Todoist vs TickTick for UK Small Business: Which Task Manager Is Worth Your Money?
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The Price Gap Is £7.50 a Year
Todoist and TickTick are both good, and the usual verdict is that TickTick wins on value — more features, less money. The direction is right. The size of it is not.
Todoist Pro is $60 a year. TickTick Premium is $49.99 a year. About £45 against £38 at the late-October 2026 rate of roughly £1 = $1.33. The difference is £7.50 a year, or 63p a month.
At that gap, “more features per pound” stops being a useful tiebreaker. Nobody chooses a task manager they will use every day over 63p a month. Which means the real decision is the one this comparison usually treats as secondary: which app you will still be using in a year.
There is one genuine free-tier difference that matters more than either price, and one tax detail worth 20% of your Todoist bill. Both below.
What You Actually Pay
| Todoist | TickTick | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Beginner | Free |
| Paid, annual | Pro $60/year (~£45) | Premium $49.99/year (~£38) |
| Paid, monthly | $7 (~£5.26) | $4.99 (~£3.75) |
| Team tier | Business $96/user/year (~£72) | None documented |
| Priced per user? | Pro: no. Business: yes | Premium: no |
Two corrections to the figures as usually given.
Todoist Pro is not priced per user — it is an individual plan, so $60 is a single annual figure rather than something to multiply. Todoist’s own documentation is explicit about this. Business is per user.
TickTick does not appear to have a separate team plan. Collaboration happens inside Premium, which raises the shared-member limit from 2 to 29. Neither source I checked documents a team or business tier, so if you were told TickTick has “a separate plan for teams”, treat that as unverified.
Note that Todoist’s prices rose on 10 December 2025 — Pro from $48 to $60 a year, Business from $72 to $96 per user. If you have been on Pro continuously since before June 2022, or subscribed through the App Store, you may still be on a legacy rate. Our Todoist pricing guide covers that in full.
The Free Tiers, Which Is Where the Real Difference Sits
This is the comparison most articles skip, and it matters more than the £7.50.
| Todoist Beginner | TickTick Free | |
|---|---|---|
| Projects / lists | 5 personal + 5 team | 9 lists |
| Tasks | Unlimited | 99 per list |
| Reminders | None | 2 per task |
| Filters / views | 3 filter views | List and Kanban views |
| Attachments | 5 MB uploads | 1 per day |
| Collaborators | — | 2 members |
| Habits | None | 5 |
| Activity history | 7 days | — |
The line that decides it for a lot of sole traders: TickTick’s free plan includes task reminders. Todoist’s does not, at any volume.
Reminders are the single most common reason people upgrade Todoist to Pro. If a reliable nudge before a deadline is what you actually need, TickTick does it for nothing and Todoist charges £45 a year. That is a far more consequential difference than the paid-tier price gap, and it goes unmentioned in most comparisons.
The trade-off is TickTick’s harder ceilings — 9 lists and 99 tasks per list are real limits, where Todoist’s free plan has unlimited tasks within its 5+5 projects. Todoist’s structure is looser; TickTick’s is more capable but more tightly capped.
Core Features Compared
Task Input
Todoist’s natural-language parsing is the best in the category. Type “every quarter starting 7 February” and it understands and sets the recurrence. For capturing a task in four seconds without touching a menu, nothing here matches it.
TickTick’s natural-language input is good, not quite as fluid. Where it pulls ahead is that a task can carry a time and appear on a built-in calendar without leaving the app.
Calendar View — Both Gate It
Worth correcting, because this is usually presented as a straightforward TickTick win.
On TickTick, the full calendar views are Premium — the free plan has only a basic version. On Todoist, calendar layout is a Pro feature. So the honest comparison is Premium against Pro, not “TickTick has a calendar and Todoist is catching up.”
Within the paid tiers, TickTick’s calendar is the more mature implementation and Todoist’s is newer. If tasks and calendar in one view is the point, TickTick does it better — you just pay for it either way.
Habit Tracking
TickTick includes habits, and the free plan allows 5 (Premium raises it to 299). Todoist has nothing equivalent natively.
For a sole trader building business routines — proposals every Monday, finances every Friday, chasing invoices weekly — five habits on a free plan is genuinely useful rather than a gimmick.
Pomodoro Timer
TickTick has one built in; Todoist does not. I could not confirm from TickTick’s documentation whether the Pomodoro timer is free or Premium, so check it in the app if that is your reason for choosing.
Integrations
This is where Todoist is clearly ahead. Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, Make, IFTTT and a long tail beyond. If you run workflows — a task created from an incoming email or a form submission — Todoist is the more reliable choice and the ecosystem is far more mature.
TickTick connects to Google Calendar and a handful of others. The ecosystem is narrower.
Collaboration
For a sole trader, skip this section. For a team, the numbers matter and they are lopsided.
Todoist Pro gives you only 5 active team projects — exactly the same as the free plan. Pro lifts personal projects from 5 to 300 and does nothing for shared ones. Team projects at scale means Business at $96 per user per year, which for three people is about £217 a year.
TickTick Premium raises shared members from 2 to 29 within a single $49.99 subscription, with team projects handled inside Premium rather than a separate tier.
On the face of it that is a very large gap in TickTick’s favour for small teams. One caveat I could not resolve: whether each collaborator needs their own Premium subscription, or whether one subscription covers sharing with 29 people. That changes the arithmetic completely, so test it with a second account before committing a team.
What Todoist Business clearly offers is structure — roles (admin, member, guest), restricted projects, folders, team filters, centralised billing and admin controls. TickTick’s collaboration is functional but not built around permissions in the same way. For three or more people needing differentiated access, Todoist Business is the more appropriate product, and it costs accordingly.
Reliability and Whether You Will Stick With It
Given a 63p-a-month price difference, this is the actual decision.
Todoist’s restraint is the feature. It does not try to do everything, and people who have cycled through five task apps often land on it because it gets out of the way. Nearly two decades of operation and a mature, stable product count for something when you are choosing where to put every commitment you have.
TickTick’s feature richness is both its pitch and its risk. More features means more surface area, and for someone who wants a dependable place to put tasks, the habit tracker and Pomodoro timer can read as clutter.
That is not a knock on TickTick — for the right person those features are the reason to choose it. It is an observation that the app with the most features is not always the one that sticks, and an abandoned subscription costs more than either price.
Both have free plans. Use them for a fortnight each before paying anything.
UK Specifics
VAT: Todoist Charges It Unless You Tell It Not To
This is the detail worth real money, and the usual claim gets it wrong. It is often said that neither app charges VAT separately for UK users as a rule. For Todoist that is not correct.
Per Todoist’s own documentation, UK customers are charged VAT unless they supply a VAT ID. Supply one and the invoice is issued under the reverse charge with no VAT charged.
And the exemption only applies to payments in GBP (or EUR, DKK, SEK, PLN or CZK) — not USD. GBP is a supported Todoist checkout currency, so a VAT-registered UK business should be paying in pounds, not relying on their card to convert dollars.
For Pro the change does not apply automatically; you add your VAT details in Settings and then contact Todoist. For Business, admins do it via Settings → Billing. Bought through Apple or Google? VAT requests go to that vendor.
If you are below the VAT threshold or on the flat rate scheme, none of this helps and the inclusive price is what you pay. TickTick’s UK VAT handling I could not verify — check your first invoice.
Deadline Reminders Are the Real Use Case Now
Neither app touches HMRC or Making Tax Digital, which is outside their scope rather than a gap. But what they are both good for has become more valuable.
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 sit alongside the year-end submission rather than replacing it. That is five fixed deadlines a year where there used to be one, and it does not apply to limited companies.
Setting those five as recurring reminders is precisely what either app is for — and it is the clearest case for TickTick’s free plan, which does reminders, over Todoist’s, which does not. Our guide to MTD for VAT against MTD for Income Tax sets out which regime applies to you.
Use either alongside proper accounting software rather than instead of it — our FreeAgent review covers one option, and it is free with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Mettle business accounts.
Who Should Choose Which
Todoist if
- Integrations matter — Gmail, Slack, Teams, Zapier workflows
- You want the best natural-language task capture available
- You manage a team needing roles and permissions, and will pay Business for it
- You have abandoned task apps before and want the one with the strongest record for sticking
- You are VAT registered and will claim the reverse charge, which closes most of the price gap
TickTick if
- You want reminders without paying — its free plan has them, Todoist’s does not
- Habit tracking would genuinely change your routines
- You want tasks and calendar in one app, and will pay Premium for the full view
- You use Pomodoro, or want focused sessions tied to tasks
- You are a sole trader, so the collaboration structure matters less
FAQ
Which is cheaper?
TickTick, by about £7.50 a year. Premium is $49.99 against Todoist Pro’s $60 — roughly £38 against £45. At that gap, fit matters more than price.
Is Todoist Pro per user?
No. It is an individual plan at $60 a year. Todoist Business is per user, at $96 each.
Which has the better free plan?
Depends what you need. TickTick’s includes reminders and 5 habits, which Todoist’s does not, but caps you at 9 lists and 99 tasks per list. Todoist’s gives unlimited tasks across 5 personal and 5 team projects, with 3 filters and 7 days of history — but no reminders at all.
Does TickTick have a team plan?
Not one I could verify. Collaboration sits inside Premium, which raises shared members from 2 to 29. Whether each collaborator needs their own subscription is not documented — test it before committing a team.
Will I be charged UK VAT?
On Todoist, yes, unless you supply a VAT ID — then you get a reverse charge invoice with no VAT, but only if you pay in GBP rather than USD. TickTick’s position I could not confirm.
Does Todoist Pro fix shared project limits?
No. Pro gives 300 personal projects but still only 5 team projects, the same as free. Shared projects at scale need Business.
Do either work with Making Tax Digital?
No — they are task managers. Use them for the five MTD deadlines a year and keep accounting software for the filing.
Which should I try first?
Both free plans, a fortnight each. If reminders are what you need, TickTick free may be the whole answer.
The Verdict
Both are good, and the price argument is weaker than it is usually made. £7.50 a year is not a reason to choose a tool you will open ten times a day.
Choose TickTick if its free plan already does what you need — reminders and a few habits for nothing is a real offer, and it is the thing Todoist withholds. Paid, it gives you the better calendar and the extra tools for slightly less.
Choose Todoist if integrations, natural-language capture or team structure matter, or if you have a history of abandoning these apps and want the one with the best record for becoming a habit.
And note one coincidence worth acting on. If you are VAT registered and claim the reverse charge, the price gap disappears entirely. Todoist’s documentation indicates the Pro price is VAT-inclusive, so stripping 20% off £45.11 saves about £7.52 — against a £7.53 gap with TickTick. A VAT-registered business paying Todoist in pounds with a VAT number on file pays effectively the same as TickTick Premium, and the pricing argument stops existing.
For a team of three or more, price both carefully. Todoist Business is about £217 a year for three people and gives you proper roles and permissions. TickTick appears to allow 29 shared members inside one Premium subscription, which would be dramatically cheaper — but confirm how collaborator licensing actually works before you plan around it.
Still unsure? Start with Todoist’s free plan if you want structure and integrations, TickTick’s if you want reminders. Our Todoist pricing guide has the full tier breakdown, and Todoist against Microsoft To Do covers the other obvious free alternative.
Pricing and features correct at time of writing, published 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, not tax advice; confirm your VAT and MTD position with HMRC or a qualified adviser.