Let's be straight about something: Todoist is a well-built app. Its natural language input — typing "turn in essay Friday at 5pm" and watching it parse perfectly — is genuinely impressive, and its integration list is long. If you live inside a complex web of third-party tools and need Todoist as the hub, that's a real advantage worth naming.
That said, most students don't need a 100-integration ecosystem. They need a place to dump every assignment, deadline, lecture note, and research file without paying a monthly fee just to stay organized. That's exactly where TaskLoco lands differently. Two free tiers, push-notification reminders on Premium, actual file storage, and a sticky-note-style wall that makes your whole semester visible at once — this isn't a stripped-down Todoist clone. It's a different philosophy about what student productivity looks like.
Two Free Tiers vs One — and Why That Matters
Todoist offers a free plan that covers basic task lists, but it cuts off reminders and file uploads entirely unless you upgrade. For most students, that means either paying or living without two of the most useful features in any productivity app.
TaskLoco takes a different approach to free. TaskLoco Lite is a completely anonymous native iPhone and Android app — no account, no sign-in, no data leaving your device. It stores up to 20 notes locally in a JSON file on your phone. It's the fastest way to capture a thought mid-lecture with zero friction. Then there's TaskLoco Lite Plus+, a free web app with Chrome extension that syncs across all your devices after signing in with Google. It holds up to 30 notes and gives you cross-device access — your notes on your laptop, your tablet, your phone browser, all in sync.
Neither free tier includes reminders, file attachments, or team sharing — those are Premium features. But the fact that there are two distinct free entry points, each designed for a different kind of user, gives students real flexibility before spending a cent.
Reminders That Deep-Link Back to the Right Note
Here's a student scenario: you set a reminder for a paper due Friday. The reminder fires. You tap it. Where does it take you? With most apps, you land on a generic dashboard and have to hunt for the relevant task. With TaskLoco Premium, the reminder fires as a push notification to your phone and computer and deep-links directly back to the original note — the one with your outline, your sources, your draft thesis statement, everything. One tap and you're exactly where you need to be.
Optional email notifications are available as a free add-on channel. Optional SMS notifications are also available as an add-on. But push notification is the default, the primary delivery, and the one that actually respects your attention during a busy exam week.
Todoist does offer reminders on its paid plan. What it doesn't do is connect a reminder to a rich note containing your research, embedded images, and attached PDFs. In TaskLoco, the reminder and the content live together — because the note is the task.
File Attachments: Where Todoist's Free Tier Stops and TaskLoco's Premium Starts
Research papers, lecture slides, scanned handwritten notes, lab data — students generate files constantly. Todoist's free tier has no file attachment support. Their paid tier allows file uploads, but the storage is limited and it's a bolt-on feature, not a native part of how the app thinks about notes and tasks.
TaskLoco Premium includes 10GB of file storage per person, built into the same note where your task and reminder already live. You can attach a PDF syllabus to a class note, a scanned diagram to a study card, or a recorded lecture clip to a project note. Additional storage is available as an add-on — 10GB, 50GB, 200GB, and 1TB tiers, stackable up to 100x — so you're never forced to decide between your productivity app and your files.
For a student writing a thesis or managing a research project across a semester, this isn't a luxury. It's the difference between your task manager being a glorified to-do list and being an actual working environment.
The Chrome Extension and the Web-First Experience
Students live in browser tabs. A research rabbit hole can produce 15 open tabs in twenty minutes. TaskLoco's free Chrome extension lets you capture any webpage into a new note in one click — the URL, a title, any selected text — without breaking your reading flow. It's available to Lite Plus+ and Premium users, and it costs nothing extra.
Todoist has a browser extension too, primarily for saving webpages as tasks. The difference is context: in TaskLoco, what you capture becomes a rich note you can annotate, attach files to, set a reminder on, and share with a study partner — all from the same card. In Todoist, it becomes a line item in a task list.
The TaskLoco wall view — the sticky-note board that gives you a visual map of everything you're working on — is also worth mentioning here. When you're managing coursework across four classes with different deadlines, assignment types, and professors, seeing everything spatially on one wall is a faster mental model than scrolling a flat list. It's the kind of thing that sounds like a minor design preference until you've actually used it during finals week.
The Honest Comparison
| Feature | TaskLoco | Todoist |
|---|---|---|
| Free native mobile app | TaskLoco Lite — anonymous, no sign-in, 20 notes stored on device FREE | Free plan available, requires account |
| Free synced web access | TaskLoco Lite Plus+ — free, sign in with Google, up to 30 notes synced across all devices FREE | Free plan syncs tasks across devices |
| Chrome extension | Free — one-click capture of any webpage into a note FREE | Available — saves webpages as tasks |
| Reminders on free plan | Premium only | Not available on free plan |
| Push notification reminders | Premium — delivered as push notifications to phone and computer; deep-links back to the original note | Available on paid plan |
| Email reminders | Optional free add-on channel with Premium | Available on paid plan |
| SMS reminders | Optional add-on with monthly quota included | Not available |
| File attachments | Premium — 10GB included per person, additional storage add-ons available | Available on paid plan with limited storage |
| Extra storage | Add-on tiers: 10GB / 50GB / 200GB / 1TB, stackable to 100x | Limited storage on paid plans |
| Note-based tasks (notes and tasks together) | Notes are the tasks — content, files, reminders, and deadlines in one card | Tasks are separate from notes; notes are a comment-style add-on |
| Visual sticky-note wall | Full wall view — drag-and-arrange notes spatially across all projects | List and board views — no sticky-note wall |
| Calendar view | Premium — built-in calendar view for notes and deadlines | Calendar view available on paid plan |
| Team / study group sharing | Premium — full team sharing; recipients clone the note and make it their own, no permissions needed | Collaboration available on paid plans |
| Natural language task input | Not available | Yes — polished natural language parsing for dates and times |
| Third-party integrations | Limited integrations | Extensive — 100+ integrations |
| Anonymous use (no account ever) | Yes — TaskLoco Lite requires zero sign-in, zero account, zero data shared FREE | Account required for all plans |
| Full-text search | Premium — full-text search across all notes and attachments | Available on paid plan |
| Gantt charts / project timelines | Not available | Not available on standard plans |
| 7-day free trial (Premium) | Yes — no charge until day 8, cancel anytime FREE | Free plan available; trial terms vary |
Who Should Use Each
Use TaskLoco if…
- You want two distinct free tiers — one anonymous and device-only, one synced across all your devices — before spending anything
- You need reminders that deep-link back to the actual note, not just a generic dashboard
- You attach files — syllabi, PDFs, scanned notes, research — and want them inside the same card as the task
- You use Chrome constantly and want one-click webpage capture into a note without breaking your research flow
- You want a visual wall of everything you're working on, not just a flat task list
- You're organizing coursework across multiple classes and need calendar view, reminders, and file storage in one subscription
- You want to share study notes with a classmate who can clone and customize the note independently
Use Todoist if…
- You rely heavily on natural language task input and it's genuinely central to your workflow
- You need deep integration with 100+ third-party tools and Todoist is the hub of that ecosystem
- You need API access or custom automation beyond what TaskLoco currently supports
TaskLoco Premium is regularly $9.99/month per person. Right now, charter members can lock in 50% off the regular price — forever. That means $4.99/month per person today. And if our price ever goes up, you still pay half. Always.
Code CHARTER50 auto-applies at checkout. First 500 spots only — once they're gone, this offer is gone permanently. Act fast while spots last.
Every Premium subscription includes unlimited notes, 10GB file storage, reminders, calendar, and team sharing. Each team member requires a separate subscription. 7-day free trial — no charge until day 8. Cancel anytime.
Free Options: TaskLoco vs Todoist
TaskLoco Lite
- Native iPhone & Android app
- Completely anonymous — no sign-in
- Data stays on your device
- Up to 20 notes
- Free forever
TaskLoco Lite Plus+
- Web app + Chrome extension
- Sign in with Google
- Wall syncs across all devices
- Up to 30 notes
- Free forever
Lock In 50% Off — Forever
7-day free trial. No charge until day 8. CHARTER50 auto-applies at checkout.
🔒 Lock In My Charter SpotSee TaskLoco in Action
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TaskLoco actually free for students?
Yes — two tiers are completely free. TaskLoco Lite is a native iPhone and Android app that requires no account and stores up to 20 notes anonymously on your device. TaskLoco Lite Plus+ is a free web app that syncs up to 30 notes across all your devices after signing in with Google. Reminders, file attachments, and team sharing are Premium features. $9.99/month per person (currently $4.99/month per person for first 500 charter members with code CHARTER50)
Does the free version have reminders?
No — reminders are a Premium feature. On Premium, reminders are delivered as push notifications to your phone and computer and deep-link directly back to the original note. Optional email and SMS channels are also available as add-ons. The free tiers (Lite and Lite Plus+) do not include reminders.
Can I attach PDFs and lecture slides to my notes?
File attachments are a Premium feature. Every Premium subscription includes 10GB of file storage per person. You can attach PDFs, images, documents, or any file type directly inside a note — alongside the task, deadline, and reminder all on the same card. Additional storage tiers (50GB, 200GB, 1TB) are available as stackable add-ons.
What makes TaskLoco better than Todoist for students specifically?
The biggest difference is that TaskLoco treats a note as the container for everything — your task, your files, your reminder, your context. When your reminder fires as a push notification, tapping it takes you directly back to that note with all your content. Todoist is a strong task list; TaskLoco is a working environment. For students managing research, assignments, and deadlines, that distinction matters. TaskLoco also has two free tiers — including one that requires zero account — which Todoist doesn't match.
Is there a TaskLoco app in the App Store or Google Play?
Yes — TaskLoco Lite is the native app available in both the App Store and Google Play. It's completely anonymous (no sign-in, no account ever), stores up to 20 notes on your device, and has no syncing. TaskLoco Lite Plus+ and Premium are web apps accessed through your phone's browser or the Chrome extension — they are not native apps, but they sync fully across all devices.
Can I share notes with my study group?
Team sharing is a Premium feature. It works like sharing an email — you share a note, and the recipient can clone it and make it their own. No permissions to set, no access levels to manage. Each person in the study group needs their own separate Premium subscription.
What does Todoist do better than TaskLoco?
Todoist genuinely has better natural language task input — typing a deadline in plain English and having it parsed correctly is smooth and reliable. Its third-party integration library is also significantly larger if your workflow connects many external tools. If those two things are central to how you work, that's worth acknowledging. TaskLoco doesn't have natural language input and has limited integrations compared to Todoist.
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TaskLoco is available on iPhone, Android, Chrome, and every web browser.