How to Smoothly Switch from Todoist to Quire

Last updated: May 29, 2026

TL;DR: Switching from Todoist to Quire takes three steps: export your Todoist data as JSON, create a Quire project, and import the file. Your tasks keep their structure on the way in. Quire then adds nested hierarchy, team collaboration, a Kanban Board, and a Timeline. Import is free on every plan.

You like Todoist. That's usually how this starts. The interface is clean, the daily list is satisfying to check off, and for a long stretch it did exactly what you needed. Then the work got bigger, or a teammate showed up, or one project sprouted twelve subtasks that didn't want to live as a flat list anymore. And here you are, reading about switching.

Todoist is genuinely one of the best to-do list apps out there, with millions of users to prove it. For a solo person tracking reminders, it might be all you ever need. The friction shows up when a personal list turns into a real project, with people, deadlines that depend on each other, and a structure that's more tree than line.

There's a reason flat lists hit a wall. According to George Miller's 1956 paper The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, working memory holds only about seven items at a time, which is why a flat list of eighty tasks feels like noise while a nested one feels like a plan. Quire is built around that nesting. Switching over keeps the work you've already done and gives it room to branch.

"I love how it's easy to use. I love all of the features that are crafted with the sole purpose of helping you achieve your goals! I really like the simplicity of Quire which allows me to outline my thoughts powerfully and create organized plans that help me accomplish big projects!"

-- Peter S., Head of Product Design, started to use Quire 2 years ago

Why switch from Todoist to Quire?

The honest answer is that you don't have to, until you do. Todoist and Quire solve overlapping but different problems. Todoist is a personal task manager that's brilliant at capture and daily review. Quire is a project tool that happens to be just as comfortable holding your personal list.

The dividing line is structure and people. The moment your "buy milk, email Sara, finish deck" list starts including "finish deck, which needs three slides, which each need data from two teammates," you've left flat-list territory. That's a tree, and trees are what Quire renders natively.

Three things tend to push people across the line:

1. You need depth. Quire nests tasks as deep as the work actually goes, and the subtasks stay attached to their parent across every view. No more faking hierarchy with indentation or labels.
2. You need other people. Quire is multiplayer by default. You assign tasks, follow them, comment, and watch progress without anyone exporting a screenshot into Slack.
3. You need more than a list. The same tasks show up as a Kanban Board, a Timeline, and a Table. You don't rebuild your project to change how you look at it.

If none of that sounds like your week, stay where you are. If two of the three are nodding at you, keep reading.

How do you migrate from Todoist to Quire in three steps?

If you've lived in Todoist for years, change feels uncomfortable. The good news is the move is fast, simple, and pain-free. Here's how you bring your data across.

1. Export your data from Todoist into a JSON file (save as a JSON file from the web browser). If you don't have a Todoist Premium account, use this free open-source tool to export a JSON file from Todoist.

   

2. Create a new project in Quire.

   

3. Click the dropdown next to your new project's name and import the uncompressed JSON file.

   

That's it. Your Todoist projects are now in Quire, structure and all, ready for you to pick up exactly where you left off.

All projects from Todoist will be imported into one single Quire project. You can use the transfer feature to split it into different projects and organizations.

Importing your data and using Quire's nested task list are available on every Quire plan, free included. The pricing page covers what each tier adds on top.

How does Quire compare to Todoist and other to-do apps?

Most to-do apps look similar at a glance. The differences show up when you ask three questions: can it nest tasks deeply, can a team share the same project, and what does the free plan actually include?

The pattern: personal apps like Todoist and Microsoft To-Do keep nesting shallow on purpose, because depth isn't what a solo list needs. Quire goes the other way. It treats the hierarchy as the point, which is why a migration that flattens your structure (the way some tools do) would defeat the move. Quire's import keeps the tree.

What can you do in Quire that Todoist can't?

Once your tasks are in, the new surface area opens up. Here's where most former Todoist users spend their first week.

Break work down without limits. A launch becomes a parent task. Under it sit "design," "copy," and "QA," and under those sit the real to-dos. Collapse the branches you're not touching and the eighty-item list shrinks to the five things that matter today.

Put the right people on the right tasks. Assign a teammate, add followers who want updates, and let comments live on the task instead of in a buried email thread. The work and the conversation about the work stay in one place.

See the same project three ways. Toggle to the Kanban Board when you're running the work, the Timeline when you're scheduling it, and the list when you're planning it. Same data, no rebuilding.

Capture fast, organize later. Quire keeps the speed of a to-do app for capture. You dump everything in, then drag it into shape once your brain catches up. (Yes, this is the part where we admit we also love checking boxes. We're not made of stone.)

When should you stick with Todoist instead?

Switching tools isn't free, even when the import is. Here are the cases where staying on Todoist is the smarter call.

• Your work is genuinely flat and solo. A list of independent personal reminders ("call dentist, renew passport, water plants") has no parent-child structure to preserve. Quire's hierarchy would be answering a question you're not asking.
• You live on mobile, in seconds-long bursts. If your whole relationship with a task app is one-tap capture on a phone between meetings, Todoist's lightness is a feature, not a limitation.
• You're not collaborating with anyone. Quire's strengths compound when more than one person shares a project. Solo, some of that power sits unused.

If you read those three and thought "that's not me anymore," that's your answer. The list outgrew the list.

Ready to kickstart your project and continue where you left off?

We never want you to feel left out, so here are a few resources to get your Quire account set up.

• Tutorial for Quire's unique hierarchical to-do list
• Tutorial for Quire's Kanban Board
• Tutorial for Quire's Timeline
• How to add your tasks and subtasks
• Top-notch hacks that make your productivity great again

Export your Todoist JSON, spin up a Quire project, and import it. Give it ten minutes on a real list, not a test one, and watch what happens when your flat list finally gets to grow branches. Let us know your first impression in the comments or tweet us at @quire_io.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you switch from Todoist to Quire?

Export your Todoist data as JSON, create a Quire project, and import the file from the project dropdown. Your task structure comes across intact.

Can you import Todoist data into Quire for free?

Yes. Import works on every plan, including free. No upgrade is required just to migrate.

What can Quire do that Todoist can't?

Deep nested hierarchy, real team collaboration, and a Kanban Board plus Timeline over the same tasks.

Will my subtasks stay organized after importing?

Your tasks import into one Quire project with hierarchy intact, and you can split or move them later with the transfer feature.

When should you stick with Todoist?

When your work is a solo, flat list of reminders with no branches and no teammates. That's Todoist's sweet spot.