Task Management Apps With REST APIs: Compare Tasks, Subtasks, Comments, and Webhooks

A task manager has a useful REST API when your code can work with the same tasks, ownership, and discussion that people use in the app. Being able to create a task is only the beginning. You also need a reliable way to find it again, update it, follow related work, and handle changes without creating duplicates.

For a compact task-and-project model, investigate Todoist. For project workflows with task relationships and comments, investigate Asana or ClickUp. For date-based tables and a work record, SelfManager is another option, with its own REST API and webhooks.

This is a documentation-based shortlist for developers calling HTTP endpoints. If you want to connect an AI assistant instead, use the separate task managers with MCP servers guide.

Compare the integration surface

Product	Task model to inspect	Discussion and events	Main selection question
Todoist	Tasks organized through projects and sections	Comments and webhooks	Does the task-oriented model cover your application?
Asana	Tasks, subtasks, project relationships	Comment stories and webhooks	Which fields and relationships must your code preserve?
ClickUp	Tasks in Lists, with parent relationships for subtasks	Task comments and location-scoped webhooks	How closely must your integration mirror the Workspace hierarchy?
SelfManager	Dated tables, tasks, and one-level subtasks	Table/task comments and webhooks	Does date-based work match the way your team plans?

Use this as a shortlist, then verify the exact endpoints and account entitlements. A documented API is not the same as an unrestricted API, and API availability does not imply unlimited requests.

Todoist: start with the current developer platform

Todoist's developer hub documents a unified, mostly RESTful API covering tasks, projects, sections, and comments. It also provides official SDKs and webhooks. Personal tokens are a starting point for your own tooling; its guidance points developers building for other people toward OAuth. Todoist developer hub.

Start from that current hub when you implement. Older snippets may target a previous API generation. For hierarchy and list reads, inspect the current task schema and pagination contract rather than assuming an old parent_id example or response shape still applies.

A useful proof of fit is a small internal utility that creates work in the intended project, adds discussion, and reads back the identifiers and relationships your application needs. Do that before designing a larger synchronization service.

Asana: inspect subtasks, stories, and pagination together

Asana exposes a subtask creation endpoint and a story endpoint that can create comments on a task. Its authentication documentation distinguishes personal access tokens from other authorization options; a personal token has the access of the person who created it. Subtasks, comment stories, authentication.

For lists, Asana documents limit and an offset returned through next_page. Build pagination into the first version of your reader. A short test project can hide an incomplete read that becomes visible only after the account grows. Asana pagination.

Its webhook guidance also describes delivery limitations and recommends fallback polling for use cases that cannot tolerate missing changes. Treat the webhook as part of a synchronization design, with periodic reconciliation where needed. Asana webhooks.

ClickUp: account for hierarchy and token limits

ClickUp's task creation endpoint accepts a parent task identifier for creating a subtask. Task comments have their own endpoint. Inspect both if your application needs to preserve a work breakdown and its discussion. Create task, create task comment.

ClickUp documents personal-token and OAuth authentication, and rate limits that vary by Workspace plan. Handle throttling explicitly rather than assuming an upgrade or a different token removes the need for pacing. Authentication, rate limits.

Its webhook documentation describes location scoping and signed events. Check event coverage carefully: the documentation notes that adding a task attachment does not trigger the same update event as uploading an attachment to a task comment. ClickUp webhooks.

SelfManager: for date-based work

SelfManager's API page describes JSON endpoints, personal keys with selected permissions, paged reads, and webhooks. The latest updates also document subtasks, assignments, and task comments for integrations. Check the API reference for exact coverage and the webhook events your integration depends on.

Keep two points in the evaluation: API and webhook usage is paid in Integration Credits, separately from AI credits, and each personal key needs an active SelfManager plan. There is no ready-made Zapier, Make, or n8n app, so integrations call the API directly, from your own code or an automation tool's webhook step. The API page shows how to start.

Run one useful proof of fit

Before migrating real work, use a disposable test project or table and verify this flow:

Create a parent task and one child step.
Read back their identifiers and relationship.
Add a comment and confirm which resource owns it.
Update completion and check the resulting event.
Read more than one page of tasks.
Retry a simulated interrupted write and check your duplicate prevention.
Revoke access and confirm the integration handles refusal.

Store remote identifiers rather than matching by title. Decide which app owns each field, what happens after deletion, and how your service notices a failed webhook or expired credential. Use each vendor's documented idempotency or your own durable deduplication strategy where appropriate.

The strongest API choice is the one that represents your actual workflow with the fewest ambiguous conversions. Choose it after the small end-to-end proof, before committing your team to a full integration.