Top 8 Things Alternatives in 2026

Why Look Beyond Things?

Things is an excellent task manager—if you're locked into Apple's ecosystem and comfortable with a one-time purchase model. But $49.99 for iOS and $79.99 for Mac adds up quickly if you want the full experience across devices, and you're stuck with Apple-only access. More importantly, Things lacks cross-platform reach, team collaboration features, and the integrations that modern workflows demand. If you need Android support, Windows access, real-time collaboration, or deeper automation, you'll outgrow Things fast.

This guide covers eight strong alternatives—some cheaper, some feature-richer, some designed for teams rather than solo users. Each trades something for something else; your job is figuring out which trade-off matters for your actual work.

Quick Comparison

Below is a side-by-side snapshot of how these alternatives stack up against Things. Pricing reflects typical monthly or annual costs (converted to monthly for clarity), and ratings are aggregated from user reviews across major platforms in July 2026.

1. Todoist — Best for Cross-Platform Task Management

What It Does

Todoist is the workhorse alternative if you need task management everywhere—iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web. It nails natural language parsing (type "finish report tomorrow at 2pm" and it extracts the due date and time automatically), prioritization with four levels, and project organization. The real strength is the ecosystem: 100+ integrations mean you can connect Todoist to Gmail, Slack, Zapier, Calendar apps, and dozens more without leaving your workflow.

Key Features

• Natural language input for fast task entry
• Recurring tasks with flexible scheduling
• Project templates to jumpstart common workflows
• Team collaboration and sharing
• 100+ integrations including Slack, Google Calendar, Zapier
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android

Pricing

Free tier covers basic task creation and projects. Pro is $4/month (billed annually at $48) and adds custom views, advanced search, and integrations. Business is $6/month per user for team features. You're paying monthly, which means long-term costs exceed Things, but you get genuine cross-platform parity.

Why Choose Todoist Over Things?

If you use Windows, Android, or switch between devices constantly, Todoist is the clear answer. Things forces you into Apple-only territory; Todoist is device-agnostic. The integration ecosystem is unmatched—you can automate task creation from emails, Slack messages, or calendar events. Natural language parsing matches Things' strength here.

The Trade-off

Todoist's interface feels more utilitarian than Things' polished design. You lose the refined aesthetics and the lightweight feel of a native macOS app. The premium tiers add up if you're on a tight budget, and the free version is genuinely limited compared to Things' free trial.

2. Linear — Best for Engineering and Software Teams

What It Does

Linear is purpose-built for software teams, not personal productivity. It's a modern issue tracker that replaces Jira for teams that want speed and simplicity. You create issues, assign them to cycles (sprints), automate workflows, and integrate with Slack, GitHub, and your CI/CD pipeline. It's overkill for managing grocery lists but essential if your team lives in code.

Key Features

• Issue tracking with custom statuses and workflows
• Cycles for sprint-like planning
• Built-in automation (auto-assign, auto-close based on conditions)
• Slack integration with slash commands
• Full API for custom integrations
• GitHub and Figma syncing

Pricing

Free tier includes up to 10 team members. Pro is $10/month per workspace and adds advanced features like estimates and custom workflows. Scale pricing is custom. Compare this to Things' flat one-time fee: Linear becomes expensive at scale, but team members get access to the same instance.

Why Choose Linear Over Things?

You don't, unless you're a software team. Linear is not a personal task manager—it's an engineering tool. But if you're on a dev team tired of Jira's bloat, Linear is the fastest way to track work without the enterprise overhead.

The Trade-off

Linear is team-first, not personal-first. There's no meaningful individual use case. The learning curve is steeper than Things because you're managing workflows, automation rules, and team permissions. Overkill for solopreneurs.

3. Notion — Best for Database-Driven Task Management

What It Does

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that lets you build custom task managers using a block-based editor. You can create databases with relations, templates, filters, and views. A "Tasks" database can have status, priority, owner, and due date properties, then display the same data as a Kanban board, table, timeline, or calendar. It's infinitely customizable—which is both a strength and a liability.

Key Features

• Block-based editor for flexible layouts
• Databases with relations and rollups
• Templates for recurring task creation
• Team collaboration and permissions
• Web clipper for capturing content
• API access for custom integrations

Pricing

Free tier is surprisingly generous: unlimited blocks, pages, and basic databases. Plus is $10/month and adds advanced database features. Pro is $20/month. Each tier supports more users. Notion is cheaper than Todoist's Pro tier, but you're paying indefinitely.

Why Choose Notion Over Things?

You want a task manager that doubles as a personal wiki, CRM, or project hub. Notion shines when you need relational data—tracking tasks linked to projects, clients, or other records. The customization is unmatched: build exactly what you need rather than fitting work into a predefined structure.

The Trade-off

Notion is slow. Switching databases, adding relations, and scrolling through large tables often feels sluggish compared to Things' snappy responsiveness. The flexibility is a trap: you'll spend hours customizing instead of using it. It's not a purpose-built task manager; it's a general tool you're repurposing for tasks.

4. Asana — Best for Project-Heavy Teams

What It Does

Asana is a work management platform that treats projects as first-class citizens. You map tasks to projects, timelines, milestones, and teams. It includes time tracking (log hours on tasks), portfolio views (see multiple projects at once), and reporting (burndowns, workload, completion rates). It's built for managers tracking team capacity and progress.

Key Features

• Time tracking on tasks
• Timeline (Gantt-like) views
• Project templates
• Team collaboration with comments and attachments
• Portfolio and reporting dashboards
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android

Pricing

Free tier includes 15 team members and basic features. Premium is $13.49/month per user. Business tier is $28.49/month per user and adds portfolio views and advanced reporting. Asana is expensive for teams and overkill for solo users.

Why Choose Asana Over Things?

You're managing projects with multiple people and need visibility into timelines, dependencies, and resource allocation. Asana's Gantt timeline is superior for planning, and the reporting dashboard gives you accountability metrics Things can't match. Things is a personal task app; Asana is team project management.

The Trade-off

Asana's learning curve is steep, and the interface is cluttered. Setup takes hours. For solo users, it's unnecessary complexity. The per-user pricing scales poorly for large teams.

5. OmniFocus — Best for Getting Things Done (GTD) Purists

What It Does

OmniFocus is Things' closest competitor because both are Apple-exclusive task managers. But OmniFocus targets GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology practitioners with custom perspectives, powerful filtering, and a forecast view that shows your workload across time. It's more extensible and methodologically rigid than Things.

Key Features

• GTD workflow support (capture, clarify, organize, review)
• Custom perspectives for flexible views
• Location-based reminders
• Repeating tasks with complex recurrence rules
• Project templates
• Forecast view showing tasks by due date

Pricing

$9.99/month or $99.99/year. OmniFocus offers both subscription and perpetual-plus-updates pricing, though recent versions moved to subscription-only. You're paying recurring costs, unlike Things' one-time fee, but you get constant updates and cloud sync.

Why Choose OmniFocus Over Things?

You follow the GTD methodology and want a tool that enforces it. OmniFocus has a "Projects" context that separates projects from tasks, a "Review" mode to ensure you process everything, and perspectives that let you view tasks by context, energy level, or time available. Things is simpler; OmniFocus is deeper.

The Trade-off

OmniFocus is more complex than Things. The learning curve is real, and the interface feels dated. For users who don't care about GTD, the extra structure is friction. Recurring pricing is a long-term cost compared to Things' $49.99 one-time buy.

6. GoodNotes — Best for Handwritten Task Notes

What It Does

GoodNotes is primarily a note-taking and PDF annotation app for Apple devices with handwriting and sketch support. It's not a task manager in the traditional sense, but many users leverage it for task lists, especially if you think in handwriting or prefer sketching flowcharts and diagrams. You can organize notes into folders, search handwriting, and sync across devices.

Key Features

• Digital handwriting with Apple Pencil support
• PDF annotation and manipulation
• Note organization and search
• Sync across Apple devices
• Templates for recurring pages
• OCR to search handwritten text

Pricing

GoodNotes 5 is free (older version, no longer updated). GoodNotes 6 is $11.99/month. You're paying for a note app, not a task manager, so this is a supplementary tool.

Why Choose GoodNotes Over Things?

You prefer analog-style note-taking with digital convenience. GoodNotes excels if your "task list" is a to-do page in a digital notebook with sketches, doodles, and handwritten notes. It's not a replacement for Things; it's a different way of thinking about task capture.

The Trade-off

GoodNotes has no built-in due dates, recurring tasks, or automation. It's a notebook, not a task manager. You'll spend more time manually managing and reviewing pages rather than leveraging smart lists and filtering. The handwriting is beautiful but slower than typing.

7. Sunsama — Best for Daily Prioritization and Focus

What It Does

Sunsama is a daily task manager focused on prioritization rituals. Each morning, you build a daily plan by dragging tasks into your priority order. It integrates with Todoist, Asana, Linear, and other tools to pull tasks from multiple sources into a single daily view. The goal is reducing context-switching and maintaining focus on what matters today.

Key Features

• Daily standup planning with priority ordering
• Task prioritization workflow
• Integrations with Todoist, Asana, Linear, Jira, and more
• Scheduled tasks for batching similar work
• Team templates for group standups
• Focus time tracking

Pricing

Free tier includes basic daily planning. Pro is $12/month and adds team features and deeper integrations. It's a thin layer on top of existing task managers, so you need another system (Todoist, Asana, etc.) as your source of truth.

Why Choose Sunsama Over Things?

You already use multiple task management tools and need a ritual-based daily planning layer. Sunsama is not a replacement for Things; it's an addition. Use it to build intentional daily plans across all your tools, reducing overwhelm and context-switching.

The Trade-off

Sunsama is dependent on integrations. If you use Notion or a custom task system, Sunsama can't pull tasks automatically. The daily planning workflow is prescriptive—you'll use it or abandon it. It's also a recurring cost on top of your existing task manager.

8. ClickUp — Best for All-in-One Productivity

What It Does

ClickUp is a bloated-by-design productivity suite combining task management, project planning, time tracking, docs, goals, and team communication. It's trying to be Asana + Notion + Slack, which means it does many things adequately but few excellently. However, the customization and automation depth is unmatched—you can build exactly the workflow you need.

Key Features

• Task hierarchy with multiple views (List, Kanban, Gantt, Calendar)
• Time tracking on tasks
• Custom fields and automations
• Built-in docs and wikis
• Goal tracking and progress monitoring
• Slack integration and custom workflows

Pricing

Free tier is generous: unlimited tasks, basic features, and 2 GB storage. Unlimited is $7/month per user. Business is $12/month per user. Enterprise is custom. ClickUp is cheaper than Asana but pricier than Todoist when you account for team size.

Why Choose ClickUp Over Things?

You're a solo founder or small team that wants everything in one place and doesn't mind configuration overhead. ClickUp's automation and custom workflows save time at scale. You can build task hierarchies (tasks → subtasks → checklists) that Things can't match, and the time tracking is built-in rather than bolted-on.

The Trade-off

ClickUp is complex and slow. The interface is overwhelming, onboarding takes time, and you'll feel lost initially. Performance degrades with large workspaces. It's not as refined as Things or as focused as Todoist. You're paying for breadth at the cost of simplicity.

The Bottom Line

Things is a beautiful, focused task manager for Apple users who value simplicity and one-time pricing. But it's not the best choice if you need cross-platform access (pick Todoist), team collaboration (pick Asana), or deep customization (pick Notion or ClickUp).

For more comparisons and deeper dives into task management tools, visit our Task Management Hub.