Comparison

SimpleMind Pro vs Things 3 for iPad

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SimpleMind Pro

Organize your thoughts, capture ideas, and generate new concepts with a beautiful and intuitive mind mapping tool. Seamlessly synchronize your maps across devices and platforms, and enhance them with media and documents.

Highlights
  • Free-form and auto layout options
  • Cross-platform synchronization
  • Add images, notes, and voice memos
  • Share maps as PDF or Image
  • Customizable styles and themes
  • Collapse/expand branches for overview
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Mind mapping helps you organize your thoughts, remember information and generate new ideas. We've created a beautiful, intuitive app, so you can mind map wherever you are and whenever you want. SimpleMind Pro is designed to synchronize your Mind Maps across platforms. For example (as a separate purchase) for Mac - https://simplemind.eu/download/full-edition/ Highlights • Easy to use. • Continuously fine-tuned based on customer feedback. • Trustworthy and reliable: 15+ years of updates and improvements. • Used in a wide range of applications: business, education, legal and medical. • Unique free-form layout or various auto layouts. • Seamless synchronization using clouds. • Add media and documents. • Share Mind Maps. • Change and customize the style of the Mind Map. • Tools to help you maintain overview. Create ○ place topics anywhere you want in the free-form layout ○ or use auto layout - great for brainstorming ○ reorganize and restructure using drag, rotate, re-arrange or reconnect ○ use checkboxes, progress bars, auto-numbering ○ connect any two topics with a crosslink ○ label relations ○ virtually unlimited page size and number of elements ○ supports multiple Mind Maps on one page Add media and documents ○ images and photos ○ notes ○ icons (stock, emojis or custom) ○ link to a topic, mind map, contact, file or webpage ○ voice memos ○ videos Seamless synchronization using clouds ○ sync mind maps with your iPads and iPhones ○ sync mind maps across platforms. For example with Mac - as a separate purchase ○ sync using iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, 坚果云 - Nutstore and Nextcloud Share your Mind Map ○ for example as PDF or Image ○ outline, can be imported in word processors ○ create a slideshow to present your Mind Map (Tablet only) ○ print ○ export to Reminders or Calendar Style your mind map ○ change the appearance by selecting one of the 15+ style sheets ○ create your own style sheets ○ style every detail, exactly how you want it ○ change borders, lines, colors, background color, the checkbox color, and much more Maintain overview ○ collapse and expand branches ○ hide or show branches or topics ○ block out distractions with autofocus ○ highlight branches by displaying branch borders ○ visually group topics with group borders ○ organize your Mind Maps in folders ○ outline view ○ search

About

Things 3 for iPad

This app helps you organize your life by planning your day, managing projects, and tracking progress toward your goals. It offers a user-friendly interface to get tasks organized quickly, from daily routines to long-term aspirations.

Highlights
  • To-Do management
  • Project planning with headings
  • Area organization
  • Today and Upcoming task views
  • Reminders and repeaters
  • Calendar integration
  • Tagging and filtering
Features
Read full description

Get things done! The award-winning Things app helps you plan your day, manage your projects, and make real progress toward your goals. Best of all, it’s easy to use. Within the hour, you’ll have everything off your mind and neatly organized—from routine tasks to your biggest life goals—and you can start focusing on what matters today. “Things offers the best combination of design and functionality of any app we tested, with nearly all the features of other power user applications and a delightful interface that never gets in the way of your work.” —Wirecutter, The New York Times KEY FEATURES • Your To-Dos Your basic building block is the almighty To-Do—each a small step toward a great accomplishment. You can add notes, tag it, schedule it, and break it down into smaller steps. • Your Projects Create a Project for any big goal, then add the to-dos to reach it. Use headings to structure your list as you outline your plan. There’s also a place to jot down your notes, and a deadline to keep you on schedule. • Your Areas Create an Area for each sphere of your life, such as Work, Family, Finance, and so on. This keeps everything neatly organized, and helps you see the big picture as you set your plans in motion. • Your Plan Everything on your schedule is neatly laid out in the Today and Upcoming lists, which show your to-dos and calendar events. Each morning, see what you planned for Today and decide what you want to do. The rest is down to you :) MORE THINGS TO LOVE As you dive deeper, you’ll find Things packed with helpful features. Here are just a few: • Reminders — set a time and Things will remind you. • Repeaters — automatically repeat to-dos on a schedule you set. • This Evening — a special place for your evening plans. • Calendar integration — see your events and to-dos together. • Tags — categorize your to-dos and quickly filter lists. • Quick Find — instantly locate to-dos, headings, or tags. • Type Travel — jump from list to list with your keyboard; just start typing! • Magic Plus — drag the + button to insert to-dos anywhere in a list. • Share extension — create to-dos with content from other apps. • Widgets — see lists on your home/lock screens. • Mail to Things — forward an email to Things; now it’s a to-do. • Markdown — structure & style your notes. • And much more! MADE FOR IPAD Things is tailored to the iPad, with excellent pro features as well. Chief among them is the outstanding support for your keyboard & trackpad. You can edit your to-dos without touching the screen, utilize plenty of shortcuts, and navigate your lists at blistering speed—just start typing! “Things has the best implementation of external keyboard support I’ve ever seen in an iPad app.” —Federico Viticci, MacStories You can also enjoy a beautiful dark mode at sunset, connect your calendars, open multiple windows, add a variety of widgets, scribble with Apple Pencil, create to-dos via Siri, import from Reminders—Things can do it all! There’s even Shortcuts integration if you want to automate your workflows. AWARD-WINNING DESIGN Made in Stuttgart, with two Apple Design Awards to its name, Things is a fine example of German engineering: designed not only to look fantastic, but to be perfectly functional as well. Every detail is thoughtfully considered, then polished to perfection. “It’s like the unicorn of productivity tools: deep enough for serious work, surprisingly easy to use, and gorgeous enough to enjoy staring at.” —Apple GET THINGS TODAY Whatever it is you want to accomplish in life, Things can help you get there. Install the app today and see what you can do! • Things is also available for Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro (sold separately). • Sync is provided for free via our Things Cloud service. • A free trial is available for Mac: www.things.app If you have any questions, please get in touch. We provide professional support and will be glad to help you!

Screenshots

SimpleMind Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SimpleMind Pro at $10.99 against Things 3 for iPad's $19.99. SimpleMind Pro also leads on chart position (#50 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). Things 3 for iPad's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (12K vs 451). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

SimpleMind Pro costs $10.99 and Things 3 for iPad $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Things 3 for iPad holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Things 3 for iPad has 12K ratings behind it against 451, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 81% of SimpleMind Pro's written reviews are positive against 79% of Things 3 for iPad's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SimpleMind Pro ships an update every 2 months, Things 3 for iPad every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
SimpleMind Pro versus Things 3 for iPad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimpleMind ProThings 3 for iPad
Price$10.99 — better$19.99
Rating4.7 (451 ratings)4.9 (12K ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.9% of reviews — better79.4% of reviews
Number of ratings45112K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#50 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size36 MB65 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerxpt Software & Consulting B.V.Cultured Code GmbH & Co. KG

Customer experience

SimpleMind Pro

All ratings451 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.3%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews769 reviews
Positive80.9%
Neutral7.5%
Negative11.6%

Things 3 for iPad

All ratings11,793 ratings
Positive97.7%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews815 reviews
Positive79.4%
Neutral8.1%
Negative12.5%

Bugs and requests

SimpleMind Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Things 3 for iPad

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Sync issues and data loss reported
  • Siri integration not working well in some languages

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add location-based reminders
  • Improve task prioritization and urgency indicators
  • Implement mass editing and batch actions
  • Introduce web app and Windows support

In-app purchases

None

SimpleMind Pro

No in-app purchases

None

Things 3 for iPad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SimpleMind Pro free?
SimpleMind Pro costs $10.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Things 3 for iPad free?
Things 3 for iPad costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SimpleMind Pro or Things 3 for iPad?
Things 3 for iPad is rated higher. SimpleMind Pro averages 4.7 out of 5 from 451 ratings, while Things 3 for iPad averages 4.9 from 12K ratings.
Do SimpleMind Pro or Things 3 for iPad have ads?
Neither SimpleMind Pro nor Things 3 for iPad shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SimpleMind Pro or Things 3 for iPad?
SimpleMind Pro ships an update every 2 months, and Things 3 for iPad every 10 days. Most recently, SimpleMind Pro was updated on October 1, 2026 and Things 3 for iPad on October 2, 2026.

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