Motion vs Todoist: which one fits your team?
One of these knows when and not what. The other knows what and not when. Put plainly, they are two halves, and people usually end up running both.
It turns on which half you already have covered, because on their own neither is a complete answer.
Pick Motion if
your calendar is chaotic, you mostly work alone, and you would rather software reconciled it than do it yourself. Where it stops: the plan is the algorithm’s, and the price is set for people who want that.
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: Motion is about $1140 a year, Todoist is about $480 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. Between the two of them Todoist is $660 a year cheaper at that size.
Motion: Around $19 to $29 per seat per month billed annually, more monthly. No free plan. Todoist: Generous free tier. Pro around $5, Business around $8 per user per month.
Where they part company
Motion does more on 9 of them
- time blocking on a calendar
- having a plan for today
- two way calendar sync
- booking links
- dependencies and a timeline
- turning meetings into tasks
- docs and a wiki inside
- rules that fire on their own
- AI that does the work rather than the scheduling
Todoist does more on 4 of them
- having a free plan
- being the place the tasks actually live
- turning email and chat into tasks
- being useful before you configure it
Side by side
| What it does | Motion | Todoist | UnaTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time blocking on a calendar | Core. The blocks are placed by the algorithm, not by you. | No | Core |
| A plan for today and this week | Core | Partly. A today list, ordered by due date, not a day laid out against hours. | Core |
| Two way calendar sync | Core | Partly. A calendar view and limited sync, not a calendar you plan on. | Yes |
| It is the task manager itself | Yes | Core | Core |
| Dependencies and a timeline | Partly | No | Yes. Dependencies with a timeline that shows what is waiting on what. |
| See who has room | Partly. Team features are layered on an individual first product. | Partly | Core |
| Booking links | Yes | No | Yes |
| Meetings become tasks | Partly | No | Yes |
| Email and chat become tasks | Partly | Yes | Yes |
| Pull requests linked to work | No | No | Yes |
| Docs and wiki inside | Partly | No | Partly. Docs live on a project, they are not a wiki you would run a company from. |
| Portfolio or agile reporting | Partly | Partly | Partly. Team workload and project progress, not portfolios that roll up to a board. |
| Rules that fire on their own | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| AI that does the work, not just the scheduling | Partly. The AI schedules the work. It does not do the work. | No | Yes. AI teammates you assign a task to. The work comes back on the task for review. |
| Useful before you configure it | Yes | Core | Core |
| A free plan | No | Yes | Yes |
What should not decide it
They answer the same on 3: showing who has room, linking pull requests to the work and portfolio and agile reporting.
And where UnaTask sits
UnaTask is the halves joined: the pile and the hours in one tool, so nothing has to be kept in sync between them.
It does more than both of them on dependencies and a timeline, showing who has room, turning meetings into tasks, linking pull requests to the work and AI that does the work rather than the scheduling.
Common questions
Motion vs Todoist: which should I pick?
Pick Motion if your calendar is chaotic, you mostly work alone, and you would rather software reconciled it than do it yourself. Pick Todoist if you want the quickest personal list in existence and you mostly work alone.
What is the biggest difference between Motion and Todoist?
The clearest gap is time blocking on a calendar, where Motion does more than Todoist. Underneath that, Motion is software that arranges your calendar for you and defends what it put there, and Todoist is a list or a board that everybody understands without being taught.
Is Motion or Todoist cheaper?
For a team of 5, billed yearly: Motion is about $1140 a year, Todoist is about $480 a year, and UnaTask is €480 plus VAT. Between the two of them Todoist is $660 a year cheaper at that size.
What do Motion and Todoist have in common?
They answer the same on 3 of our 16 axes: showing who has room, linking pull requests to the work and portfolio and agile reporting. Those are the things that should not decide it for you.
Where does UnaTask fit against Motion and Todoist?
UnaTask does more than both on dependencies and a timeline, showing who has room and turning meetings into tasks. 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 June 2026.