I’ve used all three of these apps for extended stretches of time. Todoist for two years as my primary system. TickTick for six months when I wanted everything in all one place. Things 3 since it launched on iOS — it’s been on my phone since 2017.
So this isn’t a spec comparison from a review site. It’s what I actually found after switching between them, knowing what I care about in a task manager, and watching how each one behaves under real daily use.
Short version: Todoist is the most versatile. TickTick has the most features per dollar. Things 3 is the best-designed app in the category. Which one wins depends entirely on how you work and what you’re willing to pay.
The wrong tool doesn’t just slow you down — it quietly drains the mental overhead you need for the actual work.
Here’s the full breakdown.
Quick answer: Todoist is the best task manager for cross-platform users and teams — the most integrations, the most flexibility. TickTick wins on value: calendar view, habit tracking, and a built-in Pomodoro timer at ~$3/month. Things 3 is the best-designed app in the category and the cheapest option over a 3-year horizon, but only if you’re fully on Apple. Full comparison below.
Quick Verdict
| Todoist | TickTick | Things 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best For | Cross-platform teams | Feature-maximalists | Apple ecosystem users |
| Free Plan | Yes (5 projects) | Yes (generous) | No (one-time purchase) |
| Starting Price | $4/month | ~$3/month | $49.99 one-time (Mac) |
| Platforms | All | All | Apple only |
| Standout Feature | Integrations | Built-in calendar | Design polish |
| Our Rating | 4.5/5 | 4.4/5 | 4.5/5 |
Todoist if you work across platforms, collaborate with others, or live in integrations.
TickTick if you want calendar view, habit tracking, and a Pomodoro timer without paying for separate apps.
Things 3 if you’re all-in on Apple and prefer paying once over subscriptions.
Pricing Comparison
Todoist
- Free: 5 active projects, 5 collaborators per project, basic features
- Pro: $4/month (annual billing) — unlimited projects, reminders, labels, filters, AI assistant
- Business: $6/user/month — team features, admin controls
TickTick
- Free: Up to 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, basic calendar view
- Premium: $35.99/year (~$3/month) — unlimited lists and tasks, full calendar integration, habit tracking, custom filters, Pomodoro timer
Things 3
- Mac: $49.99 one-time
- iPhone: $9.99 one-time
- iPad: $19.99 one-time
- Full Apple ecosystem: ~$80 one-time (Mac + iPhone + iPad)
- No subscription, no free tier, no web app
Total cost over 3 years:
- Todoist Pro: $144
- TickTick Premium: $108
- Things 3 (full set): $80 (one-time, no additional cost)
Things 3 is the cheapest option over any multi-year horizon, assuming you’re on Apple. The break-even against TickTick is around 2.5 years. Against Todoist, it’s about 2 years.
If you’re on Windows or Android at any point, Things 3 is eliminated from the comparison entirely.
If you already know you’re staying on Apple, every month you delay switching to Things 3 is money you’re paying for a subscription you don’t need.
Platform Availability
Todoist: Web app, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, browser extension, Outlook plugin. Genuinely cross-platform with feature parity across all versions. Particularly useful for remote and distributed teams who need consistent task access across devices — if your team also needs a VPN for remote work, that’s the other side of the remote infrastructure equation.
TickTick: Web app, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, browser extension, Wear OS, Apple Watch. Similar cross-platform reach, slightly better smartwatch support.
Things 3: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch. Nothing else. If you touch Windows or Android, Things 3 doesn’t follow you.
For anyone who works on multiple operating systems — Windows work laptop, Mac at home, or any Android device — Things 3 is a non-starter. The comparison becomes Todoist vs TickTick.
Task Management Features
Task Creation and Input
Todoist has the best natural language parsing of the three. Type “submit report Friday at 3pm #work p1” and Todoist parses the date, time, project, and priority level without additional taps. It’s the fastest quick-add experience in any task app I’ve used.
TickTick is close. Natural language input works well for dates and times. It’s slightly less sophisticated on priority and tag parsing but covers the common cases.
Things 3 takes a different approach: it doesn’t try to parse everything in one line. You tap to add a task, then use dedicated fields for the date, tag, and notes. It’s slower for power users but more deliberate — you make an explicit decision about each attribute.
Winner: Todoist for speed, Things 3 for intentionality.
Organization: Projects, Tags, Filters
Todoist organizes around projects (with sections within projects) and labels. You can nest projects one level deep. Filters let you create saved views based on any combination of date, priority, project, and label — these are powerful once configured.
TickTick uses lists (equivalent to projects) with folders. Tags are available. Smart lists can be customized. The organization is flexible but requires more setup to make it clean.
Things 3 uses Areas (big life categories) -> Projects -> Headings -> Tasks. It’s a fixed hierarchy that aligns cleanly with GTD-style thinking. You can’t customize it beyond this structure, but within it, Things 3 is the most visually organized of the three.
For complex multi-project work: Todoist. For GTD or structured personal organization: Things 3. TickTick lands in the middle.
Recurring Tasks
All three handle recurring tasks. The depth of the recurrence options is where they differ.
Todoist: Full recurrence options including “every X days after completion” (vs fixed interval), which matters for tasks like “respond to gym member check-in 3 days after last completion.” Excellent recurrence handling.
TickTick: Good recurrence, and uniquely offers habit tracking on top of recurring tasks. You can track a recurring habit as a streak, see your completion rate, and get a visual calendar of your consistency. This is a real differentiator.
Things 3: Solid recurrence. Simpler than Todoist’s advanced options, but covers almost everything most people need.
Winner on recurrence: Todoist. Winner on habit tracking: TickTick (only app with this built in).
Calendar and Time Management
This is where TickTick separates itself.
TickTick has a full built-in calendar view. You can see your tasks and calendar events in the same view, drag tasks to reschedule them, and block time visually. It also has a built-in Pomodoro timer — start a 25-minute focus session on a task without leaving the app. For people who time-block or use Pomodoro, TickTick replaces two or three separate apps.
Todoist has a “Today” view and integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook, but there’s no native calendar view. Todoist Calendar (a newer add-on) provides a calendar-style layout but it’s not as tightly built as TickTick’s.
Things 3 shows tasks in the Today and Upcoming views but doesn’t have a calendar. You’ll want to integrate it with Calendar.app if you need to see tasks alongside events.
Winner: TickTick, clearly. If calendar integration and time blocking matter to you, the choice is almost made for you here.
Collaboration
Todoist is the only real choice for teams. You can share projects, assign tasks, add comments, attach files, and track completion by team member. The Business tier adds admin controls and billing management. Todoist is the go-to for small teams using a task manager. That said, task managers are personal tools — for team-wide project tracking with timelines, dependencies, and workload views, these are better suited as personal layers on top of a dedicated project management tool for small teams.
TickTick allows shared lists and task assignment. It works for simple collaboration — sharing a grocery list or a small project — but it falls short of Todoist for team workflows.
Things 3 has no collaboration. It’s built as a personal productivity tool. If you need to share tasks with anyone else, Things 3 isn’t it.
Winner: Todoist. Things 3 is eliminated for any team use case.
Design and User Experience
This is where Things 3 wins, and it’s not close.
Things 3 is the best-designed task manager I’ve used. The typography is clean, the interactions are precise, the animations are fluid but not overdone. Every tap feels intentional. It’s an Apple Design Award winner, and you feel it in the daily experience. There’s a reason people who use Things 3 rarely switch away — the app is genuinely pleasant to use.
Todoist is clean and functional. The UI has improved significantly over the past two years — it no longer feels utilitarian. Themes and sidebar customization make it feel more personal. It’s not Things 3 quality, but it’s good.
TickTick prioritizes features over design. The UI is denser — more visible settings, more options surfaced at the task level. Power users appreciate this; people who want a calm interface find it cluttered. The design has improved but it still reads as “feature-rich” rather than “polished.”
Winner on design: Things 3 by a significant margin.
Integrations and Automation
Todoist leads here. 80+ direct integrations including Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, GitHub, Zapier, IFTTT, and more. The Todoist API is well-documented and actively used by developers. If you live in a complex tool stack and want your task manager at the center of it, Todoist is the choice.
TickTick has a growing integration library — Google Calendar, Alexa, Siri, Zapier. Less comprehensive than Todoist but covers common use cases. The API exists but is less widely adopted.
Things 3 has Apple Shortcuts integration (powerful if you know Shortcuts) and a URL scheme for automation. It does not have Zapier integration or a public API. Automation is possible but requires Apple ecosystem tools only.
Winner: Todoist. Not close.
Who Should Pick What?
Choose Todoist if…
- You work on both Mac/iPhone and Windows/Android
- You need to collaborate with teammates or share projects
- You want your task manager to connect to other tools (Slack, Gmail, Zapier)
- You prefer a subscription to a one-time purchase for ongoing feature updates
Todoist’s greatest strength is that it goes everywhere and connects to everything. It’s the right choice for a work setup that needs to handle collaboration and connect to a broader tool stack. If that description just matched how you work, you already know what to do — the only question is whether you start today or keep managing the friction. If you’re running a solo content business alongside your task management, see our guide to starting a blog in 2026 for the full tool stack that pairs with Todoist.
Choose TickTick if…
- You want calendar view and habit tracking in the same app
- You use Pomodoro and want the timer built in
- You need the most features for the lowest ongoing cost
- You work across platforms but don’t need Todoist’s level of integrations
TickTick offers more raw functionality per dollar than any other app on this list. If you’d otherwise pay for a separate habit tracker, calendar app, or Pomodoro timer, rolling all of that into one $3/month app makes financial sense. If you nodded at two or more of those bullets, you’re already the person TickTick was built for — and the $3/month decision is easier than you’re making it.
Choose Things 3 if…
- You are fully committed to the Apple ecosystem (Mac + iPhone, ideally iPad)
- You prefer paying once to ongoing subscriptions
- Design quality is a real factor in whether you use a tool daily
- You work solo (no collaboration needs)
Things 3 rewards users who embrace its structure. If you want a deliberate tool that works exactly how Things 3 works, nothing else comes close. If you fight the structure or need Windows/Android, it doesn’t work. But if you’ve been in Apple’s ecosystem for years and find yourself annoyed every time your task manager feels clunky — you’ve already made this decision. You just haven’t acted on it yet.
FAQ
Can I migrate my tasks between these apps?
Partially. Todoist can export to CSV. TickTick can import from Todoist. Going to Things 3 from either is mostly manual — there’s no native import, and the structure is different enough that a direct migration rarely works cleanly. For large task lists, factor in migration time.
Which has the best free plan?
TickTick’s free plan is the most generous — 9 lists and 99 tasks per list covers most personal use cases without paying. Todoist’s free plan is limited to 5 projects, which becomes constraining quickly. Things 3 has no free plan.
If you want to try before committing: TickTick free covers you indefinitely for light use. Todoist free is useful for a test period but you’ll hit the project limit.
Is Things 3 still updated regularly?
Yes. Cultured Code (the developer) releases updates less frequently than subscription apps but consistently ships improvements. The pace is slower because there’s no recurring revenue pressure, but the app is actively maintained and the development team is responsive on their forum. Things 3 at iOS launch looked different from Things 3 today.
Which is best for GTD (Getting Things Done)?
Things 3 is built around GTD principles more naturally than the others. Areas/Projects/Next Actions aligns with the GTD capture-clarify-organize framework. Things 3’s Someday list and Logbook are GTD-native. If you follow GTD methodology, Things 3’s structure will feel intuitive.
Todoist can implement GTD with the right project structure and filters, but you have to set it up yourself. TickTick is the least GTD-aligned by default.
Final Verdict
There is no universal winner here, which is the honest answer.
Todoist wins on versatility. It’s the most capable, most integrated, most cross-platform option. If you’re building a work setup that needs to scale, handle collaboration, and connect to a broader tool stack, Todoist is the practical choice.
TickTick wins on value. $3/month buys more functionality than any other app on this list. Calendar plus habits plus Pomodoro plus task management in one tool is hard to beat if you’d otherwise pay for those things separately.
Things 3 wins on design and ownership. It’s the most satisfying app to use daily, and the one-time price makes it the cheapest option over a multi-year horizon. If you’re on Apple and care about the quality of your tools, Things 3 is the most defensible choice.
Pick the one that fits how you actually work. If you’re unsure, start with TickTick’s free plan — it gives you the broadest feature set to evaluate before committing.
For Todoist: [Start Todoist free — no credit card required →]
For TickTick: [Try TickTick Premium free for 30 days →]
For Things 3: [See Things 3 on the Mac App Store →]
Pricing and feature availability as of 2026. Verify current pricing on each app’s website before purchasing.