Todoist vs Things 3: The Definitive Comparison for Mac Users (2026)

Things 3 costs $49.99 on Mac. Todoist's Pro plan costs about $48 a year. You could describe this as "roughly the same price" — and then miss the entire character of what makes them different.

Things 3 is a one-time payment, a native Apple experience, and a deliberate design decision to go deep on one platform rather than broad across many. Todoist is a subscription, a cross-platform presence that covers Windows, Android, Linux, and a browser tab alongside every Apple device, and a decade of features built for individuals and teams alike. These are not two versions of the same product. They reflect two fundamentally different positions on what a task manager should be.

For Mac users specifically — where both tools shine and where the differences are most consequential — this comparison covers everything worth knowing before choosing.

The 30-second answer

Choose Things 3 if: you work exclusively in the Apple ecosystem, you value design quality and native macOS integration above feature breadth, you want to pay once rather than subscribe, and your work is primarily personal or solo rather than collaborative.

Choose Todoist if: you work across multiple platforms or operating systems, you need team collaboration or task assignment, you want the best natural language task input available, or you want to start free before committing to a paid tool.

Keep reading if neither description perfectly fits — there's nuance in both directions, and both tools have a missing piece worth knowing about.

Things 3: what it is and what it does

Things 3 is a task manager built by Cultured Code, a small German software studio, and it has been winning Apple design awards since 2017. It runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch — and only on those platforms. The Apple exclusivity is not a resource constraint. It's a strategic choice to go deep on one ecosystem rather than spread thin across many.

The design is the product's most cited feature, and it earns the praise. The interface is calm, considered, and native in the fullest sense: Spotlight integration, Share Sheet support, Focus mode compatibility, Shortcuts automation, Apple Watch complications. Every interaction feels deliberate rather than ported. On a Mac, Things 3 doesn't feel like software you installed. It feels like software that came with the computer.

The task structure is GTD-adjacent without being dogmatic. Areas group large life and work domains. Projects sit within Areas. Tasks sit within Projects. Headings divide projects into sections. Tags and filters cut across everything. Start dates and deadlines are treated as different things — which matters more than it sounds. A start date is when you intend to begin something; a deadline is when it must be done. Most task managers collapse these into a single "due date" field. Things 3 preserves the distinction, and users who work with meaningful lead time find this one of the most practically useful features in the product.

The Today view shows everything you've committed to for the current day. The Upcoming view shows the next several days with calendar events alongside tasks. The integration with Apple Calendar is built in — Events appear in Things' Upcoming view automatically. This is the deepest calendar integration in the task manager category for Apple users: not a separate "calendar view" you configure, but calendar events as a native part of your task timeline.

Things 3: honest limitations

No Windows, Android, web app, or Linux. If you use any non-Apple device — a work Windows machine, an Android phone, a Linux workstation — Things 3 is inaccessible from that device. This is not a workaround situation. Your data doesn't exist outside the Apple ecosystem. For users with any meaningful cross-platform requirement, this makes Things 3 a non-starter regardless of how good it is on Apple.

No collaboration features. Things 3 is a personal task manager. There's no task assignment, no shared projects, no comments, no team visibility. For solo work, this is a non-issue. For any context involving task delegation or team coordination, it's a fundamental gap.

No free tier. Things 3 requires purchase before you can evaluate it meaningfully. The App Store offers a money-back policy, but you pay first. Compared to Todoist's genuinely useful free tier, this creates meaningful friction for undecided users.

Natural language input is basic. Things 3 parses dates and reminders from text but doesn't handle priorities, tags, projects, or complex recurrence patterns in natural language. "Every other Tuesday at 3pm" is not a sentence Things 3 will parse correctly. Todoist handles this effortlessly.

Todoist: what it is and what it does

Todoist is the most widely used dedicated task manager in the world, with over 30 million users. It runs on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and every major web browser, with integrations across Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, Zapier, and 80+ other tools. The breadth is the product's primary value proposition: wherever and whenever you think of a task, Todoist is accessible.

The natural language input is the single feature most Todoist users mention first, and it's genuinely best-in-class. "Submit report every Friday at 2pm #work p1" creates a recurring high-priority task in the Work project, scheduled correctly, with no secondary clicking. Complex recurrence patterns that Things 3 can't parse — "last Friday of each month," "every other Tuesday starting March 1" — Todoist handles immediately. For users who add dozens of tasks per day, this speed compounds into meaningful time saved.

The project structure is flexible: tasks, subtasks, sections within projects, labels across projects, filters with custom logic. The Pro plan (approximately $4/month billed annually, after the December 2025 price increase from legacy rates) adds reminders, calendar layout, task durations, and Task Assist AI — features enhanced significantly through 2025 and into 2026. The Business plan ($8/month per user annually) adds team features with task assignment, comments, and shared projects.

The integration ecosystem is Todoist's second biggest advantage after platform breadth. Real two-way sync with Google Calendar and Outlook means tasks with due dates appear as calendar events and vice versa. Slack, Gmail, and browser extensions let you capture tasks from wherever work is happening without switching apps. For users whose workflows span many tools, Todoist functions as a task hub that sits across the rest of the stack.

Todoist: honest limitations

The free tier is limited but real. Five projects and no reminders covers basic task capture but won't satisfy power users. The Pro plan is required for anything meaningful, which makes the "free to start" pitch somewhat misleading in practice — though the Pro plan's price is low enough that it's rarely a barrier for professionals.

Not native macOS. Todoist's Mac app is functional and competent, but it doesn't feel native in the way Things 3 does. The Spotlight integration works, the keyboard shortcuts work, but the application's character is cross-platform-first with Mac adaptation rather than Mac-native design. On a Mac specifically, the aesthetic gap between Todoist and Things 3 is real and daily.

No Apple Calendar native integration. Todoist syncs tasks with due dates to Apple Calendar, but calendar events don't appear natively in Todoist's task view the way they do in Things 3's Upcoming view. For users who manage their schedule primarily through Apple Calendar, this is a meaningful difference in how well the task manager integrates with their existing workflow.

Head-to-head: 10 criteria for Mac users

What both tools are missing

This comparison has a structural limitation worth naming honestly: neither Things 3 nor Todoist is a calendar tool. Neither creates time blocks. Neither has a focus mode for active work sessions. Neither tells you whether you're spending your time on the right things.

Things 3 shows your tasks alongside calendar events in the Upcoming view. It doesn't let you drag a task into a time slot and have that block appear in your calendar. Todoist can sync tasks with due dates to your calendar, but the sync is date-based rather than time-block-based — tasks don't become scheduled calendar events with duration.

Both tools help you know what you need to do. Neither helps you decide when to do it, protect the time to do it, or execute on it with a focus environment that reduces distraction at the moment of starting.

For Mac users who want that missing layer — calendar blocking, focus execution, and weekly review of whether the system is working — Aftertone combines native task management with Google Calendar and iCloud sync, a Focus Screen that narrows to one task during work sessions, and AI weekly reports. The use case is different from Things 3 or Todoist: not "manage my task list" but "turn my task list into a time-blocked, focused working day." Many users run Aftertone alongside a task manager rather than instead of one — using Things 3 as their capture and organisation layer, and Aftertone for the daily scheduling and focus execution layer.

Five-year cost comparison

Frequently asked questions

Is Things 3 worth it for Mac users?

Yes, if you work exclusively in the Apple ecosystem and value native design quality above all other criteria. The one-time pricing means Things 3 becomes better value than Todoist Pro after approximately 18 months of use. The native macOS experience, Apple Calendar integration, and start-date-versus-deadline distinction are genuinely superior to Todoist for Apple-first users.

Does Things 3 work with Google Calendar?

Not directly. Things 3 integrates natively with Apple Calendar and iCloud. Google Calendar events will appear in Things 3's Upcoming view if you've added your Google Calendar to Apple Calendar (a common configuration for Apple users), but there's no direct Google Calendar integration. Todoist has direct two-way sync with Google Calendar.

Can I try Things 3 for free?

Things 3 has no free tier. You purchase the app and can use Apple's App Store refund process if you decide it's not right for you. There is no time-limited free trial in the traditional sense. Todoist has a genuine free tier with basic task management across all platforms, making it lower risk to evaluate before committing.

Which is better for GTD: Todoist or Things 3?

Both support GTD workflows. Things 3's Areas/Projects/Tasks hierarchy and the separation of start dates from deadlines map well to GTD's contexts and horizon levels. Todoist's labels, filters, and projects also support GTD, with stronger natural language capture for the GTD inbox. Things 3 is slightly better at the GTD structure; Todoist is better at the GTD capture step.

What does Things 3 cost on Mac?

$49.99 for Mac, $9.99 for iPhone, $19.99 for iPad — purchased separately through the Mac App Store and iOS App Store. The full Apple suite (Mac + iPhone + iPad) costs approximately $80. There are no subscriptions or recurring fees. A potential risk: Cultured Code has charged for major version upgrades historically, though no Things 4 has been announced as of 2026.