Todoist vs Things 3: Which to Pick in 2026

TL;DR: Pick Todoist if you need Windows, Android or the web, shared projects with assignees, or an API your scripts can call. Pick Things 3 if you work alone on Apple hardware and want GTD structure you never configure. Done Bear is a local-first task manager with that structure on every platform.

Todoist and Things 3 are both good products aimed at different people, so the comparison is decided by constraints rather than by features. Four constraints settle it: the devices you use, whether anyone else touches your projects, how much of the system you are willing to maintain, and whether a script or an assistant needs access. We make Done Bear, so we name where each of the other two wins.

Key takeaways

• Things 3 runs on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and Vision, with no browser version.
• Things 3 is a one-time purchase per platform; Todoist Pro is $7 a month or $60 a year.
• Todoist’s free Beginner plan allows 5 active personal projects, 3 filters and one week of history.
• Every Todoist plan caps a project at 300 active tasks and 20 sections.
• Things 3 has no shared lists and no public web API; Todoist has both.

How Todoist and Things 3 compare

The table below is the whole decision in one screen. Each row is a constraint that rules one app in or out, sourced from Todoist’s and Cultured Code’s own documentation.

Platforms, price and limits

Platform reach is the first thing to check, because it eliminates one app outright for most people. Cultured Code’s support article is direct about the browser question: to view your to-dos, you must install the Things app on a supported Apple device. Things is sold separately for Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision, and the Watch app comes with the iPhone app. If a Windows laptop or a shared browser is part of your week, Things is out, and Things 3 for Windows covers the workarounds people try.

Price runs the opposite way. Things 3 is a one-time purchase for each platform with no subscription, so an all-Apple reader pays once and stops. Todoist’s plan page lists Beginner as free, Pro at $7 a month or $60 a year, and Business at $10 per user per month or $8 per user per month billed yearly.

The Todoist free plan has limits that decide the question for some readers before price does. Todoist’s usage limits article puts Beginner at 5 active personal projects, 3 filters and one week of activity history, against 300 projects, 150 filters and full history on Pro. Two caps apply on every plan: 300 active tasks per project and 20 sections per project, with 5 collaborators per personal project.

Sharing, automation and export

Sharing is where the two products diverge by design rather than by degree. Cultured Code states that Things does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists. Todoist has shared projects, assignees and comments on paid plans, capped at 5 collaborators per personal project. If someone else needs to see the same list, Things cannot do it and no setting changes that; Things 3 for Teams has the longer version.

Automation splits the same way. Todoist publishes an API v1 reference for its tasks and projects, which is why so many integrations exist. Cultured Code lists four supported routes into Things: the Things URL Scheme, Apple Shortcuts, AppleScript on Mac, and Mail to Things, and warns that any method outside that list can corrupt your database. Those routes are fine for Apple-side glue and are not an API a server can call.

Export favours Todoist, with caveats. Todoist exports one project at a time as CSV on every plan, and Pro and Business accounts can download a ZIP holding one CSV per active project. Completed tasks and archived projects are absent from both, so check your recurring tasks and your logbook before you leave. The full walkthrough is in how to export your Todoist data.

Who should pick which

Choose Things 3 if every device you own is Apple, nobody else touches your lists, and you would rather pay once than maintain a system. Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday are the structure of the app, which is why Things users rebuild their setup so rarely. It is still the most polished personal task manager anyone has shipped.

Choose Todoist if you need Windows, Android or a browser, if projects are shared with assignees and comments, or if a script, an integration or an assistant has to reach your tasks through an API. Todoist also wins if you prefer typing a due date in plain language over navigating to it.

Choose neither if the deciding constraint is one both apps miss: Apple-only structure on a Windows machine, or shared projects that keep a personal Today list personal. That is the gap the next section describes.

Where Done Bear fits

Done Bear is a local-first GTD task manager, not a project-management tool and not a Things clone for Apple hardware. It exists because the choice above forces a trade nobody wants to make.

• The same five views as Things, plus a Logbook, on web, macOS, Windows, Linux and iOS.
• Tasks live on device and render without a network round trip, with sync in the background.
• Shared workspaces on every plan, Free included, while personal views stay personal.
• A CLI, a GraphQL API and a hosted MCP server, so an assistant can capture and triage with scoped permission.

Done Bear is free to start, up to 250 tasks with unlimited workspace members, then from $7 per month per member billed yearly. See the pricing page for the rest.

You might not need this. If you are all-Apple, single-player and happy with Things, a one-time purchase beats a subscription and switching costs you a weekend for nothing. If your team already runs on Todoist projects with assignees and a decade of integrations, the migration is real work. Stay where you are until the constraint bites.

Ready to move? Migrate from Todoist walks through the export, what carries across and what does not. The side-by-side pages are Todoist alternative and Things 3 alternative.

Frequently asked questions

Is Things 3 better than Todoist?

Neither wins outright. Things 3 is better if your work is personal and your devices are all Apple, because the GTD views are the app rather than a setup you build. Todoist is better if you need Windows, Android, a browser, shared projects with assignees, or an API.

Can I use Things 3 on Windows?

No. Cultured Code’s support article says you must install the Things app on a supported Apple device to view your to-dos, and there is no browser version. Things is sold separately for Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision, with the Watch app included in the iPhone purchase.

How many projects does the free Todoist plan allow?

Five. Todoist’s usage limits article puts the Beginner plan at 5 active personal projects, 3 filters and one week of activity history, against 300 projects, 150 filters and full history on Pro. Every plan caps a project at 300 active tasks and 20 sections.

Does Things 3 have an API?

No public web API. Cultured Code lists four supported automation routes: the Things URL Scheme, Apple Shortcuts, AppleScript on Mac, and Mail to Things, and warns that any other method risks corrupting the database. Todoist publishes an API v1 reference for its tasks and projects.

Can I move my Todoist data out?

Yes, with limits. Todoist exports one project at a time as CSV on every plan, and Pro and Business can download a ZIP holding one CSV per active project. Completed tasks and archived projects are excluded from both. Done Bear imports those files from Settings, then Import.

Sources

1. Cultured Code, Getting Things (Things is sold separately for Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision, as a one-time purchase per platform, with the Watch app included in the iPhone app)
2. Cultured Code, Syncing with Things Cloud (a supported Apple device is required to view to-dos, Things works offline, and real-time sharing of to-dos or lists is not supported)
3. Cultured Code, Connecting AI tools to Things (the supported automation routes are the Things URL Scheme, Apple Shortcuts, AppleScript on Mac and Mail to Things)
4. Todoist, Todoist plans, pricing, and billing FAQ (Beginner is free, Pro is $7 a month or $60 a year, Business is $10 per user per month or $8 per user per month billed yearly)
5. Todoist, Usage limits in Todoist (Beginner allows 5 active personal projects, 3 filters and one week of activity history; every plan caps a project at 300 active tasks, 20 sections and 5 collaborators)
6. Todoist, Import or export a project as a CSV file in Todoist (CSV export runs one project at a time and leaves out completed tasks)
7. Todoist, Download or restore backups in Todoist (Pro and Business backups are ZIP files of active-project CSVs, excluding completed tasks and archived projects)
8. Todoist, Todoist API v1 reference (a public HTTP API covering tasks and projects)