NotchOwl vs Things 3: Notch Planner or Full Task Manager?

Things 3 and NotchOwl are both Mac task apps you pay for once, with no subscription and no shared or team lists. That’s roughly where the overlap ends. Things 3 is a mature, award-winning task manager for every Apple device, built around projects and areas. NotchOwl is a newer daily planner that lives in the MacBook notch, built around today, a focus timer and a notepad.

I make NotchOwl, so I have a stake in this comparison; I’ve tried to be fair about where Things 3 is the better pick, and for many people it is. Everything below was compared from Cultured Code’s website, support pages and App Store listings and from NotchOwl’s own documentation in November 2026. Prices are US prices as of November 2026.

The short verdict

Choose Things 3 if you want one polished task manager across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro, with projects, areas, headings, tags, checklists and Quick Entry from any app. Choose NotchOwl if you mostly work on a Mac, plan a day or a week at a time, and want today’s tasks, a focus timer, reminders and a notepad one hover away in the notch, for $9 once on up to 3 Macs. If you like Things 3 but miss a timer or a list you can see without switching windows, you can use both, with some limits covered below.

Things 3 is a $49.99 Mac task manager (with separate iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps) built around projects and areas, while NotchOwl is a $9 one-time Mac planner that keeps today’s tasks, a focus timer, reminders and a notepad in the MacBook notch.

NotchOwl vs Things 3 at a glance

What each app is built around

Things 3, by Cultured Code in Stuttgart, has won two Apple Design Awards. Things 3 organizes work as to-dos inside projects, and projects inside areas such as Work or Family. Headings split a project into stages, checklists break a to-do into steps, and tags filter across everything. Today, This Evening, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday decide when you see each to-do, and the Logbook keeps what you finished. Things Cloud syncs it all for free. Mac version 3.24.2 came out on November 5, 2026, and version 3.24 added integration with the new Siri and with Spotlight.

NotchOwl starts from the day instead of the project. Hover the notch or press Option–N, and NotchOwl opens today’s tasks, a focus timer, a daily notepad and today’s Calendar events in one place. You can plan tasks for any future day, see the days ahead in Week beside an Inbox, and let unfinished tasks carry forward. Projects, priorities, steps, notes, deadlines and repeats are there, but there are no areas, headings or tags. NotchOwl also has Clips, where recent screenshots, screen recordings and copied items wait in the notch, and Insights. NotchOwl’s first release was September 15, 2026, so it is a much younger app.

The biggest differences

Where your tasks live: a window or the notch

Things 3 has no menu bar item, so the list lives in its window. Quick Entry (Control–Space) opens a small capture window over any app, Quick Entry with Autofill (Control–Option–Space in Safari, Mail or Finder) also saves a link to what you’re viewing, and desktop widgets can show a list. To work through the list, you go back to the Things window.

NotchOwl lives at the top of the screen. Hover the notch and the day drops down over whatever app you’re in; move away and it folds back. A running focus timer stays visible in the notch, and NotchOwl’s menu bar item can show today’s progress or the task you’re focusing on. NotchOwl doesn’t need a notch: external monitors get one drawn at the top, it follows your pointer between screens, and Macs without a notch open it at the top center of the screen. If you searched for a “Things 3 menu bar” app, this is the gap NotchOwl fills, though for its own tasks, not for Things’.

Capture: Quick Entry or typing it like you’d say it

Things 3’s Quick Entry is one of the best capture windows on the Mac. You type the title, then set the date in a picker that reads natural input such as “tomorrow”, and reminder times such as “Wed 8pm”. Mail to Things turns a forwarded email into a to-do.

NotchOwl reads the whole title. “Call mom tomorrow at 5pm !high #family” becomes a task on tomorrow with a 5 PM reminder, high priority and the family project. Repeats (“every monday”), deadlines (“due friday”) and time limits (“for 30 min”) fill in the same way, and several tasks can go in one line separated by semicolons. You can also dictate into the task composer or the notepad, with speech recognized on your Mac.

Structure: areas and headings, or days and a week

This is the real dividing line. If your system is a dozen projects grouped into areas, each with headings and tagged to-dos, Things 3 is built for it and NotchOwl is not. NotchOwl has projects, but no hierarchy above them and no tags.

If your system is “what am I doing today, and what’s coming this week”, NotchOwl is built for that. Week shows the days ahead beside an Inbox for tasks without a day, and you drag a task to any day. Unfinished tasks carry forward instead of piling up, and overdue tasks get their own tab with Reschedule.

Focus: Things 3 has no timer

Things 3 lists no focus or Pomodoro timer, so Things users who work in timed sessions add a separate app. NotchOwl’s focus timer runs as a countdown or a stopwatch, on a task or on its own. The Focus card offers 25, 45 and 60 minutes or a custom length, and you can pause, resume or add 5 minutes. The timer pauses when your Mac sleeps, and when a countdown ends you choose Keep going or Take a break. NotchOwl is not a full Pomodoro app: there is no break timer, no round counting and no site blocking. For those, see the best Pomodoro timer apps for Mac.

Calendar and reminders

Both apps read your calendar and neither edits it. Things 3 shows calendar events at the top of Today and in Upcoming, next to your to-dos. NotchOwl shows today’s events in the notch, read-only, from calendars already added to Apple Calendar on your Mac, and opens a live activity just before and as a timed event starts.

Reminders work differently. Things 3 sends a notification at the time you set. In NotchOwl, a reminder that comes due opens the notch with a chime, where you can snooze it for 5 minutes or mark it done.

iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch

Things 3 wins here clearly. Things has full apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, synced through Things Cloud, though each is sold separately (the Apple Watch app comes with the iPhone app).

NotchOwl has no iPhone, iPad or Watch app. Its optional two-way Apple Reminders sync keeps a NotchOwl list in Reminders in step with your tasks, so they reach iPhone and Apple Watch through iCloud, and reminders with a time ring there too. That covers checking and ticking off tasks on the go, not planning a project on an iPad.

Price

NotchOwl costs $9 once for up to 3 Macs, shown as an early-bird price (normally $29), with lifetime updates and no subscription. The installer is free, but NotchOwl needs a license to run; there is no trial, and a 14-day money-back guarantee covers you instead. The details are in NotchOwl’s pricing section.

As of November 2026, Things 3 costs $49.99 for the Mac, $9.99 for iPhone and Apple Watch, and $19.99 for iPad, so the Mac, iPhone and iPad versions together cost $79.97. Things 3 is still on version 3, and Cultured Code’s site doesn’t describe pricing for a future major version. You can try the Mac app free for 15 days from Cultured Code’s website.

AI agents and automation

NotchOwl includes a local MCP server. In Settings › AI agents, click Connect next to Claude Code, the Claude app or Cursor, and the agent can add, move, rename and snooze tasks, complete today’s tasks, write in the notepad, read Insights and run the focus timer. The server runs on your Mac and has no access to your Calendar or settings. The full setup is in how to connect Claude to your Mac to-do list.

Things 3 has no official MCP server. The community-built things-mcp server runs on your Mac with uvx things-mcp once you turn on Things URLs, and it can read your lists and add or update to-dos. Things 3 has deeper classic automation: a URL scheme, Shortcuts actions and AppleScript.

Where Things 3 is better

• Every Apple device. Full apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision Pro.
• Structure. Areas, projects, headings, tags and checklists for large, long-running work.
• Capture from anywhere. Quick Entry with Autofill grabs links from Safari, Mail and Finder, and Mail to Things turns emails into to-dos.
• Maturity. Years of refinement, two Apple Design Awards, and frequent updates.
• Automation. Shortcuts, AppleScript and a URL scheme.
• Intel Macs. Things 3 lists no Apple silicon requirement; NotchOwl needs Apple silicon.
• Trying it first. A 15-day free Mac trial.

Where NotchOwl is better

• Always in view. Today’s tasks one hover away in the notch, with progress or your focus task in the menu bar.
• Focus timer. A countdown or stopwatch, on a task or on its own, built into the planner.
• Capture in one line. Dates, times, repeats, deadlines, priority and projects read from the title, plus on-device dictation.
• Reminders you notice. The notch opens with a chime, with Snooze and Done right there.
• Daily notepad. Notes that save themselves, with Command–Return to turn a line into a task.
• Insights. Completed tasks, active focus time, your streak, your last 7 days against the 7 before, and peak hours.
• AI agents. A built-in local MCP server, connected in one click.
• Price. $9 once for 3 Macs, against $49.99 for Things 3 on the Mac.

Can you use both?

Yes, and for some people it’s the best setup, as long as you treat them as two separate lists. NotchOwl has no Things 3 integration: it can’t read Things’ lists, and Things can’t read NotchOwl’s.

• Things 3 for projects, NotchOwl for today. Keep areas, projects and Someday in Things 3. Each morning, type the three to five tasks you’ll actually do today into NotchOwl and work from the notch. This adds a daily copy step, so it suits people who already pick a short list each morning.
• NotchOwl only for focus. NotchOwl’s focus timer runs without a task, so you can keep every to-do in Things 3 and use NotchOwl for timed sessions, the notepad and calendar heads-ups.
• Shortcuts don’t clash. Things 3’s Quick Entry uses Control–Space and NotchOwl opens with Option–N.
• Keep the Reminders lists apart. Things 3 can pull reminders from a Reminders list into its Inbox, and Cultured Code says it deletes them from Reminders when it imports them. If that list were NotchOwl’s synced list, NotchOwl’s two-way sync could treat those tasks as deleted. Point Things at a different list.
• An AI bridge, if you want one. With both NotchOwl’s MCP server and the community things-mcp server connected to Claude Code, you can ask Claude to read your Things Today list and add it to NotchOwl. That is two separate servers working through Claude, not an integration between the apps.

How to switch from Things 3 to NotchOwl

1. Download NotchOwl, move it to Applications and activate your license.
2. In Things 3, select the to-dos you want to bring over and press Command–C. Cultured Code says they paste as plain text, and that notes and tags inside a group of shared to-dos are left out.
3. Paste the text into NotchOwl’s notepad and press Command–Return on each line to turn it into a task. Or paste the list into Claude with NotchOwl connected and ask it to add the tasks to the right days.
4. Add dates the NotchOwl way: “tomorrow”, “every monday”, “due friday”, “!high” or “#project” in the title.
5. Turn on Reminders sync in Settings if you want the tasks on your iPhone and Apple Watch.
6. Keep Things 3 for a couple of weeks. Its Mac app stores daily backups of your database from the last ten days, and NotchOwl’s 14-day refund window covers you if it isn’t right.

Verdict

Things 3 is the better task manager for most people who live across Apple devices or run many projects at once. NotchOwl is the better choice for one specific problem: you work on a Mac, your list disappears behind other windows, and you want today’s tasks, a timer and reminders where you already look. If that’s you and you don’t need an iPhone app, NotchOwl does the job for $9. If you’re weighing other options too, see the best Things 3 alternatives for Mac. Things 3 is at culturedcode.com/things.