Leaving Todoist, taking your tasks with you.
Todoist keeps your tasks in its own cloud behind a login. This guide moves them into plain markdown files in an Obsidian vault you own, then points TaskForge at the same files so you get native apps and widgets on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Android. No account, and Premium is one payment instead of a yearly bill.
Get Free - iOS & Mac 
Get Free - Android Why people leave Todoist
Todoist is a good app. Most people who switch are not unhappy with the task list itself; they are unhappy with where the tasks live and what it costs to keep them there.
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The yearly bill never ends
Todoist Pro is a subscription. You pay every year for as long as you want reminders and attachments, and the free tier caps you at five active projects with no reminders. TaskForge Premium is a one-time purchase of $39.99 (or $1.99 a month if you would rather not pay up front). Pay once and the app is yours.
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Your tasks sit in someone else's database
In Todoist, a task is a row in Doist's cloud. You can read it through their app, and you can export a copy, but the original lives on their servers. In TaskForge, a task is a line of text in a file on your disk. Open it in any editor and it is right there: "- [ ] call the dentist 📅 2026-06-30".
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Your notes are already in Obsidian
If you take notes in Obsidian, your tasks and your notes currently live in two systems that do not talk to each other. After the switch, a task can sit in the same daily note or project file as the thinking behind it, and TaskForge shows that task on your phone with a reminder.
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Works offline, syncs your way
TaskForge needs no login and no connection to function. Your vault syncs however you already move files: iCloud Drive, Obsidian Sync, Dropbox, anything. You decide where the data lives, not the vendor.
How to migrate, step by step
There is no one-click importer (more on why below), but the path is short. Plan on twenty minutes for a typical Todoist account.
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Export your Todoist tasks as CSV
On the web at todoist.com, open a project, click the three-dot menu at the top right, and choose Export as CSV. Todoist saves one CSV per project. Each row carries the task text in a CONTENT column, the due date in DATE, the priority (its four levels, p1 to p4), and an INDENT number that records which tasks were subtasks. Do this for each project you want to bring over. Completed and archived tasks are not in the export, so finish or copy anything you still need first.
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Create or open an Obsidian vault
A vault is just a folder. In Obsidian, pick New vault and choose where it lives (a folder in iCloud Drive if you want it on your iPhone too). If you already keep notes in Obsidian, use that vault. Inside it, make a file like tasks/from-todoist.md, or one file per project if you prefer to keep them separate.
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Turn the CSV rows into task lines
Each Todoist task becomes one markdown line: a checkbox, the text, then the date. "Pay rent" due June 30 becomes "- [ ] Pay rent 📅 2026-06-30". A high-priority task gets a priority emoji (⏫ for high, 🔺 for highest, 🔽 for low). A subtask gets indented two spaces under its parent. For a handful of tasks, do it by hand in fifteen minutes. For hundreds, a short script (or asking an AI assistant to convert the CSV to Obsidian Tasks lines) does the same job. The emoji syntax is the Obsidian Tasks format, documented and stable.
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Point TaskForge at the vault
Install TaskForge on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Android device, and select the same vault folder. It reads every markdown file, finds the task lines, and shows them in lists, a calendar, and a kanban board. Edit a task in TaskForge and the change writes straight back to the file; edit it in Obsidian on your desktop and TaskForge picks it up. One set of files, every device.
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Add the things Todoist could not do
Now turn on what you actually switched for: due-date notifications that fire when your phone is in your pocket, home screen and lock screen widgets you can check tasks off from, and a calendar view that pulls in your real Apple, Google, or Outlook events next to your tasks. Recurring tasks reschedule themselves the moment you complete them.
What carries over, and what doesn't
Honest accounting, because a migration guide that pretends everything transfers is lying to you.
Comes across cleanly
- Task text. Every task name lands as-is on the checkbox line.
- Due dates. The DATE column maps to the 📅 due-date emoji, and times come with it.
- Priorities. Todoist's four priority levels map onto four of TaskForge's five priority emoji (the scale runs 🔺, ⏫, 🔼, 🔽, ⏬).
- Subtasks. The INDENT value tells you how deep each task was, so the hierarchy survives as indentation.
- Projects. One CSV per project becomes one markdown file (or one heading) per project, your call.
- Recurring tasks. Re-create the schedule once in TaskForge and it writes a 🔁 rule that repeats forever.
Does not come automatically
- Completed-task history. Todoist's export skips finished and archived tasks, and so do its backups. If your activity log matters, the Export to Google Sheets extension is the one official path that includes completed tasks.
- Comments and attachments. CSV rows carry the text, not the threaded comments or files attached to a task.
- Labels and filters. Todoist labels become #tags on the line, but you re-build saved filters as TaskForge custom lists. They are not auto-converted.
- Collaboration. Shared projects and assigned tasks are a Todoist feature with no TaskForge equivalent (see below).
Why there is no one-click importer
A built-in Todoist importer would have to talk to Todoist's API, hold your login, and stay in step every time Doist changes its format. That is a connector to maintain and a dependency to trust, and it would pull your data through a server. The CSV path skips all of that. Your tasks go from a file Todoist gave you to files you own, and nothing in between phones home. Once the lines are in your vault, TaskForge reads them because they are standard Obsidian Tasks syntax, the same format the Obsidian Tasks plugin uses.
When you should stay on Todoist
TaskForge is a single-user, vault-first app, and that does not fit everyone. Stay on Todoist if you share projects with a team or assign tasks to other people, if you need a web app you can open on a borrowed computer, or if you lean on Todoist's catalog of integrations with Slack, Gmail, and the rest. You can also run both: keep Todoist for team work and use TaskForge for your private tasks in your vault. Because TaskForge stores everything as plain markdown, the two never collide.
Questions about switching
How do I switch from Todoist to TaskForge?
Export your Todoist projects as CSV from the web app (project menu, Export as CSV), then turn each task row into a markdown line in an Obsidian vault: a checkbox, the task text, and a 📅 due date. Point TaskForge at that vault and it reads the tasks immediately. For a large account, a short script or an AI assistant can convert the CSV to Obsidian Tasks lines in one pass.
Is there an automatic Todoist to TaskForge importer?
No, and that is deliberate. An automatic importer would need your Todoist login and a connector to maintain. The CSV route moves your tasks from a file Todoist gives you into files you own, with no server in between. Once the lines are in your vault as standard Obsidian Tasks syntax, TaskForge picks them up automatically.
What happens to my Todoist subtasks, priorities, and due dates?
All three carry over. Due dates map to the 📅 emoji, Todoist's four priority levels map onto four of TaskForge's five priority emoji (the scale runs 🔺, ⏫, 🔼, 🔽, ⏬), and the CSV's INDENT column tells you how to nest subtasks as indented lines. Labels become #tags, but saved filters you rebuild as TaskForge custom lists rather than import directly.
Will I keep paying a subscription after I switch?
You do not have to. TaskForge is free to download with a free tier, and Premium is a one-time purchase of $39.99. There is a $1.99 per month option if you prefer, but the lifetime purchase means you can pay once and stop. That replaces Todoist Pro's yearly bill.
Do I lose my completed-task history when I leave Todoist?
Todoist's CSV export does not include completed or archived tasks, so that history does not move on its own. Note that Todoist's own backups skip completed tasks and archived projects too, so a backup does not preserve your completion log either. If that history matters, the only official path that captures completed tasks is Todoist's Export to Google Sheets extension, or you keep the account open. Your active tasks are what carry into the vault.
Can I keep using Todoist for some things after switching?
Yes. Run Todoist for shared and team projects and use TaskForge for your personal tasks in your Obsidian vault. They do not interfere with each other, because TaskForge only ever touches the plain markdown files in your vault.
What if I stop using TaskForge later?
Your tasks stay put. They are plain markdown lines in your own vault, readable by Obsidian or any text editor. TaskForge adds no proprietary database and locks you into no format, so leaving it is nothing like leaving Todoist's cloud.
Move your tasks into files you own.
Export the CSV, drop the lines in a vault, and open TaskForge on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Android. Free to download, with a one-week Premium trial.