Foco vs Todoist: The Best Todoist Alternative for Freelancers with Multiple Clients

If you're a freelancer juggling multiple clients or projects, chances are you've tried Todoist as your go-to task management tool. It's a solid app with a clean interface and useful features for individual tasks. But when your daily routine involves balancing multiple jobs, deadlines, and tools, Todoist can fall short. This is where Foco emerges as an alternative designed specifically for this scenario: it centralizes tasks from various sources, prevents tool fragmentation, and lets you see everything in one place without project limits. In this comparison, we analyze when Todoist remains a good option and why Foco is the best Todoist alternative for freelancers with multiple clients.

1. Project Limits: Why Todoist Falls Short with Multiple Clients

One of Todoist’s biggest hurdles for freelancers is its active project limit on the free plan: just 5. This isn’t an issue if you manage a single job or personal project, but if you have multiple clients, each with their own tasks and deadlines, that cap is quickly exhausted. For example, if you work with three clients and also handle personal finances and a side project, you’ve already hit the limit. Todoist’s solution is to upgrade to the Pro plan (5 USD/month), which raises the limit to 300 projects, but even then, Todoist’s structure isn’t designed to visually separate jobs in an intuitive way.

Foco, on the other hand, imposes no job limits on any plan. Each client, project, or life area (like "Home" or "Finances") is an independent container with its own name and color. This lets you: see all tasks together in Panorama mode (each with its job’s color) or filter only a client’s tasks in Foco mode, so you can focus without distractions. The difference is key: Todoist forces you to group everything into generic projects or pay for more space, while Foco is built from the ground up to manage multiple jobs without restrictions.

Practical Example: A Day in the Life of a Freelancer

Imagine you’re a graphic designer working with three clients: a startup, an agency, and a personal project. In Todoist, you’d create three separate projects (and possibly a folder to group them), but if you add personal tasks or other clients, you’ll soon hit the 5-project limit on the free plan. In Foco, each client is an independent job with its own color (e.g., blue for the startup, green for the agency), and you can see all tasks mixed in Panorama mode or isolate a client’s tasks in Foco mode. No limits, neither on jobs nor tasks.

2. Tool Fragmentation: How Foco Centralizes What Todoist Can’t

Todoist excels at managing manual tasks, but it doesn’t connect with other work tools. If you use Notion for documentation, GitHub for code, or Asana to collaborate with a team, you’ll have to check each platform separately. This creates fragmentation: you jump between tabs, waste time, and increase the risk of forgetting something. Todoist doesn’t offer native integrations to automatically pull tasks from other apps (beyond Zapier or Make, which require manual setup and are often slow).

Foco solves this with Plus Connections (included in the Plus plan, 20 EUR/month). These connections use OAuth to link Foco with tools like Notion, Linear, GitHub, Jira, and Asana, automatically pulling in tasks where you’re mentioned or assigned. For example:

• If a client assigns you an issue in GitHub, it appears as a task in Foco with the title, due date, and a direct link to the original issue.
• In Notion, if you’re mentioned in a page or task, Foco captures it and attaches it as a note, so you don’t have to constantly check the app.
• In Jira, issues assigned to you sync with Foco, and if you mark a task as done in Foco, you can set it up to automatically close in Jira (with the "complete also in origin" option).

Additionally, Foco includes email capture (Plus plan only): each user gets a unique address (e.g., u-xxxx@in.heyfoco.com) to forward emails and convert them into tasks with the email attached as a note. This is useful for freelancers who receive instructions via email and don’t want to copy them manually. Todoist offers nothing similar: its email integrations are basic (like adding tasks from Gmail with a button) and don’t automatically extract dates, deadlines, or attachments.

When Does Todoist Win on Integrations?

Todoist is a better option if you only use one tool (like Trello or Google Calendar) and don’t need to sync tasks from multiple sources. Its Google Calendar integration is simpler than Foco’s (which only shows events in read-only mode), and its browser app is lighter. But if you work with multiple platforms and clients, Todoist’s fragmentation becomes a real problem. Foco centralizes everything in one place, so you don’t have to check five different apps every morning.

3. Views and Organization: Why Foco Adapts Better to Multiple Jobs

Todoist organizes tasks into projects and subprojects, but it lacks a clear way to visually separate jobs. You can use labels or colors, but everything eventually blends into a flat list. This works if you manage a single project, but with multiple clients or life areas, the lack of visual structure can be overwhelming.

Foco, on the other hand, is designed to show each job’s tasks in its own color. In Panorama mode, you see all tasks together (each with its job’s color), helping you prioritize without losing context. In Foco mode, you filter only a client’s or project’s tasks, ideal for focusing on one thing. Plus, Foco offers three views (List, Kanban, and Calendar), switchable with a button, while Todoist only has list and Kanban views (in the Pro plan).

View Comparison: List, Kanban, and Calendar

• List: In Todoist, tasks are grouped by date (Today, Tomorrow, This Week), but you can’t filter by due date vs. start date (Foco allows this). In Foco, completed tasks are hidden in a collapsible section, reducing clutter.
• Kanban: Todoist allows customizable columns, but on mobile, they’re fixed tabs (no drag-and-drop). Foco offers Kanban with drag-and-drop on desktop and tabs on mobile, more flexible for small teams.
• Calendar: Todoist doesn’t have a native calendar view (only in the desktop app with plugins). Foco includes a calendar in all paid plans, with weekly and monthly views on desktop and a day view with a navigation bar on mobile.

4. Pricing: Which Is More Cost-Effective for Freelancers?

Todoist’s prices (as of July 2026) are:

• Free Plan: Free, but limited to 5 active projects and no reminders.
• Pro Plan: 5 USD/month (annual payment) or 7 USD/month (monthly payment). Includes up to 300 projects, reminders, and attachments.
• Business Plan: 8 USD/month (annual payment) or 10 USD/month (monthly payment). For teams, with shared workspaces and admin controls.

Foco’s plans are:

• Free Plan: Unlimited jobs and tasks, List and Kanban views, voice capture (5 uses/month), and labels.
• Foco Plan (4 EUR/month): Adds calendar view, Google Calendar/Outlook sync, collaboration, and task assignment.
• Plus Plan (20 EUR/month): Everything above plus AI (unlimited Burst, Copilot with connections to Notion/Linear/GitHub/Jira/Asana, email capture, and daily briefing).

Which is more cost-effective? It depends on your needs:

• If you only manage manual tasks and a couple of projects, Todoist Pro (5 USD/month) may suffice.
• If you work with multiple clients and tools, Foco Plus (20 EUR/month) is pricier, but it includes task centralization, email capture, and daily briefing, features Todoist doesn’t offer.
• If you need basic collaboration (assigning tasks to others), Foco at 4 EUR/month is cheaper than Todoist Business (8 USD/month).

5. When to Choose Todoist and When to Choose Foco

Choose Todoist if:

• You manage a single project or life area (e.g., personal tasks or one client).
• You don’t need to sync tasks from other tools (like GitHub, Notion, or Jira).
• You prefer a minimalist interface and don’t mind project limits on the free plan.

Choose Foco if:

• You work with multiple clients or projects at once and need to visually separate them without limits.
• You use multiple tools (Notion, GitHub, Asana) and want to centralize all tasks in one place.
• You need advanced voice capture (unlimited Burst on Plus) or email capture to convert emails into tasks automatically.
• You want flexible views (List, Kanban, and Calendar) and filter tasks by start date or due date.

Foco isn’t a generic task app: it’s a tool designed for those who handle multiple jobs at once and need to avoid tool fragmentation, without project limits or rigid structures.

Conclusion: Why Foco Is the Best Todoist Alternative for Freelancers with Multiple Clients

Todoist is a great app for individual tasks or simple projects, but it’s not optimized for freelancers with multiple clients. Its project limits, lack of native integrations with work tools, and absence of a visual structure to separate jobs make it less practical when your daily routine involves balancing deadlines, tools, and different teams.

Foco, on the other hand, solves these problems by design: unlimited jobs with distinct colors, connections to Notion/GitHub/Jira to centralize tasks, advanced email and voice capture, and flexible views to adapt to your workflow. If you’re looking for a Todoist alternative that avoids tool fragmentation and manages multiple clients without limits, Foco is the most complete option. It’s not an app for everyone, but for freelancers with multiple jobs, it’s the tool Todoist could never be.