A Google Tasks Alternative for Assigning Tasks to Staff
Google Tasks is a fine list for yourself. How assigning works in it, where that leaves a small business, and when a task manager for staff fits better.
Checked on 25 October 2026 against Google’s own help pages for Tasks and Chat.
Google Tasks is a good, simple list. It sits in Gmail and Google Calendar, it has its own app, it is ₹0 on Google Play, and for your own work it is hard to beat. The trouble starts when you want to give a task to someone else, such as your staff, and see it done.
This post explains how assigning works in Google Tasks, as Google’s help pages describe it, and when a task manager built for giving work, such as Karo, fits better.
Can you assign tasks in Google Tasks?
Yes, in two places, according to Google’s help:
- In a Google Chat space. Members of a space can create group tasks and assign them to other members. To give a task to someone outside the space, you invite them to the space first. (Create & assign tasks in Google Chat)
- In Google Docs. With a work or school account, you can assign a task in a document to yourself or to other people in your organization. (Assign tasks from Google Docs)
What that means for a small business
For a shop, a clinic or a small office, that can leave gaps:
- Many staff use their own Gmail address, not a work account of your organization, so assigning from Google Docs, which works between people in one organization, may not be open to you.
- In Chat, everyone has to be in the same space before you can give them a task. Your CA or a supplier would need to join it too.
- Most staff never open a document to find their work. They need their tasks on their phone, with a time and an alert.
None of this makes Google Tasks bad. It was made as your own list first.
What a task manager for staff adds
In Karo, giving a task to someone else is the main job, so it works the same for your staff, your partners and people outside the business:
- Add anyone by Karo Pin. A short code, no email or phone number needed. They accept your contact request first.
- Accept or decline. You know at once that a task landed, or why it did not.
- More time, asked properly. The person asks for a new date before the deadline, and you say yes or no.
- Review before done. Important work comes back to you to approve or send back.
- Figures at a glance. Not accepted yet, overdue and under review, counted at the top of your list.
- A WhatsApp nudge in one tap. Karo types it and you press send. Karo never sends messages on its own.
- Repeating tasks for rent, GST, salaries and stock counts, created on time for the right person.
How task delegation works in Karo shows each step.
Side by side
| Google Tasks | Karo | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ₹0 on Google Play | Free: no paid plan, no price per person |
| Where it lives | Gmail, Calendar, Chat, Drive and Docs, with apps for Android and iPhone | An Android app from karotask.com, an iPhone Home Screen app and the web |
| Giving a task to someone else | To members of a Chat space, or in Docs to people in your organization | To anyone you are connected with by Karo Pin |
Where Google Tasks is the better choice
To be fair to it:
- It is built into Gmail, Calendar, Chat and Docs, so if your day is in Google’s apps, it is already there.
- It is on Google Play and the App Store. Karo is on neither: its Android app comes from our website, and on iPhone you add Karo to your Home Screen from Safari.
- If your whole team has work accounts in one organization and works in Docs and Chat, assigning there may be all you need.
Can you use both?
Yes. Keep Google Tasks for your own reminders inside Gmail, and give work to other people in Karo, where you see it accepted and done. Karo is free for you and for everyone you give tasks to: what is free in Karo.
Questions
Can I assign a Google Tasks task to someone with a personal Gmail address?
Google’s help describes assigning in a Chat space, to its members, and in Google Docs for work or school accounts, to people in the same organization. Check Google’s pages for your own account. In Karo, you can give a task to anyone with a free Karo account.
Does Google Tasks have location reminders?
Google’s help for Tasks describes due dates and notifications, not reminders for a place, and Google Keep’s location reminders have ended. Karo has place reminders on Android. More about the change in Google Keep.
Which free app can I use to give tasks to staff?
Karo is free for you and your staff, and our list of the best free task apps for small businesses compares it fairly with Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do, Todoist, Trello and TaskOPad.
Try it with one task
Register free, add one person by their Karo Pin and give them a task today.