Amazing Marvin vs Todoist
A configurable behavioural toolkit against the most polished conventional task manager on the market.
Short answer
Amazing Marvin (from $12/month, or $300 lifetime) is the most customisable task manager available — you switch on individual strategies until the app matches how your brain works, which takes real setup time. Todoist (free tier, Pro $4/month) is the opposite: opinionated, fast, and usable in five minutes. Marvin wins on flexibility; Todoist wins on price and time-to-value.
Amazing Marvin vs Todoist: side by side
| Feature | Amazing Marvin | Todoist | LemTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | From $12/month or $300 lifetime | Free, Pro $4/month | $0 (free plan) |
| Free tier | No — 30-day trial | Yes, with limits | Yes |
| Setup time | Hours to days | Minutes | Minutes |
| Customisation depth | Extremely high | Low | Medium |
| Rewards / gamification | Yes | Karma points only | Yes — XP, levels, achievements |
| Habit tracking | Yes | No | Yes |
| Time blocking | Yes | No | Yes, with calendar sync |
Pricing reflects each vendor's published plans at the time of writing. Check their site before buying — plans change.
Which should you pick?
Pick Amazing Marvin if
You have tried standard task apps and bounced off them. Marvin's strategies — time blocking, procrastination help, rewards, day planning — can be tuned to an ADHD-friendly workflow no other app matches.
From $12/month or $300 lifetime · None — 30-day trial
Pick Todoist if
You want a dependable list that works everywhere and costs little. Todoist's natural-language entry, filters and integrations are best-in-class for the price.
Pro $4/month, Business $6/month · Yes, with limits
Pick LemTask if
You want Marvin's motivation mechanics with Todoist's out-of-the-box simplicity. LemTask ships XP, streaks, daily priorities and habits with working defaults, free.
Free plan · no card
Which one for your situation
The right answer changes with team size, industry and which single feature you are actually buying. Find the line closest to your situation.
- Solo professionals
- Amazing Marvin is built for one person tuning a system to their own brain — strategies, time blocking and daily planning are all configurable. Todoist is built for capture speed and cross-device reliability. Choose Marvin if tinkering helps you, Todoist if tinkering is how you avoid working.
- ADHD and executive-function support
- Marvin's strategies exist for exactly this and can be switched on one at a time. It also costs more and takes longer to set up, so consider a simpler free system first and add complexity only if you miss it.
- If you share lists with anyone
- Todoist. Marvin is a single-player tool by design.
- If price is the question
- Marvin is around $12 a month or $99 a year with no free plan; Todoist has a free plan and a cheaper Pro tier. Marvin's trial is the honest way to find out whether the configurability earns the difference.
Try the free option before you pay for either
LemTask covers daily planning, time blocking, habits and a focus timer on a free plan — so you can test the workflow before committing to a subscription.
- Free forever plan, no card required
- Time blocking with Google Calendar sync
- Habits, streaks and XP for follow-through
- Import your existing lists in a couple of clicks
Frequently asked questions
- Is Amazing Marvin worth it over Todoist?
- It is worth it if standard task apps have failed you and you want to design your own system — Marvin's strategies and rewards are far deeper than Todoist's. If you just need a reliable list, Todoist does the job for $4/month instead of $12.
- Is Amazing Marvin good for ADHD?
- It is one of the most recommended apps for ADHD because of its procrastination strategies, rewards and time-blocking modes. The trade-off is setup: the configuration itself can become the procrastination.
- Which is cheaper?
- Todoist by a wide margin — a free tier and Pro at $4/month, versus Marvin from $12/month or $300 lifetime.
- Is there a free app with Marvin-style motivation?
- LemTask's free plan includes XP, levels, streaks, achievements, habits and daily focus priorities with sensible defaults, so there is no configuration marathon before you start.
- Is Amazing Marvin worth it for a solo professional?
- Worth it if you know which planning habits you want enforced and will use the strategies to enforce them. Not worth it if you are still looking for a system — the configurability becomes the procrastination. Use the trial before paying for a year.