Best Things 3 Alternative for Mac in 2026
Things 3 Is a Beautiful App. It's Also Stuck in 2017.
Things 3 launched in 2017. It won an Apple Design Award. It deserved it. The app is gorgeous, fast, and genuinely pleasant to use.
But it's 2026 now. And Things 3 still doesn't have voice input. Still doesn't have AI. Still requires you to open a window, manually organize every task, and maintain the system yourself. The design hasn't changed because the thinking behind it hasn't changed.
If you're looking for a Things 3 alternative for Mac, you're probably not leaving because Things is bad. You're leaving because the world moved and Things didn't.
What Things 3 Gets Right
Credit where it's due. Things 3 nails the basics:
- One-time purchase. $49.99 for Mac. No subscription. That's rare and respectable.
- Design. Clean, native, feels like it belongs on macOS.
- Headings and checklists. Organizing within a task is smooth.
- Keyboard shortcuts. Power users can fly through it.
- Reliability. It doesn't crash. It doesn't lag. It just works.
If all you need is a beautiful list, Things 3 still delivers. But "beautiful list" is table stakes now.
Where Things 3 Falls Behind
Here's what's been missing for years, and what Cultured Code shows no sign of adding:
No AI. At All.
Every task you add, you organize manually. Priority? You set it. Tags? You type them. Time estimate? You guess. In 2026, that's busywork. AI can read "call the plumber about the kitchen leak" and know it's high priority, home-related, and takes about 10 minutes. Things 3 makes you do that thinking yourself.
No Voice Input
You can't talk to Things 3. Every task requires typing. When you've got six ideas in your head after a meeting, typing each one is slow enough that you forget the last two. Voice capture isn't a luxury anymore. It's how fast thinkers need to work.
No Notch or Menu Bar Access
Things 3 lives in your Dock. You click it, it opens a window, you interact with the window, you close or hide it. That's the same paradigm as 2010. Modern Mac apps can live in the menu bar or the notch, always accessible, never in the way.
No Calendar View (Real One)
Things 3 has an "Upcoming" view, but it doesn't show your actual calendar events inline. You're looking at tasks in isolation from your schedule. That means you're constantly switching to Calendar to check what's actually possible today.
Syncs with iCloud, Not Apple Reminders
Things 3 uses its own sync system. Your tasks don't appear in Apple Reminders, which means they don't show up on your Apple Watch complications, Siri can't access them naturally, and you can't see them in the macOS notification widgets the way Reminders tasks appear.
What the Best Things 3 Alternative Needs
If you're replacing Things 3, don't downgrade on what it does well. Look for:
- Still a one-time purchase. Don't trade one app for a subscription.
- Still native to Mac. No Electron wrappers. No web views pretending to be apps.
- AI categorization. So you never manually tag again.
- Voice input. Say it, forget it, it's captured.
- Always accessible. Menu bar or notch, no window hunting.
- Apple Reminders sync. So your whole Apple ecosystem sees your tasks.
- Built-in timer. Pomodoro or similar, without a separate app.
Notchable vs. Things 3: Side by Side
| Notchable | Things 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 or $19.99 — once | $49.99 — once |
| Access | Hover the notch | Open from Dock |
| AI sorting | Automatic | None |
| Voice input | Multi-task voice capture | None |
| Pomodoro | Built in | Not available |
| Calendar sync | Native Calendar integration | No calendar events shown |
| Reminders sync | Yes — iPhone, iPad, Watch | No — uses own sync |
| Design | Minimal, dark, notch-native | Award-winning, classic |
| Offline | Full offline (Lite) | Full offline |
| Platforms | macOS only | macOS, iOS, iPadOS |
Things 3 wins on iOS. If you need a dedicated iPhone app with the same design polish, Things still has it. Notchable syncs tasks to iPhone through Apple Reminders instead. Your tasks show up, but in Reminders, not a custom app.
Things 3 also wins on pure design heritage. Nine years of refinement shows. Notchable is newer and trades visual tradition for a fundamentally different interaction model.
The Speed Gap Is Real
Here's the thing nobody talks about in app comparisons: capture speed determines whether you actually use the app.
With Things 3, adding a task takes roughly 6-8 seconds. Open the app (or use the Quick Entry shortcut), type the task, maybe assign an area, hit Enter. That's fast by normal standards.
With a notch-based app, it's under 2 seconds. Hover, speak or type, done. The app categorizes it for you. You never left what you were doing.
Two seconds vs. eight seconds sounds trivial. But multiply that by 20 tasks a day, 250 workdays a year. That's the difference between a system that feels invisible and one that feels like overhead.
For people with ADHD, this gap is even bigger. The 6-second window is enough time to get distracted, forget the task, or decide "I'll add it later" (you won't).
Who Should Keep Things 3
- You love the design and it genuinely motivates you
- You need a polished iOS app alongside your Mac
- You've built an organizational system in Things that works
- You don't want or need AI involvement in your tasks
- You prefer full manual control over your task structure
Things 3 is a great app. If your system works, don't fix it.
Who Should Switch
- You're tired of manually organizing every task
- You want voice input for rapid capture
- You want your tasks visible without opening anything
- You want Apple Reminders sync across all your devices
- You want a built-in Pomodoro timer
- You'd rather spend $9.99–$19.99 than $49.99
Notchable offers a 3-day free trial: every feature, no credit card, no sign-up. Try it alongside Things 3 and see which one you actually reach for.