Jira vs Todoist: which one fits your team?
Same idea, two weights. One is understood in four seconds by anybody; the other enforces a workflow and produces the reports. The step between them is usually a growth event, not a preference.
It turns on how much process your team needs enforced, and how much of it people will actually follow.
Pick Jira if
more than a handful of engineers ship on it and you need reporting that satisfies an audit. Where it stops: it needs somebody to administer it, and it is not a daily plan.
Pick Todoist if
you want the quickest personal list in existence and you mostly work alone. Where it stops: a list is not a plan, and there is no time blocking.
What it costs
For a team of 5, billed yearly: Jira is about $480 a year, Todoist is about $480 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT.
Jira: Free up to 10 users. Roughly $8 Standard and $15 Premium per user per month on annual billing. Todoist: Generous free tier. Pro around $5, Business around $8 per user per month.
Where they part company
Jira does more on 7 of them
- dependencies and a timeline
- linking pull requests to the work
- portfolio and agile reporting
- rules that fire on their own
- showing who has room
- docs and a wiki inside
- AI that does the work rather than the scheduling
Todoist does more on 3 of them
- being useful before you configure it
- having a plan for today
- turning email and chat into tasks
Side by side
| What it does | Jira | Todoist | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | No | No | Core |
| A plan for today and this week | No | Partly. A today list, ordered by due date, not a day laid out against hours. | Core |
| Two way calendar sync | Partly | Partly. A calendar view and limited sync, not a calendar you plan on. | Yes |
| It is the task manager itself | Core | Core | Core |
| Dependencies and a timeline | Core | No | Yes. Dependencies with a timeline that shows what is waiting on what. |
| See who has room | Yes | Partly | Core |
| Booking links | No | No | Yes |
| Meetings become tasks | No | No | Yes |
| Email and chat become tasks | Partly | Yes | Yes |
| Pull requests linked to work | Yes | No | Yes |
| Docs and wiki inside | Partly. Confluence does this, and it is a separate product with its own bill. | No | Partly. Docs live on a project, they are not a wiki you would run a company from. |
| Portfolio or agile reporting | Core | Partly | Partly. Team workload and project progress, not portfolios that roll up to a board. |
| Rules that fire on their own | Core | Partly | Yes |
| AI that does the work, not just the scheduling | Partly | No | Yes. AI teammates you assign a task to. The work comes back on the task for review. |
| Useful before you configure it | No. It usually wants a dedicated admin before it fits your team. | Core | Core |
| A free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
What should not decide it
They answer the same on 6: time blocking on a calendar, two way calendar sync, being the place the tasks actually live, booking links, turning meetings into tasks and having a free plan.
And where UnaTask sits
UnaTask is a third direction rather than a point on that line: keep the surface small, and add the calendar neither of them has.
It does more than both of them on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today, two way calendar sync, showing who has room, booking links, turning meetings into tasks and AI that does the work rather than the scheduling.
Common questions
Jira vs Todoist: which should I pick?
Pick Jira if more than a handful of engineers ship on it and you need reporting that satisfies an audit. Pick Todoist if you want the quickest personal list in existence and you mostly work alone.
What is the biggest difference between Jira and Todoist?
The clearest gap is dependencies and a timeline, where Jira does more than Todoist. Underneath that, Jira is a system of record for software work, built around issues and cycles, and Todoist is a list or a board that everybody understands without being taught.
Is Jira or Todoist cheaper?
For a team of 5, billed yearly: Jira is about $480 a year, Todoist is about $480 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT.
What do Jira and Todoist have in common?
They answer the same on 6 of our 16 axes, among them time blocking on a calendar, two way calendar sync and being the place the tasks actually live. Those are the things that should not decide it for you.
Where does UnaTask fit against Jira and Todoist?
UnaTask does more than both on time blocking on a calendar, having a plan for today and two way calendar sync. It is free on your own and €10 per seat for a team, with every feature included. Where it does less: it is not an issue tracker with sprints and burndown, and it is not a documentation workspace.
Details checked 2 August 2026 and June 2026.