Notion vs Todoist: which productivity app should you use?

Short answer: pick Notion if you want one connected workspace for docs, wikis, databases and projects, with AI agents that can work across your team's knowledge. Pick Todoist if you want a fast, focused to-do list that captures tasks in plain language, handles recurring dates well and keeps personal and team tasks in one calm place. Many teams use both: Notion for documentation and Todoist for day-to-day action. Both have a free plan.

Both are listed on Unloc. Unloc cards: Notion and Todoist.

Quick verdict

Plans, AI allowances, credits and prices change often, so check both live pricing pages before you decide. Everything below comes from each company's own website, pricing page and help centre.

What Notion does

Notion calls itself the AI workspace that works for you: a place where teams and agents capture context, find answers and automate tasks. At its core are pages and databases. You build docs and wikis from blocks, and you track projects in databases with custom properties, subtasks, dependencies, filters, charts and dashboards. You can view the same work as a list, board, calendar or timeline, collect requests with forms and publish pages to the web as Notion Sites.

Around the core sit Notion Calendar, which shows your Notion deadlines and project timelines next to events from Google, Outlook and iCloud calendars, and Notion's AI agents, which can answer questions, route incoming work and write status updates from the knowledge already in your workspace. Notion runs in the browser, in desktop apps for macOS and Windows and in mobile apps, and you can choose pages to download for offline use.

What Todoist does

Todoist is a to-do list app built to get tasks out of your head and into one trusted place. Its focus is capture and planning. Quick Add understands natural language, so typing a task with a date or a repeat pattern schedules it for you. Today and Upcoming views show what is due now and what is coming, and filters build custom views such as all high-priority tasks due today.

You organise work into projects with sections, sub-tasks, priorities, labels and task descriptions, and switch between list, board and calendar layouts. Todoist has apps for the web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch and Wear OS, plus browser extensions and email add-ons. Todoist describes its own philosophy as purposeful, focused features rather than a blank canvas.

Tasks and planning: a flexible database vs a focused list

This is the core difference. In Notion, a task is a page in a database. That makes it very flexible: you choose the properties, the statuses and the views, link tasks to project docs and specs, and see dependencies and progress bars. The trade-off is that someone has to design that system and keep it tidy. Notion's own project pages lean into this, with templates and workflows for backlogs, sprints and bug tracking.

In Todoist, the structure is already decided. You add a task, give it a date and priority, and it shows up in Today or Upcoming. Recurring due dates are a standout: when you complete a recurring task, it automatically moves to the next date. Task reminders are on every plan, while custom reminders, deadlines and task durations come with Pro. Notion has reminders too, via @remind in a page or a Date property in a database, but its help centre says recurring reminders are not available yet, so check the help centre if repeating to-dos matter to you.

Docs, wikis and knowledge

Notion is built for this and Todoist is not. Notion gives you docs, wikis, verified pages, teamspaces and permissions, so it can act as a team's shared knowledge base, and Notion's AI can search and cite that knowledge when it answers questions. Todoist keeps context closer to the work: task descriptions, comments, file attachments and voice notes live inside each task. Todoist itself suggests that many teams use Notion as the hub for documentation and wikis and Todoist as the tool for task execution.

AI features

Notion has put AI at the centre of the product. Notion Agent is a personal assistant that can chat, generate and edit docs, autofill databases and take multi-step actions using context from your workspace, connected apps and the web. Custom Agents run on schedules or triggers for the whole team, for example to answer repeat questions, triage incoming tasks or write recurring reports, and they work with Slack, Mail, Calendar and MCP integrations. The Business plan adds AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search, Free and Plus get a limited trial of Notion Agent and meeting notes, and Custom Agents use Notion credits. Notion says it does not train AI models on your content, and Enterprise workspaces get zero data retention with its AI providers.

Todoist takes a lighter approach that it calls Todoist Assist. Ramble turns spoken thoughts into structured tasks with dates, labels and priorities. Task Assist breaks a goal or a big task into smaller steps, Filter Assist writes a filter from a plain description, and Email Assist turns forwarded emails into tasks. Todoist says these features are optional and that it runs them on secure infrastructure with no training on your data.

Both connect to outside AI assistants. Notion MCP lets tools such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor read from and write to your workspace with your permissions. Todoist has an official MCP server that works with Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, VS Code and other MCP-compatible clients, plus dedicated Claude, ChatGPT and Muse integrations and a command-line tool.

Teams, collaboration and integrations

Notion is designed for whole-company use. Teamspaces can be open, closed or private, permission groups and granular database permissions control who sees what, and guests let you work with agencies and contractors. Business adds SAML single sign-on, and Enterprise adds user provisioning, audit logs, advanced security controls and workspace analytics. Notion connects to tools such as Slack, Google Drive, GitHub, Jira and Figma, and has a public API and webhooks.

Todoist's Business plan gives a team a shared workspace that sits alongside, but separate from, each person's own tasks. Teams can make projects public or private, assign tasks, comment, share files and see a team activity log, and admins manage roles, permissions and billing centrally. Todoist says it holds SOC 2 Type II certification. Its integrations include Google Calendar, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zapier and n8n, and its API and webhooks let you build your own.

Free plans and pricing

Notion has a Free plan for individuals that includes pages, databases, basic forms, basic sites and Notion Calendar, with a trial of Notion AI; adding more members to a free workspace limits how much content you can add. Paid plans are Plus, Business and Enterprise, and Custom Agents are billed through Notion credits on top. Notion says its Plus plan is free for eligible students and educators who sign up with a school email.

Todoist has a free Beginner plan with a limited number of personal projects and filter views, plus Pro for individuals and Business for teams, which you can create for free before paying per member. Check the live Notion pricing page and Todoist pricing page for current plans, limits and prices.

Who should pick which

• Pick Notion if you want docs, wikis, projects and databases in one connected workspace, and you have someone willing to set up and maintain the structure.
• Pick Notion if you want AI agents that work across your team's knowledge, meeting notes and connected apps.
• Pick Todoist if you mostly need a fast, reliable to-do list with natural-language capture, recurring dates and clear Today and Upcoming views.
• Pick Todoist if you want personal and team tasks side by side with almost no setup, on every device including Linux and smartwatches.
• Use both if your team needs a knowledge base and a task list: keep documentation in Notion and the daily to-dos in Todoist.

Comparing other productivity tools? See Notion vs Obsidian, Notion vs Asana, Notion vs Linear and ClickUp vs Monday.com, or browse Obsidian and Linear on Unloc.

FAQ

Is Notion better than Todoist?

It depends on the job. Notion is better as a connected workspace for docs, wikis, databases and projects, with AI agents across your team's knowledge. Todoist is better as a focused task manager for capturing, scheduling and finishing to-dos quickly.

Can Notion replace Todoist?

Notion can track tasks in databases, set reminders and show deadlines in Notion Calendar, so it can replace a to-do app for some people. Todoist is more specialised for quick capture and recurring dates, and Notion's help centre says recurring reminders are not available yet.

Can you use Notion and Todoist together?

Yes. Todoist says many teams use Notion as the central hub for documentation and wikis and Todoist for day-to-day task execution. Both also work with automation tools such as Zapier, and both offer APIs.

Are Notion and Todoist free?

Both have a free plan. Notion's Free plan includes pages, databases and Notion Calendar with a trial of Notion AI. Todoist's Beginner plan is free with a limited number of personal projects. Check each live pricing page for current limits.

Which has better AI, Notion or Todoist?

Notion offers more AI, including Notion Agent, Custom Agents, AI Meeting Notes and Enterprise Search, with the fuller set on higher plans and credits for Custom Agents. Todoist keeps AI light and optional with Todoist Assist features such as Ramble and Task Assist. Both connect to assistants like Claude and ChatGPT through MCP.