Things 3 Alternatives for Mac in 2026: 7 Apps Compared

Things 3 is one of the best-designed task managers on the Mac. Cultured Code’s app has won two Apple Design Awards, and Mac version 3.24.2 came out on November 5, 2026. People still leave it, and usually for a concrete reason: they need Windows, Android or a browser, they need to share a list, or they want something Things 3 doesn’t do, such as a focus timer or a task list that stays in view.

I make NotchOwl, so it’s on this list; I’ve tried to be fair about where other apps are the better pick. Every app was compared from its website, help center and App Store listing in November 2026, and prices are US prices as of November 2026.

Quick picks

• Best for keeping today’s tasks and a focus timer in the notch: NotchOwl
• Best free plan with Windows, Android, a Pomodoro timer and habits: TickTick
• Best capture on every platform, with shared projects: Todoist
• Best for GTD power users, one purchase for every Apple device: OmniFocus 4
• Best free option, with shared lists: Apple Reminders
• Best visual timeline of your day: Structured
• Best for planning work days on your calendar: Sunsama

Why people look for a Things 3 alternative

Things 3 is good at what it does. The reasons to switch are about what it leaves out.

• Apple devices only. Things 3 runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. There is no Windows, Android or web app, so a work PC or an Android phone can’t reach your list.
• One purchase per platform. Things 3 costs $49.99 for the Mac, $9.99 for iPhone and Apple Watch, and $19.99 for iPad on the US App Store, as of November 2026. The Mac, iPhone and iPad versions together come to $79.97. There is no subscription, which many people like, but the upfront cost is high.
• No shared lists. Cultured Code’s support page says Things does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists. You can send a plain-text copy, not a live list.
• No timer. Things 3 lists no focus or Pomodoro timer, so timed work sessions need a second app.
• Not always in view. Things 3 has no menu bar item. Quick Entry (Control–Space) captures a to-do from any app, and widgets can sit on the desktop, but seeing the full list means opening the window.
• No time-blocking. Things 3 shows your calendar events at the top of Today and in Upcoming, but it doesn’t place to-dos on a timeline.
• AI agents. Things has no official MCP server. A community-built server, things-mcp, runs on your Mac.

If none of these bother you, Things 3 is still easy to recommend, and Cultured Code offers a 15-day free trial of the Mac app on its website.

How we compared

Each app was checked against the same questions: what it costs, which devices it runs on, if you can share lists, if it has a focus timer, how it handles your calendar, whether tasks stay visible outside the app window, and how it connects to AI agents. Nothing here comes from benchmarks or user surveys; it comes from what each developer publishes.

Comparison table

The best Things 3 alternatives, by reason

NotchOwl: best for keeping today’s tasks and a focus timer in the notch

NotchOwl is a Mac planner that lives in the MacBook notch and the menu bar. Hover the notch or press Option–N, and today’s tasks, a focus timer, a daily notepad and today’s Calendar events open in the notch. NotchOwl costs $9 once for up to 3 Macs (an early-bird price, normally $29), with lifetime updates, no subscription and a 14-day money-back guarantee; there is no free tier or trial. NotchOwl runs on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 Sonoma or later and doesn’t need a notch: it draws one on external monitors and opens at the top center of the screen on Macs without one.

• Best for: people who like Things 3’s calm but want today’s list one hover away, plus the timer Things 3 doesn’t have.
• Strengths: type tasks the way you’d say them (“call mom tomorrow at 5pm !high #family”) or dictate them, with speech recognized on the Mac. The focus timer runs as a countdown or stopwatch, on a task or on its own. Reminders open the notch with a chime and Snooze and Done buttons. Week view sits beside an Inbox, unfinished tasks carry forward, and Insights shows completed tasks, focus time and your peak hours. Optional two-way Apple Reminders sync reaches iPhone and Apple Watch, and a local MCP server lets Claude Code, the Claude app and Cursor manage tasks.
• Drawbacks: Mac only and Apple silicon only, with no iPhone or iPad app and no shared lists. NotchOwl has projects and priorities but no areas, tags or headings, and its Calendar view is read-only. NotchOwl is young: its first release was September 15, 2026.
• Link: download NotchOwl, or read NotchOwl vs Things 3 for a side-by-side look.

TickTick: best free plan with Windows, Android and a timer

TickTick is a full task manager that adds a Pomodoro timer, a habit tracker, an Eisenhower Matrix and calendar views to its lists. TickTick’s free plan allows 9 lists with 99 tasks each, and Premium costs $49.99 a year as of November 2026. TickTick runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, and has a browser extension.

• Best for: people who left Things 3 because of a Windows PC or an Android phone and want a timer in the same app.
• Strengths: on the Mac, Command–Shift–O opens your tasks from the menu bar and can start a focus session, Command–Shift–A captures a task without leaving the current app, and Desktop Sticky Notes pin tasks to the screen. You can share lists with other people. TickTick lists MCP servers among its Premium AI features.
• Drawbacks: limits on the free plan, and full calendar views and task duration need Premium. TickTick does far more than Things 3, which some people will find busy.
• Link: ticktick.com

Todoist: best capture on every platform, with shared projects

Todoist is a cross-platform task manager known for Quick Add: type “Submit report every Friday at 4pm #Work” and Todoist sets the date, the repeat and the project. Todoist’s Beginner plan is free with 5 personal projects. Pro costs $5 a month billed yearly ($60) or $7 billed monthly, and Business costs $8 per user a month billed yearly or $10 monthly, as of November 2026. Todoist runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android, Wear OS and the web.

• Best for: people who need one list on a Mac, a Windows PC and an Android phone, or who share projects with family or a team.
• Strengths: global Quick Add (Option–Space by default) on the Mac, Ramble voice capture from the Todoist menu bar icon, list and board layouts, and shared projects. Google Calendar and Outlook events show in Today and Upcoming on every plan. Todoist’s official MCP server, hosted by Doist, lets Claude and other AI apps work with your Todoist account.
• Drawbacks: the free plan is capped at 5 personal projects and 10 Ramble sessions a month, and the calendar layout, task durations and custom reminders need Pro. Todoist has no focus timer, and Pro is sold only as a subscription.
• Link: todoist.com. See NotchOwl vs Todoist for a closer comparison.

OmniFocus 4: best for GTD power users

OmniFocus 4 by The Omni Group is the deep end of Apple task managers, built around projects, tags, a Forecast view, custom perspectives and a weekly Review. OmniFocus 4 costs $74.99 for Standard or $149.99 for Pro as a perpetual license, or $99.99 a year by subscription, as of November 2026, with a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. One purchase covers Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, and the subscription adds web access.

• Best for: people who find Things 3 too simple, especially GTD users who depend on a weekly review.
• Strengths: a universal purchase across Apple devices, unlike Things 3, and in Pro, custom perspectives that filter and group projects and tags the way you work. The perpetual license covers all 4.x updates, and OmniFocus for the Web works in a browser on a PC or an Android phone.
• Drawbacks: the highest price here and a steeper learning curve. The Mac app needs macOS 15.2 or later, and future major upgrades are discounted, not free. AI agents can reach OmniFocus only through the community OmniFocus-MCP server.
• Link: omnigroup.com/omnifocus

Apple Reminders: best free option, with shared lists

Apple Reminders is free, built into macOS, and syncs through iCloud to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. Apple Reminders also opens in any web browser at icloud.com/reminders. Reminders supports Smart Lists, tags, sections, subtasks, date and location reminders, and shared lists where you can assign a reminder to someone.

• Best for: couples, families and anyone who wants Things-style basics for free.
• Strengths: no cost, no new account, and shared lists with assignment. Other apps build on it: Things 3 can import from Reminders, and NotchOwl’s optional two-way sync uses a NotchOwl list in Reminders.
• Drawbacks: no focus timer, no menu bar view and less structure than Things 3 for large projects.
• Link: Reminders User Guide for Mac

Structured: best visual timeline of your day

Structured is a day planner that lays your tasks out on a drag-and-drop timeline, so you see how the hours fill up. Structured’s core app is free; Structured Pro is sold monthly, yearly or as a lifetime purchase at prices that vary by region, so check its site for current pricing. Structured runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac (macOS 15 or later), Apple Watch, Vision Pro, Android and the web.

• Best for: people who think in blocks of time rather than lists, which Things 3 doesn’t offer.
• Strengths: an inbox, a focus timer, recurring tasks, widgets and Live Activities. Pro adds AI planning and calendar import.
• Drawbacks: Replan, a Pro feature, isn’t available on Android and Structured Web yet, according to Structured’s help center, and the Reminders import is one-way. There is no single published US price.
• Link: structured.app

Sunsama: best for planning work days on your calendar

Sunsama is a daily planner built around a guided planning ritual and timeboxing tasks on your calendar. Sunsama costs $17 a month billed yearly ($204) or $22 billed monthly, with a 14-day trial, no card required and no free plan, as of November 2026. Sunsama runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, iPadOS, Android and the web.

• Best for: people whose work lives in a calendar and in tools like Jira, Linear, Notion and Slack.
• Strengths: two-way Google, Outlook and Apple calendar sync, focus mode and Pomodoro timers, a daily shutdown routine, weekly objectives, and integrations that include Todoist and Apple Reminders. Sunsama also has an official MCP server.
• Drawbacks: the most expensive app here. One year of Sunsama billed yearly costs about four times what Things 3 for Mac costs once, and there is no free plan.
• Link: sunsama.com

Things 3 costs $49.99 once for the Mac and runs only on Apple devices, so the main alternatives in 2026 are TickTick and Todoist for Windows, Android and the web, OmniFocus 4 for deeper GTD, Apple Reminders for free shared lists, and NotchOwl ($9 once) for tasks and a focus timer in the MacBook notch.

Also worth knowing

If you want to keep Things 3 but reach it from the notch, Droppy, a notch app for files and media that costs $9.99 once, lists a Things 3 connection among its droplets. Notchable is another planner in the notch, aimed at ADHD: Lite costs $9.99 and Standard $19.99, Standard also runs on Intel Macs, and there is a 3-day trial. Download any notch app only from the developer’s own site or the Mac App Store; in July 2026, a fake DynamicLake ad on X spread Mac malware.

How to choose

Start from the reason you’re leaving Things 3.

• You need Windows, Android or a browser. TickTick if you want a free plan with a Pomodoro timer and habits, Todoist if fast capture matters most, Sunsama if your day is run from a calendar. OmniFocus 4 reaches a browser with its subscription.
• You want to spend less. Apple Reminders is free, TickTick and Todoist have free plans, and NotchOwl costs $9 once for 3 Macs.
• You share lists. Apple Reminders for households, Todoist or TickTick for shared projects. NotchOwl has no shared lists.
• You want a focus timer. NotchOwl keeps it in the notch, TickTick has Pomodoro and a habit tracker, Structured and Sunsama tie focus to a planned day.
• You want your tasks always in view. NotchOwl lives in the notch and the menu bar, and TickTick has a menu bar window and sticky notes. More options are in the best menu bar to-do apps for Mac.
• You want more depth than Things 3. OmniFocus 4, with perspectives and a weekly review.
• You have ADHD and lose track of tasks in a window. Two approaches help in practice: keep the list where you already look, or see the day as a timeline. This is practical advice about software, not medical advice; the best ADHD apps for Mac compares nine options.
• You want Claude to manage your list. NotchOwl’s MCP server is built in and runs on your Mac; Todoist, TickTick and Sunsama have official cloud servers. The setup is in how to connect Claude to your Mac to-do list.

How to move your tasks out of Things 3

Things 3 has no CSV or spreadsheet export. Cultured Code’s export page lists the raw SQLite database file, printing a list to PDF on the Mac, and writing your own Shortcuts or AppleScript. For an active list, copy and paste is quickest: select to-dos in Things 3, press Command–C and paste them as plain text into the new app. Cultured Code notes that when you share a group of to-dos, the details inside each one, such as notes and tags, are not included, so expect to add those again.

• Into NotchOwl: paste the list into the daily notepad and press Command–Return on each line to turn it into a task. You can also type several tasks into one line separated by semicolons, or paste the list into Claude with NotchOwl’s MCP server connected and ask it to add them.
• Into any other app: paste the plain text, then set dates, projects and tags again in the new app.
• Before you delete anything: run both apps side by side for a week. Things 3 for Mac also stores daily backups of your whole database from the last ten days.

When NotchOwl is the wrong choice

• You need an iPhone or iPad app. NotchOwl reaches iPhone and Apple Watch only through Apple Reminders. Things 3, OmniFocus 4, TickTick and Todoist have full mobile apps.
• You use Windows, Android or a browser. NotchOwl is Mac-only.
• You have an Intel Mac. NotchOwl needs Apple silicon.
• You share lists. NotchOwl has no shared or team lists.
• You want deep structure. Areas, tags, headings and perspectives belong to Things 3 and OmniFocus 4.
• You time-block on a calendar. Sunsama and Structured do that; NotchOwl reads your Calendar but never creates or edits events.
• You want to try before paying. NotchOwl has no trial, only a 14-day refund. Things 3 has a 15-day Mac trial, OmniFocus 4 and Sunsama have 14-day trials, and TickTick and Todoist have free plans.

If NotchOwl does fit, its $9 license covers 3 Macs with lifetime updates.