OmniFocus vs Todoist in 2026 A GTD toolkit for Apple, or a list that goes anywhere.

OmniFocus is built around the GTD method and runs on Apple devices. Todoist is a looser list that runs almost everywhere. Price, platforms and how much method you want decide it.

Jacky Fakkeldij Building Driftto, on his own · Updated 23 October 2026

I build Driftto, an iPhone app for getting a thought into the right place without first finding the app, waiting for it to open and picking a project. Todoist is one of the apps it writes to. OmniFocus is not. Both come up whenever people talk about GTD apps, so I had a reason to look at them side by side.

In October 2026 I went through The Omni Group's OmniFocus pages and manual, Todoist's help center and pricing page, and both US App Store listings. Where a page says nothing about a feature, I say so instead of guessing.

The short answer

OmniFocus fits one person on Apple devices who follows GTD closely and will pay $99.99 a year or buy once, for defer dates, sequential projects and a built-in review. Todoist fits anyone who needs Android, Windows or shared projects, types tasks in plain words, and wants a free plan or a cheaper Pro.

Price: one-time or subscription

Omni's buy page lists two ways to pay. A subscription is $99.99 a year, with no monthly option, and includes the latest Pro version and the web app. Or you buy a licence once: Standard is $74.99 and Pro is $149.99, with all 4.x updates included. People who own a licence can add web access for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. The US App Store listing shows the same one-time prices as in-app purchases, and says the app is free to download with a two-week trial.

Todoist costs nothing to download. Its Beginner plan includes 5 personal projects, 3 filters and one week of activity history. In the US App Store, Todoist Pro is $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year, with a 7-day trial. Pro raises the limits to 300 projects and 150 filters, and adds deadlines, custom reminders, a calendar layout and full activity history.

So a year of OmniFocus on subscription costs $40 more than a year of Todoist Pro. A Standard licence pays for itself against Todoist Pro after about 15 months. Against Todoist's Beginner plan, which is free, OmniFocus is never cheaper.

Where each one runs

OmniFocus 4 runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. The iPhone app needs iOS 18.2 or later. The Apple Watch app syncs your full database and works on its own. There is a web app too, which Omni's page says needs a browser with JavaScript and syncing through Omni's own sync server. That page describes no native app for Android or Windows. The web app doesn't list Forecast or custom perspectives either.

Sync is Omni's free sync service, or a server of your own. Omni calls its service encrypted.

Todoist's download page lists apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android, Wear OS, Windows and Linux, plus browser extensions and email add-ons. If any device you use is not made by Apple, this settles it.

Planning: defer dates, sequential projects and views

This is where OmniFocus earns its price. It gives an action three kinds of date. A due date is for hard deadlines. A defer date hides the action until it can be worked on. A planned date says when you mean to do it. Projects are parallel, sequential or a single-actions list, and action groups can be parallel or sequential too. In a sequential project only the first active action is available, so your list shows the true next action. New projects default to parallel.

Tags take the place of GTD contexts: Omni suggests location, person, energy level and priority. A tag with a location puts the action in Nearby when you are close. Seven standard perspectives come with the app, and on Pro you can build custom perspectives that filter and group by project and tag. Focus, which hides everything outside the projects you pick, is Pro as well.

Todoist has projects, sections, sub-tasks and labels. Sub-tasks nest up to four levels, and the help page describes no dependency or blocking between them, so order is yours to keep. Todoist's help says outright that it does not support start dates that hide a task until the date arrives. Its own workaround is a dated "start" sub-task that shows up in Today. Deadlines are separate from dates and need Pro.

For custom views Todoist uses filters, saved searches with a small query language. A filter such as (today | overdue) & #Work shows what is due or late in one project, and a filter built on a label works as a context. The help page for filters doesn't mention GTD. You build the contexts and next actions yourself, from labels and filters.

The weekly review

OmniFocus has a Review feature that reminds you to go through your projects and actions. You mark projects as reviewed as you go, and the default review interval for new projects can be changed in settings. The Review perspective shows progress, project status and next steps.

In the Todoist help pages I read, there is no review mode. People usually make a filter that lists their projects and walk through it by hand.

Typing a task with its date

Todoist's Quick Add reads the details out of the task name. Its help page gives examples like "tomorrow at 4 PM" and "every other Tuesday starting March 3", and #Work picks the project, p1 sets priority, braces set a deadline and ! adds a reminder. Labels take a % sign. Todoist says the older @ works until it is retired at the end of 2026. The App Store listing shows a full line: "Submit report every Friday at 4pm #Work".

The OmniFocus manual says dates can be entered as natural language text on iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro, and the 4.9 notes in the App Store add optional date-parsing help from Apple Intelligence. The pages I read don't describe typing the project or a tag into the name the way Todoist does.

OmniFocus repeats follow real-world schedules, such as every Monday and Thursday, and version 4 updated its repeat logic for schedules that repeat after completion. Todoist repeats are written in plain words, and a deadline stays in view while the repeating date moves on.

Working with other people

Todoist shares whole projects. You invite people by name, email or a link, and everyone in a shared personal project can edit it. Each task has one assignee. Business plans add team workspaces.

Omni's features page and the manual I read don't describe sharing projects or assigning actions to other people. The sync service is for your own devices. If someone else needs to see or finish your tasks, Todoist is the one built for it.

Everything else, side by side

The rest, from Omni's pages and manual, Todoist's help center and both US App Store listings, checked in October 2026.

Which one I'd pick

If you live on Apple devices, work alone and want an app that holds the whole of GTD, pick OmniFocus. Defer dates, sequential projects and the built-in review are the three things I found nothing about in Todoist's help. Start on the two-week trial, and see if you still want custom perspectives before you pay for Pro.

If you also use Android, Windows or Linux, if anyone else needs to see your list, or if you want to type a task with its date in one line, pick Todoist. Start on Beginner and see whether 5 projects and 3 filters are enough. You will build your own contexts and review, but it costs much less.

I compare more apps for GTD in the best GTD apps. Whichever you pick, it only helps if the thought gets in while you still have it.

Capture into the one you picked, in one step

Into OmniFocus: Omni's manual lists a Quick Entry widget for the Home Screen and Lock Screen. It also lists a Quick Entry control for Control Center and the Action button, and an Add Action step for Shortcuts. All of them open OmniFocus or add an action with details you set.

Driftto doesn't write to OmniFocus, so for OmniFocus those routes are the ones to use.

Into Todoist: on iOS 18 and later, add Todoist's Add task control to Control Center or the Lock Screen. On an iPhone 15 Pro or newer you can put it on the Action button. Or say "Add call the garage to my Errands list in Todoist" to Siri. In Quick Add, type the date and project in the same line.

With Driftto, you open it to a capture field with the keyboard already up, type or speak the thought, and tap Todoist. It lands in the project you set once. The whole note becomes the task's name, with an optional due date, and nothing goes into the description. You can also say "Hey Siri, new capture in Driftto", or send one note to Todoist and another destination at once.

Questions

Driftto is in the App Store now.