Todoist vs Trello

2024. Todoist adds team workspaces to its task manager



Todoist, despite facing challenges in gaining traction as a project management tool within professional settings, is not relenting and is introducing a new approach to task management in the workplace. While competitors like Asana, Monday, and Atlassian have dominated the realm of sophisticated task tracking and project management services, Todoist is forging ahead with the launch of team workspaces, reminiscent of Notion's workspaces. These team workspaces operate similarly to Notion's concept, where upon joining a company, employees are automatically integrated into the company's workspace, accessing all existing content associated with it. For existing Todoist users, this new workspace functions as a separate entity alongside their personal space, distinctly housing team-related tasks and projects. Within these team workspaces, projects resemble Slack channels, categorized as either public or private, with the latter accessible only to specific employees. Additionally, projects can be organized into folders for better management. Furthermore, within each project, users can engage in various team-oriented functionalities already available in Todoist, such as task commenting, file attachment, and tracking team activity streams by project or team member.


2021. Trello is redesigning its project management platform for a remote work future



Productivity app Trello, known for its virtual whiteboard-style platform designed for project organization and management, has unveiled a significant redesign and introduced new features to assist businesses in managing third-party integrations. The platform's visual elements, including the logo and illustrations displayed on its website and apps, have undergone a revamp. Moreover, Trello now offers enhanced customization options for cards and alternative ways to view workloads, expanding beyond the traditional whiteboard column view. The introduction of mirror cards and link cards aims to simplify the management of other applications and services within Trello. Additionally, Trello has introduced five new board views, deviating from its iconic column layout that has gained widespread popularity.


2019. Todoist introduced task sections and imroved task page


Task lists in Todoist have evolved beyond a never-ending series of checkboxes. Now, you have the ability to create sections within your projects. This enables you to seamlessly move tasks from one section to another and conveniently collapse sections that are not currently needed. Labels in Todoist have undergone an update as well, now organized into two categories: personal labels and shared labels with your co-workers. Moreover, Todoist has introduced a new task view on both desktop and mobile platforms, offering a centralized location for all task-related actions. From this view, you can modify due dates and priority levels, access comments, add labels, and perform other relevant tasks. Furthermore, this enhanced view provides a comprehensive overview of all the subtasks associated with a specific task.


2018. Trello acquired business process automation tool Butler



Trello, the collaborative tool under the ownership of Atlassian, has recently made an acquisition of Butler, a lightweight business process automation tool. With the integration of Butler, Trello gains the capability of automation, enabling users to streamline complex tasks through a series of automated commands. Over time, teams have recognized the value of automating processes on Trello boards using the Butler Power-Up, allowing them to allocate more time to essential responsibilities and enhance overall productivity. Butler empowers teams to systematize business rules and procedures, transforming a ten-step process into a single-click automation. This signifies that Trello transcends its static organizational role and ventures into the realm of agile business process automation.


2018. Trello gets a newsfeed and improved notifications



The project management service Trello, which is owned by Atlassian, is undergoing a makeover. Trello is renowned for its cards and boards, but this simplicity often led power users to sift through numerous boards to determine their next focus. To address this, Trello is introducing a personalized newsfeed that will showcase activity from your Trello teams. The newsfeed will include sections like "Up Next" and "Highlights," providing a comprehensive overview of the ongoing developments within your projects. Furthermore, Trello is introducing enhanced notifications. Users will now have the ability to modify due dates and disable notifications for specific cards directly from the notifications interface. Additionally, users can mark alerts as "read" or "unread" to manage their notification status effectively.


2017. Trello comes to the desktop, gets Stride integration



Popular project management tool Trello, which was recently acquired by Atlassian, has introduced desktop applications for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Previously, Trello was exclusively available as a web-based platform. With the new desktop apps, Trello users can enjoy all the familiar features they are accustomed to using in the browser, along with the added convenience of native desktop notifications. Furthermore, the desktop apps offer the flexibility to add cards from any application using a variety of keyboard shortcuts, allowing users to stay focused without the distraction of navigating to other websites like Facebook. If you are using an Apple laptop equipped with the Touch Bar, you can also take advantage of its capabilities to effortlessly create new cards and open boards in separate windows with a single tap. In line with Atlassian's recent launch of Stride, a competitor to Slack, it is unsurprising that Trello now integrates with Stride as well. This integration enables users to initiate Stride audio and video conferences directly from within Trello, facilitating instant conference calls with all Trello board members without the need to switch between different applications.


2017. Todoist launched integration with Google Calendar



Task manager Todoist is introducing a comprehensive two-way integration with Google Calendar. Once you connect your Todoist account with Google Calendar, any tasks with due dates will seamlessly appear in your calendar. If you have specified a particular time for a task, it will be displayed as an event in your calendar. For recurring tasks, multiple events will be created accordingly. Moreover, you can effortlessly click on your calendar events to make edits, rearrange them, and all the changes will be synchronized back to Todoist. This integration provides you with a convenient calendar view of your tasks, directly within your calendar. It also serves as an effective means for others to contribute to your calendar through shared projects, enabling them to add items and collaborate seamlessly.


2017. Atlassian acquired Trello



Atlassian, the renowned software company, has made a significant acquisition by purchasing the project management service Trello for a whopping $425 million. Similar to its approach with previous acquisitions, Atlassian intends to maintain the Trello service and brand, ensuring that existing users will not experience immediate changes. By acquiring Trello, Atlassian gains access to one of the rapidly growing project management services, boasting approximately 19 million users. Trello enhances productivity for both individuals and teams by providing a comprehensive view of all projects within a single glance. Assigning projects is simple—just place them in the respective person's or team's list, and upon completion, drag them to the "completed" list. Each task, referred to as a "card," allows for comments and the addition of links. Trello is compatible with multiple devices and facilitates file uploads from platforms such as Dropbox or Google Drive.


2016. Todoist applied machine learning to predict your task due dates



The popular task management tool Todoist has introduced machine learning capabilities to help users effectively reschedule tasks and balance their workload. A new "Reschedule" button now appears alongside the overdue tasks section. By leveraging various data points, the service provides intelligent suggestions for new due dates for these overdue tasks. This functionality extends to unscheduled tasks as well. Todoist learns from your habits and patterns. For recurring tasks, such as errands, Todoist remembers your typical completion times and assigns them to the appropriate day. Additionally, if you have a substantial number of upcoming tasks, Todoist ensures an even distribution, enabling you to accomplish your tasks efficiently. Moreover, Todoist recognizes when you pause your work or stop completing tasks, preventing it from suggesting rescheduling overdue tasks to the current day if it's already late.


2016. Trello makes its Power-Ups available to free users



The project management service Trello has expanded access to its Power-Ups feature, making it available to all users, including those on the free tier. Previously, only paying users had access to this functionality, which includes integrations with various products such as SurveyMonkey, join.me, Github, and Slack, among others. Free users were limited to three basic Power-Ups: Calendar for viewing Trello's calendar, Card Aging for gradually fading out cards as they age, and Voting for adding voting options to cards. Additionally, Trello is introducing integrations with Intercom, Github Enterprise, and Screenful. Moreover, Trello is launching two new Power-Ups of its own. The first is custom fields, enabling users to create new data fields and visual cues for their cards. The second is Card Repeater, allowing users to set intervals for recurring tasks. For instance, with Card Repeater, users can automatically generate copies of specific cards for tasks that repeat periodically, such as expense report due dates. Currently, this feature is in public beta, and admins need to request access to it.