Todoist vs Google Tasks One plans in depth. The other lives in Gmail.

Both turn a thought into a task with a date. They differ on how you type that date, how much structure a list can hold, who you can work with and what it costs.

Jacky Fakkeldij Building Driftto, on his own · Updated 20 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 and Google Tasks are both places it writes to, so I had a reason to look at how the two compare when the list itself is the question.

In October 2026 I went through Todoist's help center and pricing page, Google's help for Tasks, Chat and Gemini, and both US App Store listings. Where a help page says nothing about a feature, I say so instead of guessing.

The short answer

Pick Google Tasks if your day runs through Gmail and Google Calendar and you want a plain list that costs nothing. Pick Todoist if you want to type a whole task in one line, date and repeat included, sort your work into projects, sections and labels, and share projects with other people. Its useful extras sit on the paid Pro plan.

Google Tasks sits in the side panel of Gmail, Calendar, Chat, Drive and Docs, and turning an email into a task takes one click. Todoist runs on more devices and connects to Google Calendar as well. Its paid extras include deadlines and more than five projects.

Typing a task with its date

This is the biggest daily difference. Todoist reads dates out of what you type. Its help center gives examples like "tomorrow at 16:00", "Fri 7pm", "in 5 days" and "3rd friday jan", and repeats work the same way: "every other Wednesday" or "every 3 months". The App Store listing shows a full line such as "Submit report every Friday at 4pm #Work", where the date, the repeat and the project all come out of one sentence.

Labels follow the same idea. You type % in the task name to add one. The older @ shortcut still works, but Todoist says it plans to retire it by the end of 2026.

Google Tasks works through a form. You write the title, then tap to set a date and time, a deadline, a repeat and a list. Google's help doesn't describe reading dates out of the text.

Gmail and Google Calendar

Google Tasks is part of the house. In Gmail you open a message and choose Add to Tasks, and the task keeps a link back to that email. The side panel in Gmail, Calendar, Chat and Drive, and in files open in Docs, Sheets and Slides, shows your lists next to your work. A task with a date appears in Google Calendar, and a deadline shows in the all-day row.

Todoist gets there through add-ons. The Todoist for Gmail add-on puts a Todoist icon in Gmail on the web, and in the Gmail app on a phone it sits at the bottom of the message. You can pick the project, date and label before adding. It isn't supported on iPadOS. For calendars, Todoist connects to Google Calendar or Outlook, one at a time. Your events show in Today and Upcoming, and tasks with a date and time can sync to a calendar called Todoist. Changes to the task's name, date, time or duration flow both ways, but a new event you add to that calendar doesn't become a task.

Projects, sections and labels versus lists

Google Tasks has lists, tasks and subtasks, and that's the structure. You choose a list when you create a task, and you can move it to another list from Task options. Google sets the ceiling at 100,000 tasks across all lists and 20,000 open tasks in one list.

Todoist has more layers. Projects hold tasks, sections split a project into parts, with up to 20 sections per project, and labels cut across projects. Sub-tasks go four levels deep. Filters build views across everything, and the plan decides how many you get: 3 on Beginner, 150 on Pro. Projects can show as a list, a board or a calendar.

Repeats, reminders and deadlines

Google Tasks repeats every day, week, month or year, or on a custom pattern with an end date. The rules are strict. A task with subtasks can't repeat, a shared task can't repeat, a repeating task can't move to another list, and once you stop a series you can't make it repeat again. A task with a time notifies you at that time; one without a time, or with a deadline, notifies at 9 AM.

Todoist repeats through the typed phrase, and a repeating task can keep its sub-tasks: when you complete the parent, they reset, though Todoist notes their order isn't kept. Reminders come in more kinds: automatic ones at the task's time, custom ones at a set time or before the task, recurring reminders, and location reminders. On iOS 26 and later, an Urgent reminder shows a full-screen alarm through silent mode. More than one custom reminder per task needs Pro.

Both have a deadline separate from the date. In Google Tasks it's part of every account. In Todoist, the help center says deadlines are on the Pro plan.

Sharing and assigning

Todoist shares whole projects. You open a project, choose Share and enter a name or an email. Someone without an account gets an invite to sign up. A personal project takes up to five people, and everyone you share with sees every task, comment and attachment. Each task gets one assignee.

Google Tasks shares single tasks, not lists. In a Google Chat space you create group tasks and assign them to members. In Google Docs you type @task and assign it, which Google limits to eligible Workspace plans. The assigned task shows up in the other person's own list. Shared tasks can't have subtasks and can't repeat.

For a household list, Todoist's shared projects fit better. For work that already happens in Chat and Docs, Google's way fits.

Price and where each one runs

Google Tasks is free in the App Store with no in-app purchases, and you need a Google Account. On a computer it lives inside Calendar and the side panel of the other Google apps rather than in a separate desktop app.

Todoist's Beginner plan is free, with 5 personal projects, 3 filters and a week of activity history. Pro raises that to 300 projects and 150 filters and adds deadlines, the calendar layout and more reminders. In the US App Store, Pro is $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year; Todoist's own pricing page didn't show a dollar figure when I checked. It has apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Wear OS, Mac, Windows and Linux, plus browser extensions and email add-ons.

Everything else, side by side

The rest, checked against Todoist's and Google's help pages and App Store listings in October 2026.

Which one I'd pick

If you mostly turn emails into tasks and want them on your Google calendar, use Google Tasks. Plan around its repeat rules if your routines have checklists under them.

If you think in projects, type fast and want a task like "call the dentist every 6 months starting Jan 10" to be one line, use Todoist. Start on Beginner and see whether you hit the five-project limit or miss deadlines before paying for Pro.

And if you're also weighing Apple's app, I compared it with Google's in Google Tasks vs Apple Reminders. Whichever list you choose, it only works if things actually get into it.

Capture into the one you picked, in one step

Into Todoist: on iOS 18 and later, add Todoist's Add task control to Control Center or the Lock Screen, or put it on the Action button. Or say "Add a task in Todoist" to Siri. In Quick Add, type the date and project in the same line.

Into Google Tasks: in Gmail on your iPhone, open the email and choose Add to Tasks. Or ask the Gemini app to "Add call the garage to my to-dos."

With Driftto, you open it to a capture field with the keyboard already up, type or speak the thought, and tap where it goes: Todoist into the project you set once, or Google Tasks into the list you chose. One capture can go to both. In Todoist the whole note becomes the task's title, and nothing goes into the description. You can also say "Hey Siri, new capture in Driftto" and it goes to the destination you picked for Siri.

Questions

Driftto is in the App Store now.