Any.do vs Todoist: Which Task Manager Wins in 2026?

Any.do started as a mobile-first task manager and honestly, you can still feel that DNA. The app emphasizes visual design and daily planning - it wants to show you today's calendar and tasks together so you actually know what your day looks like. Over the years they've beefed up team features, added table views, built out templates.

The result is something that sits between a task manager and a daily planner. 40 million users apparently, which surprised me when I looked it up. The iOS app won a bunch of design awards back in the day, and the current version still looks great. WhatsApp integration for task capture is genuinely clever if you're always in chat apps.

Todoist is the old reliable. Been around since 2007, which in app years is ancient. It focuses on doing task management really, really well rather than trying to be everything. The natural language input is legitimately the best in the business - I've thrown ridiculous date patterns at it and it parses them flawlessly.

Cross-platform consistency is obsessive: the Mac app looks identical to Windows looks identical to web looks identical to mobile. Some people find this boring; I find it comforting. Recently they added workspaces for teams, though it still feels more like a personal task manager that happens to have team features bolted on. 80+ integrations mean it plays nice with whatever ecosystem you're already in.

Any.do organizes around lists and categories. Create a list for work, one for personal, add tasks, drag them around. Pretty standard stuff. Where it gets interesting is the daily planning view - you see today's tasks, today's calendar events, even weather (which seems silly until you realize 'oh right, it's raining, I should reschedule that outdoor meeting').

Templates save time: instead of rebuilding your 'weekly review' checklist every week, use a template. The 'Plan My Day' feature prompts you each morning to review and prioritize. I ignored it at first but started finding it useful - takes 30 seconds and prevents me from forgetting about early meetings.

Todoist's approach is more flexible and therefore more overwhelming if you don't know what you want. Projects, sections within projects, labels, filters, priorities - lots of organizational tools. The magic is the quick-add: Cmd+Shift+A (or your platform equivalent), type 'Send invoice to John tomorrow p1 @work', done.

It captures everything - the task, due date, priority, label - in one natural language string. Filters let you create custom views: 'Show me all high-priority @work tasks due this week.' If you like GTD (Getting Things Done), this is basically built for it. If you just want a simple list, it can feel like overkill.

This is where Any.do really differentiates itself. The calendar view shows your events and tasks together. You can time-block by assigning specific times to tasks. See a gap between meetings? Drop a task in. The visual day planner approach works well if that's how your brain processes information.

Morning review shows you the day ahead - meetings, tasks, everything. One annoyance: multiple calendar sync requires Premium. On the free plan you get one calendar, which is limiting if you juggle work and personal calendars. But overall, if you want integrated calendar management, Any.do is set up for it.

Todoist takes a different path. It syncs with your calendar (Google Calendar, Outlook, etc.) but doesn't try to show you calendar events within the app. The 'Upcoming' view is a list of tasks by date, not a visual calendar. For time blocking, you'd add tasks to Todoist, then see them appear in your connected calendar. It works but requires two apps.

Some people prefer this separation - tasks in Todoist, events in Calendar, never the twain shall meet. Others find it frustrating. If you want everything in one view, Todoist isn't that. If you want focused task management separate from calendaring, it makes sense.

Any.do's team stuff feels more developed. Shared workspaces, table views for project overview, comments and @mentions that actually work well. The table view is particularly useful - see who's working on what, deadlines, status, all in a spreadsheet-style layout. Comments support threads and file attachments.

It's not Asana-level project management, but for small teams sharing task lists and coordinating work, it's pretty solid. All this is included in Premium ($3/month annual), which is reasonable. I've used it for household stuff with family and it works well. Wouldn't run a 50-person company on it, but that's not what it's for.

Todoist's team features feel newer and less fleshed out. Shared projects work fine for basic collaboration - assign tasks, add comments, see activity. But there's no table view, no advanced project overview, fewer ways to visualize team workload. For proper team use, you need Business tier at $6/user/month, which adds workspaces and admin controls.

Honestly it feels like team features were added because users asked, not because it's Todoist's core strength. For small-scale collaboration (splitting a project with a coworker, sharing a grocery list with a partner), it works. For actual team project management, look elsewhere.

Any.do covers the basics but won't blow you away. Syncs with Google Calendar, Outlook, iCloud. The WhatsApp integration (Premium) is honestly pretty cool - forward messages to a specific number and they become tasks. Voice assistants work (Siri, Google Assistant).

Wearable support for Apple Watch and Google Wear. But no Slack integration, limited API access, no Zapier. If your workflow is straightforward and you use mainstream apps, you're fine. If you need niche integrations or want to build custom workflows, you'll hit limits quickly.

Integrations are where Todoist flexes. 80+ official ones including Slack (turn messages into tasks), Gmail (create tasks from emails), Alexa, Google Calendar, Dropbox, Evernote. The API is well-documented and lots of developers have built third-party integrations. Email-to-task works great for forwarding stuff.

IFTTT and Zapier support for custom automation. If you're deep in a specific ecosystem - say you live in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 - Todoist probably connects to it. This is one of those things you don't appreciate until you need it, then it becomes essential.

Any.do's free tier is usable but limited. You get basic task management, one calendar connection, location reminders. Premium is $3/month if you pay annually ($36/year) or $5.99/month. Premium unlocks unlimited reminders, recurring tasks, multiple calendars, WhatsApp integration, color themes, attachments. The annual price is reasonable - cheaper than Todoist Pro.

What you're paying for is calendar integration and team features. The value depends entirely on whether you use those things. For me, the calendar view alone justifies it. For someone who just wants basic tasks, maybe not.

Todoist free gives you 5 active projects and basic features. Pro is $4/month annual ($48/year) or $5/month and gets you unlimited projects, reminders, labels, filters, themes. Business is $6/user/month with team workspaces. The free tier is surprisingly functional - I used it for months before upgrading. The thing that pushed me to Pro was reminders being locked behind the paywall.

Kind of annoying that a core feature like reminders requires payment, but that's their monetization strategy. Annual billing saves you $12/year vs monthly. Not huge but not nothing. Compared to Any.do, you're paying $12 more annually and getting more integrations but less calendar functionality.

The mobile apps (especially iOS) are where Any.do shines. Really clean design, everything's accessible with minimal taps. The daily planner view translates well to mobile - swipe through your day, check off tasks, see upcoming events. Voice input works smoothly for quick capture. Location reminders ping you when you arrive somewhere ('pick up dry cleaning when I get near the dry cleaner').

Widgets show today's tasks on your home screen. Apple Watch and Google Wear apps let you check and complete tasks from your wrist. Quick-add from the share sheet works well for capturing stuff from other apps. Mobile feels like a first-class experience, not an afterthought.

Todoist mobile is solid and consistent with desktop, which is both good and maybe a bit boring. The quick-add works just like desktop - tap plus, type natural language, done. Syncing is fast and reliable. Widgets show today's tasks, next 7 days, or a custom filter. Apple Watch app is functional for checking and completing tasks.

The productivity visualizations in Pro look good on mobile - charts showing completion trends, most productive days, etc. Nothing revolutionary but everything works smoothly. If you value consistency across devices and hate relearning interfaces, Todoist delivers. If you want a mobile experience specifically optimized for mobile, Any.do might feel better.