To-do list apps are becoming a staple as everyone adjusts to a remote work environment. Task apps are popular because it’s easy to forget things when juggling multiple projects with multiple clients.
Missed homework is often costly and costs you time and money. They are also indispensable for everyday personal tasks. For example, if you need reminders about renewing your license or completing a task, task management apps can notify you when the task is due.
However, the problem is that there are too many to-do list apps in the market. In this article, we help you tell the difference between two of the most popular: Todoista vs. Microsoft to do.
Features and Functions
Each app has its own set of features.
Microsoft To Do focuses on simplicity. After acquiring Wunderlist in 2015, Microsoft replaced it with Microsoft To Do. The plan was to create a more robust app with more functionality, but instead Microsoft created a simple app with only basic functionality.
On the other hand, Todoist offers a wider range of features ideal for business use.
Microsoft To Do and Todoist have similar interfaces with a left sidebar for switching between app sections and a right panel with a to-do list.
task lists
Microsoft To Do offers four types of list filters where you can filter your tasks by:
- My day: This is a smart list where you can manually add the tasks you want to complete today. If you don’t complete a task from this list on the same day, the task will be saved to your general task list at night when the list automatically resets. Incomplete tasks appear as a suggestion in the tasks section of My Day the Next Day.
- Important: Important tasks (click the star next to a task title) appear here.
- Intended: Any task with a due date or reminder appears in this section.
- Assigned to me: When you’re collaborating with teammates on a multitasking project, you’ll see all the tasks assigned to you in this section.
- Chores: it’s here that Everybody your tasks appear.
You can also add new to-do lists to the left sidebar or create a group of to-do lists by clicking the icon at the bottom right of the sidebar. It’s a pretty simple UI when you look at it:
Now let’s compare that to how things work in Todoist.
With Todoist, you can do so much more.
Todoist’s sidebar isn’t divided into task filters like Microsoft To Do. Here’s what you’ll see in Todoist’s sidebar:
- Mailbox : All tasks created by you (not for a specific project) and assigned to you appear here.
- This day: Tasks due today and overdue tasks appear here.
- Next: You’ll see a list of tasks by date here, and overdue tasks also appear at the top of this section.
- Filters and labels: You can filter tasks based on parameters such as priority or tags. Unlike Microsoft To Do, Todoist has an entire section dedicated to filtering, which translates into ease of use by condensing several features right into the sidebar.
- Projects: Tasks appear under their respective projects. You can also access archived projects. However, Microsoft doesn’t allow you to archive projects (or to-do lists as it calls them). All to-do lists are permanently removed from To Do when you delete them.
Todoist has a richer feature set for to-do lists, but if you need something simpler, To Do makes more sense.
Create tasks
Both apps have standard task creation features. For example, both let you create subtasks and offer options to add a reminder, due date, and recipients.
However, there are also many differences:
- subtasks: You can add subtasks in both apps. To Do refers to subtasks as “steps”. The difference is that Todoist allows you to add subtasks within subtasks while To Do does not.
- Departments: Todoist allows you to create sections within the same project, which means you can group tasks by specific criteria even within the same project. In Microsoft To do, you can only add individual tasks within a project.
- Recall: Reminders are available in both apps when you create a task. However, only users with a Pro or Business subscription can access the Reminders feature in Todoist. there is no way to set reminders if you are on the free version.
- Newspaper Expiry dates: To Do simplifies things by allowing you to define “recurring” tasks. However, Todoist goes one step further and uses natural language analysis to set recurring due dates. For example, when you create a task, try typing “Remind me to sign up for Nate every Monday” in the name field, and Todoist will automatically set recurring due dates for you.
Along with these differences, Todoist also offers additional features that you won’t find in the To Do app:
- Prioritization: The Todoist app lets you set priorities for each task, while there is no such option in To Do.
- Comments and reactions: Todoist offers several collaborative features like comments and reactions. You can tag your teammates in the comments section to swap info or share updates.
- Task activity: You can view an activity log for all tasks, allowing you to effectively monitor and audit workflow.
Task views
Task views are one of the essential features, especially for users who want to manage a complex workflow.
While task apps typically don’t provide as many task views as project management apps, users expect at least one kanban board from task apps.
Unfortunately, Microsoft To Do doesn’t offer any other view except the simple list. On the other hand, Todoist offers a list view and a table view.
You can use Todoist’s Kanban board to look like a Kanban board-based project management app like Trello, where you create columns for each stage of your workflow and the cards move around as you go. complete each step.
various functions
We’ve covered just about everything Microsoft To Do has to offer. Unfortunately, To Do doesn’t have any notable additional features (except for integrations). You do get some extra freebies with Todoist, though.
- Karma points: The app gamifies its users’ productivity with Karma. When you go to the Productivity section of Todoist, you’ll see the option to create goals. You can set goals to create a specific number of daily or weekly tasks.
You earn karma points every time you complete a task and reach your goal. Learn how Karma Points work on the Todoist website.
- Integrations: Integrations are one of Todoist’s most powerful features. You can integrate Todoist with almost any app, including Gmail, Chrome, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Zapier. You can also integrate apps that are not listed with integrations like Apiway.
Even Microsoft To Do offers integrations for apps like Google Calendar and the Office 365 suite. The options are considerably less than Todoist, though. It’s also worth noting that you can use a tool like Zapier to integrate To Do or Todoist with many other apps.
- Alert style: You can customize how you want to be notified of Todoist alerts for each activity. For example, if you’re the manager, you might not want to receive email notifications every time a collaborator joins or leaves a project, but you might prefer to be notified when a task is completed.
- Models: You can quickly create projects by importing a ready-made template from Todoist’s template library. From personal projects to employee onboarding, you’ll find a template for just about any project you can think of in the library.
- Automatic backups: Automatic backups are not available on the free plan. You can back up all your data to the cloud if you have a paid plan.
None of the features listed in this section are available in Microsoft To Do, which makes Todoist more suitable for heavy users like businesses.
Device compatibility
Microsoft To Do and Todoist are cross-platform apps, but Todoist works on more devices than To Do.
You can use To Do on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and the web. Todoist is available on all platforms including Linux, Wear OS, and Apple Watch.
In addition to the mobile app, you can add the Todoist widget to your iPhone, iPad, or Android device.
Todoist also lets you create tasks directly from emails through its Gmail plugin, Gmail extension, and Outlook plugin. You can also use Todoist from your browser: it has extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
Prices
Microsoft To Do is completely free. Todoist has a free plan but locks some of its features behind its Pro and Business plans. The free plan only allows up to 5 active projects, 5 collaborators per project, file uploads up to 5MB, 3 filters, and 1 week of activity history.
The free version works well for personal use, but business users will almost certainly want to get one of the paid plans.
Todoist’s Pro plan costs $4 per month, while the Business plan costs $6 per month, as long as you pay for the entire year.
Which One Is Better For You: Todoist Vs Microsoft To Do
Both applications have their use cases.
Microsoft To Do is great if you just want to use the GTD (Getting Things Done) approach to personal tasks. You don’t need Todoist’s long list of features to make your shopping list more complex than it should be.
If you’re looking for more than just the ability to create and complete tasks, like collaborating on tasks by tagging your teammates or integrating with other business apps, you might want to consider Todoist.
It’s a perfect option when you don’t want a full-featured project management app like Asana. Just something powerful enough to handle business tasks and collaboration.
