Task management apps have become pretty necessary these days. One key factor that has driven the tremendous growth of these types of apps is the way the industry has evolved to make it a necessity. Task management apps are crucial for managing teams working remotely or either providing somewhat digital services. Examples of these apps are Trello and Todoist.
If you are looking for a task management app between the two, you have come to the right place. In this article, we take an in-depth look into the two task management apps to help you choose the right one. We will look at all the various factors ranging from the pricing, features, customer support, and even the ease of use. If you’re in a hurry, however, just check out our summary of the whole article below, where we cut a long story short and go right into it.
Summary
Trello features great functionality ranging from its rich functionality around personal work with teams and collaborative features. Trello really delivers better value for money, unlike Todoist. Spoiler alert. Trello is the winner in this review. This is due to its rich functionality. Todoist has better pricing and is easier to use, but that is at the expense of functionality.
Features
Trello Features
Multiple-Language Support
Trello supports several languages. Currently, Trello Supports English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Turkish, Thai, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese.
Cross-Platform Support
Trello can be accessed using different platforms. Cross-platform support is definitely something to consider since it means you will be able to use the app without any limitations and from anywhere. Trello is available on the following platforms, including Android, iPhone, iPad, Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. In addition to that, you can also use Trello from whichever platform you prefer using its web-based support.
Security
Security is also another key feature you should be looking out for. Security is necessary to ensure that all your work and your team’s work is safe and secure from outsiders. Trello has put up several security practices to ensure that your work and your team’s work is kept safe. One of the account security features available on Trello is the support for two-factor authentication or Google Oath.
Furthermore, Trello relies on the industry-standard Transport Layer Security (“TLS”) using 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (“AES”) for the security of data in transit. For data at rest, the company relies on the military-grade AES 256-bit encryption technology. For enterprise customers, the platform provides more solid proof security features like SAML 2.0 SSO. The company uses Amazon’s AWS services for hosting, which is one of the most reliable and secure hosting providers out there. For reference, Amazon AWS has several certifications thanks to its high level of security. You can even request your data to be deleted for enterprise customers.
Open API
Trello has an open API. This enables the platform to be easily integrated with other productivity apps. In the current world, there is no way you will be relying on one software for all your needs. But with an Open API, you can integrate several apps to enable richer functionality and make it easy for you – by merely relying on one app but working with others as well without switching.
Templates
Trello gives you a set of pre-made templates that you can get started with. Although Trello refers to templates as Boards, it is pretty much the same thing. The boards have been categorized into various features, including Creative Arts, Design, Education, Engineering & IT, Event Planning, Home, Marketing, Operations, Personal Goals, Product Management, Productivity, Project Management, Sales & CRM, and more. In addition to that, there are also several boards available under each parent category. So there are very many templates available on Trello that are ready for use.
Task Management Features
This is now the critical factor that makes project management apps a must-have tool. Trello has several task management features. The first feature is the Task Creation and Assignment feature. This allows you to create tasks for several users or a single user in your team. The task can also include other features like due dates. In addition to that, you can also set priority levels for jobs. These priority levels can help your team tackle the highly prioritized tasks ahead of the rest. Users can also be able to view their to-do lists.
Collaborative Features
Trello also features real-time collaborative features for teams. These collaborative features make it easy for teams to work on an individual project. Team members can collaborate on a single project, right from the planning stage. The feature also allows comments on a single section of the project and even the project as a whole. If the work involves documents and files, Trello allows easy upload of files on the platform. This can be directly from the local storage or even cloud storage services like Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive.
Planned projects can also be mapped out with due dates or even milestones. On top of that, the projects can also be mapped out on a calendar with due dates and deliverables scheduled day by day for prolonged projects. Projects can also be paired with their budget, so it is easier to know how much the whole project will cost.
Automation
Trello also allows automation. Automation currently applies to tasks that are regularly performed on the platform. With integration to other apps, Trello can do so much automatically, ranging from assigning of cards in lists to members, copying cards for repeated tasks, automatic notification, snoozing cards till a particular time, among many other tasks. Trello automation can be achieved through integration with over 100 apps.
Project Time Tracking
Trello tracks down every time taken before a given task is completed within a project. With these stats, you can be able to know which cards consume a lot of time before completion.
Activity Tracking
You can also track down every single change on a project. This enables one to track the progress of a project just within Trello.
Mentions
Mentions play a crucial role in collaboration. These enable one to easily and effectively communicate with a team member or team members about a specific aspect of the project. With mentions in comments, team members won’t miss out on making that little correction you want them to do.
Easy File-Sharing
Sharing files on Trello is easy as pie. Files can be uploaded directly from the local storage or cloud storage. Trello supports common cloud storage platforms like the likes of Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and more.
Data Import/Export
Administrators can import or export data from Trello regarding their teams. Although the data import feature is not generic, you can rely on Zapier of Google Spreadsheet to make this possible. On data exportation, Trello supports this feature natively. You can export data on Trello in two different ways; one is by printing cards and boards to create a PDF, and the second method is through exporting cards and boards to JSON. The JSON files can afterward be converted to CSV or Excel spreadsheets as you like.
Data Synchronization
Data synchronization is here to save you if you will be working with several teams or multiple projects. Keeping up with the boards and cards on Trello will get much complicated, but with this feature, your life gets more straightforward and less confusing. Through the Unito power-up, Trello makes it easy to work with several boards or on several projects. It connects several Trello boards, thus making cards available on multiple locations simultaneously. Unito allows you to mirror cards between boards, centralize cards from multiple boards, dispatch work from a master to other boards, which makes it easy to work with different teams.
Tagging
Trello also allows for tagging. Tagging helps you get organized more by classifying tasks based on their tags. The tags can be custom based, so that means you can create your specific tags and make it easy for you to search and organize your workspace.
Search Functionality
Trello has a powerful search feature built inside. The feature allows you to filter your search results based on tags, labels, members, due dates, and keywords. In addition to that, custom field data can also be searched on Trello. Trello also supports saved searches. Although saving searches is only available for Trello Gold and Business Class members, it is an excellent addition for those who like to search specific terms frequently.
Todoist Features
Cross-Platform Support
Just like Trello, Todoist is also available on multiple platforms. Currently, Todoist is available on Windows, Mac OS, Android, Linux, iOS as well as on Smartwatches like the Apple Watch and any smartwatch using Google’s Wear OS. On top of that, Todoist is also available as a browser extension on Safari, Google Chrome, and even Firefox. That means you can use Todoist independent of the device you use on your day to day basis.
Multiple-Language Support
Todoist also supports several languages apart from English. Todoist supports Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
Security
Security being a core feature, Todoist is not oblivious of the matter. The app has Bank-Level Encryption technology for securing your projects.
Task Creation and Management
Todoist allows you to add tasks directly to the platform. The process is simple. Along the task creation process, you can add tags, lists, flags, due time, as well as comments. All of these options can be added to the list in only a single step.
Furthermore, Todoist also allows you to create tasks and schedule them for recurrence. This is majorly aimed to help you sort out daily tasks and even create daily habits. Another feature is the ability to view jobs right from the dashboard. Todoist gives you a complete picture of every task right from the task view center.
Apart from that, you can also set priorities to which tasks should be prioritized over the others. On top of that, there is also a favorite option that helps you keep your key projects, labels, or filters top of mind.
Todoist also features sections and subtasks that will help you get more organized with your tasks.
Collaborative Features
Todoist also supports collaborative functionality. With this functionality, you can delegate work to your team members. In teams, you will also be in the know when someone comments on the tasks or even finishes the tasks.
Notifications
Notifications help you stay in the know about your team’s progress on projects. You will be notified about their comments, when they finish projects, and any other changes to projects.
Targets and Goals
Todoist also provides you with an overview of your progress towards set goals. It is easy to use. Simply set daily and weekly goals then work towards them while Todoist will be tracking your progress. Through Todoist Karma, the app will be awarding you points for keeping up with your streak. You will also be able to view your progress stats, including the daily and monthly progress in different color codes. Furthermore, you will also view how many tasks will be remaining after a day or a week – if any.
Templates
Todoist also has premade templates, just like Trello. Todoist’s template library is also categorized into different categories. These range from Marketing & Sales, Design & Product, Development, Support, Management, Creative, Work, Education, and Personal. Every template category also has several templates under it. For example, the marketing and sales category features several templates curated for different purposes like product launch, sales pipeline, event planning, growth experiment, content calendar, content pipeline, among others.
Easy File-Sharing
Todoist supports file sharing. The platform allows file sharing either by uploading from your local storage or from cloud storage apps like Dropbox and Google Drive.
Project Tracking
Project tracking gives you an insight into the project progress even without digging deep into the project. You will be able to know when projects are completed, and even when they are due. Additionally, you can also view your team’s activity stream, which can be either by project or by an individual team member.
Data Sync
Todoist supports data synchronization as well, just like Trello. This ensures that you can pick up from you left from any of your devices as long as they are connected online.
Data Backups
Backups are essential because you can never tell the future. Todoist does data backups daily, which means you can restore your project data whenever you want to, and you will resume your work as soon as possible.
Small Comparison Table
Who is this for?
Task management apps prove useful for people whose work revolves around computers. Talk about writers, digital content creators, photographers, sales and marketing teams, and any other workers whose work can be done using computers. Apart from that, task management apps can also be used by people who want to get organized in whatever work they do.
Pros and Cons
Trello Pros
- Highly flexible workflow
- Great real-time team collaboration features
- Free for unlimited users
Trello Cons
- No multi-board aggregation
- Gets confusing for large projects
Todoist Pros
- Very easy to use and get the hang of even for beginners
- Has cross-platform support
- Supports many app integrations
Todoist Cons
- No two-factor authentication
- Annual subscription required for notifications and attachments
- Not feature-rich
Pricing
Trello
Trello has both free and paid plans. The free plan is free for life but has very many limitations in terms of functionality. The free plan gives you access to unlimited personal boards, unlimited cards, and unlimited lists. However, you can only be able to send files less than 10MB at a go. In addition to that, you also get a few collaborative features.
Business Class Plan
The business class plan is a paid one, and it goes for $9.99 per user per month, paid annually. The main features here is the collaborative functionality and priority support. Here are all the features in this plan:
- Priority support
- 250MB per file attachment limit
- Unlimited Team Boards
- Board collections
- Unlimited Power-ups
- Custom Fields
- List limits
- Card repeater
- Calendar view
- Over 100 App integrations
- Voting
- Scheduled commands
- Admin and security features
Enterprise Plan
This plan will set you back by $20.83 per user per month, depending on the number of team members. The price increases all the way up to 5,000 members, where you will be paying $5.92 per user per month. For large teams exceeding 5,000 members, you can contact Trello for a special price.
The enterprise plan is curated for large teams and includes advanced admin and security features like:
- Single Sign-On for all SAML IdPs
- Power-Up Administration
- Attachment Restrictions
- Organization-Wide Permissions
- Organization Visible Boards
- Personalized Onboarding
- Public Board Management
Todoist
On the other hand, Todoist is also a paid task management app. But that does not mean the app does not have a free version to help you test the waters. It has a free plan, but as usual for SaaS companies -it has limited functionality. Included in the free plan is a limit of Up to 80 projects and only allows a maximum of 5 people per project. So this is not an alternative for large teams.
Premium Plan
For as low as $3 per user per month, the specs are moved a few notches high. This premium plan has the following features:
- Up to 300 projects
- Up to 25 people per project
- Reminders
- Comments & file uploads
- Labels & filters
- Productivity trends
- Recurring due dates
- Task priorities
- Integrations
- Reminders
- Comments & file uploads
- Labels
- Filters
- Productivity trends
- Premium themes
- Automatic backups
- Add tasks via email
- Calendar sync
- Project templates
- Activity log
- Priority support
Business Plan
For large teams, there is a Business plan curated for you. It is priced at $5 per user per month. It includes all the features under the Business plan plus the following:
- Up to 500 projects
- Up to 50 people per project
- Team inbox
- Admin & member roles
- Team billing
- Priority support
User-Friendliness
Trello is user-friendly, but it can be a bit complicated for starters. The boards, cards, and lists can be tricky to get the hang of, but once you know it, it won’t be difficult to use Trello. Todoist has an intuitive user interface and is very easy to use. There is no complicated process of creating tasks, setting due dates, setting priorities, and even assigning to team members. In comparison, Todoist is easier to use over Trello.
Integrations Table
Trello can be integrated with the following apps:
- Salesforce
- Microsoft Teams
- Zapier
- Trello for Adobe XD
- Flow XO
- PipeThru
- CData Trello Connector
- Azuqua
- weForms
- Automate.io
- IFTTT
- Cloudpipes
- Trello for Gmail
- Zenaton
- Unito
- RealtimeBoard
- Giphy Power-Up
- Salesforce
- Confluence Cloud
- Harvest Power-Up
- WireframePro
- Agile Cards by Spartez
- Planyway Calendar
- Custom Fields
- Bitbucket Cloud
- join.me Power-Up
- Google Drive
- Board Sync by Unito
- Google Calendar
- Corrello Power-Up
- Google Hangouts
- Zapier Power-Up
- Publicate Power-Up
- HelpScout
- Hello Epics
- Dropbox
- Intercom Power-Up
- Card Repeater
- CloudApp
- Package Tracker
- JIRA Cloud
- GitHub
- Moxtra
- Box
- Includer
- Comment Editor by AJ
- Costello
- Screenful Power-Up
- Zendesk Power-Up
- Evernote
- Card Snooze
- Manuscript Power-Up
- Slack Power-Up
- Appear.in
- Droplr
- MailChimp
- GitLab
- SurveyMonkey Power-Up
- Egnyte
On the other hand, Todoist can also be integrated with several apps. Some few noteworthy apps supported by Todoist include:
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- Google Maps
- Apple Maps
- Calendar Sync
- DAKboard
- Kin
- HourStack
- Trevor AI
- Butleroy
- Slack
- Twist
- Webex
- Zapier
- IFTTT
- Workflow
- Automate.io
- Flow XO
- Quadro
- Built.io Flow
- TaskClone
- Integromat
- Notembo
- Apiant
- myThings
- Microsoft Flow
- Samsung Artik Cloud
- Pleexy
- Glance Clock
- Missive
- Newton
- Dispatch
- Mailplane
- Airmail
- Mailbird
- Spark
- SaneBox
- MailButler
- Flashlight
- Ginger Keyboard
- ReBoard
- Google Assistant/Home
- Amazon Alexa/Echo
- Toggl
- Timely
- Time Doctor
- PomoDone
- Timeneye
- Flat Tomato
- TrackingTime
- TimeCamp
- Clockify
- Hero Panel
- Powr of You
- Exist
- Yoke
- Momentum
- Ultidash
- Klipfolio
- Numerics
- Usersnap
- Doorbell
- Hugo
- 1Password
- Beeminder
- Scanbot
- Smashlists
- Drafts
- Note-taking
- WhereDat
- Vegan.io
Support
Both task management apps vouch to offer priority customer support. But that is only when you are on a paid plan. Todoist has a well-organized knowledgebase center that you can use to learn more about the platform. Furthermore, the team also offers support via email. The same case applies to Trello.
The Verdict
Trello, for long, has been one of the most recommendable task management applications. The app features rich functionality, many app integrations, and what’s, even more, a proven track record. That gives Trello an upper hand in the market, unlike most of its competitors – leave alone Todoist. The rich functionality and tons of app integrations make Trello a better choice, unlike Todoist. Trello’s few setbacks revolve around working on large projects, and also the pricing is not friendly, unlike on Todoist. Todoist is cheaper, but most of its functionality is limited at the expense of making the app more comfortable to use. Trello is the winner in this review.
