If you’re looking the best productivity app to manage your daily task list, this detailed Todoist vs Notion comparison highlights the pros and cons of both tools.

Before I stumbled upon Notion, I was a die-hard Todoist user.

Todoist offers all the bells and whistles you would expect from a productivity tool—a clean interface, recurring tasks and reminders, even ways to color code your tasks by priority—all the things that help us get things done!

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Even though I could never give up my paper daily to-do list entirely (and still can’t), this digital app became the first inception of my Master Task List—a holding place for all current and future tasks that I could reference when I created my daily list.

If you’re curious why I didn’t exclusively use Todoist, it’s purely a personal planning preference.

Since I spend most of my day in front of a computer screen, I find I’m much more productive when I engage with my tasks on paper, like in a bullet journal or traditional planner.

At the end of the day, I just update the digital app I’m using (at the time it was, of course, Todoist) and roll over any unfinished tasks. Yes, it’s a bit more work, but only a few seconds more! The pro’s definitely outweighed the con’s for me.

So here I am, happily humming along with my Todoist/Bullet Journal system when Notion sprung onto the scene and changed everything.

Believe it or not, Notion wasn’t my first choice for a personal task management app. In fact, I resisted transferring all of my tasks for TWO YEARS before I conceded. Notion helped me organize a few other areas first!

And even though I use Notion exclusively now, I can argue equally for both.

Todoist vs Notion: How to Know for Sure

Whether you use Notion or Todoist really depends on…

Your familiarity with digital tools
The number of tasks you have in a day
How you like to see your tasks (by hour, by category, by priority, by status, etc.)
Whether or not you want your tasks to relate to long-term goals
The ease of quickly capturing tasks
The customizability of your tool
If you want your tool to support you in more than just tasks

There’s so many things to consider! Your answers and preferences for each of these would depend on which app I’d recommend.

So rather than push a specific app on you, let’s explore the pros and cons of both Notion and Todoist so you can make the best decision about which one will support your goals, daily tasks, and projects in the most user-friendly way.

But first…

Why Do You Need a Digital Task Management App?

As much as I love paper notebooks and planners, we have to be honest. Are these tools the best way to help us stay on top of it all?

For some of us, maybe.

But here are three major areas where I see paper systems fail:

Recurring task management. Think about all the things you do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis over and over again (laundry, grocery shopping, checking in with your finances, etc.). With a paper planner, you have to rewrite these items every time you want to do those tasks. With a digital app, you add the task once, then set it to recur at whatever time scale you need it to.
Quick capture. You don’t always carry your planner with you when you’re running errands, running your kids around, or out on the running trail. But you probably have your phone! With a digital app, you can quickly add a task and assign a due date within just a few seconds. And if you need to change that due date later on, you can do that too… without the inky mess.
Changing plans. Life never goes perfectly (oh how we wish!). And changing your schedule in an unforgiving tool discourages us from using that tool in the first place because it’s not flexible enough. You need structure, but you need flexibility within structure. Digital tools give that to you in spades.

The question is… which digital app should you use?

Both Todoist and Notion top the list of the best productivity tools available today and I’d have to agree. I’ve tried Things 3, Wunderlist (now discontinued), Google Tasks, Cozi, and Tick Tick.

Todoist and Notion outrank them all.

Everything You Need to Know About Todoist

If you’re looking for a user-friendly solution to manage your personal and/or small business to-do lists, Todoist will give you the most straightforward and streamlined experience.

Everything about Todoist is pretty intuitive!

What You’ll Love about Todoist

No Learning Curve. With a simple, easy to understand interface, you can get up and running within minutes.
Multiple Workspace Styles. From kanban boards, to simple lists, to a calendar-style view, you can easily find a layout that meshes well with how you manage your tasks and to do lists.
Email Integration. If you use Gmail or Outlook as your email providers, you can add tasks to your to-do lists directly from your inbox. This can be handy if your business has a lot of email-based tasks to keep track of. (Or if you get a digital invite to a birthday gathering and need to buy a gift!)
Efficient Collaboration. You can easily assign tasks to different members of your family or team and chat back and forth via the comment section on each task.
Task Categories + Priorities. You can also assign every task a category and priority level, which can be helpful for task batching (a sub-strategy of time blocking!)
Intuitive Recurring Tasks. You only need to add a task once and set it to recur at any time interval. You can also use simple language like “repeat every third Tuesday” and Todoist will know exactly what you mean.

Todoist has amazing support across all the major platforms. The mobile app is available for Android and Apple products, and it’s easy to use while on the go. This is a major reason why it’s so popular.

Well, that and all the other things I listed above!

*Using natural language to add a recurring task in Todoist*

But there are some potential drawbacks.

What Might Frustrate You about Todoist

Limited Customization. While Todoist is a great tool if you need an out of the box, ready to go system, you won’t be able to modify any of it’s features to suit specific needs.
Singular Focused. Todoist won’t be your entire productivity system in one app. You’ll need to add additional tools if you want to take and save notes, manage appointments and events, keep tabs on more robust projects, and/or track daily habits.
App Glitches. No technology is perfect, but subtasks can be a little finicky under Todoist’s recurring tasks feature. Integrations between Todoist and other apps also seem to be less reliable.
Free Plan Limits. Unless you pay for a monthly or annual subscription, you won’t get access to basic functions like task reminders and the newly released calendar view feature (which would help you manage appointments!) There’s also a very small 5MB file upload limit.

The bottom line: You won’t find a simpler or more intuitive tool than Todoist to use for your daily task list. This app truly paves the way for stress-free productivity by removing all the friction from creating tasks and checking them off when you’re done.

But let’s see what Notion has to offer.

Everything You Need to Know About Notion

Notion is web application that puts you in control of what and how you manage every aspect of your personal life or business needs.

While you start with a blank page, Notion provides dozens of “blocks” to help you create exactly what you need and want in a workspace. You’ll never get bogged down with useless features you’ll never use!

What You’ll Love about Notion

Endless Customization. Notion has the most customization options of any app, hands down! If you can dream it, you can build it. I’ve pushed Notion pretty far and can only think of one instance where I couldn’t make something work the way I wanted.
Multiple Workspace Styles. Notion offers SIX different database views (list, table, kanban, calendar, timeline, and gallery) so you can easily customize how you want to see and manage your tasks.
Multi-functional. Notion can handle more than just tasks. This app is also an advanced note-taking tool, so you can easily capture all your creative ideas, create a daily log, or collect any other notes you may want to access easily in the future.
Efficient Collaboration. You can easily assign tasks to different members of your family or team and chat back and forth via the comment section on each page.
Task Dependencies. This is a relatively new feature, but you can assign a task to “block” another task so you can’t complete one until you complete the other. This is useful if you need to change a due date. All other connected tasks will shift accordingly!

With so many features already integrated into Notion that normally you’d have to use multiple apps to get the functionality for, this app is an easy choice for anyone who wants an all-in-one productivity tool.

*A linked database view of tasks on my Notion personal dashboard*

But just like Todoist, there are some potential drawbacks as well.

What Might Frustrate You about Notion

Steep Learning Curve. Understanding the full potential of Notion’s flexibility and how to customize it to your personal needs may take a little more time than just using something out of the box ready. I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy and it still took me over a year to fully understand the platform!
Cumbersome Recurring Tasks. Notion doesn’t offer a baked-in recurring task feature; only recurring database templates. It’s not a great solution. Here’s how I handle recurring tasks instead.
Not Mobile-Friendly. Just like other digital task management apps, Notion syncs seamlessly between devices. But it is not naturally mobile friendly to navigate. I suggest creating a quick capture page to easily add new tasks and ideas into Notion. This removes the frustration of trying to search through multiple pages to find what you need.
Free Plan Limits. Unless you pay for a monthly or annual subscription, you can only upload 5MB worth of files. If you like to go paperless with your documents like I do, you’ll quickly bump up against that limit!

For all of Notion’s drawbacks, it’s still the only productivity app that allows you to customize just about anything. So it might be well worth the time you may invest in learning about Notion’s functions up front.

You can also find a lot of support and premade templates as well to give you the boost you need to create the perfect system. This is why I created a quick-start Notion Anatomy class so you can begin your Notion journey with a strong foundation. (And we build a functional meal planner together as your “homework”!)

New to Notion?

In this beginner-friendly “crash class”, you’ll learn the basics of pages AND databases so you can create your own personalized Notion workspaces with confidence.

Learn more

The bottom line: Overall, Notion’s superior ability to be customized and it’s powerful task management features make this an all-in-one workspace for personal and business needs.

Todoist vs Notion: Price and Feature Comparison

While you can easily use and collaborate with both Notion and Todoist on their free plans, their paid features can be helpful for businesses or larger collaboration needs. Let’s break down each of those features and pricing levels below.

Features You Get For Free:

Free Version	Notion	Todoist
Task Views	6	2
Filtered Views	Unlimited	3
Projects	Unlimited	5
Activity History	7 Days	7 Days
Collaborative workspace	10 Guests	5 Guests
Integrations	80+	90+
File Uploads	5 MB	5 MB
Reminders	Yes	No

If we’re only comparing Todoist vs Notion on the free version alone, Notion wins out by giving you the most access to it’s features with fewer limits.

Features You Get with the First Paid Tier:

Paid Version	Notion Plus ($8/month)	Todoist Pro ($4/month)
Task Views	6	3
Filtered Views	Unlimited	150
Projects	Unlimited	300
Activity History	30 Days	Unlimited
Collaborative workspace	100 Guests	25 Guests
Custom Automations	Yes	No
File Uploads	Unlimited	100 MB
Reminders	Yes	Yes
AI Assistant	Additional Fee	Yes

In the first tier of paid versions, you still have access to all integrations for both Notion and Todoist, but Todoist wins out by offering their AI assistant, which you would need to pay an additional $8/month on top of Notion’s paid plan to access.

Click HERE to access a complementary Todoist Pro plan for two months.

However, you still get unlimited filtered views and projects with Notion, plus even more guests, custom automations and unlimited file uploads. So if you don’t care about AI, I’d opt for Notion’s paid plan instead of Todoist.

Features You Get at the Top Level:

Business Version	Notion Plus ($15/month)	Todoist Pro ($6/month)
Task Views	6	3
Filtered Views	Unlimited	150/member
Projects	Unlimited	500
Activity History	90 Days	Unlimited
Collaborative workspace	250 Guests	Unlimited
SAML SSO	Yes	No
File Uploads	Unlimited	100 MB
Reminders	Yes	Yes
AI Assistant	Additional Fee	Yes

When comparing both Business Plans, I’d say Todoist and Notion are more evenly matched. Notion would only win out if you needed to upload a LOT of files. You definitely don’t want to be restricted on that!

Give it to Me Straight: Which App is Better?

Honestly? It’s all about what you are looking for in a digital organization app and how simple or customized you want it to be.

If you need or want the ability to customize every single detail of your experience, Notion is going to be the best tool for the job.

There are plenty of resources to get you going and ongoing support groups to help you grow and expand your knowledge! Don’t be intimidated by the learning curve, especially when (shameless plug) you can download my master task list template to start. I’ve also shared everything you need to know to set up Notion for the first time to make it even easier to know how to get started.

But if you want a dedicated task manager that is simple with less of a learning curve, but still gives you solid, easy to access instructions for personal or team collaboration, Todoist may be a better choice.

Thankfully, both free plans allow you to test out the app without any monetary investment, so you don’t have to commit to one or the other without taking both apps for a test drive. You might not know which app is best unless you try it!

But you really can’t go wrong. Both apps have the ability to handle your ever-growing to-do list so you can stay on top of everything you need to.

You just have to decide… which one?

Digital Organization

Have You Tried Todoist, Notion, or Another To-Do List App?

Which one do you like better? Or are you still deciding? Let me know in the comments!

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Todoist vs Notion: Which Productivity App is the Best Task Management Tool?