Trello vs. Notion vs. Todoist: The 5 Best SaaS Tools to Organize Your Life

Are you drowning in a sea of sticky notes, forgotten reminders, and a dozen “notes” apps that all hold a single piece of your life? If you feel overwhelmed, you’re not alone. The modern world demands we manage projects, personal goals, family schedules, and that side hustle, all at once. It’s exhausting. But what if you could have a simple, digital system to manage it all? That’s the promise of productivity software. This post is your definitive guide to the three best SaaS tools—Trello, Notion, and Todoist—that can finally help you organize your life.

We’re going beyond a simple “best of” list. We will perform a detailed comparison for beginners looking for the best productivity software. This is your deep dive into finding the perfect fit for your brain. By the end, you’ll know exactly which tool will help you stop managing tasks and start living your life.

**What Are We Really Trying to Solve?**

Before we compare features, let’s be honest about the problem. The real challenge isn’t a lack of tools; it’s finding one that sticks. You might have tried a simple to-do list app but found it too basic for a big project. Then you tried a complex project management tool and spent more time setting it up than doing the actual work.

This is “productivity app burnout,” and it’s a real barrier to getting organized.

The goal is to find a digital system that matches how your brain works.

Are you a visual thinker who needs to see the big picture?
Are you a data-driven planner who wants everything in one connected place?
Are you an action-oriented doer who just needs to know “what’s next”?

The three tools we’re comparing today—Trello, Notion, and Todoist—each excel for one of these profiles. They are all Software as a Service (SaaS) tools, which, as we covered in our pillar post on SaaS for beginners, means you can access them from any device, anywhere, without any complex installation. They represent the peak of personal productivity software.

Let’s meet the contenders.

The 3 Contenders: A Quick Glance

ToolTrelloNotionTodoistBest ForVisual planners, beginners, team collaborationAll-in-one workspaces, students, writersAction-takers, GTD method users, daily tasksCore ConceptA digital Kanban board with cardsA box of digital LEGOs; pages and databasesA smart, powerful, and fast to-do listLearning CurveVery EasyModerate to HighEasyFree Plan?Yes, very generous free plan.Yes, an excellent free plan for personal use.Yes, a great free plan for beginners.

Deep Dive 1: Trello – The Visual Whiteboard to Organize Your Life

If your desk is covered in sticky notes, Trello is your digital savior. It’s built on the Kanban method, a visual system for managing work. You don’t need to know the theory; it’s just incredibly intuitive.

How Trello Works: Boards, Lists, and Cards

Imagine a giant whiteboard.

Board: This is your whole project (e.g., “My Life,” “Vacation Planning,” “Blog Content”).
Lists: These are the stages of your project, set up as columns on the board. The classic setup is “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done.”
Cards: These are your individual tasks. You write a task on a “card” (like a sticky note) and put it in the “To Do” list. When you start working on it, you visually drag the card to the “Doing” list.

This simple drag-and-drop action is what makes Trello so satisfying and effective. You can see your progress at a glance.

Best Trello Use Cases for Personal Life

While Trello is famous for software development teams, it’s a hidden gem for personal organization.

Trello for daily planning: Create a “My Week” board with lists for “Monday,” “Tuesday,” “Wednesday,” etc. Fill it with task cards and get a clear view of your week.
Trello for family organization: Share a board with your family. Have lists for “Grocery List,” “Kid’s Chores,” and “Upcoming Events.”
Trello for simple habit tracking: Create a “Habit Tracker” board. Make a card for “Exercise” or “Read 10 Pages.” Every time you do it, you can add a comment with the date or move it to a “Done for Today” list, then reset it the next day using Trello’s Butler automation.

What are Trello Power-Ups and Do I Need Them?

By itself, Trello is simple. Power-Ups are like apps for your Trello boards that add new features. On the free plan, you get a limited number, but they are powerful.

Calendar View: The most popular Power-Up. It takes any cards with due dates and displays them on a calendar.
Butler Automation: This is Trello’s built-in helper. You can set rules like, “When I drag a card to the ‘Done’ list, automatically mark the due date as complete.”
Google Drive: Attach documents and spreadsheets directly to your task cards.

For personal use, the free plan with the Calendar Power-Up is often all you need.

Trello Pricing for Personal Use: Is the Free Tier Enough?

Yes. For 90% of personal users, the Trello free plan is more than enough. It gives you unlimited cards, unlimited lists, and up to 10 boards per workspace. You get all the core functionality without paying a cent. You only need to upgrade if you need more than 10 boards or advanced features like custom fields.

Verdict: Trello is the best productivity app for visual thinkers and beginners. If you feel overwhelmed by complex systems, Trello’s simplicity is its greatest strength. It’s the best app for making a to-do list visual.

Deep Dive 2: Notion – The All-in-One Digital Workspace

If Trello is a simple whiteboard, Notion is an entire office building. It’s a “workspace” app that combines note-taking, databases, wikis, project management, and more.

This is the tool with the highest learning curve on this list, but it’s also the one with the most potential. It’s less of an app and more of a “Life OS” (Operating System).

How Notion Works: Pages, Blocks, and Databases

Notion gives you a blank canvas.

Pages: Every new item in Notion is a “page.” A page can be a simple document, like in Google Docs.
Blocks: Inside a page, everything is a “block.” A block can be text, a heading, an image, a video, a checklist, or even a database. You can drag and drop these blocks to create any layout you want.
Databases: This is the real power of Notion and what sets it apart. A database is a collection of pages.

Think about a recipe collection. In a normal app, you’d have a folder of notes. In Notion, you create a “Recipe Database.” Each recipe is a page. But the database itself has properties like “Cuisine Type,” “Cook Time,” and “Rating.”

You can then view this same database as:

A Table (like Excel).
A Kanban Board (like Trello).
A Gallery (with pictures of the food).
A Calendar (based on when you plan to cook it).

This ability to link databases and view the same information in different ways is what makes Notion for personal knowledge management (PKM) so revolutionary.

How to Set Up Notion for Life Management

The blank canvas can be intimidating. That’s why Notion templates are so popular.

Notion for students: Students use it to combine class notes, assignment trackers (as a database), and study guides all in one place.
Notion for writers: It’s perfect for building a “second brain,” outlining-a-novel, and storing research.
Notion for personal finance: You can use a database to create a simple budget tracker.
Notion for habit tracking: A database with “Habit” as the title and 31 “checkbox” properties is a common setup.

Addressing the “Why is Notion So Slow” Complaint

It’s true: because Notion is so powerful and loads so much, it can sometimes feel slower than a lightweight app like Todoist. However, Notion has made significant speed improvements, and for most personal use cases on a good internet connection, it’s perfectly fast.

Notion Pricing for Personal Use

The Notion Personal free plan is incredible. It’s completely free for individuals. You get unlimited pages, unlimited blocks, and can share your pages with a few guests. There is almost no reason to upgrade to a paid plan unless you are collaborating with a team.

Verdict: Notion is the best SaaS tool for builders, planners, students, and writers. It’s for anyone who wants to create a custom system and have their notes, tasks, and projects all living in one single, interconnected space. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish my task manager could also be my notebook,” Notion is your answer.

Deep Dive 3: Todoist – The Focused King of Getting Things Done

If Trello is a whiteboard and Notion is a LEGO set, Todoist is a high-performance, minimalist sports car. It is designed to do one thing exceptionally well: manage your to-do list.

It is built on the “Getting Things Done” (GTD) methodology, a famous productivity system. While you don’t need to know what GTD is, the app’s design is based on its core principles: get tasks out of your head and into a trusted system, quickly and easily.

How Todoist Works: The Magic of Natural Language Input

This is Todoist’s killer feature. You don’t have to click through menus to create a task. You just type as you think.

If you type: “Send project update to boss every Friday at 4 pm starting next week #Work”

Todoist automatically understands all of that and creates the task:

Task: “Send project update to boss”
Due Date: “Every Friday at 4 pm” (a recurring task)
Start Date: “next week”
Project: “#Work”

This ability to capture tasks in seconds, from your phone or desktop, means you’ll actually use it. Tasks go into an “Inbox” by default, allowing you to sort them into “Projects” later.

Todoist Recurring Tasks Setup: The “Set It and Forget It” Method

This is where Todoist truly excels for organizing your life. You can set up complex recurring tasks easily.

"Pay rent on the 1st of every month"
"Water plants every 3 days"
"Call mom every Sunday"
"Change air filters every 3 months"

Your life’s entire “maintenance” can be put into Todoist and then forgotten. The app will simply tell you what’s due today, so you never have to worry about forgetting.

Todoist Filters and Labels: Your Secret to Organization

While projects organize tasks by “area” (e.g., #Work, #Home, #Fitness), labels and filters organize them by context.

Labels: Add @errand, @email, or @15_minutes to your tasks.
Filters: This is a pro-feature, but it’s the core of its power. You can create custom views, like a filter named “My Focus Today” that shows you: (today | overdue) & #Work & @email. This would instantly show you all work emails that are due today or overdue.

Todoist Pricing: Is the Free Plan Enough?

The Todoist free plan is great for beginners. It gives you 5 active projects, which is enough to get started. However, many of Todoist’s best features, like Reminders, Filters, and a higher project limit, are on the Pro plan. The Pro plan is very affordable and is widely considered one of the best “value for money” subscriptions in productivity.

Verdict: Todoist is the best productivity app for action-oriented people and anyone who loves the “Getting Things Done” method. If your main problem is forgetting tasks and you want a fast, reliable, and clean system that just works, Todoist is the answer. It’s the best pure task management software on the market.

The Ultimate Comparison: Trello vs. Notion vs. Todoist

So, how do you choose? Let’s put them head-to-head.

Trello vs. Notion for Personal Use: The Visual Board vs. The Wiki

Trello is a project management tool. Notion is a knowledge management tool that can do project management.
Choose Trello if: You want to quickly visualize the stages of a project (e.g., “Apartment Hunting”: To Research, Contacted, Viewed, Rejected, Applied).
Choose Notion if: You want to store the research (links to listings, notes, comparison tables) and track the stages, all in one place.
Verdict: Trello is better for managing a process. Notion is better for building a system.

Notion vs. Todoist for Students: The Ultimate Study Planner Showdown

Notion is where you keep all your information: class notes, syllabi, research links, and digital notebooks. You can build a database of all your assignments and view it on a calendar.
Todoist is what you use to execute on that information. You’d add tasks like, “Read Chapter 4,” “Study for_ _Biology midterm,” and “Write history paper outline.”
Verdict: The best system for students is using both. Use Notion as your central “hub” and “second brain.” Use Todoist for your daily “what’s due today” task list. Many users integrate them, using Todoist to add tasks that link back to their Notion pages.

Trello vs. Todoist: Which is Better for Simple Task Management?

This is the closest fight. Both are excellent for managing simple daily tasks.
Choose Trello if: Your brain needs to see the tasks. You get satisfaction from dragging a card from “To Do” to “Done.”
Choose Todoist if: Your brain works in lists. You get satisfaction from checking a box and having the task disappear. Todoist’s recurring task feature is far more powerful than Trello’s.
Verdict: For life’s recurring maintenance (bills, chores, habits), Todoist is the clear winner. For one-off projects (planning a party, moving), Trello is more intuitive.

A Note on Managing Multiple Projects

All three can handle multiple projects.

Trello: You create a new board for each project.
Todoist: You create a new “project” in your sidebar.
Notion: You can create a “Projects” database where each project is a page, which then contains all its own tasks, notes, and sub-projects.

Notion is the most powerful for managing multiple complex projects, but Todoist is the simplest for managing many lists of tasks.

How to Get Started and Avoid “Productivity App Burnout”

You’ve read over 2,000 words. You might be feeling that “analysis paralysis” we talked about. The worst thing you can do is try to use all three. The second-worst thing is trying to build your “perfect” system in one day.

Here is your 30-minute plan to get started:

Pick ONE app. Based on the verdicts above, which one sounds most like you? Don’t second-guess it. Go to their website and sign up for the free plan.
Pick ONE area of your life to organize. Do not try to move your entire life into it. Just pick one thing that’s stressing you out.
- Good first projects: “Weekly Meal Plan,” “Birthday Gift Ideas,” “Blog Post,” “Junk Drawer Organization.”
Spend 30 minutes only on that one project. Add 5-10 tasks. If you’re in Trello, make a few cards. In Notion, make a checklist. In Todoist, add items to your inbox.
Resist the urge to over-organize. The goal is not to have the most beautiful, color-coded system. The goal is to get one task done.

The constant switching between “planning” and “doing” is called context-switching. It’s incredibly draining on your brain and is a major killer of modern productivity. The right tool should reduce this, not add to it.

These apps are just tools. You are still the one who has to do the work. But the right tool makes the work feel effortless.

Conclusion: Your Perfect SaaS Tool is the One You Actually Use

We’ve compared Trello, the simple visual whiteboard; Notion, the all-in-one digital LEGO set; and Todoist, the fast and powerful task-killing machine.

There is no “best” app. There is only the best app for you.

If you’re a visual beginner who wants to see your projects, start with Trello.
If you’re a student, writer, or builder who wants one place for everything, start with Notion.
If you’re an action-oriented doer who just needs to know what’s next, start with Todoist.

All of these are powerful SaaS tools that can help you work smarter, not harder. They are part of a larger trend in technology that is making powerful software accessible to everyone, a trend that is also transforming industries like finance through Fintech and global payments with tools like Stripe.

The secret? Just start. Pick one. And go check something off your list.

Frequently Asked Questions About Trello, Notion, and Todoist

1. Is Notion better than Trello?

Notion isn’t better, it’s different. Trello is a simple, visual tool for managing a process. Notion is a complex, all-in-one tool for building a custom system. For simple team projects, Trello is often faster. For a personal “second brain,” Notion is infinitely more powerful.

2. Can Trello be used as a to-do list?

Absolutely. The Trello “To Do,” “Doing,” “Done” board is the most popular way to use it. You can create a “To Do” list, fill it with task cards, and add due dates and checklists to each card.

3. Is Todoist good for project management?

Yes, Todoist is excellent for task-based project management. You can create a project (e.g., “Launch New Website”) and then add all the hundreds of tasks required. Its sections and sub-tasks help you organize, but it’s not as visual as Trello for seeing project stages.

4. What is the main difference between Notion and Trello?

The main difference is flexibility vs. structure. Trello gives you a structured system (Boards > Lists > Cards) that is very easy to use. Notion gives you a blank page and building blocks (databases, text, toggles) to build any system you want, including one that looks just like Trello.

5. Is Notion free for personal use?

Yes. Notion’s “Personal” plan is completely free and gives you unlimited pages and blocks. It’s one of the most generous free plans in all of software.

6. Which app is best for students: Trello, Notion, or Todoist?

The most popular answer is Notion. Students love it because they can store class notes, link to research, embed PDFs, and track assignments all in one place. However, many students use Notion as their “hub” and Todoist for their daily “due-now” task list.

7. Can I use Trello, Notion, and Todoist together?

Yes, this is a very common “power user” setup.

Notion: For your “second brain,” notes, and long-term planning.
Trello: For a specific visual project, like planning a move.
Todoist: For all your daily, recurring, and quick-capture tasks.The key is to have clear rules for what goes where.

8. What is the biggest weakness of Notion?

Its biggest weakness is its biggest strength: its flexibility. It can be so overwhelming that many users spend more time customizing Notion than doing work. It can also feel slow at times and its mobile app, while improved, is not as fast as Todoist for quick task entry.

9. What is the biggest weakness of Trello?

Its simplicity. As a project grows, a Trello board can become a long, unmanageable wall of lists and cards. It’s hard to get a high-level view of multiple projects at once, and it’s not great for managing document-heavy projects.

10. What is the biggest weakness of Todoist?

It is not a visual tool. You cannot see your tasks on a calendar in the free version (and the Pro calendar is a “view,” not a drag-and-drop planner). It is also not a place for storing knowledge. It is purely for tasks.

11. Is Todoist or Trello better for beginners?

Trello is widely considered the easiest for absolute beginners. The visual “sticky note” metaphor is something everyone understands in seconds. Todoist is also very easy, but mastering its filters and labels takes a bit more time.

12. How do Trello and Todoist handle recurring tasks?

Todoist is the clear winner here. Its natural language “every Friday” or “every 3 months” is incredibly powerful and flexible. Trello’s recurring tasks are handled by the “Butler” automation, which is less intuitive for beginners.

13. What is a “Kanban board”?

A Kanban board is a visual way to manage workflow, made popular by Toyota in the 1940s. Trello is the most famous digital Kanban board. It uses columns to represent stages of a process (e.g., To Do, Doing, Done).

14. What is the “Getting Things Done” (GTD) method?

GTD is a productivity methodology created by David Allen. Its core idea is to move all your tasks, ideas, and commitments out of your head and into an external, organized system. Todoist is a perfect app for implementing the GTD method.

15. I’ve tried all these and I’m still unorganized. What’s wrong?

A tool will never solve a problem of habits. You may be trying to do too much. The best solution is to simplify. Pick one tool, pick one project, and see it through to “Done.” The satisfaction from that is what builds the habit. Your “perfect system” will be built one small task at a time.

What Are We Really Trying to Solve?