TickTick vs Things 3 in 2026 Bought once for Apple, or one app for everything.

Things is bought once and stays on Apple devices. TickTick runs almost everywhere, and its calendar, timer and habits come with the subscription. The rest of the choice follows from that.

Jacky Fakkeldij Building Driftto, on his own · Updated 23 October 2026

I build Driftto, an iPhone app for getting a thought into the right place without first finding the app, waiting for it to open and picking a list. TickTick is one of the apps it writes to. Things is not. So I had a reason to read TickTick closely, and to see what people mean when they weigh it against Things.

In October 2026 I went through Cultured Code's Things support pages, TickTick's help center, upgrade page and download page, and both US App Store listings. Everything below comes from those pages. Where a page didn't say, I say so instead of guessing.

The short answer

Things 3 suits one person who uses only Apple devices, wants to pay once, and likes a calm list built around Today, Upcoming and Someday. TickTick suits anyone who needs Android or Windows, shared lists, or a built-in calendar, focus timer and habit tracker, and can live with Premium once the free limits pinch.

Paying once or paying yearly

Things is sold per device type in the App Store, with no subscription. In the US store, Things 3 for iPhone costs $9.99, the iPad version $19.99 and the Mac version $49.99. The iPhone listing says sync runs through Things Cloud at no charge, and that Family Sharing covers up to six people. Cultured Code offers a free 15 day trial for the Mac version only, from its website.

TickTick is free to download. In the US App Store, Premium is an in-app purchase at $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. Its upgrade page lists the same $49.99 a year and no monthly price. The free plan holds 9 lists, 99 tasks per list, 2 task reminders, 5 habits and 2 members per list. Premium raises those to 299 lists, 999 tasks per list, 5 reminders, 299 habits and 29 members, and opens up all the calendar views.

So the math is simple. Things on iPhone alone costs about two months of TickTick Premium at the monthly price, and a fifth of one year of it. Things on all three Apple devices costs $79.97 once, which is about a year and a half of Premium. If the free limits fit how you work, TickTick costs nothing at all.

Apple only, or everywhere

Cultured Code lists Things for Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Apple Vision Pro. If you also use an Android phone or a Windows computer, Things will not follow you there.

TickTick's download page lists apps for iOS and iPadOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux, a browser extension and a web app. Its iPhone listing also shows an Apple Watch app. That alone settles the question for anyone who is not all in on Apple.

How each one plans your day

Things gives every to-do a start date. Until that date it waits in Upcoming, and on the day it moves into Today. Today can hold a This Evening section for things you'll get to later. Anytime lists everything you could do right now. Someday holds ideas that have no plan yet and keeps them out of Anytime and Upcoming until you decide. Above that sit Projects for goals and Areas for parts of your life, like Work or Family. You don't design your own views.

TickTick plans around lists and a calendar. Its help center has a Task section that includes a Kanban view and a Timeline view, and a Calendar section with week, month and list views. I found no page that lays out a fixed Today, Anytime and Someday split the way Things does. TickTick leaves the shape of your system to you.

Typing dates, and talking to Siri

In Things you set a date by typing a phrase like "tues 8am" or "17d" in the When picker. It works in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. On an iPhone this covers start dates and reminders. Natural language for deadlines is only supported on Mac, and on iPads and Vision with a hardware keyboard.

TickTick's site says it automatically recognizes dates and times as you type, to set smart reminders. I could not open a help page that lists the exact phrases, so I don't claim more than that.

Both work with Siri. Things' support page says to say "in Things" or "with Things", otherwise the request may go to Reminders, and it says its newer Siri sets only a start date, not a deadline. TickTick's App Store listing names Siri task creation as a feature. The Things listing also names Shortcuts support, and lists a Share extension and Mail to Things.

Calendar, focus timer and habits

Things shows your calendar events at the top of Today and in Upcoming once you turn on calendar integration. They sit next to your to-dos, but you don't plan on a calendar grid.

TickTick has its own calendar. Its site names yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and agenda views. Its upgrade page gives the free plan a basic calendar and Premium all of them. The App Store listing also names calendar app integration and calendar subscriptions appear in the help center.

TickTick has a Pomodoro timer in the same app: the site describes breaking tasks into 25 minute intervals, and the help center has a Focus section with a timer and statistics. It also has a habit tracker with a habit library and statistics. The free plan holds 5 habits. In the Things pages I read I found no focus timer and no habit tracker. If you want those with Things, you add a second app.

Working with other people

This is the clearest difference. Cultured Code's support page says: "At this time, Things does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists." You can send the text of a to-do or list through the share menu, but that is a copy, and notes and tags are left out when you share a group of to-dos. Family Sharing shares the app purchase, not your lists.

TickTick shares lists. Its site says you can share lists, assign tasks and work together. On the free plan a list can have 2 members. On Premium it can have 29.

Everything else, side by side

The rest, from both help centers, the TickTick pages and the US App Store, checked in October 2026.

Which one I'd pick

If you work alone, only on Apple devices, and want to pay once and stop thinking about it, pick Things. Its fixed views, especially the split between Today, Anytime and Someday, do a lot of the planning for you. The price on an iPhone is low enough that you can try it and decide.

If anyone else needs to see your list, or you use Android, Windows or Linux anywhere in your day, pick TickTick. The same goes if you want a calendar, a focus timer and habits in one app. Start on the free plan and see whether 9 lists and 99 tasks per list are enough before you pay.

Both fit a GTD-style setup, and I compare more apps for that in the best GTD apps. If you are choosing between these and Todoist, I wrote Todoist vs TickTick and Things 3 vs Todoist. Whichever you pick, it only helps if the thought gets into it while you still have it.

Capture into the one you picked, in one step

Into Things: say "In Things, add call the garage" to Siri. From Safari or another app, use the share sheet; Things must be enabled in the sharing menu first, and it takes plain text only. Or forward an email to your Mail to Things address, which needs Things Cloud, and it lands in the Inbox with the subject as the title. The limit is 100 emails per 24 hours.

Driftto doesn't write to Things, so for Things these native routes are the ones to use.

Into TickTick: its App Store listing names Siri task creation and adding tasks by email. The app itself has the usual add button.

With Driftto, you open it to a capture field with the keyboard already up, type or say the thought, and tap TickTick. It lands in the list you set once, or in your Inbox if you skip that. A one-line note becomes the task title. A longer note keeps its first line as the title and lands whole in the description. A due date is date only. You can also say "Hey Siri, new capture in Driftto", or send the same note to TickTick and another destination at once.

Questions

Driftto is in the App Store now.