Google Tasks vs Todoist — Free and Simple, or Paid and Powerful?

Google Tasks is free, already installed, and sitting inside Gmail. Todoist is a proper task manager that charges for its best parts. Most people picking between them are really asking one thing: is free good enough?

In one sentence: Google Tasks is fine as a lightweight list attached to Gmail, Todoist is a real task manager that costs money for reminders and unlimited projects — and TODO sits in between by being free and still complete.

What Google Tasks Actually Does

Google Tasks is deliberately small: lists, tasks, subtasks, due dates, and a panel in Gmail and Google Calendar. It syncs across devices with your Google account and it's genuinely free.

What it doesn't do: priorities, tags, filters, recurring rules beyond simple repeats, collaboration, attachments, or any kind of review or dashboard. There's no weekly planning view and nothing carries forward on its own.

Google Tasks vs Todoist vs TODO

Feature	Google Tasks	Todoist	TODO
Price for full features	Free	Paid (Pro)	Free forever
Gmail / Calendar integration	✅ Native	✅ Pro	❌
Reminders	Basic	Pro only	✅ Free
Priorities	❌	✅	✅ Focus view
Shared / collaborative lists	❌	✅	✅ Free
Repeating tasks	Basic	✅ Advanced	✅
Weekly planning view	❌	❌	✅
Automatic rollover	❌	❌	✅
Attachments	❌	Pro	✅ Free
Offline use	Limited	✅ Apps	✅ Offline-first PWA

Choose Google Tasks If…

Your whole working life is already in Gmail and Google Calendar.
You want a short list, not a system.
You'll never need sharing, attachments or priorities.

Choose Todoist If…

You want natural-language capture and a large integration ecosystem.
You're happy paying for reminders, labels and filters.
You manage many projects at once and need filter views to stay sane.

The Gap Between Them

The awkward truth is that most people need more than Google Tasks and less than Todoist Pro. You want reminders, shared lists and something that handles the unfinished-yesterday problem — but you don't want to pay a subscription or manage a filter syntax.

Where TODO Fits

TODO is a free task app built around one idea: the planning should take less effort than the work. There is no paid tier, so nothing is held back. You get unlimited lists, repeating tasks, shared lists, a weekly view that feeds your daily list, automatic rollover of anything you didn't finish, offline support as an installable app, and a productivity dashboard.

It won't replace a database or a project management suite. It replaces the notebook and the half-abandoned app you keep paying for.

Try TODO free →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Google Tasks good enough to replace Todoist?

For simple lists tied to Gmail and Google Calendar, yes. It lacks priorities, tags, filters, collaboration, attachments and any review view, so it falls short for anyone managing multiple projects.

Is Google Tasks completely free?

Yes, Google Tasks is free with a Google account. Its limitation is feature depth rather than pricing.

Does Google Tasks have reminders?

It has basic due-date notifications through Google Calendar, but not the flexible multi-reminder system found in dedicated task managers.

What's a free alternative that does more than Google Tasks?

TODO is free and adds shared lists, attachments, repeating tasks, a weekly planning view, a focus view and automatic rollover of unfinished tasks.