Microsoft Planner vs. Todoist

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Planner
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Planner is presented as a solution to organize teamwork with intuitive, collaborative, visual task management. With it, users can create Kanban boards using task cards with files, checklists, and labels. Users can collaborate in Planner and Microsoft Teams and check visual status charts—all in the Microsoft cloud.N/A
Todoist
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Doist, a company boasting an entirely globally distributed workforce, offers Todoist, a project management platform emphasizing the needs of a distributed workforce. The application emphasizes tracking events over time with advanced closed task and progress reporting, with custom graphics for sharing or ease of review.
$8
per month per user
Pricing
Microsoft PlannerTodoist
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Business
$8
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft PlannerTodoist
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft PlannerTodoist
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Planner
Chose Microsoft Planner
Our organization chose MS Planner because it is an included tool in the MS Suite, and since we are unfortunately replacing our current and much better project management tool due to a consolidation of the tech stack. However, it doesn't appear that any of the teams using the …
Chose Microsoft Planner
In my experience, Microsoft Planner has much less features and less effective than other project management tools. But, it's free and included as part of Microsoft 365, so senior management may think it's saving them money. However, the poor productivity and the inefficient …
Chose Microsoft Planner
The Planner has a more straightforward and intuitive interface, making it ideal for teams that want to get started quickly without a steep learning curve. Additionally, Planner is more budget-friendly, making it a better option for smaller teams like mine. Additionally, …
Chose Microsoft Planner
We used Microsoft Planner because it was free to our organization but ended up paying for Asana for more features we needed for our team.
Chose Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner stands out for its seamless integration with Microsoft 365, making collaboration with tools like Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint effortless. Its user-friendly interface, with drag-and-drop features and color-coded labels, simplifies task management. Microsoft …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Compared to the other options, we already had access to Microsoft Planner, preconfigured accounts, and support and ordination from tech internally to use it. We previously used Wrike, I wanted to use Asana, and other people in the organisation either used Microsoft Project, or …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner was included in our package of Microsoft email. Thus, we [don't] have to pay anything separately. This is was the main reason. However, the functionality we required was similar. [Microsoft] Planner also gives a schedule calendar where we can add tasks as per …
Chose Microsoft Planner
While Asana and Trello are mature products, Planner is getting there pretty quickly. Since our organization is on the Microsoft ecosystem, it helps to use SSO for most of the apps that are within the same license. It helps save money and does the work. For proper project …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner won out over Todoist due to it's ability to integrate other software and allow us to be able to do more work in one software. The project management functions were superior as well. Probably the biggest advantage was the task management. We liked how it worked …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Have moved to JIRA in my recent project. I can say Microsoft plan is a good option but JIRA is more powerful compare to this tool. The only thing is its integration and easy communication feature between teams or assigned groups stand it out while comparing with the similar …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner has a clear cut edge over all the other project planning software of having its native and extensive capability of integrating with the Office 365 apps which everyone uses heavily. Also, it is highly accessible and usable to a large extent through PDAs and …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Pros:
  • Communicating with all members of the plan is easy since it’s part of the Office 365 suite. This allows you to easily communicate via Outlook.
  • You can quickly view all the tasks everyone is working across Boards
Chose Microsoft Planner
Planner provides better integration with Microsoft products that are used across the organization as a whole. It provides better connection to SharePoint, MS Teams, MS Office products, and even in MS Outlook, which is the company's email client.
Chose Microsoft Planner
Many areas of the company still use Trello to organize their activities and tasks, but gradually Microsoft Planner must replace the activities. Users are often "attached" to familiar technologies, but Office 365 takes advantage of the more organized use of the tools. This year …
Chose Microsoft Planner
I would recommend Planner for light project / team management with strong MS Teams integration.
For a PMO / large project with resources/cost/gantt management, I would really recommend MS Project.
Chose Microsoft Planner
I have not used any other products that serve a similar function to Microsoft Planner.
Chose Microsoft Planner
Planner, tho its user interface could be improved, was leaps and bounds better than TYA suite. Their user interface is difficult for many at our job site to use, especially the older generation. The decision to bring it in was largely a corporate decision. Individuals likely …
Chose Microsoft Planner
I've used Asana and prefer it to Microsoft Planner. Asana has more functionalities than Planner and I think it is more user-friendly.
Chose Microsoft Planner
Trello is better as a one off product, but if you use the Microsoft suite then Planner integrates better into the rest of your day-to-day apps. The integration into team members' calendars and mail makes the ease of assigning tasks across our organization well worth using the …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner is far superior and doesn't require expensive training to give people access to it. It is far easier to customize and allows for people to add projects and milestones without the cumbersome interface that Agility offers. I would far rather use Microsoft …
Chose Microsoft Planner
We tried to select software from various tools, and in the end we chose Planner both for economic reasons (it is included in the Microsoft 365 license we have in the company) and for its ease of use (we have no particular or specific needs, such as advanced scheduling or ticket …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Main reason is that it is cost efficient because we're already using Microsoft 365 and it's literally part of the ecosystem. No need to purchase any other software. Microsoft is also a well known company, credible for providing business solutions and has a strong enterprise …
Chose Microsoft Planner
Planner is free and integrated with other Microsoft products that we use. We don't have a need for something more sophisticated given the price it would have cost to purchase licenses for a dedicated task/project mgmt tool.
Todoist
Chose Todoist
Notion and ClickUp are pretty similar. I find them useful for an entire team, and for creating docs and things like that. For a basic task management system though, it's overkill and I would lose tasks constantly (not be able to find them). Trello is better for a flow with …
Chose Todoist
Compared to other tools, Todoist offers a stronger focus on completing tasks compared to more complex project systems. We chose a combination of Asana (projects) and Todoist (more detailed task tracking), mutual integration and synchronization works flawlessly. We have …
Chose Todoist
Todoist is better than Asana for the reason being that it focuses on task management rather than projects. If a task that is in Todoist suddenly becomes a project or more of a long term thing, then I will duplicate the task in Asana as to track it's progress, stay on time, etc.
Chose Todoist
No inline due date creation in To Do is a huge issue for me, hence why I still use Todoist
Chose Todoist
At one point, I used both Excel and Numbers to help keep track of my to do list… They were effective and so so far as it goes, but Todoist, in general prove to be the more superior program. The fact that I could easily color code and reassign tasks, and also the satisfaction of …
Chose Todoist
Ease of use, interoperability between platforms, and ease of integrating directly onto my calendar.
Chose Todoist
I've tried using project management software and other task management tools in the past but I have always come back to Todoist for its ease of use and simple yet effective functionality. It does a specific thing and does it really well without trying too hard or overextending …
Chose Todoist
Todoist is more focused on its goal than Google Keeps and is far more intuitive to use. For example, with just a click we see immediately that Todoist provides a way to distill tasks so that we only see what's immediately pertinent to us, via the Filters (which can be …
Chose Todoist
If I were to choose mutually exclusively, I would rather have Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager than all those 3 Google apps combined; but if Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager come out with an in-house calendar, then it would be super awesome.
Chose Todoist
[Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager] is significantly simpler and cheaper than most of the alternatives and doesn't complicate the management of tasks with a plethora of unnecessary features. While all the alternatives have strong feature sets, what Todoist does better than any …
Chose Todoist
Todoist: [To-Do List & Task Manager] is easier to use and makes it easier to assign owners and determine a due date. I feel more confident that I know where and how a task will be tracked when I use [Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager] versus any other similar software[.]
Chose Todoist
Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager is much more simple with the ability to remove tasks from a single list rather than moving the item. The price point is very low and even the free features of often enough for my needs. The ability to quickly add items, have them synced to my …
Chose Todoist
Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager is great for individual and personal use but isn't the best for team projects. It's too difficult to set up project tasking across multiple users with multiple tasks and multiple due dates.
Chose Todoist
Slack has a lot of options but was not what we needed. If we would go back to a more detailed tool we would use Ryver as that has more functions we would actually use. TickTick is great but somehow Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager worked out better for us, but that is a very …
Chose Todoist
Todoist: To-Do List & Talk Manager is so much better than Google Tasks for one simple reason: nested project folders. There's also the smart text recognition when entering tasks in Todoist that makes it so much easier.
Chose Todoist
I prefer Todoist over Microsoft Notes. Todoist offers reminders and such to make sure we are not forgetting to do something that might've slipped off our plate. Microsoft Notes is simply just a great way to take notes. Using both is great, but we mainly stick to Todoist because …
Chose Todoist
Todoist has a number of undeniable advantages over other solutions in its class:
  • It is much simpler than a Jira.
  • It is a little more comfortable than Trello.
Chose Todoist
Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager is a more focused to-do app than monday.com or even Trello. It is simple yet flexible. However, Kanban power users will be underwhelmed by the limited functionality of the new board view. I hope that Doist will keep up the rapid pace of …
Chose Todoist
I like Todoist better than Asana, Slack, and Boardable, but it may be simply because I don't use Todoist as a shared SaaS. Airtable serves a different main function (project management database), but inherent in it is the possibility of a large shared to-do list. Both Asana and …
Chose Todoist
There are so many task managers out there that it comes down to business needs and user preference. I selected Todoist because, for our particular business setup, it checked all the boxes. It's flexible, it's not limited to one ecosystem, and the price is exceptional. It can be …
Chose Todoist
I found that Todoist was the easiest way to organize all my tasks in multiple ways. I could be organized by date, priority, create sub-tasks, larger "areas" to keep things sorted. Others have a lot of the same options but not as good. I also really like how the app works on …
Chose Todoist
Asana is more project oriented and I really did not use it much, We used Trello with our team and while I liked it for projects, it really did not work for me with tasks. I have used many task managers over the years, and none can stack up to Todoist: To-Do List & Task …
Best Alternatives
Microsoft PlannerTodoist
Small Businesses
7shifts
7shifts
Score 9.9 out of 10
7shifts
7shifts
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 8.5 out of 10
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 8.5 out of 10
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft PlannerTodoist
Likelihood to Recommend
7.5
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
3.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.8
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft PlannerTodoist
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Planner is a user-friendly visual tool for organizing tasks and workflows. It’s great for team collaboration, integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 tools like Teams and Outlook, and offers flexibility for projects of all sizes. Additionally, it provides mobile and web access for seamless productivity on the go. That’s a big plus right there.
Read full review
[Todoist: To-Do List & Task Manager is] fantastic for small teams or for personal use. Really simple and easy to use so requires very little in the way of onboarding and gets people engaged quickly in the tasks they need to complete. May not be perfect where more complex usage is required but integrates with other tools so time tracking and other add ons are more than possible through other tools.
Read full review
Pros
  • I love the ability to tag and untag others as needed
  • I love the ability to customize the tag labels and that there are so many options
  • I love the ability to add comments and it notifies the others tagged in the task
  • I love that the task description can be changed as needed without notification to others assigned to the task
Read full review
  • Being able to manage tasks across multiple devices and platforms is absolutely critical to me. If I am out of the office, the tasks will be on my phone. But they are also readily accessible on the web, on my desktop, and on my iPad.
  • There are several ways to organize your tasks... via Projects, Labels, Boards, Lists, etc. that allow users to use Todoist to fit their productivity workflow. I use them all and I have been delighted to see how Todoist has continued to improve and advance the Todoist application over the years.
  • I rely extensively on recurring tasks which allow me to never forget a birthday, monthly submission, chore at home, etc. Todoist offers many ways to manage recurring tasks, such as, "every week", "every April 8", "every fourth Thursday in November", etc.
Read full review
Cons
  • Does not allow you to view all tasks and sub-tasks (checklist) in a nested view.
  • Comments have character limits that can make it harder for teams to communicate exactly what they want to share.
  • There is no way to mention a teammate in a comment and share files and documents in the conversation (collaborative tool???).
Read full review
  • Task Dependencies - Particularly for business projects, I'd love if we could make one team member's task dependent on another's where we could say "do this task 3 days after another one is complete"
  • No Two Factor Authentication - For me personally, I like to keep all my passwords secure and backed up by two-factor authentication. Just wish this was something Todoist offered!
  • Adding Start Date & End Date - Sometimes I set an end date farther in the future, but I'm not alerted that I need to be working on it before then to achieve that due date. If I look at the "Next 7 Days" section, I can see upcoming tasks, but ideally, I'd love to be able to set a start date and an end date so it could appear in today's tasks without needing to be completed today.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
It is a very useful tool that brings teams in sync with one another. The integration with other Microsoft products makes it an obvious choice because you don't have to purchase a license for a completely different tool that doesn't have cross-functional capabilities with the software you already use on a daily basis.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
The tool is easy to use, but it is just as easy to set up. No specific skills are required, but its usefulness in our work is immediately apparent. Colors are very helpful in creating a clear interface and providing a very precise overview of the tasks to be performed.
Read full review
Excellent features and concept, simple implementation, but the software is not very clear in training new users and communicating features. The occasional unexplained crash or freeze is not handled gracefully by the desktop software, requiring either the user or tech support to manually restart.
Read full review
Support Rating
No answers on this topic
I've been able to find answers to any questions I have in the support documents. You can explore key features and view ideas and best practices for getting organized with Todoist. You can also fill out a support form to submit a request for customized help if you run into anything not covered in the support documents.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Our organization chose MS Planner because it is an included tool in the MS Suite, and since we are unfortunately replacing our current and much better project management tool due to a consolidation of the tech stack. However, it doesn't appear that any of the teams using the current program intend to use MS Planner due to its poor functionality. We will likely be pivoting to Jira instead.
Read full review
Todoist is more focused on its goal than Google Keeps and is far more intuitive to use. For example, with just a click we see immediately that Todoist provides a way to distill tasks so that we only see what's immediately pertinent to us, via the Filters (which can be customized and set to various priority levels). Also, Todoist's project board is something Google Keep doesn't even offer, it really can't even compete with Todoist simply because Todoist does so much more and was obviously designed with the business professional in mind.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Saved over $1000 each year by not having to purchase a third party tool for our content planning
  • Not sure that I can provide a hard number to this, but having the oversight to see when something is coming due and making sure everything gets executed in time
Read full review
  • A good project management tool for daily completing/recycling my customers' project line items--time to value.
  • Incomplete items stay on the list where I can see them and reschedule easily if needed--time to value.
  • Built-in completion metrics for reviewing project completion success--time to value, and indirectly, customer satisfaction.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Todoist Screenshots

Screenshot of Todoist's tasks, projects, and deadlines tracking.Screenshot of the task assignment interface.Screenshot of Todoist's project layouts, which allow users to switch between board, calendar or list to track progress and deliver projects on time.Screenshot of the task grouping and filtering feature. This can be done by personal and/or team projects to separate work and life, or to get an overview of both.Screenshot of Screenshot of the project folder organizing feature, used to organize projects by client, department, initiative, or goals.