I’ve tried maybe a dozen to-do apps over the years. Most of them died the same way: I’d set up a beautiful system on day one, then abandon it by day ten because it took more effort to maintain than the tasks themselves. Todoist is the one that stuck, and it’s stuck for over three years now. Not because it’s the flashiest app out there, but because it gets out of your way.
Quick answer: To use Todoist, create an account, set up a project, then add tasks using Quick Add and plain-English dates like “tomorrow at 5pm.” Todoist reads that and schedules it automatically. Once you’re comfortable with that, layer in labels, filters, and reminders to actually run your week from it.
Here’s the full walkthrough: setup, the habits that make it stick, and what it costs in 2026, in both dollars and rupees. If you want the bigger picture first, including how it stacks up against other task managers, check our full Todoist review.
What Is Todoist?
Todoist is a task manager. Not a project management platform with Gantt charts and dependencies, just a clean, fast place to write down what you need to do and when. It works across Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android, and the web, and everything syncs instantly, so a task you add on your phone at a bus stop is sitting there when you open your laptop.
The thing that makes it different from a plain notes app is how it understands you. Type “submit report Friday at 3pm” into the task box, and it automatically sets the due date and time for you. No separate date picker, no extra taps.
Why Professionals Use Todoist
If your day is a mix of meetings, follow-ups, and things you told yourself you’d “get to later,” a task manager only helps if it’s faster to use than your memory. Todoist earns its place for a few reasons:
- Capturing a task takes seconds, so it doesn’t interrupt whatever you were doing
- Projects keep client work, personal errands, and team tasks from bleeding into one messy list
- Filters let you build custom views, like “everything due this week across all my projects”
- It connects to over 90 tools you probably already use, including Gmail, Outlook, and Slack
How to Set Up Todoist (Step by Step)
This is the official setup flow, based on Todoist’s own onboarding process. Nothing pieced together from guesswork.
Step 1: Create your account
Go to Todoist’s site and sign up. You can use an email address, or sign in with Google or Apple if you’d rather skip a password.
Step 2: Download the app for your devices
Todoist works on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and Android, plus browser extensions. Grab the version for whatever you use daily. Since everything syncs, adding it to two or three devices (say, phone and laptop) is where it becomes genuinely useful.
Step 3: Create your first project
Click the plus icon next to “Projects” in the sidebar. Give it a name, pick a color if you like, and choose whether you want to see it as a simple list or a board (kanban-style, if that’s more your thing).
Step 4: Add your tasks
Inside your new project, select “Add task,” type what you need to do, and hit enter. That’s it. If you’re new to Todoist, the box will show example tasks like “Fix bike tire this weekend” to nudge you toward writing dates in plain English.
Step 5: Let Todoist handle your dates
Instead of opening a calendar picker, just type the date as part of the task name. “Call the vendor next Tuesday” or “renew passport in 3 weeks” both get parsed correctly and turned into a due date automatically.
Step 6: Break big tasks into sub-tasks
If something feels too big to tackle in one go, select the task and choose “Add sub-task.” This keeps your main list realistic instead of staring at one intimidating line item all week.
Step 7: Check things off
Tick the circle next to a task once it’s done. If you tick something by mistake, you can uncheck it just as easily, and completed tasks stay visible under “Show completed tasks” if you ever need to look back.
How to Actually Get Good Results With It
Setting it up takes ten minutes. Making it a habit that sticks takes a bit more intention.
Use the Inbox as a dumping ground. Don’t try to sort every task perfectly the moment it comes to mind. Drop it in your Inbox first, then move it into the right project when you have a spare minute. This alone stops the “I’ll just remember it” trap.
Write dates the way you’d say them out loud. You don’t need to learn any special syntax. “Every Monday,” “in 2 weeks,” and “next Friday at noon” all work.
Review your list at the same time each day. A quick look each morning (or the night before) at what’s due keeps Todoist from turning into a graveyard of old tasks you stopped checking.
Try Ramble if typing tasks slows you down. Todoist’s built-in voice feature lets you speak a task instead of typing it, useful when you’re walking out of a meeting and don’t want to lose the thought.
Don’t over-engineer labels and filters on day one. Start with plain projects. Add labels and custom filters only once you notice a real pattern in how you work, not because a guide told you to.
Todoist Pricing in 2026 (USD and INR)
Straight from Todoist’s official pricing pages, current as of the December 2025 price update:
| Plan | Price (USD) | Price (INR) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner (Free) | $0/month | ₹0/month | Individuals with simple, light task lists |
| Pro | $7/month, or $60/year ($5/month billed annually) | ₹330/month, or ₹3,165/year | Individuals managing more than a handful of active projects |
| Business | $10/user/month, or $96/user/year ($8/user/month billed annually) | ₹470/user/month, or ₹4,500/user/year | Teams that need a shared workspace and admin controls |
A few things worth knowing about these numbers:
- The Free plan caps you at 5 active personal projects, 3 filter views, and 1 week of activity history. It’s genuinely usable long-term for light needs, but you’ll hit that project limit faster than you’d expect.
- Pro removes that cap (up to 300 projects), adds custom reminders, the calendar layout, task durations, deadlines, and 150 filter views.
- Business includes everything in Pro for every team member, plus a shared team workspace, team roles, and centralized billing.
- If you subscribed to Pro before June 2022, or through the Apple App Store, you may still be on legacy pricing below these rates.
Is Todoist Worth Paying For?
If you’re managing a handful of personal to-dos, the Free plan will likely cover you for a long time. The moment you’re juggling more than five ongoing projects, or you actually want reminders (which the Free plan doesn’t include), Pro tends to be worth the $5 to $7 a month pretty quickly, simply because you stop bumping into limits mid-week.
For teams, Business only makes sense once you actually need shared visibility into who’s doing what. If you’re mostly working solo with the occasional shared project, Pro alone usually covers it.
One limitation worth flagging: Todoist is a task manager, not a full project management tool. If your work involves task dependencies or complex multi-step workflows, you’ll likely hit walls that dedicated project management software wouldn’t have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Beginner plan has no expiry date and no trial countdown. It’s capped at 5 active projects and lighter features, but it’s a real, permanent free tier.
Yes, tasks you add offline sync automatically once you’re back online, so you’re not blocked from adding or checking off tasks mid-flight or in a low-signal area.
Yes. It connects with Google Calendar, Outlook, and other calendar tools, and Pro users also get a built-in calendar layout inside Todoist itself.
Pro is built for individuals. Business gives every team member Pro-level features plus a shared team workspace, permissions, and one centralized bill for the whole team.
Not directly as a team, since Pro is designed for individual accounts. If you’re the only member left in a workspace, you can cancel Business first and then subscribe to Pro individually.
Yes, students and educators get a discount on Pro. You’ll need to verify your student status through Todoist’s site to apply it.
Ready to stop losing track of things? Try Todoist free and see if it’s the one that finally sticks.
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