Todoist, TickTick, and Things 3 all pass the real test. You can add a task in seconds, trust your list during a busy week, and review without feeling punished by the UI.
Todoist is the best default for cross-platform life and fast capture. TickTick adds calendar views, habits, and more features per dollar. Things 3 is the best pick when you live on Apple hardware and want the calmest daily planning experience money can buy.
The short answer
Pick Todoist for cross-platform speed, TickTick for calendar-plus-tasks power on many devices, and Things 3 for Apple-only polish and Today-focused planning.
Top picks
Best todoist vs ticktick vs things 3
Natural language, filters, and recurring tasks stay reliable as lists grow. It is the easiest app to recommend when someone uses more than one OS.
TickTick
People who want calendar integration and habits alongside tasks without another app
Visit TickTickThe extra views and features give more planning surface in one place for people who actually use them.
Things 3 makes review feel intentional. Areas, projects, and deadlines stay readable even when work piles up.
Where each app pulls ahead
Todoist wins capture and cross-platform trust. TickTick wins when you want calendar blocks and habit loops beside tasks. Things 3 wins when the quality of the daily experience matters more than feature count.
If you are honest about your devices and your review habit, the choice gets easier. The wrong pick is almost always the app that fights your real workflow.
Pricing and lock-in in plain terms
Todoist and TickTick lean on subscriptions. Things 3 sells upfront licenses per platform, which can feel expensive at first but predictable over time.
None of these tools trap your data, but migration still costs attention. Pick based on a 90-day habit, not a weekend demo.
When to ignore the comparison and pick Notion instead
If your work is mostly documents, wikis, and shared project hubs, a task manager alone will feel thin. Notion can carry tasks inside a larger workspace when that matches how your team already thinks.
Keep Todoist, TickTick, or Things for personal execution, then let Notion handle reference and collaboration. Splitting jobs beats forcing one tool to do everything.
Who should skip each of these options
Skip Todoist if you live fully on Apple hardware and want the calmest daily review experience without subscription creep. The cross-platform strength becomes irrelevant.
Skip TickTick if feature density and extra views add noise rather than clarity for your planning style. Simpler lists will serve you better.
Skip Things 3 if you ever need reliable access from Windows or the web. The Apple-only model creates real friction the moment you leave the ecosystem.
How we tested these task managers
We used Todoist as primary for freelance and client work, TickTick in parallel for a side project with habits and calendar blocks, and Things 3 on a Mac and iPhone for personal daily planning over six weeks ending May 2026. We tracked capture speed, how often we opened the app for review, and whether the extra features in TickTick actually got used or just cluttered the surface.
Last tested May 2026. We did not test team delegation workflows in depth or long migrations between the three.