Todoist

Tested Todoist over four weeks as a single-user productivity-tasks system plus a 5-person household-and-startup shared workspace: 250 active tasks across 12 projects with date filters, labels, and natural-language quick-add. Baseline was Anytype (tested S165) for the local-first comparison and Tana (tested S164) for the structured-knowledge angle. Specifically wanted to validate the natural-language quick-add parser, Todoist AI Assistant for task breakdown, and Karma productivity scoring as motivation signal.

Natural-language quick-add is best-in-class for fast capture - typing buy groceries tomorrow at 6pm every Saturday p1 correctly parsed the date, recurrence, priority, and assignee in one line consistently across 300-plus test entries. Filters using Todoist Query Language (overdue and p1 and not weekly) enabled GTD-style review workflows that Anytype and Tana require manual construction for. AI Assistant for task breakdown turned plan kitchen renovation into 9 reasonable subtasks with rough time estimates that needed minimal editing. Cross-device sync between iOS, macOS, and the web was instant across all 250 tasks and 12 projects. Karma scoring and streaks created genuine habit-formation pressure for daily completion review.

Pricing structure feels punishing for the feature gating - Pro at 5 USD per month is reasonable individually but the Business tier at 8 USD per seat is required for shared workspaces above 5 projects, team-wide labels, and admin controls. For our 5-person household-and-startup that is 480 USD annually for features that competitors include free. Long-term project management beyond simple tasks is genuinely limited - no Gantt, no timeline view, no dependencies, and the project depth caps at 4 levels of nesting. AI Assistant output quality dropped on technical or domain-specific breakdowns (legal research, financial modeling), producing generic subtasks that needed full rewrite. Native daily-review surface is shallower than the dedicated review modes in Things 3 or OmniFocus.

Best for individual professionals and small-household productivity systems who want best-in-class quick-add, robust filters, and reliable cross-device sync. Anytype fits privacy-first users who want local-first encrypted notes plus tasks. Tana wins for typed-knowledge graph and AI-synthesis workflows. Things 3 remains the right pick for native macOS-iOS productivity enthusiasts. Pick Todoist when speed of capture and filter sophistication matter most.