Todo4you

The project management software market has a familiar shape: at one end, sticky notes and shared spreadsheets; at the other, Jira and Asana with their configurable workflows, permission schemes, and dashboards that require a full-time admin. Todo4you, a Kanban board built by a solo developer in the Netherlands, is aiming for the vast middle ground — and it's making a specific bet that speed, simplicity, and EU data residency are more valuable to small teams than another automation menu.

The product's tagline, "Add it, track it, done," and its homepage promise — "Project management that stays out of your way" — are not just marketing copy. They reflect a design philosophy that shows up in the details: a board that updates in real time, custom status columns that map to categories so automations keep working, and a 15-day free trial that requires no credit card. But the most interesting signal is what Todo4you chooses not to do. There are no epics, no sprints, no complex permission hierarchies. Instead, there's a clean board, a timeline view, and a set of integrations that cover the tools small teams already use: GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Telegram, and more.

The anti-Jira, built in a Dutch bedroom

Todo4you is the product of an indie developer, Jorden Chamid, who has been writing PHP and MySQL since 1998 and runs a web development company in Amersfoort. According to the about page, Todo4you grew out of his own need as a freelancer juggling client projects — a tool that is fast, opinionated, and stays out of the way. The company page is refreshingly candid: "No investors, no rewrites every 18 months, no dark patterns." That's a direct contrast to the enterprise project management tools that dominate the category, and it's a positioning that will resonate with teams that feel over-served by feature-heavy platforms.

The public materials don't disclose revenue or user counts, but the site does show two customer reviews, both from Dutch companies, and one mentions migrating from Pivotal Tracker after it shut down. That's a telling signal: Todo4you is positioning itself as a replacement for tools that have disappeared or become too complex, not as a clone of Trello or Jira.

What 'out of your way' actually means in practice

The core workflow is familiar: create a project, give it a name and an optional ticket prefix, invite team members by email, and start dragging tickets across columns. But Todo4you adds several touches that make it feel more like a modern developer tool than a generic kanban app. Real-time updates are everywhere — every move, comment, and change is broadcast instantly, so there's no stale pages or missed updates. Custom status columns let you define your own workflow, and each column maps to a category (like To Do, In Progress, Done) so that automations, reports, and integrations keep working even if you rename columns to match your process.

Time tracking is built in, not bolted on. You can start and stop timers on any ticket, log manual entries, and see per-user breakdowns. That's a feature that usually requires a separate tool or a paid add-on in other platforms, and its inclusion here suggests Todo4you is targeting freelancers and agencies that need to bill hours. The timeline view, which is essentially a Gantt chart, is another feature that punches above its weight for a tool this simple.

MCP as the quiet differentiator

The most forward-looking feature is MCP access. Todo4you lets you connect Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-aware AI assistant to your projects, create scoped tokens, and manage tickets by chatting with your AI. The site shows a demo where an AI assistant updates a ticket, moves it to review, and leaves an implementation note. This is not just a chatbot bolted onto a board — it's a way to turn your AI assistant into an actual team member that can read, write, and move work forward.

The AI features are still marked BETA, and they include generating tickets from plain text, converting emails to tickets, translating tickets, and creating daily standup summaries, all powered by a local AI model. The "local" part is interesting — it suggests a privacy-conscious approach that aligns with the EU hosting story. But the MCP server is the real differentiator. It's included for free, and it uses a BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) model, so you're not locked into a proprietary AI. That's a clever way to appeal to developers who are already using AI assistants and want them to interact with their project management tool.

EU hosting as a product feature

Todo4you is founded and operated in the Netherlands, and all data is hosted on servers in Germany. The site emphasizes this as a differentiator: "one of the strictest data-protection jurisdictions in the world." For European teams, especially those handling client data or working under GDPR, this is a significant selling point. It's also a way to compete with US-based tools like Trello and Asana, which store data in the US and have been subject to privacy concerns.

The company is fully GDPR compliant, collects only what's needed, and allows you to delete your account at any time. The about page lists the KvK number and VAT number, adding a layer of transparency that many SaaS products lack. This is a brand that's betting on trust and sovereignty as much as on features.

The name that says 'for you, not for enterprise'

The name Todo4you is informal, almost casual. It's the kind of name a freelancer would come up with, not a branding agency. It suggests a personal tool, not a corporate platform. The domain, todo4you.com, is straightforward and memorable, though it does have a slightly generic feel — it could be mistaken for a consumer to-do app rather than a project management tool. But that's also part of the charm: it signals that this is a tool for people who want to get things done, not for managers who want to configure workflows.

The tagline "Add it, track it, done" reinforces this. It's a three-step promise that mirrors the product's simplicity. The name and tagline work together to position Todo4you as the anti-enterprise tool, and that's a consistent thread throughout the site.

Who should care and who should skip

Todo4you is clearly aimed at freelancers, small agencies, and software teams that have outgrown sticky notes but find Jira and Asana too heavy. If you're a solo developer or a team of five, and you want a board that updates in real time, tracks time, and lets you connect your AI assistant, Todo4you is worth a look. The 15-day free trial (no credit card required) makes it easy to test.

But if you need advanced reporting, portfolio management, or deep enterprise integrations, this is not the tool for you. The site doesn't mention things like resource management or cross-project dependencies beyond the timeline view. And while the MCP integration is exciting, it's still BETA, so there may be rough edges.

The bigger question is whether Todo4you can survive in a market dominated by free tiers from Trello and Notion, and established players like Jira and Asana. The indie approach — no investors, no marketing budget — means growth will likely come from word of mouth and niche positioning. But for teams that value speed, privacy, and a tool that stays out of the way, Todo4you is a compelling option. It's a bet that small teams are willing to pay for a product that respects their time and their data.