TL;DR
Task reminders in Plutio send a notification before a task's start date or due date arrives, so deadlines don't depend on memory or manual calendar checks.
Plutio attaches reminders directly to the date fields on individual tasks. When a start date or due date has a reminder configured, Plutio delivers a notification at the chosen interval (minutes, hours, or days before the date) through web push, desktop push, mobile push, email, or a combination based on notification preferences. Over 60% of Plutio users with 10+ active tasks per week enable reminders on due dates, and those users report fewer overdue tasks per month compared to manual tracking in a calendar app. The core benefit: reminders turn passive due dates into active notifications that arrive before the deadline, not after it passes.
Task reminders are available on all Plutio plans starting at $19/month, with a 7-day free trial. The default reminder time for new tasks is configurable in Settings under Tasks, so every new task picks up the preferred reminder interval automatically.
What task reminders are
Task reminders are date-triggered notifications attached to individual tasks that fire at a configured time before a start date or due date, delivered through push notifications, email, or both.
In Plutio, both the startDate and dueDate fields on a task support reminders through the dateWithReminderSchema. When adding or editing a date on a task, a reminder option appears alongside the date picker. The reminder interval determines how far in advance the notification fires: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 1 day, 2 days, or 1 week before the date. Plutio stores the reminder as part of the date field itself, so it travels with the task if the task is duplicated or moved between projects.
Start date reminders
Start date reminders notify task owners and assignees before a task is scheduled to begin. For tasks that require preparation, such as gathering assets, briefing a subcontractor, or reviewing a client's brief, a start date reminder gives a heads-up to begin pre-work. A freelance designer with a branding task starting Monday can set a Friday reminder to gather logos, fonts, and brand guidelines over the weekend. Start date reminders are especially valuable with task dependencies, where a predecessor task finishing triggers the start of the next task in the chain.
Due date reminders
Due date reminders notify task owners and assignees before a deadline arrives. The notification fires at the configured interval, whether that is 1 hour or 2 days before the due date. For client-facing deliverables, a 1-day due date reminder gives enough time to review, polish, and submit before the deadline hits. Due date reminders also work with recurring tasks: when a recurring task generates its next occurrence, the reminder carries over to the new instance automatically. The practical advantage: due date reminders catch overdue-bound tasks while there is still time to act, not after the deadline has already passed.
I manage 40+ tasks a week across five clients. Before reminders, I checked my task list every morning and still missed things. Now Plutio pings me the day before anything is due, and nothing slips through.
Why task reminders matter for freelancers
A due date without a reminder is a silent countdown that only becomes visible when it hits zero. Freelancers managing 15 to 40 tasks across multiple client projects rely on memory, calendar apps, or daily task list reviews to catch upcoming deadlines, and each method has a failure mode: memory forgets, calendar entries get skipped, and daily reviews miss tasks added after the morning check.
The cost of a missed deadline compounds beyond the task itself. A late design delivery pushes back the development phase, which delays the launch date, which delays the final invoice. On a $5,000 web project, a 1-week delay can push payment from net-30 to net-60, tying up $5,000 in receivables for an extra month. Across a year of projects, even 2 to 3 missed deadlines per quarter create a pattern that affects client retention and referrals.
Asana includes task reminders but restricts them to the Max plan at $24.99/user/month, so freelancers on Asana's free or Premium tiers have to set up workarounds using rules or external calendar syncs. Monday.com includes date reminders on all plans but delivers them only within the Monday.com app, so freelancers who don't keep Monday.com open in a browser tab miss the notification entirely.
The gap between setting a due date and remembering that due date is where deadlines get missed. Reminders close that gap by converting a static date into a notification that arrives when it matters.
Plutio sends reminders through multiple channels: web push, desktop push, mobile push, and email. The delivery channel depends on notification preferences, so freelancers who work from a phone on-site get the same reminder as freelancers working from a desktop at home. The notification arrives regardless of whether Plutio is open in a browser tab.
How task reminders work in Plutio
Open any task in Plutio, add a start date or due date, configure the reminder interval, and Plutio delivers a notification at the chosen time before the date arrives.
Before setting reminders on individual tasks, configure the default reminder time in Settings under Tasks. The default applies to every new task with a date, so existing preferences carry forward without manual configuration on each task.
Step by step
- Step 1: Open a task in any project. Click the start date or due date field to open the date picker.
- Step 2: Select the date, then choose a reminder interval from the reminder dropdown: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 1 day, 2 days, or 1 week before the date.
- Step 3: Save the task. The reminder is now attached to the date field. Plutio shows a bell icon next to dates that have active reminders.
- Step 4: When the reminder time arrives, Plutio sends a notification through the channels configured in notification preferences: web push, desktop push, mobile push, email, or any combination.
- Step 5: Click the notification to open the task directly. Review the task details, update progress, or mark the task complete before the deadline.
Practical tip: set the default reminder to 1 day for due dates in Settings under Tasks. Every new task inherits this default automatically, so reminders are active from the moment a due date is assigned without extra clicks per task.
Who needs task reminders
Freelancers and agencies managing deadline-driven client work across multiple concurrent projects, particularly designers, developers, consultants, and virtual assistants handling 10 or more active tasks per week, gain the most from built-in task reminders.
A freelance web developer running three active builds with 8 to 12 tasks each has 24 to 36 deadlines in play at any given time. Without reminders, staying on top of those dates means checking the task board daily and cross-referencing a calendar, which takes 10 to 15 minutes per day and still misses tasks that were added or rescheduled after the morning review. Built-in reminders eliminate that daily audit and deliver the right notification at the right time for each task individually.
Agencies with multiple team members benefit from reminders that fire per-assignee. When a task is assigned to a team member, the reminder goes to that person based on their notification preferences. The project manager doesn't need to follow up manually before each deadline because the reminder handles the prompt automatically. Agencies using Plutio's team roles can let each member configure their own notification channels without affecting the rest of the team.
Freelancers exploring Asana alternatives often discover that Asana restricts task reminders to its Max plan at $24.99/user/month. Plutio includes task reminders on every plan starting at $19/month for the full workspace, not per user. Freelancers comparing Trello alternatives find that Trello's reminder functionality requires Butler automation rules on paid plans, which adds setup complexity that Plutio's native date-level reminders avoid entirely.
| Feature | Plutio | Asana | Monday.com | Trello |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task reminders | All plans ($19/month) | Max plan ($24.99/user/month) | All plans | Butler on paid plans |
| Delivery channels | Push, email, mobile, desktop | Email, in-app | In-app only | Email, in-app |
| Start date reminders | Yes | No (due dates only) | Yes | No |
| Default reminder setting | Yes (Settings > Tasks) | No | No | No |
| Works with recurring tasks | Yes | Yes | Yes | No native recurring |
Bottom line: any freelancer or agency with more than 10 active tasks per week across multiple projects turns due dates from passive labels into active deadline alerts by enabling task reminders in Plutio.
