When comparing Any.do vs Trello, the Slant community recommends Trello for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” Trello is ranked 7th while Any.do is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Trello is:
There are two primary columns: the board is shown on the left and all the other controls on the right. The main means of interaction is dragging and dropping to-do cards into the various lists. The board structure is very customizable, and includes a variety of features that help along the way: color-coding, due dates, card images, checklists with a graphics bar that allows following progress easily, and card aging for cards that haven’t been touched in a long time.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Clean, intuitive design
Any.do splits all tasks up into groups. Tasks can be grouped either by date (today, tomorrow, upcoming, and someday) or in custom folders. Each group has a plus button next to it that allows adding new tasks to the group.
Pro "Any.do Moment" makes to-dos manageable
"Moment" is a reminder to check all tasks that are planned for the day. It simplifies scheduling your day and let’s you quickly check off items as they're completed. It can be set it to prompt you in the morning or afternoon to review your day’s tasks and update whether or not you’ve accomplished them. This is really useful for managing a long to-do list without feeling overwhelmed.
Pro Web interface for desktop access
The web interface can be used to add items.
Pro Clever auto-complete
As tasks are added, Any.do attempts to guess what is going to be written and offers suggestions. It will search through contacts for names and information, allowing you to add people to tasks and offering suggestions for meeting spots that are convenient for everyone.
Pro Missed call reminder on Android
The mobile app reminds you of missed calls and helps manage them in the future.
Pro Folders for tasks
Users can create and edit folders for certain tasks, like “personal” and “work.”
Pro Has a system that allows collaborating on tasks
Any.do allows creating "hubs" for groups of people, like colleagues, family, and friends, where tasks can be shared or assigned to each other.
Pro Simple
Any.do includes the features that are needed and nothing more.
Pro Free version
Any.do has a free version and also offers a Premium plan that costs $3 a month.
Pro Cross-platform support and sync
The app runs on iOS, Android, as a Chrome extension and in browsers.
Pro Rewards for completing tasks
The app integrates with Kiip, a reward platform that gives free, real-life rewards when a to-do list is completed.
Pro Five simple widgets for Android
There are five widgets to choose from, all of which are simple and useful.
Pro Simple and easy to use interface
There are two primary columns: the board is shown on the left and all the other controls on the right. The main means of interaction is dragging and dropping to-do cards into the various lists.
The board structure is very customizable, and includes a variety of features that help along the way: color-coding, due dates, card images, checklists with a graphics bar that allows following progress easily, and card aging for cards that haven’t been touched in a long time.
Pro Great real-time team collaboration features
Trello has permissions at the board level as well as the ability to assign multiple people to each card. There are a lot of sharing options available and boards can be made visible for the public. It's also possible to subscribe to a card to be notified of its progress. The simplicity of the UI makes collaboration easy because it’s very simple to see the progress of each card and who is responsible for it. It also updates constantly to reflect real-time changes in progress.
The simplicity of the UI makes collaboration easy as it’s very simple to see the progress of each card and who is responsible for it. It also reflect changes on boards in real-time.
Pro Highly flexible workflow
Trello calls items used in the workflow “cards.” Cards are double-sided and can contain subtasks as well as notes and other details.
Card columns can be used to simulate a workflow by moving cards from left to right as they are completed, or as a way of indicating task priority.
The workflow is highly flexible as the columns are completely customizable to suit the task flow. For example, tasks can be put through a workflow "idea > approved > in-progress > pending review > released" or simply "ideas > released" depending on the granularity level needed.
This makes Trello a great solution to feature management as it's possible to set up boards to handle everything from agile sprints to a more generic to-do list, all with status management.
Pro Free for unlimited users
Trello offers a very generous free version that has no ads, no restrictions on the number of users, and very little restriction on how the program can be used. The paid features are generally cosmetic, such as the ability to change the background, add stickers or integration with other tools.
Pro Works well for visual thinkers
The UI is based around Kanban, so you can see all your tasks and their status clearly.
Pro Functionality can be extended via plug-ins
Voting, view, and calendar plug-ins further increase the functionality.
Pro Markdown support with well-rendered images
Trello supports Markdown, meaning that HTML input is represented appropriately. Cards with attachments are also rendered well. For example, images are shown correctly on the card, bug links are detected etc.
Pro Sub-tasks
Each card can have one or even multiple task lists.
Pro Cross-platform and cross-sync
Trello works on all modern devices through the web application and has native apps for iOS, Android and Windows 8/10 devices.
Pro Attach files to cards
Keep all of your files (images, documents, etc.) organized on their relevant cards.
Pro Easy-to-use
Pro Best kanban for personal usage
Pro Excellent for groups using agile software development
The responsiveness and layers of customization make it easy for team members of various disciplines to collaborate on the same task board.
Pro Great prioritization, Due date and Story point features
Can set different priorities to various tasks, set appropriate due dates and Story points - timing allotted to each task.
Pro Good performance
Pro Features to add voting on cards
Trello offers support for features to add voting on cards, often referred to as 'power-ups'.
Pro Smooth media integration
Works like a charm.
Pro Great native app for Android and iOS
Pro Lots of API integrations
Pro Action history log allows you to rapidly follow changes
There is a global history system which allows to rapidly follow changes. There is also a notification system if another user updates the board while you're watching it.
Cons
Con No Windows app or client
Unlike rival to-do list apps such as Todoist or Wunderlist, Any.do does not have an official app for Windows. There’s also no indication that the company plans to build this app in the near future.
Con Lack of power features like priority and labels
Any.do has only two levels of priority that can be assigned to tasks, namely Normal and High. There is no way to assign any sort of weights to tasks either. There is no feature to assign any sort of labels on them to be able to filter particular type of tasks. These features are very valuable to a power user.
Con If you pay once it charges recurring even after unsubscribe and notified to the team as well.
Only solution is downgrade to free plan and remove credit card details.
Con Limited Any.do moments in free version
The free version gives only five Any.do moments per month, limiting productivity.
Con Cannot see task details easily
To view subtasks, notes or other data you have to click or tap multiple times. There is no task view that shows everything you should know about the task.
Con Invasive App Permissions
In order to be a complete solution, Any.Do can seem to take over your phone. For example, it monitors missed calls so you can schedule a call back.
Con Offline access not available in free version
Since the addition of the Premium plan, offline access to lists is not available for free Any.do users.
Con Spotty auto-complete and voice recognition
Though the auto-complete feature is very smart in that it can access contacts and create a variety of tasks, it also might auto-complete with something entirely wrong. The voice recognition also has some issues with correctly understanding what is being said.
Con Slow animations and features
The app goes for a smooth feel with lots of things being automated and animated. This slows down it's use, especially on older phones.
Con Awkward data entry
You cannot simply start entering tasks, one after another. You must click or tap the add icon to get a text entry field.
Con All tasks default to "today"
While there is a 'someday' category, by default every task as an end date of today. This means you get constant notifications for quickly added tasks.
Con Incomplete keyboard control
There’s no clear way to select and mark tasks using keyboard.
Con No Android Wear and Apple Watch support
The Any.do app currently does not support Android Wear or Apple Watch, in contrast to rival to-do list apps such as Todoist or Wunderlist. Currently Any.do does not have plans to support these devices.
Con Subtasks lack features
Every task can have a list of subtasks which more closely resembles a standard to-do list.
These lack the functions that cards offer you. You cannot comment on a sub-list, give the sub-tasks due dates, or provide additional information. You are limited to only checking them off once completed.
Con No multi-board aggregation
If you have multiple boards with tasks on them there is no way to get all the tasks on one board in a way that changes on one board will update the other.
Con Can't get one view of cards across all boards
However, you can view all cards assigned to you.
Con Not really a to do list
Trello is much more a workflow and project management program than a typical to-do app, which makes it overwhelmingly robust for those looking to jot down their shopping list.
Con You can't add more than 1 Power Up without paying for it
Con Can't create dependencies between cards
Con Project management system only
This is cumbersome to get started.
Con Managing large projects may be difficult
Trello works best with medium to small projects and with very high-level overviews. It is less effective for projects that require very granular management due to the fact that it becomes considerably more difficult to keep track of various cards and priorities as they are pushed off the screen.
Con Impossible to use Pomodoro timer connected to Trello on iOS
Con No quick deadline assignment
You have to open a Calendar every time to set a date without any quick options like today, tomorrow etc.
Con Slow and requires a lot of mouse work to navigate
Con Light on features
Trello is focused on simplicity and as such forgoes certain common features that may or may not be important to you.