Comparison

Things 3 vs To do list

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

Head to head
About

Things 3

This app helps you organize your life by planning your day, managing projects, and tracking progress toward your goals. It offers a clean interface to manage tasks from daily routines to larger life ambitions.

Highlights
  • To-Do management
  • Project organization
  • Area categorization
  • Daily planning
  • Calendar integration
  • Reminders and repeaters
  • Share extension
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 find to-dos or switch between lists. • 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 IPHONE Things is tailored to the iPhone with deep system integrations as well. A great example is the Share extension, which allows you to create to-dos with content from other apps, such as a link to a website you want to get back to. You can also enjoy a beautiful dark mode at sunset, connect your calendars, add a variety of widgets, 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. MADE FOR APPLE WATCH Things comes with a great app for Apple Watch. Just raise your wrist to glance at your Today list, mark to-dos complete as you go, and dictate new ones on the fly—all synced instantly with your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. 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, iPad, 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!

About

To do list

This minimalist app helps you focus on completing just three tasks daily to build momentum and feel accomplished. It offers AI-powered suggestions and habit tracking to encourage consistency and personal growth without overwhelming you.

Highlights
  • Focus on 3 daily tasks
  • AI task suggestions
  • Habit streak tracking
  • Progress insights
  • Minimalist interface
  • Daily wins reflection
Features
Read full description

3 Things – Daily Tasks, Simplified Feel good every day by completing just 3 things. 3 Things is a minimalist daily task and habit tracker that helps you stay focused, build momentum, and feel accomplished — without the overwhelm of long to-do lists. Why Just 3 Things? Most task lists are too long. 3 Things keeps it simple — you choose (or get AI-suggested) just three tasks to focus on each day. Big or small, three wins a day can change everything. Powered by Smart AI - Get helpful task suggestions tailored to your past completions (Premium feature that require Subscription) - AI learns your habits and nudges you toward better routines (Premium feature that require Subscription) - See what types of tasks you tend to complete (or avoid) (Premium feature that require Subscription) Build Better Habits - Track your daily streak and progress over time - Revisit tasks you didn’t complete - Reflect on your wins and get insights into your behavior (Premium feature requires Subscription) Simple, Focused, Feel-Good Design Clean interface with zero clutter Focus only on what matters today Great for productivity, wellness, or personal growth Start small. Stay consistent. Feel accomplished. 3 Things a day make the anxiety go away! Download 3 Things and get started today. Privacy Policy: https://www.dailylabs.net/3things/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://www.dailylabs.net/3things/terms.html Licensing Agreement (EULA): [http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula](http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula)

Screenshots

Things 34 screens
To do list4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: To do list at Free against Things 3's $9.99. To do list also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). Things 3's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (28K vs 7). On rating, update cadence, ads and device support 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

To do list is free to download; Things 3 costs $9.99 up front. To do list sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Things 3 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

To do list holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Things 3 has 28K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Things 3 versus To do list: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThings 3To do list
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (28K ratings)5.0 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings28K — better7
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 11 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
Best chart rank#4 — better—
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.412.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size120 MB69 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCultured Code GmbH & Co. KGDaily Labs, LLC

Customer experience

Things 3

All ratings28,060 ratings
Positive96.1%
Neutral1.7%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews1,895 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral8.4%
Negative15.1%

To do list

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Things 3

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Occasional crashes or freezes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to collapse headings and projects
  • Location-based reminders
  • Two-way calendar sync
  • Shared task lists
  • Customizable alert sounds

To do list

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Things 3

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

To do list

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Premium Annual3 Days trial$11.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Things 3 free?
Things 3 costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is To do list free?
To do list is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Things 3 or To do list?
To do list is rated higher. Things 3 averages 4.8 out of 5 from 28K ratings, while To do list averages 5.0 from 7 ratings.
Do Things 3 or To do list have ads?
Neither Things 3 nor To do list shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Things 3 or To do list?
Things 3 ships an update every 11 days, and To do list every 11 days. Most recently, Things 3 was updated on November 3, 2026 and To do list on October 24, 2026.

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