A Todoist alternative that schedules your tasks
Todoist is a great list. The catch is that a list still leaves the when up to you. ClaroCal takes your tasks and puts them on your actual calendar.
Why people look for a Todoist alternative
Todoist is one of the best to-do list apps ever made, and that’s not faint praise. Capture is fast, natural-language input is excellent, it runs on everything, and the free plan is genuinely usable. Most people who leave aren’t unhappy with Todoist as a list.
They leave because a list answers what to do but not when. You can have a perfectly organized Todoist and still stare at it at 9am with no idea what to actually start. The tasks pile up, you re-sort them, and the day gets away from you.
That’s the difference between a task manager and a planner. ClaroCal is the planner side of that.
What Todoist is genuinely good at
Capture and organization. Todoist’s natural-language entry (type “email Sam Friday 3pm” and it just works) is still best in class. Projects, labels, filters, and reminders are mature, the apps are everywhere, and Pro is cheap at $5 a month billed annually. If your problem is collecting and sorting tasks, Todoist is hard to beat.
ClaroCal isn’t trying to replace that. Plenty of people keep a list app and add a planner on top.
Where ClaroCal is different
ClaroCal takes tasks and decides when, by placing them on your real calendar around the meetings you already have. Connect Google Calendar, add what you need to do, and ClaroCal drafts the day. You open it to a today view that tells you what to start now, not a project list to interpret.
The free plan syncs with Google Calendar hourly. Basic is $7.99 a month, or $59.88 for the year (about $5 a month), with 15-minute sync and a 14-day trial. It’s a bit more than Todoist Pro, because it’s doing a different job: scheduling, not just listing.
See the full ClaroCal vs Todoist comparison, or the best time blocking apps guide if you’re still weighing the category.
The honest trade-offs
ClaroCal is a planner, not a full task manager. It doesn’t have Todoist’s depth of projects, labels, filters, or its huge integration list, and it’s built around Google Calendar specifically. If you mostly need a powerful, organized list across every device, Todoist is the better and cheaper tool, and you should keep it.
But if your real problem is that the list never turns into a plan, that’s exactly the part ClaroCal does. The two can also work side by side.
| ClaroCal | Todoist | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free, then $7.99/mo | Free, then $5/mo (Pro, billed yearly) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Schedules tasks onto a calendar | Yes, auto-drafted | No, it's a list |
| Builds a daily plan for you | Yes | No, you decide when |
| Projects, labels, filters | No | Yes, deep |
| Two-way Google Calendar sync | Yes | Calendar integration, not auto-scheduling |
| Best fit | Turning tasks into a planned day | Capturing and organizing tasks |
What's good
- Actually schedules your tasks instead of just listing them
- Drafts a daily plan around your real calendar
- Two-way Google Calendar sync
- Free tier you can stay on
What's not
- Not a full task manager (no deep projects, labels, filters)
- Costs a bit more than Todoist Pro
- Fewer integrations than Todoist
- Built around Google Calendar only
The verdict
If you just need the best place to capture and organize tasks, stay on Todoist. It's excellent and cheap at that job.
If your list keeps growing but never becomes a plan, that's the gap ClaroCal fills. Try it free, keep Todoist if you like, and let ClaroCal turn the list into a scheduled day.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free Todoist alternative?
Is ClaroCal cheaper than Todoist?
Can ClaroCal replace Todoist?
Does ClaroCal auto-schedule tasks like a calendar?
Ready to clear your mind?
Connect Google Calendar, add your tasks, and let Claro draft your day. Free plan, no card required.
Last reviewed June 2026.