Routines Compare / Todoist
Todoist stores the sentence you typed. Add a to-do in Routines and it drafts the prompt for getting that task done, in the background, from the title and what you have been working on today. One click loads it into chat. One terminal command runs it.
Written by the app · loaded on one click · sent by you
The difference
Auto-generation is on by default. You add the task and carry on, and the prompt fills itself in behind you.
The same thing you would type into any list. Nothing else is asked of you, and there is no form to fill in.
It reads the title and the context around it, such as yesterday's notes and what you copied today, then writes the instructions for finishing the task. You can also press Generate yourself, or turn the whole thing off in Settings.
A real prompt sits on the item, in plain text you can read, edit, copy, or replace with your own. This is the whole difference between a record of the task and a start on it.
Title in · prompt out · nothing typed twice
Then it does the work
Play loads the prompt into the chat composer with the cursor waiting. It is not sent for you.
The prompt lands in the box and stops there. You read what it is about to do, change anything you want, then send it. Nothing goes out behind your back.
routines todos run executes the prompt through the same assistant, with your connected accounts attached. Add --done and it ticks the item off when it finishes.
One keystroke away from done · not zero
Three screens
Check something off on the Watch and it is done on the Mac. Action items from your meetings arrive tagged.
One honest exception
Open a to-do on the phone and you get the title, notes, the due date, where it came from, and a Complete button. There is no prompt field, because the prompt is not part of what syncs. It is stored on your Mac, and reachable from the CLI on that Mac.
Checkmarks both ways · an honest comparison
FAQ
It depends on which half of Todoist you actually use. If you use projects, labels, filters, and shared lists, the honest answers are the other mature list managers, because Routines has none of that. If what you want is a short personal list where each item carries the instructions for finishing it, and you are on a Mac, that is what Routines does and it is the reason this page exists.
For a personal list on Apple devices, yes. You get one list across your Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch, action items lifted out of your meetings, and a prompt attached to each item that an assistant can run. As a replacement for a Todoist workspace with projects, labels, saved filters, recurring chores, and other people in it, no. Routines does not have those.
Todoist raised its prices, and a lot of the searching that followed is people pricing up the alternatives rather than people unhappy with the app. Todoist is still good software. If the price is the only thing pushing you, compare against its free Beginner plan first, since that is the cheapest way to stay.
Todoist has a free plan called Beginner at US $0, with 5 personal projects, 3 filter views, one week of activity history, 5 MB file uploads, and up to 5 people per personal project. Pro is US $7 per user each month billed monthly, or US $5 per user each month billed yearly at US $60. Business is US $10 per user each month plus local tax billed monthly, or US $8 per user each month plus tax billed yearly at US $96. Check todoist.com for the current figures before you decide.
The free Beginner plan from Todoist is the obvious first stop. Routines has a free plan too, where you bring your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or OpenRouter key and pay the model provider directly instead of paying us. Pro is a 7-day trial with no credit card, then €19 a month, or €16 a month billed yearly.
There is a free plan that runs on your own API key, and Pro at €19 a month, or €16 a month billed yearly. Pro starts with a 7-day trial and no credit card. Routines is one app, so the same subscription also covers meeting notes, dictation, clipboard history, and scheduled AI routines.
Not on a schedule, and we will not pretend otherwise. What a Routines to-do carries is a prompt: the instructions for getting that task done. Clicking play opens a chat with the prompt already loaded and the cursor in the box, so you read it and press Enter. From the terminal, routines todos run executes that prompt end to end through the same assistant, with your connected accounts attached, and can tick the item off when it finishes. It is one keystroke away from done, not zero.
Carry the work, not just the reminder. Add a to-do and Routines drafts a prompt for it in the background from the title and what you have been working on today, which you can edit or replace. That prompt can then be run against your Gmail, Calendar, Slack, and any MCP server you have connected. A Todoist task is a very good record that something needs doing. It does not do it.
No to all three. There are no repeating rules, no projects or sections, no labels, no sub-tasks, and no saved filters. A Routines to-do has text, an optional due date, an optional priority, and an optional prompt. If your week runs on a recurring chore list or a project tree, Todoist is the better tool and switching would cost you.
Yes. Your list is the same list on your Mac, your iPhone, and your Apple Watch, with a Todos tab on the phone and a home-screen widget that shows what is open. You can check something off on your wrist and it is done on your Mac. The prompt attached to a to-do is the exception: it is not in the sync payload, so it never reaches your phone.
In a SQLite file on your Mac. If you sign in, your to-dos also sync through a Routines account so your iPhone and Watch see the same list, and deleting an item removes it everywhere and keeps it gone. Prompts are the exception: they are stored only on the Mac and are never part of what syncs. Drafting one, or running it, sends it to your own model provider, the same as any chat message.
If Todoist is working, keep it. This is not a like-for-like replacement, and moving a real Todoist workspace into a flat list would lose your projects, labels, filters, and recurring tasks. The switch is worth it when your list is short and personal, you are on Apple hardware, and the friction is not remembering the task but starting it.
7-day free trial, no credit card. Action items from your meeting notes land in the same list, and every plan is on the pricing page.
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