Comparison

ByDesign

Things 3

ByDesign vs Things 3

Things keeps a beautiful list. ByDesign plans your year.

Things 3 is the to-do app Mac and iPhone people love: fast, calm and beautifully made. It also stops at the list, and at Apple devices. ByDesign puts your tasks on a calendar that syncs both ways, adds habits, goals, notes and a year canvas, builds the plan with AI, and runs on everything.

Try ByDesign free See the comparison

What you get with ByDesign that Things 3 doesn’t offer

Your tasks on a real calendar
Tasks and events sync both ways with Google and Apple, Outlook connects too, and AI scheduling drafts your week on a preview you approve. Things shows Apple Calendar events read-only and has no built-in way to put a to-do on the calendar, by its own support guide.
AI that builds the plan
Say a goal and get tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines, scheduled around your calendar, with an assistant you can talk to. Things has no assistant; its AI touchpoints are Siri AI in beta, Apple Writing Tools and Shortcuts.
Habits, goals, courses and time
A habit tracker with streaks and friends, goal pages with progress, Hub courses, Pomodoro and time tracking. Things has repeating to-dos and project progress pies.
Everywhere, with your team
Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android, with shared pages, assignments, chat and team plans. Things runs on Apple devices only and, per its support guide, does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists.

ByDesign vs Things 3, feature by feature

Only the differences. What both apps do the same is listed underneath.

Included
Limited
Not available

Feature	ByDesign	Things 3
AI planning
AI goal plans	Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans	Not available: No assistant; Siri AI beta, Writing Tools and Shortcuts
AI scheduling with a preview you approve	Included: Preview on the calendarConflicts shown; accept, or undo step by step; AI and AI Plus plans	Not available: No
Planning assistant chat	Included: Full contextSees your calendar, goals, habits and notes; moves and reschedules items; AI and AI Plus plans	Not available: No in-app assistantSiri AI can add and correct to-dos in conversation
Auto-schedule around your hours	Included: Rules you setWork hours, breaks, buffers, max hours a day, split long tasks	Not available: You set the dates yourself; repeats follow the rule you set
Voice control	Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Siri“In Things, remind me to buy milk”
Calendar and views
Tasks on your calendar	Included: Two-way with Google and AppleOutlook too; drag tasks onto the calendar or let AI place them	Limited: Apple Calendar events, read-onlyNo built-in way to put a to-do on the calendar; a Shortcut can block time
Year-to-day planning canvas	Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans	Limited: Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday listsUpcoming shows events beside to-dos; no month or year view
Kanban boards	Included: Custom columnsMain board plus boards per page	Not available: No
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar	Included: Yes	Not available: No
Notes, habits and goals
Notes and pages	Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web	Limited: Markdown notes on to-dosNo standalone notes; attachments not supported, per Things support
Habit tracker	Included: Built inStreaks, skip a day, stats, habits with friends	Not available: Repeating to-dos only
Goals with progress	Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable	Limited: Project progress pies
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub	Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar	Limited: Duplicate a project as a templateNo built-in templates, courses or roadmaps
Pomodoro timer	Included: Built in25/5/15 cycles with a floating timer	Not available: No
Time tracking on tasks	Included: Start and pause on any taskTotals per task; “most tracked” filter	Not available: No time estimates either
Collaboration and platforms
Share pages and assign tasks	Included: View, comment or editAssign tasks; @mention in comments	Not available: “Does not support real-time sharing” at this time, per Things support
Built-in chat	Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls	Not available: No
Team plans	Included: Per seatAdd or remove members in settings	Not available: Personal app; Family Sharing for the purchase
Platforms	Included: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android	Limited: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch and VisionNo Windows, Android or web, per Things support
MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants	Included: YesClaude Desktop, Claude Code and ChatGPT guides	Not available: URL scheme and Shortcuts instead

AI planning

AI goal plans
ByDesign
Included: Built and scheduledTasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines land on your calendar; AI and AI Plus plans
Things 3
Not available: No assistant; Siri AI beta, Writing Tools and Shortcuts
AI scheduling with a preview you approve
ByDesign
Included: Preview on the calendarConflicts shown; accept, or undo step by step; AI and AI Plus plans
Things 3
Not available: No
Planning assistant chat
ByDesign
Included: Full contextSees your calendar, goals, habits and notes; moves and reschedules items; AI and AI Plus plans
Things 3
Not available: No in-app assistantSiri AI can add and correct to-dos in conversation
Auto-schedule around your hours
ByDesign
Included: Rules you setWork hours, breaks, buffers, max hours a day, split long tasks
Things 3
Not available: You set the dates yourself; repeats follow the rule you set
Voice control
ByDesign
Included: Mic and hands-freeOptional wake phrase; AI and AI Plus plans
Things 3
Limited: Siri“In Things, remind me to buy milk”

Calendar and views

Tasks on your calendar
ByDesign
Included: Two-way with Google and AppleOutlook too; drag tasks onto the calendar or let AI place them
Things 3
Limited: Apple Calendar events, read-onlyNo built-in way to put a to-do on the calendar; a Shortcut can block time
Year-to-day planning canvas
ByDesign
Included: Year to dayYear, quarter, month, week and day on one zoomable surface; AI and AI Plus plans
Things 3
Limited: Today, Upcoming, Anytime and Someday listsUpcoming shows events beside to-dos; no month or year view
Kanban boards
ByDesign
Included: Custom columnsMain board plus boards per page
Things 3
Not available: No
Sticky notes, images and pinned pages on the calendar
ByDesign
Included: Yes
Things 3
Not available: No

Notes, habits and goals

Notes and pages
ByDesign
Included: Nested pagesTables, code, embeds, sub-pages, backlinks; publish to the web
Things 3
Limited: Markdown notes on to-dosNo standalone notes; attachments not supported, per Things support
Habit tracker
ByDesign
Included: Built inStreaks, skip a day, stats, habits with friends
Things 3
Not available: Repeating to-dos only
Goals with progress
ByDesign
Included: Goal pagesTasks, resources, percent complete, shareable
Things 3
Limited: Project progress pies
Courses and roadmaps from the Hub
ByDesign
Included: The HubCourses, roadmaps and a habit library; schedule a roadmap straight onto your calendar
Things 3
Limited: Duplicate a project as a templateNo built-in templates, courses or roadmaps
Pomodoro timer
ByDesign
Included: Built in25/5/15 cycles with a floating timer
Things 3
Not available: No
Time tracking on tasks
ByDesign
Included: Start and pause on any taskTotals per task; “most tracked” filter
Things 3
Not available: No time estimates either

Collaboration and platforms

Share pages and assign tasks
ByDesign
Included: View, comment or editAssign tasks; @mention in comments
Things 3
Not available: “Does not support real-time sharing” at this time, per Things support
Built-in chat
ByDesign
Included: Direct and groupThreads, reactions, polls
Things 3
Not available: No
Team plans
ByDesign
Included: Per seatAdd or remove members in settings
Things 3
Not available: Personal app; Family Sharing for the purchase
Platforms
ByDesign
Included: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android
Things 3
Limited: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch and VisionNo Windows, Android or web, per Things support
MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants
ByDesign
Included: YesClaude Desktop, Claude Code and ChatGPT guides
Things 3
Not available: URL scheme and Shortcuts instead

Things 3 column based on support centre, devices and sharing, calendar, attachments, Siri and blog on October 26, 2026. If something has changed, email info@bydesign.io.

Both apps cover the basics

Tasks with subtasks, tags, deadlines and repeats
Today, upcoming and someday lists
Natural-language dates
Quick add from anywhere
Email to task
Siri shortcuts
Home-screen widgets
Markdown in notes
Dark mode
Keyboard shortcuts

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Why people switch from Things 3 to ByDesign

Tasks and calendar in one place

Connect Google, Apple and Outlook. Drag a task onto the calendar, or let AI schedule it, and the change shows up in your calendar app too. Edit it there and ByDesign updates.

Things 3: Things displays your Apple Calendar events beside your to-dos, read-only. Google and Outlook only appear if they sync into Apple Calendar first, and there is no built-in way to put a to-do on the calendar; a Shortcut can block time.

Google, Microsoft and Apple calendars syncing with ByDesign

Say the goal. Get a scheduled plan.

Tell ByDesign what you want to achieve. It asks a few questions, then builds the tasks, subtasks, courses and deadlines and schedules them around the life you already have. Replan in one message.

Things 3: Things has no AI assistant or auto-scheduling. You set When dates and deadlines yourself; Siri AI (beta), Writing Tools and Shortcuts are its AI touchpoints.

ByDesign AI goal plan with tasks, tags and durations

Habits, goals and focus, built in

Track habits with streaks and stats, keep goal pages with progress, run a Pomodoro and track time on any task. Open ByDesign in the morning and it already works.

Things 3: Things has repeating to-dos, project progress pies and Markdown notes. There is no habit tracker, timer, time tracking or time estimate.

ByDesign reminders, habits and deadlines on iOS

Every device, and the people you work with

ByDesign runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iOS, iPad and Android, so your plan is there on a work PC too. Share pages, assign tasks, @mention in comments and chat in the app.

Things 3: Things runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Vision, with no Windows, Android or web version, and no sharing of lists with other people.

Don’t take our word for it.

From Petey M.
I used to keep a calendar, a to-do list, and a project app. ByDesign replaced all of them. It’s clean, it works, and I haven’t needed anything else.
From Callio
Can I just say I love you. Finally, a good-looking app that isn’t complex as hell. There are tears in my eyes. I’ll happily pay for this!💯
App Store Review
I have tried pretty much every calendar app and this one is the best I’ve tried.

See All The Love →

Make the switch in three steps

No setup project. Start free, connect the calendar you already use, and give ByDesign your first goal.

Start your free trial. No credit card.
Connect your Google, Apple or Outlook calendar.
Say your first goal and watch the plan land on your calendar.

Ready to plan your year, not just your list?

Start free. No credit card. Tell ByDesign a goal and watch the plan land on your calendar.