Best Things 3 Alternatives (2026)

Things 3 has maintained its position as the most beloved Apple task manager through a discipline that's harder to sustain than it sounds: not adding features. While the rest of the category added AI integrations, cross-platform web apps, team collaboration, and subscription models, Cult of Mac's longtime favourite quietly updated its design, refined its keyboard shortcuts, and kept its promise: one-time purchase, native Apple apps, elegant task hierarchy, zero feature bloat.

The users who love Things 3 don't usually need alternatives — they need complements. The most common pattern is a Things 3 user who's happy with their task system and looking for something to add the calendar intelligence or AI scheduling layer that Things 3 deliberately doesn't include. Here are the best Things 3 alternatives (and complements) in 2026.

What Things 3 does well, and where it stops

The hierarchy is the product. Areas contain projects; projects contain tasks; tasks have checklists. The Today view surfaces what's relevant without requiring you to manually curate a daily list. The Upcoming view shows the next 14 days. The Anytime and Someday sections implement GTD's incubation model without forcing you to understand GTD terminology. Quick Entry captures tasks from anywhere in macOS without switching apps. The keyboard shortcut depth rewards power users. The Apple Watch app, iOS widgets, and Shortcuts automation round out an Apple-native experience that's hard to match.

What Things 3 explicitly doesn't do: AI scheduling, calendar intelligence, web access, cross-platform support, or team collaboration. These are design choices, not gaps. Things 3 is an opinionated product. The opinion is that a personal task manager should be personal, native, and focused. Users who agree with that opinion and want the calendar intelligence layer on top need to look elsewhere.

Aftertone

Best for

Things 3 users who want to add AI calendar intelligence without replacing their task system

Aftertone is a Mac-native calendar and task manager built on behavioural science. For Things 3 users, the relationship is additive rather than competitive: Things 3 manages your task hierarchy with excellence. Aftertone adds the calendar intelligence layer that Things 3 deliberately omits.

The AI weekly reports read your scheduling history and surface what your task list can't: which week structures in your calendar correlate with your most productive Things 3 completion periods, how your meeting load affects your ability to clear your Today list, and whether the time you're scheduling in your calendar actually reflects the priorities your Things 3 Areas contain. The Focus Screen removes distractions when it's time to work. At £100 one-time, the one-time pricing model aligns with Things 3's own philosophy about how productivity software should be sold.

The limitation

Aftertone has a simpler task model than Things 3. For users who need the full depth of Things 3's hierarchy, using both tools makes more sense than replacing Things 3. Mac-only.

Who it's for

Things 3 users who want to add AI calendar intelligence to their existing task system. Available at aftertone.io.

OmniFocus

Best for

Mac users who've outgrown Things 3's hierarchy and need more filtering power

OmniFocus is the upgrade from Things 3 for users who've hit the ceiling of its hierarchy. The custom perspectives system lets you create any view of your task database you can express as a filter. The review enforcement keeps GTD honest. The tag system goes beyond Things 3's project-area structure for users managing complex multi-context portfolios. At $99.99/year versus Things 3's one-time purchase, the subscription model is a real difference for users who don't need the power.

Who it's for

Things 3 users who need the perspective system and filtering depth for complex task portfolios. If AI calendar analysis matters, Aftertone addresses that gap directly.

Reclaim.ai

Best for

Google Calendar users who want to automatically protect calendar time for Things 3 tasks

Reclaim.ai addresses the specific gap between Things 3's task management and calendar scheduling: automatically blocking time for tasks and habits before meetings can fill the calendar. For Things 3 users on Google Calendar who want their task priorities to actually make it onto their schedule without manual time blocking, Reclaim bridges the gap. Free tier available; paid from $10/month. No AI pattern analysis of the resulting scheduling behaviour.

Who it's for

Things 3 users on Google Calendar who want automatic task-time scheduling. If scheduling intelligence matters, Aftertone addresses that gap directly.

Sunsama

Best for

Things 3 users who want a daily ritual to convert their task hierarchy into an actual scheduled plan

Sunsama is the daily planning layer for Things 3 users who've found that having a well-organised task hierarchy doesn't reliably produce a scheduled day. The morning ritual pulls from Things 3 (via integration), estimates time against the live calendar, and commits to a plan. For users who like their Things 3 system but consistently fail to translate it into scheduled work, Sunsama's ritual is the bridge. At $20/month — which is why the Things 3 + Aftertone combination is often a more economical choice.

Who it's for

Things 3 users who want a daily planning ritual to convert their task list into a scheduled calendar. If weekly AI analysis matters, Aftertone addresses that gap directly.

Morgen

Best for

Mac users who want multi-account calendar management alongside their Things 3 task system

Morgen adds the calendar intelligence layer from the calendar-first direction: a multi-account calendar with AI planning assistance that pairs with Things 3's task management. The combination gives you Things 3's hierarchy for task organisation and Morgen's Frames and AI Planner for scheduling. At €180/year it's a significant addition to Things 3's one-time cost. For users managing many calendar accounts, the multi-account power justifies the price.

Who it's for

Things 3 users who need multi-account calendar management with AI planning alongside their task system. If longitudinal scheduling pattern analysis matters, Aftertone addresses that gap directly.

Comparison table

Who Things 3 is actually right for

Things 3 is right for Apple users who want the best personal task management available — excellent hierarchy, elegant design, deep keyboard shortcuts, native Apple integration, and a one-time price. For the specific combination of GTD capability and Apple-native design quality, Things 3 remains the benchmark. The user who's happy with Things 3 and doesn't need AI scheduling intelligence, calendar pattern analysis, or cross-platform access has no reason to look at alternatives.

The users who do look: those who want AI scheduling intelligence added to their task system, those who need web access or cross-platform coverage, and those who've outgrown the hierarchy depth and need OmniFocus's perspective power. For the first group especially, an additive tool — Aftertone alongside Things 3 — often makes more sense than replacing a system that's already working.

The task system and the calendar layer

Things 3's deliberate restraint is its greatest strength. It doesn't try to be a calendar, an AI scheduler, or a team collaboration platform. It tries to be the best personal task manager for Apple, and it is. The intelligence about how those tasks connect to your scheduled time — and what those scheduling patterns reveal across weeks — is the layer it explicitly leaves out. Aftertone is built for that layer: not to replace Things 3's task system, but to add the calendar intelligence above it.