OmniFocus vs Things 3 (2026): Which Apple Task Manager Is Worth Paying For?

Choose Things 3 if you want a direct way to organize projects and decide what to work on today. Choose OmniFocus if you want more control over task availability, project sequencing, custom views, and scheduled project reviews.

Both can manage substantial personal workloads. The useful distinction is how much structure you want the app to maintain for you.

Things is easier to recommend when your daily list is the center of the workflow. OmniFocus is easier to justify when you can name the extra controls you will use regularly.

Features and published US prices checked October 14, 2026. This comparison uses official documentation and App Store listings, rather than claiming hands-on benchmark results.

The quick verdict

SelfManager is included as an option when neither Apple app matches your requirements. The main comparison below is between Things and OmniFocus.

Daily planning: Things is direct; OmniFocus gives you more controls

Things 3: decide when a task belongs in your attention

Things organizes tasks through Today, Upcoming, Anytime, and Someday.

A start date indicates when you want to begin work. A deadline indicates when the work must be finished. Future start dates keep tasks in Upcoming until they become relevant.

That is a useful distinction for tasks you intend to begin before their actual deadline.

For example, you might plan to start a presentation on Monday even though it must be delivered on Thursday. Your daily plan and the external commitment do not need to share the same date.

Things suits someone who wants to choose a manageable Today list, keep future work visible, and get on with the task.

OmniFocus: manage availability as well as dates

OmniFocus supports due dates, defer dates, and planned dates. Its Forecast view brings dated actions together with calendar events in the native apps.

This gives you more ways to distinguish an obligation from something you intend to work on, or something that is not available yet.

The benefit depends on whether those distinctions matter to your work. If you frequently manage future actions, waiting periods, and several parallel responsibilities, more explicit controls can be useful.

If you mainly select a few tasks each morning, a simpler daily workflow may be enough.

Project structure: where OmniFocus has a stronger case

OmniFocus offers parallel projects, sequential projects, and single-action lists.

In a sequential project, only the first active action is available by default; later actions remain blocked. In a parallel project, actions can be available independently.

Consider a fictional proposal workflow:

1. Prepare the draft.
2. Send it for review.
3. Record the approval.
4. Prepare the kickoff material.

If those actions genuinely need to happen in order, a sequential project can keep later steps out of an available-action view until earlier ones are completed.

Things can organize a project’s tasks under headings and break individual tasks into smaller steps. Its App Store description also documents Areas for broader responsibilities such as work, family, or finance.

That structure can be sufficient when you prefer to maintain the order yourself.

Choose OmniFocus for this reason when: the difference between “remaining” and “available” work is important enough to shape what you see each day.

Choose Things when: a clear project outline gives you the information you need without additional rules.

Filtering and views: tags versus custom perspectives

Both apps support tags, but OmniFocus Pro offers custom perspectives built from filtering and grouping rules.

A custom perspective can present a particular subset of projects and actions rather than requiring you to recreate that view manually each time.

This can help someone who works in different contexts throughout the day: reviewing client work, dealing with administrative actions, or focusing on one area of responsibility.

The cost is maintaining the rules and the information they depend on. A custom view is useful only if tasks are consistently organized.

Things supports tags for organizing and filtering tasks, alongside its built-in lists.

Before paying for more configurable views, write down one view you actually need. If the standard lists and tags already answer that question, additional flexibility may add little.

Project reviews: OmniFocus makes the routine explicit

OmniFocus has a dedicated Review perspective. Projects have a next-review date and a review interval, allowing you to inspect projects when they are due for attention.

After checking a project, you can mark it reviewed and move on.

This is a meaningful advantage if your active projects tend to disappear behind urgent daily work.

A project review can answer:

• Is the outcome still relevant?
• Is there a clear next action?
• Is anything waiting on someone else?
• Should the project be paused or dropped?
• Does the planned work still reflect the actual situation?

You can perform a review in Things by setting aside time and inspecting your projects. OmniFocus’s advantage is giving that routine its own structure.

This is a project-maintenance review, distinct from asking AI to write a retrospective summary of recorded work.

Apple-device access and browser use

Things 3

Things has separate purchases for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Vision. Apple Watch access is included with the iPhone app, and Things Cloud sync is provided without an additional charge.

It does not offer a Windows, Android, Linux, or browser app.

If you regularly need access from a Windows work computer, that limitation may decide the comparison before you evaluate any other feature.

OmniFocus

OmniFocus 4 uses a universal license across supported Apple devices. Its annual subscription includes the latest Pro version and web access.

Perpetual-license owners can purchase web-companion access separately. The official buying page says the web companion requires an existing OmniFocus setup.

Browser access does not mean every native feature works identically on the web. For example, Omni’s feature page says calendar-event integration is not available in OmniFocus for the Web.

If browser use matters, test the web workflow you intend to rely on.

What do OmniFocus and Things 3 cost?

Prices checked October 14, 2026. Local App Store prices and applicable taxes can differ.

Compare the devices you actually use

Things for Mac and iPhone totals $59.98. Adding the iPad app brings the total to $79.97.

OmniFocus Standard’s $74.99 universal license therefore costs slightly less than buying those three Things apps together. However, Standard does not include every Pro feature, so price alone should not decide the purchase.

OmniFocus’s perpetual licenses cover the current major version. The developer’s policy says future major versions require paid upgrades, while subscriptions provide access to the latest version.

Web-companion access for an existing perpetual-license setup is listed separately at $4.99/month or $49.99/year.

Do you need OmniFocus Pro?

Start with the features you would miss in Standard.

OmniFocus Pro includes custom perspectives, Focus Mode, and Omni Automation. Standard already includes the core project, tag, date, Forecast, and Review features.

A sensible reason to buy Pro is a specific view or automation that improves repeated work.

“Pro has more features” is a weaker reason. If you will mostly use the built-in perspectives, compare Standard directly with Things before paying for additional controls.

Which one should you buy?

Buy Things 3 if:

• You want a direct Today-and-Upcoming routine.
• Projects, headings, and tags provide enough structure.
• Your regular devices are Apple devices.
• You prefer separate one-time purchases to an ongoing subscription.

Buy OmniFocus if:

• You want to manage sequential and parallel actions explicitly.
• Scheduled project reviews would improve your routine.
• You need more configurable views.
• Web-companion access is important.
• You will use the extra controls consistently enough to justify maintaining them.

Neither app wins simply because it is simpler or more powerful. Choose the one that makes your own workload easier to manage.

When neither fits: consider SelfManager.ai

If your main requirement is a dated record of work with actual task time, supporting notes, shared collaboration, and built-in AI review, consider SelfManager.ai.

Its AI can generate dated plans for approval and review recorded tasks, statuses, comments, and time across a selected period. It runs in the browser and can be installed as a web app.

Things does not support real-time shared lists, so that requirement points beyond Things. SelfManager Team provides unlimited collaborators, with access to the tables you share.

SelfManager is a different buying choice: dated tables and AI planning and review, rather than OmniFocus’s detailed personal action system or Things’ native Apple daily lists.

Try the workflow before purchasing

Use one active project, one repeating responsibility, and one future obligation to test:

• Capturing an action.
• Deciding when it should appear.
• Finding the next relevant task.
• Revising the plan after an interruption.
• Reviewing the project afterward.

OmniFocus offers a 14-day trial. Things offers a 15-day trial on Mac; its official support page says trials are not available for the iPhone or iPad apps.

Evaluate how the app handles an ordinary working day, not only how its interface looks with a fresh list.

Frequently asked questions

Is OmniFocus better than Things 3?

OmniFocus is a stronger candidate for project sequencing, configurable views, and scheduled reviews. Things is a stronger candidate when you want a more direct daily-planning routine.

Is OmniFocus subscription-only?

No. OmniFocus 4 offers perpetual Standard and Pro licenses, as well as an annual subscription.

Do I need to buy OmniFocus separately for Mac and iPhone?

No. OmniFocus 4’s universal license covers supported Apple platforms. Things uses separate platform purchases.

Can I use Things 3 in a browser?

No. Things does not provide a browser app. OmniFocus offers web access through its subscription options.

Does Things 3 support shared task lists?

Its official support documentation says it does not support real-time sharing of tasks or lists.

Is OmniFocus Standard enough?

It may be enough if you mainly need the core projects, tags, dates, Forecast, and Review features. Consider Pro when custom perspectives, Focus Mode, or automation solve a specific need.