ClickUp alternatives for a lighter way to run your work
Three ClickUp alternatives with honest trade-offs and official prices, plus how to export your data, or keep ClickUp for the team and plan your own day elsewhere.
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The short answer
ClickUp can model almost any team workflow, with Spaces, custom fields, many views and automations. People look elsewhere when they want something lighter for personal work, a docs-first tool, or a simpler list. Some keep ClickUp for the team and use a second tool for their own day.
1. Thendoo
Free during early access; paid plans come later
Best for: People who keep ClickUp for team work but want their own calm daily plan, with their ClickUp tasks, calendar and habits on one Today view.
Strengths
- Syncs the ClickUp tasks assigned to you every 5 minutes, across all your workspaces, and writes back completion, status and due date.
- Leaves title and notes owned by ClickUp, while you decide when to do the work on Thendoo's timeline.
- Familiar structure of Spaces, folders, Lists, custom statuses, custom fields, and List, Table, Board and Timeline views.
- Plan my day, Close the day, habits, a focus timer and money in the same app.
Trade-offs
- Single-user only. No assignees, sharing or team workspaces.
- ClickUp connects with a personal API token, not OAuth, and there are no webhooks.
- No native phone app yet; it runs in the browser and can be added to a phone's home screen.
- No AI planning yet; AI only writes optional notes from recordings. Reminders only pop up while a Thendoo tab is open.
Best for: People and teams whose work is mostly writing, documentation and wikis, with tasks as one part of it.
Strengths
- Pages and databases you can shape into almost any system.
- Notion Calendar included on every plan.
- Exports pages as PDF, HTML, or Markdown and CSV.
Trade-offs
- You build task statuses, views and automations yourself; on Plus, automations are buttons only.
- Free plan file uploads are limited to 5 MB each.
Best for: People who mainly need a fast personal task list and find ClickUp's options more than they use.
Strengths
- Quick, focused task list with apps on desktop, phone, watch, browser and email.
- Google Calendar integration that puts dated tasks on your calendar.
Trade-offs
- The free plan allows 5 personal projects; the calendar layout needs Pro.
- Built for lists, not for complex team workflows.
ClickUp is built to handle a lot: many teams, many workflows, custom fields, dashboards and automations, all in one workspace. For a team that needs that range, it is a strong choice. The same range is what leads some people to look for something else, especially for their own personal work.
Why people look around
- More tool than the job needs. If you work alone, a full workspace with Spaces, Folders, Lists and many views can feel like overhead.
- Writing comes first. Some teams mostly write specs and wikis, and want docs at the center with tasks on the side.
- Your own day gets lost. In a team tool, your assigned tasks sit among everyone else’s. Some people want a separate place to decide what they will do today.
- Plan limits. On Free Forever, storage is capped at 60 MB and time tracking is a trial.
Leave, or add?
This is the first decision, and it changes everything after it. If your team is staying on ClickUp, moving your own tasks out creates two sources of truth. A better fit may be a personal planner that reads from ClickUp.
Thendoo works this way. It syncs the tasks assigned to you, including subtasks, from all your ClickUp workspaces. ClickUp keeps owning the title and notes, and Thendoo gives you a Today view to decide when the work happens. Completing a task in Thendoo marks it done in ClickUp. The trade-off is that Thendoo is single-user, connects through a personal API token rather than OAuth, and has no phone app yet.
If you are leaving
- Docs-first team: Notion gives you pages and databases you shape yourself.
- Just you, mostly a list: Todoist is fast and focused, with a free plan to try it.
- Just you, wanting a calm daily plan with calendar, habits and money: Thendoo, with your tasks imported from a ClickUp CSV.
Export your ClickUp data first and keep the CSV. Move only open work, and give the new tool one real week before you cancel anything.
Moving from ClickUp to Thendoo
- 1Decide whether you are leaving ClickUp or just adding a personal planner. If your team stays on ClickUp, you can connect it to Thendoo instead of moving anything.
- 2To export, open your Workspace settings in ClickUp, choose Imports / Exports, then Export Items, pick the Spaces, Folders or Lists, and start the export. You get a CSV with task fields, comments and attachment links.
- 3Export Docs separately as PDF, HTML or Markdown. On Free Forever and Unlimited, List and Table view exports are limited to five, so plan which ones you need.
- 4In Thendoo, open Settings → Import, choose ClickUp and upload the CSV. ClickUp Spaces, Folders and Lists come over with their statuses, subtasks, tags, checklists and custom columns, after a preview.
- 5To keep ClickUp for the team instead, go to Connections in Thendoo, paste your ClickUp personal API token, and choose which Space each ClickUp workspace, space, folder or list maps to.
Questions
Can I use Thendoo and ClickUp together?
Yes. Thendoo syncs the ClickUp tasks assigned to you every 5 minutes and writes back completion, status and due date. ClickUp keeps owning the title and notes. You plan when to do them on Thendoo's Today view.
Does Thendoo import a ClickUp CSV export?
Yes. Upload the CSV in Settings → Import to bring tasks over for good, with a preview first and an undo for 30 days. Comments stay behind, and attachments come over as links. To keep tasks in ClickUp instead, use the sync.
Which alternative is closest to ClickUp for teams?
Notion, with shared pages and databases. Todoist also has a Business plan with team projects, but it stays list-focused. Thendoo is single-user, so it fits your personal plan rather than the team's.