Asana vs Todoist Comparison 2026
Asana tracks tasks across list, board, timeline and calendar views, free for up to two collaborators and then $10.99 per user a month billed annually. Todoist turns a typed sentence into a recurring task, free for five projects and then $5 per user a month for Pro. One is built for a team that needs handoffs and views. The other is built for one person who wants a publishing rhythm to survive being ignored for a week.
Task and project tracking for small teams
A task list that survives being ignored for a week
At a glance
- Todoist starts cheaper, at $5.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Asana | Todoist | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $10.99 | From $5 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Asana
Task and project tracking for small teams
Asana is a work tracker built around who owes what by when, with list, board, timeline and calendar views of the same tasks. For a creator with an editor, a designer and a publishing schedule, it replaces the group chat where deadlines go to die. The free plan caps collaborators at two, which is the line most small teams cross first.
Our note
The free plan stops at two collaborators, which is the number to check before anything else. ClickUp and Airtable both give a small team more room for nothing, so Asana starts earning its price at the third seat rather than the first.
Todoist
A task list that survives being ignored for a week
Todoist takes a typed sentence like "post the newsletter every Tuesday at 9" and turns it into a scheduled recurring task, which is the feature the whole product is built around. Five projects on the free account is enough for one person running one operation. Paying raises the limits, adds reminders and calendar layouts, and opens filters that make a large list usable. Teams get their own tier above that, and none of it tries to be a project management suite.
Why people weigh these two
- Todoist instead of Asana
- A plain task list from $5 with a free tier; suits a solo creator who wants deadlines tracked without buying Asana's team process.
- Asana instead of Todoist
- Asana adds dependencies and timelines for a team coordinating handoffs, from $10.99, the shape to reach for once one person is not the whole operation.
Which one should you pick
Choose Asana the moment a second person owns part of the work, since it is built around who owes what by when, with rules and automations that move handoffs along without a card being forgotten. The free plan covers a creator and one contractor at no cost, and Starter is $10.99 per user a month billed annually after that.
Choose Todoist if you are one person managing a publishing rhythm and the admin around it, and you want to type a task rather than configure one. Five projects on the free plan is enough for one operation, and Pro is $5 a month once you need more. Todoist is the wrong pick for a team coordinating dependencies and handoffs, since it has no board, no timeline and no intention of becoming a project management suite.
Common questions
- I am a solo creator. Do I need Asana at all?
- Probably not yet. Asana is built for a team executing a repeating process, and a solo creator with a to-do list is paying for process not needed yet. Todoist's free plan, five projects with natural language scheduling, fits one person better.
- How many projects does the free plan allow?
- Asana's free Personal plan allows unlimited tasks, capped instead at two collaborators. Todoist's free Beginner plan allows five personal projects for one person, with reminders and three filter views included.
- What does Todoist do that a project manager does not need?
- Typing a date and a repeat into a sentence, like scheduling the newsletter every Tuesday at nine, is the core interaction. That natural language scheduling is what makes a recurring publishing rhythm survive being missed once, without any project structure around it.
- When does Todoist stop being enough?
- When dependencies and handoffs between people are the actual problem. Todoist has no board and no timeline, and its Business tier at $8 per user a month adds team features without turning it into a project management suite. That is where Asana's four views on one task list start to matter.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.