Two apps that start free and come at the same job from opposite ends: Trello is a board of cards built for teams, Todoist is a task list built for one person that you can share.
By Yassine Zeriouh. Prices and features checked on October 27, 2026.
Short answer
Trello if your work moves across a board. Todoist if it lives in a list.
Pick Trello if you think in stages: cards that move from To Do to Doing to Done, each with its own checklists, files and comments. It was built for groups, so it’s at its best when you share a board with a client, your household or a small team, and its free plan takes up to 10 collaborators per Workspace.
Pick Todoist if most of your tasks are yours alone and you want them sorted by date: what’s due today, what’s coming up next. Its quick add reads the date, project, label and priority from one typed line, repeating tasks are typed in plain words, and it runs on every platform, Linux included.
Each can do a little of what the other does: Todoist has a board layout, and Trello has an Inbox and a Planner for your day. If what you’re really planning is a project with phases, see “When neither fits” further down.
Feature comparison
Trello vs Todoist
Feature
Trello
Todoist
Built for
Teams sharing boards, from two people to whole companies
One person’s tasks first, with sharing on top
Platforms
Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android
iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, Linux, web, Apple Watch, Wear OS
Structure
Workspaces, boards, lists and cards, with checklists on cards
Board on every plan; table, calendar, timeline, dashboard and map on Premium
Todoist
List and board on every plan, calendar layout on Pro
Planning your day
Trello
Inbox to collect cards; Planner lays them beside your Google or Outlook calendar (view-only on Free)
Todoist
Today and Upcoming, fed by due dates; deadlines on Pro
Quick capture
Trello
Add to the Inbox from anywhere in the app; AI capture from email, Slack and Teams on paid plans
Todoist
One line with a date, #project, @label and p1 to p4 priority
Repeating tasks
Trello
Through a Power-Up or a scheduled automation
Todoist
Typed in plain words, like “every other Monday”
Dates and reminders
Trello
Start and due dates on cards, with a reminder before the due date
Todoist
Due dates and times, reminders for tasks with a time; custom reminders on Pro
Automation
Trello
Built in on every plan: 250 command runs a month free, 1,000 on Standard, unlimited on Premium
Todoist
No rules of its own; Zapier, IFTTT and other integrations
Sharing and teams
Trello
Up to 10 collaborators per Workspace free, unlimited on paid plans; assign cards, comment, watch
Todoist
Share a personal project with up to 5 people on every plan; team workspaces on Business
Integrations
Trello
Unlimited Power-Ups on every plan (Slack, Google Drive, Jira, GitHub and more), some at extra cost
Todoist
Calendar sync, Slack, email and dozens of other integrations
Attachments
Trello
Files up to 10 MB each free, 250 MB on Standard
Todoist
Files in comments, 5 MB each free, 100 MB on Pro
Filters and search
Trello
Filter a board by label, member or due date; views across a Workspace on Premium
Todoist
Saved filters written as queries across every project (3 free, 150 on Pro)
Free plan limits
Trello
10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace, 250 automation runs a month; unlimited cards
Todoist
5 personal projects, 3 filters, 1 week of activity history
AI
Trello
Summaries, AI organization and AI-made boards on paid plans
Todoist
Ramble voice capture (limited on the free plan), Filter Assist, and Task Assist on Pro
Price for one person
Trello
Free, or Standard at $5 a month billed yearly
Todoist
Free, or Pro at $5 a month billed yearly
Pricing
Both start free, and both cost $5 a month for one person
Trello
Free
Free
Up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited cards, 10 MB per file, 250 automation runs a month
Standard
$5 per person a month
Billed yearly, or $6 month to month. Unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields, 250 MB per file, 1,000 automation runs, AI
Premium
$10 per person a month
Billed yearly, or $12.50 month to month. Table, calendar, timeline, dashboard and map views, unlimited automation
Enterprise
$17.50 per person a month
Billed yearly ($210 a year per person), for larger organizations
Todoist
Beginner
Free
5 personal projects, 3 filters, board layout, 5 MB per file, 1 week of activity history
Pro
$5 a month
Billed $60 a year, or $7 month to month. 300 projects, 150 filters, calendar layout, custom reminders, deadlines
Business
$8 per person a month
Billed yearly ($96), or $10 month to month. Adds a shared team workspace
For one person the paid plans cost the same: $5 a month billed yearly, $60 a year, for Trello Standard or Todoist Pro. Month to month, Trello costs $6 and Todoist $7. What you get differs: Trello Standard lifts the 10-board limit and adds custom fields and bigger files, while Todoist Pro adds a calendar layout, 150 filters and custom reminders.
For a team, Trello’s free plan goes further. Up to 10 people can share a Workspace without paying, while Todoist’s free plan shares a personal project with up to 5 people and keeps team workspaces for Business, at $8 per person a month billed yearly.
Your work moves through stages you want to see as columns.
You share boards with a team, a client or your household.
You want rules that move, label or create cards for you.
You keep files, checklists and the discussion on the card itself.
You want Power-Ups that connect it to the other tools you use.
Pick Todoist if
Most of your tasks are yours alone.
You plan by date: what’s due today and what’s coming up next.
You capture tasks in one quick line, dates and repeats included.
You need it on Linux as well as everywhere else.
You want filters that pull tasks from every project into one list.
When neither fits
When the thing you’re planning is a project with phases
Trello shows where each card stands, and Todoist shows what’s due when. Neither shows how far along a project is. A launch, a renovation or a client job has phases, and in Trello you build them out of lists or labels, in Todoist out of sections, with no progress bar for any of them.
That gap is why I build Milestones, the app this site belongs to. Every project is split into milestones, each with its own tasks, due date and progress bar, and with Pro any project can be a board as well, on iPhone, iPad and Mac, synced through your own iCloud. It isn’t for everyone either: there’s no Android, Windows or web version, and you can’t share a project with other people.
Not across the board. Trello is the better fit for work you share and move through stages on a board, especially in a team. Todoist is better for one person’s tasks sorted by date, with fast typed capture and apps on every platform. For a personal list, Todoist is usually quicker; for a shared board, Trello.
Is Trello free?
Yes, with limits. The free plan allows up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited cards, files up to 10 MB and 250 automation runs a month. Standard costs $5 per person a month billed yearly ($6 month to month) and removes the board limit; Premium costs $10 ($12.50 month to month) and adds calendar, timeline and table views.
Is Todoist free?
Yes. The free Beginner plan includes 5 personal projects, 3 filter views, the board layout and uploads up to 5 MB. Pro costs $5 a month billed yearly ($60) or $7 month to month, and adds 300 projects, 150 filters, the calendar layout and custom reminders.
Can Todoist do Kanban boards like Trello?
Yes. Any Todoist project can switch to a board layout, with its sections as columns, on every plan including the free one. It’s simpler than Trello’s: no automation, no Power-Ups, and you can only assign tasks in a shared project. If the board is the core of your work, Trello does more with it; if it’s an occasional view of your list, Todoist’s is enough.
Can I use Trello for personal to-dos?
Yes. Plenty of people keep a personal board, and Trello’s Inbox collects to-dos before you drag them onto one. What it lacks next to Todoist is a Today list across all your boards: on the free plan the Planner is view-only, and the table and calendar views that gather cards from a whole Workspace need Premium.
Which is better for managing projects?
For a project several people work on, Trello: a board per project, a card per piece of work, comments and files on each card. For one person juggling several projects, Todoist keeps them in one list sorted by date. For a project with phases you want to track one by one, a project planner such as Milestones fits better than either.
Planning a project rather than a board or a list?
Milestones splits each project into milestones with their own tasks and progress, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Free for two projects.
