Todoist Free: 5 Projects, and It Never Expires
A permanent free tier with a real ceiling on structure rather than features. Five projects is generous until your work and your life both need separating.
Todoist free costs $0 with no card and gives five personal projects, three filter views, task reminders, list and board layouts, email and calendar integrations, and one week of activity history. Pro at $5 a month adds 300 projects, the calendar layout, task duration, custom reminders and full reporting history.1
Todoist has renamed its free tier to Beginner, which sounds like a trial and is not one. There is no expiry and no card requirement.
The limit is structural rather than functional: you get the whole task manager, but only five containers to put things in.2
What the free plan actually includes
| Beginner | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $5/mo, $60 yearly |
| Personal projects | 5 | 300 |
| Filter views | 3 | 150 |
| Activity history | 1 week | Full |
| List and board layout | Yes | Yes |
| Calendar layout | No | Yes |
| Task reminders | Basic | Custom and multiple |
| File uploads | 5MB | 100MB |
| Ramble voice capture | Limited sessions | Unlimited |
Subtasks, priorities, labels, due dates and recurring tasks are all free. So are the mobile apps, the desktop apps and the browser extension, which is where most of the daily use happens.
Five projects is the whole decision
Five projects sounds like plenty until you lay out a real life. Work, Personal, Errands, a side project and one shared with a partner is five, and there is nothing left for the garden or the tax return.
The workaround most people land on is to abandon project structure and use labels or a single inbox with filters instead. That works, until the filter allowance becomes the next wall.
Three saved filter views is a tighter constraint than the project count, because filters are what turn a task list into a system. A GTD-style setup typically needs four or five: today, next actions, waiting, scheduled, someday.
What Pro actually fixes
Three hundred projects and 150 filters remove the structural limits entirely. The calendar layout turns the task list into a time-blocking tool, which is a different way of working rather than an extra.
Task duration is the underrated addition. Being able to say a task takes 45 minutes is what makes calendar placement realistic; without it the calendar view has nothing to lay out.
Full reporting history is only relevant if you review your own throughput. Most people do not, and it is not a reason to upgrade on its own.
The natural language input
Typing "Pay invoice every second Friday at 2pm #Finance" and having Todoist parse the date, recurrence, project and time is the feature that made the product. It works fully on free.
This matters more than it sounds. A task manager fails when capture takes longer than the thought. Quick Add on free keeps the friction near zero, which is the actual job.
For a task tool with no project limit at all, Trello gives unlimited cards against a ten-board ceiling, which trades the constraint rather than removing it.
Karma and the gamification
Todoist's productivity score, Karma, tracks streaks and completed tasks. It runs on every tier including free.
Whether that motivates or irritates you is personal. It is worth knowing it exists before a streak becomes a reason not to take a day off.
The free tier also includes four themes against eight on Pro, which matters to almost nobody and is mentioned for completeness.
When the free plan is enough
One person with a simple structure: a work project, a personal project, an errands list, and room to spare.
Anyone who keeps their task list as a single flowing inbox rather than a filing system will never touch the five-project ceiling.
It is also a legitimate permanent home rather than a trial, which distinguishes it from most free tiers in this series.
When it stops being enough
The fifth time you need a sixth project, or the fourth time you need a filter you cannot create.
At $5 a month Pro is among the cheapest upgrades in this series and it resolves both limits at once. The jump from five projects to 300 is the largest single improvement in any tier here.
If the requirement is shared team work rather than personal organisation, Asana's free tier allows unlimited projects for two users and is the closer fit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Todoist free?
Yes. The Beginner plan is free forever, with no card required.
How many projects does Todoist Free allow?
Five personal projects, against 300 on Pro.
Does Todoist Free support reminders?
Basic task reminders are included. Custom timing and multiple reminders per task require Pro.
Is there a calendar view on Todoist Free?
No. The calendar layout is a Pro feature, though calendar integrations work on free.
How much does Todoist Pro cost?
$5 a month billed yearly at $60, or $6 a month billed monthly.
Does Todoist Free have a time limit?
No. The Beginner plan has no expiry and no feature gating on the core task manager.
Project limits, filter allowances, reminder tiers and pricing verified against Todoist's pricing page and its plans FAQ on 20 October 2026.
Sources
- Todoist pricing: www.todoist.com/pricing. Used for: 5 projects, 3 filters, 1 week of history and the $5 Pro tier.
- Todoist help: plans, pricing and billing: www.todoist.com/help/articles/todoist-plans-pricing-and-billing-faq-Vq2z0HWL6.
All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 20 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.
