Marta runs a nine-person travel agency. On Monday she opens the spreadsheet "TASKS 2026", then Gmail, to check whether Kasia got the new details from the client. The company already has Google Workspace - why would it need a task management programme too?
Google Workspace stays where the team writes and meets
Keep Google Workspace for mail, co-authored documents, spreadsheets, files and video calls. Task Manager doesn't replace these services: it has no spreadsheet editor or Meet equivalent. (workspace.google.com)
If Kasia and Marta are jointly editing an offer in Google Docs, there's no reason to move the document itself. The same goes for the spreadsheet where the company calculates trip margins. The separate question is: where do you record who should send the offer, by when, and what the client changed after the last call?
Google has its own answers to this. A task with a date appears in Google Calendar, a task can be created from a Gmail message, and in a Google Chat space you can assign a task to someone else. Before buying another programme, check whether these features solve your team's problem.
A spreadsheet shows the deadline. What happened to the task, you check elsewhere
A spreadsheet is enough when you need an overview of matters and someone keeps it up to date. You'll find the change of due date and the previous date in the Task Manager task thread; if the arrangements were made over the phone, the spreadsheet row alone won't show you how they happened.
On Monday, Marta writes: "Offer for Nord - Kasia - Friday". On Wednesday the client changes the destination, Kasia gets new quotes, and the deadline is moved over the phone. By Friday the date cell already shows Monday, but Marta has to ask where the change came from.
In Task Manager you create a task with a subject, description, assigned people, priority and due date. You change the status from a list. Marta sees a red due date for overdue matters, a blue due date for today, and a green due date for future work. Tiles above the list let her display tasks due today or overdue.
The difference becomes clear once you open the task. Messages, mentions and attachments sit with its card, and a system entry keeps a record of who moved the due date and what date applied before. Instead of asking "why does the spreadsheet say Monday?", you read the thread. See also how the conversation attached to a task works.
The illustration shows a conversation with a to-do list; you run Marta's matter in the task thread.
Google Tasks helps teams too, but it organises work differently
Google Tasks is no longer just a personal list: tasks can be assigned in Google Chat spaces and, on the relevant plans, in Google Docs. A task assigned to you also appears on your list, and a task with a date and time can show up in Google Calendar. (support.google.com)
This is a good approach if the team settles everything in a single Chat space or directly in a document. Google describes notifications for task assignment and completion. If you have access to the space or document, you can also check its history. In Google, you can assign work and see who has completed it. (support.google.com)
You choose Task Manager for a different reason: a task has its own thread, statuses "In progress", "Done" and "Cancelled", a priority, and an entry about the due date change with the previous value. On Wednesday, Kasia ticks off "Collect hotel quotes" on the to-do list in the description. Marta sees the progress "2 of 4 done" and the avatar of the person who checked the item. She doesn't have to search for this information between the document and the chat.
Google Workspace and a task management program: what stays on which side?
Google Workspace remains a set of tools for mail, documents and collaboration, while Task Manager can take the lead on managing the team's tasks. The comparison below doesn't assume giving up any Google service. (workspace.google.com)
| Matter | Google Workspace | Task Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Documents and spreadsheets | Google Docs and Sheets with file collaboration | Notes and attachments; no spreadsheet editor |
| Mail and meetings | Gmail and Meet | Mail via IMAP/SMTP in the Pro plan; no equivalent of Meet |
| Assigning tasks | Tasks, including tasks shared in Chat and Docs | Tasks with assigned people, statuses, priority and a due date |
| Conversation about work | Messages in Chat, comments in documents, Gmail | A thread directly on the task, with mentions and attachments |
| Calendar | Google Calendar | A calendar with tasks, events and absences; connected with Google Calendar |
| Application data | Google services and infrastructure | Application files and database on the client's server |
| Billing | Fee per user per month | Perpetual licence with a seat limit |
The row about data doesn't mean that adding Task Manager moves your company's mail or documents away from Google. It only means that the data of the Task Manager installation itself sits on your hosting, while Google's services run on Google's infrastructure.
You don't have to abandon Google Calendar - you have to connect it
Google Calendar can still handle your meetings, while Task Manager shows its events alongside tasks and the team's absences. Event changes sync both ways: those from Google appear in Task Manager within a few minutes, and an edit in Task Manager is saved back to Google.
The connection is personal. When Marta connects her calendar, only she sees its events in Task Manager, not the whole office. She can also connect several accounts. If she has just changed a meeting in Google and wants to pull the change without waiting, she uses the sync icon in the Calendar.
There's one technical requirement: the administrator must first create OAuth credentials in Google Cloud and enter the Client ID and Client Secret in Task Manager's settings. OAuth is the way Google grants an application access to a calendar with the account owner's consent. After that, each person connects their own account and chooses a calendar. The process is described in the Google Calendar connection guide.
Disconnecting an account removes from Task Manager the events imported through that connection, but it doesn't remove them from Google. Also keep in mind that editing or deleting a connected event in Task Manager saves that change in Google Calendar too.
Mail next to a task helps, but it doesn't share the email with the team
Kasia won't see Marta's email just because Marta links it to a task they both have access to. The link is there to move between the email and the task, not to share the correspondence.
In the Pro plan, the Mail module lets you connect an IMAP/SMTP mailbox, including Gmail. IMAP is used for receiving messages and SMTP for sending them; when connecting Gmail, Task Manager's guide requires an app password and IMAP enabled.
On Thursday, a question from Nord arrives in Marta's mailbox. Marta can link the email thread to the "Offer for client Nord" task so she can move between them. This, however, is a navigation shortcut, not sharing the correspondence. If Kasia is to know the arrangements, Marta writes them into the task's thread. You'll find more on this division of work in how to manage team email.
Every connected mailbox is private, even from the application administrator. Task Manager doesn't delete messages from the mail server, and disconnecting a mailbox removes the local copy in the app. Gmail can therefore still be the company's mail provider; Pro changes where Marta reads it from, not the mail provider.
Compare the bill as two separate purchases
Google Workspace bills user accounts, while Task Manager bills a licence for a set number of seats. So don't subtract the price of one from the other as if both products delivered the same set of services. (workspace.google.com)
On the Polish Google pricing page, on 20 October 2026, the listed price was PLN 31.50 excl. VAT per user per month for the Google Workspace Business Starter plan with an annual commitment. (workspace.google.com) For nine people, the bill works out as 9 × monthly price × number of months. Before buying, check the final amount and tax in the order; promotions and the billing method may change the offer. (workspace.google.com)
Task Manager for a nine-person team fits within the Classic plan, for up to 20 people. The Standard Classic licence costs PLN 1,490, and Pro Classic PLN 3,990. It includes 12 months of updates; afterwards you can keep using the version you own, or renew updates - in Standard Classic for PLN 447 a year. This is not a subscription charged per person every month.
Add hosting to your own bill. If you want to use the AI Assistant, you'll also need your own key with OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude or xAI Grok, and you pay the model provider directly, without any markup from Task Manager. The program also works without AI. You'll find a detailed breakdown in the cost calculation for a task management program over three years.
If Marta's office needs Gmail, documents and Meet, it will still pay for Google Workspace. Buying Task Manager then means an additional cost for a different way of managing tasks, not an automatic saving on Google.
Your own server gives you control, but it adds a responsibility
You install Task Manager on your own hosting and you're responsible for maintaining that environment yourself. It needs PHP 8.1 or newer, and MySQL or MariaDB; shared hosting is enough. This is a different arrangement from logging into a Google service and paying for more accounts.
The installer runs in the browser, and you run updates from the application's settings - they don't install themselves without the administrator's involvement. In the Classic plan, remote installation is included in the price; in Starter it's a separate service for PLN 299. If you'd rather not deal with hosting, factor in this responsibility before choosing, not after you've moved your tasks over.
Even your own server doesn't mean every piece of information always stays on it. When you turn on the AI Assistant, the query along with the context used is sent to the model provider you've chosen, using your key. If the company works without AI, this part of the connection isn't needed.
Tomorrow, move one matter, not the whole company
You don't have to rebuild the work of nine people right away. On Wednesday, pick one active matter from the spreadsheet, create a Workspace for it and three tasks with people and due dates. Keep the arrangements for these tasks in their threads, and keep writing the offer itself in Google Docs. After a week, check whether the task itself now answers the question "who moved the deadline and why?". If you'd like to see the program's layout first, open the Demo.
Frequently asked questions
Will Task Manager replace Gmail and Google Drive for us?
No. Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Meet can stay in Google; Task Manager is used to run your team's tasks and conversations, and the Pro plan lets you connect an existing mailbox via IMAP/SMTP. (workspace.google.com)
Can you see Google Calendar events in Task Manager?
Yes, once you connect your account you'll see Google events in the Task Manager Calendar, and changes will sync both ways. The administrator needs to set up OAuth credentials beforehand; imported events are only visible to the owner of the connected account.
Is Google Tasks enough for a small business?
Google Tasks may be enough if tasks assigned in Google Chat or Docs match the way your team works. If you need a separate thread for each task, statuses, priority and a record of the previous due date, check out Task Manager. (support.google.com)
How much does a task management programme cost alongside Google Workspace?
Task Manager requires a separate licence fee with a seat limit, and Google Workspace still charges for the accounts you use. Add hosting to your Task Manager bill and, if you enable the AI Assistant, the cost of your chosen model provider; renewing updates after 12 months is optional. (workspace.google.com)
If we connect Task Manager, will our data stop being with Google?
No: mail, documents and other Google service data stay wherever you use those services. Task Manager application data sits on your own server, and when you use the AI Assistant, the query with its context is sent to the model provider using your own key.
Sources
- Task Manager, fact sheet and the “Tasks”, “Google Calendar - step-by-step connection” and “Mail” instructions, provided to the editorial team (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Features: Tasks - https://taskmanager.pl/funkcje/zadania (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Features: Google Calendar - https://taskmanager.pl/funkcje/kalendarz-google (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Features: Mail - https://taskmanager.pl/funkcje/poczta (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Pricing - https://taskmanager.pl/#pricing (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Google Workspace, “Flexible Plans Comparison” - https://workspace.google.com/pricing?hl=pl (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Google Workspace, Polish pricing page - https://workspace.google.com/intl/pl/pricing.html (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Google Tasks Help, “Learn about Google Tasks” - https://support.google.com/tasks/answer/7675772 (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Google Tasks Help, “Get started with shared tasks” - https://support.google.com/tasks/answer/11549608 (accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Google Workspace Help, “Choose a geographic location for your data” - https://support.google.com/a/answer/14310028 (accessed: 20 October 2026).
The Task Manager Team - we write about teamwork, AI in business and keeping tasks organised, using examples from Task Manager, software installed on your own server. Task Manager has been developed by Blue Creation Group (Piotr Łącz) since 2013 and is used by organisations including Neonet, the Military University of Technology and Polpharma - read customer reviews. We check our articles against the user guide and the latest version of the software.
