Skip to content
For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt.
ComparisonsTodoistThings 3
· Done Bear

Todoist vs Things 3 vs Done Bear: Picking a Task Manager in 2026

An honest comparison of Todoist, Things 3, and Done Bear across platforms, GTD workflow, offline support, collaboration, pricing, and AI/automation, including who each app is genuinely best for.

TL;DR: Things 3 is the best pure single-player Apple experience. Todoist is the most flexible general-purpose to-do app across the most platforms. Done Bear is for people who want the Things-style GTD workflow with a web app, real collaboration, local-first speed, and first-class automation (CLI, API, MCP). Yes, we make Done Bear, so we’ll be specific about where the others win.

Picking between these three comes down to four questions: where do you work, do you share projects, how much system do you want to maintain, and do your tools (including AI assistants) need access to your tasks?

Platforms: where can you actually use it?

  • Things 3: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro. No web app, no Windows, no Android. If your day includes a browser-only machine or a Windows laptop, Things simply isn’t there.
  • Todoist: effectively everywhere: web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, browser extensions, email plugins. Platform reach has always been Todoist’s superpower.
  • Done Bear: web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, plus a Raycast extension and a CLI. No Android app today. Todoist wins if Android is a hard requirement.

GTD workflow: built in or built by you?

  • Things 3: GTD-native. Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday are the app’s structure, which is why Things users rarely fiddle with their setup.
  • Todoist: GTD-capable. You assemble the views from filters, labels, and conventions. Powerful, but you maintain it, and hand-built systems drift. (Our take on the minimal setup: The GTD App Setup That Actually Sticks.)
  • Done Bear: GTD-native, same five views as Things plus a Logbook. The structure is the product, so there’s nothing to maintain.

Offline and speed

  • Things 3: excellent. Fully native, instant, offline by default: the trust benchmark.
  • Todoist: cloud-first with an offline mode. Fine for capture; noticeably a synced web app under load or on bad connections.
  • Done Bear: local-first. Tasks live on-device and render instantly; sync happens in the background. It’s the Things feel, kept across every platform. (Why this architecture matters: Offline-First Beats Cloud-Only.)

Collaboration

  • Things 3: none, deliberately. No shared projects, no assignees. (Details: Things 3 for Teams.)
  • Todoist: mature, with shared projects, assignees, comments, and a Teams tier. If you need heavyweight delegation workflows today, Todoist is proven.
  • Done Bear: real-time shared workspaces on every plan, including Free. Your personal views stay personal; projects become shared when work does. Collaboration without turning into project-management software.

Automation and AI

  • Things 3: URL schemes and Shortcuts. Fine for Apple-side glue, but there’s no real API.
  • Todoist: a solid REST API and a large integration ecosystem.
  • Done Bear: built agent-first: a full CLI, a GraphQL API, and a hosted MCP server so Claude, ChatGPT, and other assistants can capture, triage, and plan against your tasks with OAuth-scoped permission. If “my AI assistant manages my task list” is part of your workflow, this is the differentiator.

Pricing

  • Things 3: one-time purchases per Apple device (Mac, iPhone, and iPad sold separately). No subscription, and genuinely great if you’re all-Apple and single-player.
  • Todoist: free tier, then paid plans per user per month.
  • Done Bear: free to start (up to 250 tasks, unlimited workspace members), then from $7/month per member billed yearly. Full details on the pricing page.

The honest verdicts

Choose Things 3 if you work alone, entirely on Apple devices, and want a one-time purchase. It remains the most polished personal task manager ever made.

Choose Todoist if you need Android, natural-language capture everywhere, or established team workflows with assignees and comments across a big integration ecosystem.

Choose Done Bear if you want Things’ calm GTD structure but need the web, Windows, shared projects, or AI/automation access: one system that stays fast offline and works wherever your day actually happens. Start with the Things 3 comparison or the Todoist comparison, or just try it free.