TodoPilot vs Todoist vs Microsoft To Do: An Honest Comparison
If you’re searching for a Todoist alternative, you’ve probably already noticed the pattern: every comparison post crowns its own product the winner in every category. We’d rather not do that. Todoist is a genuinely good app. So is Microsoft To Do. TodoPilot — our AI todo list app, launching soon on iOS and Android — wins in some places and loses in others. Here’s where, and why.
One thing up front, because honesty cuts both ways: TodoPilot is pre-launch. You can’t download it from a store today. You can subscribe at todopilot.app and we’ll email you the day it ships. Todoist and Microsoft To Do, by contrast, are mature products you can install in the next two minutes. If you need something right now and can’t wait, that alone may decide it.
What Todoist does well
Todoist has been around since 2007, and it shows in the best way. The ecosystem is enormous: browser extensions, email plugins, calendar sync, integrations with practically everything that has an API. The natural-language quick add (“pay rent every 1st”) is still the benchmark. And Todoist has been investing in AI too — its AI Scheduler can suggest times for your tasks, which is a real step beyond static lists.
The trade-off is surface area. Todoist offers projects, sections, sub-tasks, labels, filters, custom filter queries, karma scores, and four priority levels. Power users build elaborate systems out of these pieces. Plenty of users, though, end up maintaining the system instead of doing the tasks in it. If you’ve ever spent a Sunday evening reorganizing your Todoist filters, you know the feeling.
What Microsoft To Do does well
Microsoft To Do is free. Completely — no premium tier, no feature gates. If you live inside Microsoft 365, it’s a quiet superpower: flagged Outlook emails appear as tasks, Planner assignments flow in, and “My Day” gives you a fresh, deliberately empty slate each morning. That daily reset is one of the more thoughtful ideas in the category, and Microsoft deserves credit for it.
Where it’s thinner: My Day starts empty every day, and filling it is on you. There’s no engine watching your deadlines or noticing that you’ve now skipped “renew passport” eleven days running. To Do records what you tell it. It doesn’t form an opinion.
Where TodoPilot fits
TodoPilot starts from a different premise: the hard part of a todo list isn’t capturing tasks, it’s deciding what’s next. So instead of adding more organizational knobs, we built a smaller surface over a smarter engine.
Three layers cover almost everything: lists that nest (Work → Q2 launch), tags that cross-cut (#follow-up, #blocker), and three priority levels. No projects-inside-projects-inside-filters.
Underneath, AI prioritization does the deciding. TodoPilot learns from what you postpone and what you flag P1, then reorders your day accordingly. Flagged a client follow-up as P1, deadline in three days, haven’t touched it in a week? It goes to the top — before it’s late, not after. We’ve written a full explainer on how the AI prioritization actually works — it’s deliberately not a black box. Every suggestion can be overridden with a tap, and the model updates when you do.
A few other things worth knowing: a ⌘K command palette puts every action one keystroke away; deadline foresight bubbles tasks up before they’re late; your data exports to Markdown, JSON, or CSV anytime; and there are no ads. We’re also an EU company with a privacy-first stance baked in from day one.
The comparison table
| TodoPilot | Todoist | Microsoft To Do | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (unlimited tasks, 3 lists); Plus $2.99/mo | Free tier; Pro from ~$4–5/mo | Free |
| AI prioritization | Learns from postponement + P1 flags, reorders your day, overridable | AI Scheduler suggests times for tasks | None |
| Organization model | Nesting lists + cross-cutting tags + 3 priorities | Projects, sections, labels, filters, 4 priorities | Lists, My Day, steps |
| Deadline handling | Foresight — tasks bubble up before they’re late | Reminders + scheduling | Reminders + due dates |
| Command palette | Yes (⌘K) | Quick add with natural language | No |
| Data export | Markdown, JSON, CSV — anytime | CSV per project | Limited |
| Integrations | Focused, minimal | Extensive ecosystem | Deep Microsoft 365 |
| Ads | Never | No | No |
| Availability | iOS + Android, launching soon | Everywhere, today | Everywhere, today |
| Company / jurisdiction | DJUMP, MB — Klaipėda, Lithuania (EU, GDPR) | Doist (international) | Microsoft (US) |
So which is the best todo app?
It depends on what failure mode you’re trying to escape.
If your problem is integration — tasks arriving from email, Slack, calendars, fifteen tools — Todoist’s ecosystem is hard to beat, and its AI Scheduler is maturing. If your problem is cost and you’re already in Microsoft 365, To Do is free and frictionless. Don’t let anyone talk you out of free software that already works for you.
But if your problem is deciding — if your list is complete and current and you still open it each morning unsure where to start, or you’ve caught yourself gardening your productivity system instead of using it — that’s the gap TodoPilot was built for. Fewer knobs. An engine that watches deadlines and your own postponement habits, and tells you what’s next. And the humility to let you overrule it with a tap.
We’d rather you pick the right tool than pick ours for the wrong reasons. If TodoPilot sounds like your tool, we’ll happily tell you the moment it’s live.
FAQ
Is TodoPilot a good Todoist alternative?
For people who want decisions instead of more organizational options, yes. TodoPilot trades Todoist’s extensive filters and integrations for AI prioritization that learns from your behavior and reorders your day. If you depend on a large integration ecosystem, Todoist remains the stronger fit.
How much does TodoPilot cost compared to Todoist and Microsoft To Do?
TodoPilot’s free plan includes unlimited tasks and up to 3 lists. TodoPilot Plus is $2.99/month for unlimited lists, AI prioritization, deadline analytics, and recurring tasks. Todoist’s paid plan typically costs more; Microsoft To Do is entirely free.
When can I download TodoPilot?
Soon, on both iOS and Android. We’re pre-launch, so it isn’t in the app stores yet — subscribe at todopilot.app and we’ll email you the day each store goes live. Nothing else.
Want to know the moment TodoPilot ships? Subscribe at todopilot.app — one email at launch, nothing else.