Todoist vs TickTick vs Things 3: Best To-Do List App in 2026?

The to-do list market in 2026 has settled into three clearly distinct philosophies, and Todoist, TickTick and Things 3 each own one of them. Todoist is the cross-platform standard: a task manager built around natural language input, flexible projects, labels and filters, and productivity tracking, synchronised across every device and operating system you could plausibly own. TickTick is the all-in-one value play: to-do lists, a calendar view, habit tracking and a Pomodoro timer inside a single application, priced aggressively so that one cheap subscription replaces three separate apps. Things 3 is the craft play: a premium task manager designed exclusively for Apple devices, sold as a one-time purchase with no subscription at all, organised around Areas, Projects and a Today view, and optimised for individuals who want elegant personal productivity rather than team features.

Our testing methodology was identical across all three. We ran the same scenario on each app for four weeks: one individual managing a mixed load of roughly 120 active tasks across work projects, personal admin and recurring commitments, plus a five-person team sharing two projects on the two apps that support collaboration. We measured the seconds from thought to captured task using each app's quickest entry path, how accurately natural language parsed dates and recurrence, how many taps a reschedule took on a phone, and how well each app handled a week that fell behind schedule. We then calculated three-year total cost of ownership across all the devices we tested on, interviewed long-term users who had migrated between these apps, and analysed verified G2 and Capterra reviews plus App Store feedback to separate design reputation from daily reality.

The mental model behind each product is what actually determines whether you will keep using it. Todoist thinks in a flat, queryable task database: everything is a task inside a project with labels, priority and a due date, and power comes from filters and saved views that assemble the right list on demand. TickTick thinks in an integrated productivity suite: tasks, calendar events, habits and focus sessions live side by side, so the app is as much a daily planner as a list, and the calendar view is where planning actually happens. Things 3 thinks in a GTD-shaped hierarchy: Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday, with Areas for ongoing responsibilities and Projects for outcomes, and it deliberately hides database-style power in favour of a calm, opinionated flow. In short, Todoist rewards query builders, TickTick rewards people who want one app for everything, and Things 3 rewards people who want to stop thinking about the tool.

The intended audiences barely overlap. Todoist targets individuals and small teams who work across mixed platforms — Windows laptops, Android phones, web browsers — and who want shared projects, delegation and cross-device reliability. TickTick targets budget-conscious individuals and students who would otherwise pay separately for a task app, a habit tracker, a calendar and a focus timer. Things 3 targets Apple-only professionals, designers and writers who value interface quality and one-time pricing above collaboration, and who have no need for Android, Windows or a web client. Many mature users run two of these in parallel: Things 3 for personal life on Apple devices with Todoist for shared work projects, or TickTick for habits and focus sessions alongside a dedicated task manager.

Pricing reveals three business models. TickTick is the cheapest recurring option: a free tier with basic features and limited lists, and Premium at $2.79 per month or $27.99 per year, which unlocks unlimited lists, the calendar view and more — about $84 over three years on annual billing. Things 3 has no subscription: a one-time purchase of $49.99 for Mac, $9.99 for iPhone and $9.99 for iPad, so a full Apple setup costs $69.97 once, with lifetime updates inside the major version and nothing due in years two or three. Todoist offers a free plan with generous limits and paid Premium plans per user per month that unlock reminders, templates and advanced features, with current figures on the vendor pricing page; over three years a paid seat costs more than either rival. On three-year cost for one person across all devices, Things 3 wins outright, TickTick is close behind and Todoist costs the most — but only Todoist spans every platform and supports real team collaboration.

The sharpest divergence is scope: what each app refuses to be. Things 3 has no habit tracker, no Pomodoro timer, no full calendar view, no cross-platform support and no shared projects — by design it is a personal Apple task manager and nothing else. TickTick bundles all of those, which is why it replaces several subscriptions, but its task engine is less flexible than Todoist's filter and label system for complex project work. Todoist sits between: no native habit tracker or Pomodoro timer, but the strongest organisation model, the broadest platform coverage and the only genuine collaboration features here, including shared projects, assigned tasks and comments. If you need one app to hold tasks, habits, calendar and focus sessions, choose TickTick. If you need a personal task system that feels beautiful and never bills you again, choose Things 3. For cross-platform sync and shared projects, Todoist is the only real option.

So where does each app genuinely shine? Todoist is the strongest choice for people and small teams who live across multiple platforms, want natural language capture that reliably parses dates and recurrence, and need shared projects with delegation and comments. TickTick is the strongest choice for individuals who want tasks, calendar, habits and a Pomodoro timer in one inexpensive subscription, and who care more about breadth than about advanced filtering. Things 3 is the strongest choice for Apple-only users who value design, speed and a one-time purchase of $49.99 for Mac over any form of collaboration. Our rule of thumb: choose on your device ecosystem first and your need for collaboration second — the feature differences matter far less than those two constraints.

After four weeks of running the same 120-task personal load and a five-person shared project through each app, our conclusion is that there is no universal winner — but there is a clearly correct choice for each device ecosystem and each collaboration need. Todoist was the only app that worked identically on a Windows laptop, an Android phone and the web, and the only one where two people could genuinely share a project. TickTick delivered the most functionality per dollar by a wide margin, replacing a calendar, a habit tracker and a focus timer alongside the task list. Things 3 delivered the best moment-to-moment experience of opening an app and getting something done, and it never asked us for money after the initial purchase.

Where Todoist deserves praise is capture and structure: natural language input reliably turns one typed sentence into a scheduled, recurring, correctly filed task, and filters make a large database feel small. Its cross-platform reach and shared projects are unmatched here. Where it draws criticism is cost and scope — the paid Premium plan is required for reminders, templates and higher limits, per-seat pricing makes it the most expensive option over three years, and there is no habit tracker or Pomodoro timer. Individuals chasing an all-in-one bargain move to TickTick; Apple-only users chasing craft move to Things 3.

Where TickTick deserves praise is value: Premium at $2.79 per month or $27.99 per year buys unlimited lists, a real calendar view, habit tracking and a Pomodoro timer on every platform, which is roughly $84 over three years for what would otherwise be three subscriptions. Where it draws criticism is depth — the task engine cannot model complex project work the way Todoist filters can, collaboration stops at shared lists and assignment, and the interface is busier and less refined than either rival. Power users graduate to Todoist; design-sensitive Apple users graduate to Things 3.

Where Things 3 deserves praise is restraint and finish: Quick Entry is instantaneous, the Today and Upcoming flow makes daily planning effortless, and a one-time payment of $49.99 for Mac with $9.99 licences for iPhone and iPad means the three-year cost is a single $69.97 charge. Where it draws criticism is exclusivity — Apple-only availability rules out most mixed-platform teams, the complete absence of shared projects rules out collaboration, and there are no habits, no focus timer and no full calendar. Anyone who needs to share work moves to Todoist; anyone on Android or Windows moves to Todoist or TickTick by force.

The clearest trend in 2026 is consolidation in the middle and specialisation at the edges. TickTick keeps absorbing adjacent categories — calendar, habits, focus, notes — into one low-cost subscription, while Things 3 keeps refusing to add anything and Todoist keeps pushing cross-platform reach and light AI assistance. Two-app stacks are increasingly normal: a personal system such as Things 3 or TickTick for private life and routines, with Todoist for shared work projects that need assignment and comments. Because all three import and export tasks freely, that split costs little to maintain.

Looking ahead, the deciding factor will be whether you are willing to keep paying for a list. The fundamentals have not changed. If you need cross-platform sync, natural language capture and shared projects for a small team, start with Todoist. If you want tasks, a calendar view, habit tracking and a Pomodoro timer in one inexpensive subscription of $27.99 per year, start with TickTick. If you are Apple-only and want the best-designed personal task manager you can buy once for $49.99 on Mac, start with Things 3. Our rule of thumb: choose on your devices first and on whether anyone else needs to see your list second — everything else is preference.