ALT vs Todoist
A Todoist alternative for Mac
A cross-platform task manager with shared projects and paid calendar time blocking. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] ALT is for people who want a native Mac planner with hours, projects and an assistant whose proposals they review. ALT is in private beta.
At a glance
| What matters | Todoist | ALT |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A task manager for personal work and shared projects. [1] [3] | AI planner and time blocking app for Mac. Private beta. |
| Platforms | Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch and Wear OS. [14] | Mac now. iPhone and iPad join the beta in December. No sync between devices yet. |
| How the Mac app is built | Electron. [6] | Native, SwiftUI |
| Calendars | Google and Outlook: read events and sync scheduled tasks. Apple Calendar: one-way task feed. [7] [8] | Reads the calendars in Apple's Calendar app, including iCloud, Google and Outlook (Exchange). Move a meeting on your day and it moves in your calendar too; a meeting can also become a task. Task blocks stay in ALT. |
| Hours (planned against available) | No planned-hours total or overload warning found in the checked time-blocking and Upcoming documentation. [4] [9] | Yes. Each day and week shows planned hours against your working window minus meetings, and how much it's over. |
| Time blocking | Yes, with task durations and calendar layouts on Pro and Business. [4] [2] | Yes. One task can take several blocks in a day, numbered block 1 of 2. |
| AI assistant | Ramble voice capture, Task Capture from text and images, and Todoist Assist. No built-in day-planning chat found in the checked documentation. [5] [10] [11] | Chat on the Mac, typed or dictated. It creates and re-plans tasks with times. Every change is a proposal you Apply or Reject, and Undo puts it back. Uses your own Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter key in the beta. |
| Claude and Codex (MCP) | Official remote MCP server with OAuth; Claude, Claude Code and Codex are documented, including on the free plan. [12] | Yes, a local MCP server on your Mac: Claude Code and Codex read and change tasks, projects and notes. Works while ALT is running. |
| Projects | Personal projects can have up to three levels of sub-projects. Shared projects support assignments and comments. [13] [3] | Areas, projects (two levels), sections, a result line per project, notes as an outline on the Mac. |
| Week, month and year | Paid calendar layouts for the day, week and month. No year view in the help center. [4] [9] | Day, week, month and year views, with hours. |
| Price | Beginner is free. Pro: $7/month or $60/year. Business: $10 per person/month or $96 per person/year. Checked October 21, 2026. [2] | Free during the beta. Paid plans after it. |
| Status | Available with free and paid plans. [2] | Private beta. |
Where Todoist is ahead
Where ALT is different
- A native SwiftUI Mac app with areas, projects, sections and notes as an outline.
- Each day and week shows planned hours against your working window minus meetings.
- The Mac assistant proposes changes with times. You Apply or Reject them, and Undo puts them back.
What ALT doesn't do yet
- No sync between Mac, iPhone and iPad yet.
- No reminders before a time block starts.
- No writing task blocks to your calendar yet.
- The assistant uses your own Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter key during the beta.
Choose ALT if ...
You want a native Mac planner that adds up your tasks and meetings in hours, with projects and AI proposals you review. You're comfortable testing a private beta with your own AI key and no device sync yet.
Sources
Checked on October 21, 2026. Sources: