Akiflow vs Todoist: Which Gets Your Tasks Done in 2026?

Akiflow launched around 2020 with a clear mission: stop managing tasks separately from your calendar. The whole app is built around time blocking, which means you're not just making lists, you're scheduling when tasks actually happen. It pulls in everything from Slack messages to Asana tasks into one unified inbox, then you drag them onto time slots.

I was skeptical at first (another productivity app promising to fix everything?), but after a few months of using it, I get why people are obsessed. The keyboard shortcuts are ridiculously fast once you memorize them.

Todoist has been the gold standard for simple task management since 2007. The philosophy is totally different: give you a frictionless place to dump tasks, organize them with projects and labels, and get out of your way. The natural language input is still the best I've tested.

Type 'meeting with John every other Tuesday at 3pm starting next week' and it parses everything perfectly. No calendar blocking, no unified inbox pulling from other apps. Just tasks, done well.

This is where Akiflow absolutely dominates. The whole interface is your calendar plus an inbox. You drag tasks from the inbox onto time slots, and they become calendar events with durations. It connects to Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud all at once, so work and personal calendars live side by side.

The time blocking forces you to be realistic about your day. If you've got 8 tasks and only 4 hours of free time, you'll see the problem immediately. Honestly, this feature alone justifies the price if you're constantly overcommitting.

Todoist has a calendar view now, but calling it 'time blocking' would be generous. You can see tasks on dates, but there's no duration planning, no drag-to-schedule functionality. It integrates with Google Calendar via two-way sync, which works fine if you want tasks to show up as all-day events.

But if you're looking for actual time blocking where you assign tasks to specific hours, Todoist isn't built for that. You'd need to use it alongside a separate calendar app.

The unified inbox is what sets Akiflow apart. It pulls in Slack messages, Gmail emails, Asana tasks, Jira tickets, Linear issues - basically everything - and dumps them in one place. You process the inbox, deciding what needs to go on your calendar and what's just noise. If you're juggling 5+ tools daily, this is insanely valuable.

I used to have Slack, email, and Asana open in separate windows. Now I just check Akiflow's inbox and everything's there. Saves probably 30 minutes a day of context switching.

Todoist doesn't have a unified inbox concept. Instead, it offers 80+ integrations where you can send tasks TO Todoist from other apps. The Slack integration lets you turn messages into tasks, the Gmail plugin adds emails as todos.

It's more of a 'everything feeds into Todoist' model rather than 'see everything in one view.' Works fine if you're okay with Todoist being your task hub, but you're still opening Slack to read the full message, opening Gmail for the email context. Different philosophy entirely.

Task management in Akiflow is solid but not revolutionary. You create tasks, add notes, set durations, assign labels. The command bar (Cmd+K) is crazy fast for adding tasks without breaking flow.

Recurring tasks work fine. Projects exist but feel secondary to the calendar view. The focus is less on organizing tasks into elaborate folder systems and more on 'what am I doing right now and what's next.' Works great if that matches your brain, feels limiting if you love nested projects and complex hierarchies.

This is Todoist's bread and butter. Projects can nest 4 levels deep, labels organize across projects, filters create custom views based on criteria you set. The natural language processing is still unmatched - nothing else handles complex recurrence patterns as reliably.

Quick add works everywhere (global shortcut, browser extension, mobile widget), making task capture essentially instant. If you want a pure task manager that's refined over 15+ years, Todoist nails it. Just don't expect calendar features or unified inboxes.

Akiflow is expensive. $19/month billed monthly, or $228/year ($19/month equivalent). There's a 14-day free trial, but no permanently free tier. For what it does, I think it's worth it if you make decent money and your time is valuable.

The unified inbox alone probably saves me an hour daily, which at my hourly rate pays for itself in a day. But if you're a student or just starting out, that's steep. They don't offer a cheaper tier without features - it's all or nothing.

Way cheaper. Free tier gives you 5 projects and basic task management, which is enough for personal use. Pro is $4/month (annual billing) or $5/month monthly. Business tier for teams is $6/user/month.

The free version is actually usable long-term if you don't need advanced filters or unlimited projects. I used free Todoist for 2 years before upgrading. Compared to Akiflow's $228/year, Todoist Pro at $48/year is budget-friendly.

The mobile apps exist, but honestly they feel like a compromise. Time blocking on a phone screen is cramped, the keyboard shortcuts don't translate, and the unified inbox is harder to process on mobile. It works for checking your schedule or adding quick tasks, but I rarely use it for actual planning.

Desktop is where Akiflow shines. If you're mostly mobile-first in your workflow, this might not be the tool for you. Actually, scratch that - I tried forcing myself to use the mobile app more last month and it's gotten better with updates, but still not amazing.

Todoist's mobile apps are polished and fast. Quick add from widgets, share sheet integration, offline mode that actually works. The iOS app feels native (not some clunky web wrapper), Android follows Material Design properly.

Voice input works well when driving. I'd say the mobile experience is 90% as good as desktop, whereas Akiflow mobile is more like 50% of the desktop experience. If you're adding tasks on the go frequently, Todoist handles it way better.