Things vs Todoist
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Things is pricing not verified, Todoist is from $4/mo.
- How to start: Things is pricing not verified, Todoist is from $4/mo.
- Where they differ: only Todoist has public api and sso (saml); both offer mobile app.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Things is
What Things isThings is a personal task manager for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and an Apple Design Award winner. The day is organised around a Today list that shows calendar events from the calendars you choose grouped above your to-dos, with a separate This Evening list for work that can only happen later, and an Upcoming list covering scheduled to-dos, repeating to-dos, deadlines and events for the days ahead. Projects can be split with headings that act as categories or milestones and can be dragged, archived or rearranged as a group, while checklists break a single to-do into its steps. Scheduling goes through a Jump Start popover with natural language date recognition, and Quick Find searches projects, to-dos and tags as you type.
What Todoist is
What Todoist isTodoist is the world's most popular task manager, designed to help you declutter your mind and organize your life. Its 'Natural Language Processing' allows you to type 'Buy milk tomorrow at 5pm' to instantly create a task with a reminder. While minimalist in design, it contains deep features like project sections, priority levels, and team collaboration. Flawless sync across everything from Apple Watch to your browser ensures you maintain focus and never forget a single task throughout the day.
Side by side
| Things | Todoist | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| How to start | Not verifiednot a monthly price | $4/moverified |
| Public API | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | No | Yes |
| Visit | Things ↗ | Todoist ↗ |
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What Things is built to do
- Today and This Evening
- Daily list showing chosen calendar events above to-dos, with a separate evening list.
- Upcoming list
- Scheduled to-dos, repeating to-dos, deadlines and calendar events for the days ahead.
- Headings and checklists
- Projects split into draggable, archivable headings; single to-dos split into steps.
- Jump Start scheduling
- Date popover with natural language recognition for terms like tomorrow or Saturday.
- Quick Find
- Type-ahead search across projects, to-dos and tags, including app-wide tag filters.
What Todoist is built to do
- Quick Add
- Use natural language to add tasks, dates, and labels in a matter of seconds.
- Project Sections
- Organize complex work into manageable sub-lists and distinct sections.
- Karma Productivity
- Track your progress with charts and set daily or weekly productivity goals.
- Team Collaboration
- Assign tasks to others and keep communication flowing through task comments.
Choose Things if
- People who want to own a task manager outright instead of renting it — Things is a one-time purchase per platform, not a subscription
- Apple-only users: it ships for Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Vision Pro, with sync across those devices
- Anyone who values interface craft — the app has twice won an Apple Design Award
Skip Things if
- Your team is mixed-platform: there is no Windows, Android or web version, so shared workflows break down
- You want one purchase to cover everything — Mac, iPhone/Watch, iPad and Vision Pro are sold as separate apps
- You need collaboration, assignees or shared projects; Things is built as a personal task manager
Choose Todoist if
- Individuals on the free Beginner plan: 5 personal projects, 5 MB uploads, 3 filter views and 5 people per project
- Power users on Pro: 300 personal projects, 100 MB uploads, 150 filter views and full reporting history
- Teams on Business: up to 500 team projects, 250 people per team project and 1,000 team members and guests
Skip Todoist if
- You keep more than 5 projects and will not upgrade — the free plan caps projects, not tasks
- You need one week of history to be enough; the free plan keeps only 1 week of activity
- You want a large free team: the free plan allows 5 people per project
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Things: pros & cons
- Design clarity that reduces friction
- One-off purchase per platform
- Excellent keyboard support on Mac
- Apple only, and paid per platform
- No collaboration at all
- No built-in calendar
Todoist: pros & cons
- Speed: Entering a task takes just seconds; the keyboard shortcuts are industry-best.
- Universal Access: Available on more platforms (and works better) than almost any competitor.
- Simplicity: Does not push features on you unless you explicitly go looking for them.
- Karma System: Gamify your productivity by earning points for finishing your tasks.
- Reminders: A basic feature like task reminders requires a paid subscription.
- Calendar View: Its internal calendar view is newer and less mature than some rivals.
- Notes: Not designed for long-form writing or storing massive amounts of notes.
Our verdict on Things
The most refined personal task manager. Buy it knowing it will never be a team tool.
Our verdict on Todoist
A well-balanced task app: fast capture, and enough structure to keep a personal system running.
Things vs Todoist: common questions
- What is the difference between Things and Todoist?
- On the criteria we check, only Todoist has public api and sso (saml); both offer mobile app. The table above lists every criterion side by side.