick add is a step behind, and you are still typing or forwarding every task.
Give Motion tasks with deadlines and durations and its AI places them on your calendar, then rebuilds the plan whenever something changes. Full project management sits on top. About $29 per user per month.
You give up the free tier, a gentle learning curve, and roughly six times the price of Todoist Pro. Motion also never reads your inbox, so the capture gap stays open.
Sunsama pulls tasks from more than twenty tools, has you estimate each one and drag it onto the calendar, then walks you through an evening shutdown. Around $20 a month.
You give up automation, since everything is placed by hand, plus a usable mobile app and any free plan. Emails still become tasks only when you convert them.
Free with Microsoft 365, clean, and with one trick Todoist lacks. Flag an email in Outlook and it appears as a task, alongside a My Day view for the day's focus.
You give up Gmail entirely, since only Microsoft mailboxes work, and the flagged-email list is capped at 100 items and 30 days. There are no projects and no calendar plan, so it is a step down in structure, not up.
Things 3 is a one-time purchase for Mac, iPhone and iPad with a calm, focused interface that many people describe as the nicest task app they have used.
You give up Windows, Android and the web, pay separately for each Apple platform, and get no AI and no email reading of any kind.
Todoist begins when you add a task. Pidgy begins when the email arrives. Four things happen without you.
The whole guide in one table.
| Tool | What you gain over Todoist | What you give up |
|---|---|---|
| Pidgy | Tasks written from Outlook and Gmail, projects, Plan mode, drafting, chasing, one score | A home for non-email tasks, and you need an invite |
| TickTick | Calendar view, habits, Pomodoro, matrix, for about $36 a year | Polish and the better quick add |
| Motion | AI-built, self-repairing schedule and project management | The free tier, at about $29 a month |
| Sunsama | A guided daily plan across twenty-plus tools | Automation, mobile, and any free plan |
| Microsoft To Do | Flagged Outlook mail as tasks, at no cost | Gmail, projects, calendar, and anything past 100 flags or 30 days |
| Things 3 | The nicest interface in the category, bought once | Every non-Apple platform, plus AI and email |
Ten minutes with these usually settles it.
Practical notes for the trial period.
Keep Todoist open for two weeks while you trial the replacement. For TickTick, Things 3 and Microsoft To Do that means entering new tasks in both, which is tiresome but shows you within days which one you reach for. For Motion and Sunsama, put only your typed tasks in and notice how much of your week they cannot see.
Pidgy needs no double entry, because it fills itself from email. The useful test is to leave Todoist untouched for the fortnight and compare the two lists on day fourteen. Expect Pidgy's list to contain tasks you never wrote down, often including a promise made in a reply. Some people then keep Todoist for personal errands and let Pidgy own work, which is a reasonable place to end up.
Stop typing tasks your inbox already knows about.
Request accessTwo-tool comparisons for the closest calls.
Pidgy reads Outlook and Gmail, writes the tasks, plans them into your week, drafts the replies and chases what goes quiet. Request early access below.