Todoist Alternatives for UK Sole Traders 2026: The Best Task Managers for One-Person Businesses

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The Free Tools Do More Than This Comparison Usually Allows

If you have been googling task managers, you have mostly been shown platforms built for fifty-person software teams. Gantt charts and resource allocation marketed at one-person businesses are almost always overkill.

What a sole trader needs is narrower: capture a thought fast, set a reminder, make it repeat, and have it on both your phone and laptop without thinking about it.

Reminders are usually the thing that decides it, and two claims about them are commonly wrong.

Google Tasks does send mobile notifications. It is routinely written off as a capture layer that will not ping you. On Android the Tasks app delivers notifications directly; on iPhone they come through Tasks or Google Calendar. There are real quirks, covered below, but “no reminders on mobile” is not one of them.

TickTick’s free plan includes reminders. Todoist’s does not. Reminders are a Todoist Pro feature, and that is the single most common reason a sole trader ends up paying £45 a year. TickTick gives you two per task for nothing.

So the honest shape of this comparison is that the free options are more capable than the usual write-up suggests, and the paid gap is smaller than usually claimed. Details below.

What to Look For

These are task managers, not project management tools, and the distinction matters.

• Task managers handle to-do lists, reminders, recurring tasks, simple priorities
• Project management tools — Asana, monday.com, ClickUp — handle multi-person workflows, dependencies, timelines

As a sole trader you want the former. You will pay for capabilities you never open otherwise.

Judged on five things: capture speed, natural-language input, recurring task handling, cross-device sync, and honest cost.

1. Microsoft To Do — Best Free Option in the Microsoft Ecosystem

Free · Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web

If you already use Microsoft 365 for Outlook or Word — many UK sole traders do — this is the obvious free start. Due dates sync with Outlook, so anything you flag in your inbox can land in your task list.

What it does well

• Fast, clean capture
• My Day view encourages a focused daily list
• Native connections to Outlook, Teams and Planner
• Time-based reminders, included free
• Steps (subtasks) and customisable recurrence — daily, weekly, monthly
• Free with no project cap

Where it stops

• Natural-language input is basic. “Tomorrow at 3pm” works; complex recurrences do not
• Priority is binary — Important or Normal, which feeds an Important smart list. No multi-level priority, no tags, no custom filters
• Recurrence is customisable but not expressive

Verdict: for a daily list plus reminders, this costs nothing and does the job — particularly if Outlook is your email. You will feel the ceiling when you want labels or filters. Our Todoist against Microsoft To Do comparison goes deeper on that pair.

2. Google Tasks — Best Free Option in Gmail

Free · iOS, Android, Web, inside Gmail and Google Calendar

Google Tasks lives in the Gmail and Calendar sidebars, which makes it invisible in the best way. If you are in those tools all day, tasks appear without a context switch.

What it does well

• Zero learning curve
• Subtasks supported
• Dated tasks appear in Google Calendar
• It does notify you on mobile — directly on Android, via Tasks or Calendar on iPhone
• Free, no limits

Where it stops, correctly stated

The usual criticism is that it sends no reminders. It does. The real quirks are more specific:

• Set a date but no time and the notification arrives at 9am, not when you might expect
• On iPhone, if both Tasks and Calendar are installed, only one may notify you — so a missed alert is often a dual-app problem rather than an absent feature
• On Android, delayed alerts usually mean Tasks needs the Alarms & Reminders permission
• Recurring options are limited — do not expect “first Monday of every month”
• No priorities, labels or filters
• Minimal to the point of austere

Verdict: better than its reputation. If Gmail is your base and your recurrence needs are simple, this is a genuinely workable free option. Complex repeats are where it runs out.

3. Apple Reminders — Best Free Option on Apple Devices

Free · iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch

Reminders has quietly become capable. Siri capture is the fastest input in this entire list — “remind me to send the invoice on Friday at 10am” and it is done.

What it does well

• Siri capture, which nothing here matches for speed
• Location-based reminders
• Good recurring options
• Lists, tags and smart lists
• Free on every Apple device

Where it stops

• No Windows or Android app. If you mix devices this rules it out
• Web access through iCloud.com is clunky
• Less depth than Todoist on filtering and project views

Verdict: excellent and free if you are entirely inside Apple. A single Windows PC in the mix kills it.

4. Todoist — The Paid Benchmark

Free: 5 personal + 5 team projects · Pro: $60/year · Business: $96/user/year

The most polished task manager available, and it earns the comparison. Natural-language input is leagues ahead — “every last Friday of the month at 5pm” parses correctly first time.

What it does well

• Best-in-class natural-language date and recurrence parsing
• Capture via web, app, browser extension and email forwarding
• Filters, labels and priorities that help rather than clutter
• The broadest integration ecosystem here — Google Calendar, Outlook, Slack, Zapier, Make

Where it stops

• Reminders are Pro-only. This is the real upgrade trigger, not the project count
• The free plan gives 5 personal and 5 team projects — more than the “5 projects” usually quoted, though five is what binds for a solo user filling personal ones
• Pro does not lift team projects — they stay at 5, the same as free
• Some features are built for teams rather than solo users

The upgrade case: you need Pro when you rely on reminder notifications, or when five personal projects forces you to merge things that should stay separate. Pro is not priced per user — $60 a year is a single figure, about £45, or £3.76 a month.

Verdict: the best pure task manager. Not cheap next to free, not expensive next to a business. Our Todoist pricing guide has every tier, and running a small UK business on Todoist covers the setup.

5. TickTick — Cheaper, But Not By Much

Free tier · Premium: $49.99/year

TickTick is pitched as a Todoist rival at a fraction of the price. It is cheaper. The fraction is smaller than usually claimed.

Premium is $49.99 a year — about £37.59, or £3.13 a month. Against Todoist Pro’s $60, that is 17% less, not “roughly half”. The difference is £7.52 a year, or 63p a month.

What it does well

• Natural-language input nearly as good as Todoist’s
• Its free plan includes reminders — two per task, where Todoist’s free plan has none
• Habit tracking, with 5 habits on free and 299 on Premium
• Built-in Pomodoro timer
• Calendar views

Where it stops

• The full calendar views are Premium. The free plan has a basic version only, so “calendar built in, not an add-on” overstates it — Todoist gates calendar layout to Pro, TickTick gates the full views to Premium
• Free has hard caps: 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, 2 reminders per task, 1 attachment a day
• Busier interface — takes longer to settle into
• Smaller integration ecosystem
• Some Android sync quirks reported

The upgrade case: weaker than it sounds, because its free plan already does reminders. If free covers you, stay there.

Verdict: the best value paid option, by 63p a month. Start on its free tier — for a lot of sole traders that is the whole answer.

What They Actually Cost

Tool	Free	Paid	Paid ~GBP/year
Microsoft To Do	Everything	—	£0
Google Tasks	Everything	—	£0
Apple Reminders	Everything	—	£0
TickTick	Capped, with reminders	Premium $49.99/yr	£37.59
Todoist	Capped, no reminders	Pro $60/yr	£45.11
Todoist Business	—	$96/user/yr	£72.18 per user

Todoist and TickTick both publish in US dollars. Sterling converts at roughly £1 = $1.33, the rate in late October 2026, and will move.

Note Todoist raised prices on 10 December 2025 — Pro from $48 to $60 a year. If you have been subscribed continuously since before June 2022, or bought through the App Store, you may be on a legacy rate worth protecting.

The Reminder Question Decides Most of This

Strip everything else away and the decision tree is short.

If you need reliable mobile reminders and want to pay nothing: Microsoft To Do, Apple Reminders and TickTick free all do it. Google Tasks does too, with the 9am default and iPhone dual-app quirk to watch.

Todoist free is the one that will not remind you. It is otherwise the best-designed app here, which is why people build their whole system in it and then discover that nothing tells them about the VAT deadline they carefully set up.

So “upgrade when you hit the project cap” is the wrong trigger. Upgrade when you need to be told, or move to a free tool that tells you.

MTD and Deadline Reminders

If you have seen suggestions to manage Making Tax Digital in a project management platform, ignore them. MTD needs compatible accounting software — QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Xero. A task manager’s job is to remind you to do the thing.

Which is more valuable than it was, because the deadlines multiplied.

MTD for Income Tax has applied since 6 April 2026 to sole traders and landlords with more than £50,000 of qualifying income, measured on gross income before expenses — falling to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.

In scope you file quarterly updates by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, then a Final Declaration by 31 January. The quarterly filings are in addition to the year-end submission, not a replacement. That is five fixed deadlines a year where there used to be one, and it does not apply to limited companies.

Those five dates are standard, so set them as recurring tasks today whichever tool you pick — and set a reminder on each, which is exactly the capability Todoist’s free plan withholds. Our guide to MTD for VAT against MTD for Income Tax covers which regime catches you, and our FreeAgent review covers software that actually files — free, incidentally, with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Mettle business accounts.

If You Are VAT Registered, the Price Gap Vanishes

Worth a paragraph because it changes the recommendation.

Todoist charges UK customers VAT unless you supply a VAT ID. Supply one and the invoice is issued under the reverse charge with no VAT — but only if you pay in GBP, not USD. Pounds are a supported Todoist checkout currency.

Strip 20% from £45.11 and Todoist Pro costs about £37.59 — which is, to the penny, TickTick Premium’s price. For a VAT-registered sole trader paying in pounds with a VAT number on file, the two cost the same, and the pricing argument stops existing.

For Pro the exemption does not apply automatically; add your details in Settings and contact Todoist. If you are below the VAT threshold or on the flat rate scheme, none of this helps.

Security and Client Data

All five use industry-standard encryption. The sensible discipline is unchanged: do not put client personal data, National Insurance numbers or financial details in a task manager. “Call Mrs Patel re: overdue invoice” is fine. Her address and account number are not.

If you do hold client personal data anywhere, you are a controller under UK GDPR, with the obligations that follow — including, since 19 June 2026, an accessible complaints procedure with acknowledgement within 30 days. Keeping personal data out of your task list is the easy way to keep the task list outside that scope.

FAQ

Is Todoist free for UK sole traders?

Yes — 5 personal and 5 team projects, unlimited tasks within them, and 3 custom filters. No reminders, which is the limit that matters. Pro is $60 a year, about £45.

Does Google Tasks send reminders?

Yes. Directly on Android, and via Tasks or Calendar on iPhone. Set a time as well as a date, or the notification arrives at 9am. On iPhone, if both apps are installed only one may notify.

Which free tool is best if I use Gmail?

Google Tasks, and more confidently than usually advised now that the reminder question is settled. Complex recurrence is where it struggles.

Which free tool has the best reminders?

Apple Reminders if you are all-Apple — Siri capture plus location-based reminders is hard to beat. TickTick free if you mix devices and want habits too.

Is TickTick half the price of Todoist?

No. $49.99 against $60 — 17% less, about £7.50 a year. At 63p a month, choose on fit rather than price.

Do I need a project management tool?

Almost certainly not. Asana, monday.com and ClickUp are built for teams sharing work. A sole trader needs a task manager — simpler, faster, usually cheaper.

When should I actually pay?

When you need reminders and your current tool will not give them, or when a project cap forces you to merge things that should stay separate. Not before.

Will I be charged VAT?

On Todoist, yes, unless you supply a VAT ID and pay in pounds — then it is reverse-charged. TickTick’s position I could not verify.

The Honest Recommendation

For most UK sole traders a free tool is genuinely enough, and the free options are stronger than this comparison is usually allowed to say.

• iPhone and Mac only: Apple Reminders. Siri capture is the fastest thing here
• Microsoft 365 and Outlook: Microsoft To Do
• Gmail: Google Tasks — it does remind you, set a time as well as a date
• Mixed devices, want reminders and habits for nothing: TickTick free

Pay when you need to be told something and your tool will not tell you. That is the real trigger, and it is why Todoist’s free plan is the one most likely to push you to upgrade despite being the best-designed app in the list.

When that moment comes, Todoist Pro at about £45 a year is the recommendation — the most polished, best-thought-out task manager available. TickTick Premium at about £38 does nearly the same for 63p a month less, so pick on which interface you prefer rather than on cost. And if you are VAT registered, claim the reverse charge and they cost the same.

Whatever you choose, the tool is only as good as the habit. A free app you open every morning will serve the business better than a paid one you open twice a month. Our Todoist against TickTick comparison goes deeper on that pair if you are weighing the two paid options.

Pricing and features correct at time of writing. Todoist and TickTick publish in US dollars; sterling figures are illustrative conversions at $1.33 and will move with the exchange rate. Todoist raised prices on 10 December 2025 — confirm current details and your billing currency before purchasing. This article is general information about UK tax and data protection obligations, not tax or legal advice; confirm your own MTD position and filing deadlines with HMRC or a qualified adviser.