ClickUp vs Todoist Comparison 2026
ClickUp tries to be the one tool a team opens for tasks, documents and dashboards, free for unlimited members before $7 a user a month. Todoist does one thing, a task list, and does it fast: type a sentence like a recurring Tuesday reminder and it becomes a scheduled task, free for five projects before $5 a user a month. ClickUp's own listing sends people who want to open a tool and understand it immediately straight to Todoist instead.
Docs, tasks and dashboards in one place
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
ClickUp | Todoist | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $7 | 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 |
ClickUp
Docs, tasks and dashboards in one place
ClickUp tries to be the only work tool a team opens, and mostly manages it: tasks, documents, whiteboards, goals and dashboards all live together and cross-reference. The cost of that reach is a settings screen that takes a weekend to understand. Automations are metered per plan, which is what pushes a growing team off the free tier.
Our note
AI is a separate $9 per user a month, sitting on top of a $7 seat. That more than doubles the bill, and it is easy to miss when the comparison with Notion gets settled on the headline price.
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 ClickUp
- Todoist strips the same job down to a plain task list you understand immediately, free to start and $5 after, where ClickUp expects a day of configuring.
- ClickUp instead of Todoist
- ClickUp adds docs and dashboards around the task list, from $7, more structure for a team than Todoist's single-person recurring list.
Which one should you pick
Buy ClickUp if documents, dashboards and cross-referenced tasks all need to live in one system, and a weekend spent on the settings screen is an acceptable cost for that reach. The free plan holds unlimited members, which suits a team of contractors well.
Buy Todoist if you manage a publishing rhythm alone and want capture to be instant, with no methodology to learn first. Five free projects is enough for one person running one channel, and $5 a month at Pro raises the limits without turning the app into a project management suite. A team coordinating handoffs and dependencies will outgrow it and should look at ClickUp instead.
Common questions
- Which one is simpler to start using immediately?
- Todoist, and ClickUp's own listing says so directly, pointing people who want to open a tool and understand it right away toward Todoist instead. ClickUp trades that simplicity for far more structure once it is configured.
- Is Todoist cheaper than ClickUp?
- About the same at the entry paid tier: Todoist Pro is $5 a user a month, ClickUp's Unlimited plan is $7 billed yearly. The bigger difference is scope, not price, since Todoist stays a task list and ClickUp adds documents and dashboards.
- Does Todoist handle documents and dashboards like ClickUp?
- No, it stays deliberately narrow: a task list with reminders, recurring dates and a handful of views. ClickUp adds documents, whiteboards and dashboards on top of tasks, which is the whole reason it needs a bigger settings screen.
- How many projects does Todoist's free plan allow?
- Five, which is enough for one person running one channel but tight for anybody managing several. ClickUp's free plan has no equivalent project cap, only limits on storage and advanced features.
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.