Google Tasks vs River

Google Tasks is a free task-list tool for capturing and organizing to-dos across Google apps. Users can turn Gmail messages into tasks and return to the original email from the task. Tasks with a date and time appear in Google Calendar, where reminders are available; repeating schedules can be daily, weekly, monthly, or annual. Separate lists and starred tasks help organize work, and subtasks, due dates, and notifications are included. Tasks and lists sync across computers, phones, and tablets when signed in to the same Google Account. Access is available on the web at tasks.google.com and in side panels for Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive. In Google Chat spaces, users can assign tasks to teammates, set deadlines, and track progress. Tasks assigned in shared Google documents appear in the assignee’s task list, but that feature is available on some Business and Enterprise plans. Google lists mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android. The plan costs nothing.

River is a background job queue for Go applications, using PostgreSQL or SQLite to store jobs. Its transactional enqueueing keeps a job from running until the database transaction that inserted it has completed. The core set includes isolated queues, unique jobs, prioritization, recurring cron jobs, snoozing, transactional completion, and test helpers. A web interface, pause and resume controls, automatic retries, error reporting, and telemetry integrations support operations. River UI is optional and self-hosted, with no external service dependencies. PostgreSQL is the primary database target; SQLite support is experimental. River Pro adds workflows that split complex work into individually retryable tasks, plus batching, concurrency limits, and ordered job sequences. The free Open Source plan includes the web UI but excludes workflows, concurrency limits, and support. Pro costs $125 a month and includes email support for up to 20 developers. Enterprise pricing is custom and includes email and Slack support, unlimited developers, and access to a SOC 2 report.