Project and task management decision

Things 3

A competent developer can build a useful, local-first task manager clone (tasks, projects, search, reminders) in about a week, but reproducing Things’ cross-device sync (Fastlane/Things Cloud), Apple-level polish, and platform breadth is costly and explains why paying may make sense.

Visit website

You pay

Not priced

No pricing page we fetched carried a figure, so there is nothing to compare against. The build side is still real.

You’d pay instead

$50one-off30 h to build

$0/mo5 h/mo upkeep

No published price to break even against.

Open-source builds that already do this

Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Things 3 alternatives, with the arithmetic →

SynapseLocal-first PWA that unifies habit tracking and task management into a coherent offline-capable application (matches core local-first task management loop).Open on GitHub

What a replacement has to do

Create and manage to-dos and projects, tag and schedule items, search and navigate lists, and set time-based reminders.

What it still won’t have

Things Cloud instant sync (Fastlane) and cross-device sync
Apple-quality design polish and custom animations
App Store distribution conveniences and multi-device builds (Watch, iPad, Vision)
Native Siri / Shortcuts integrations and other OS-level integrations

What remains hard

Infrastructure at scaleSince reminders are time-critical, we’ve enhanced Things Cloud with a special new feature: Fastlane.
Brand trustHonored twice with the prestigious Apple Design Award, Things has won over critics with its unique blend of powerful functionality and ease-of-use.

Read the build prompt

First-year cost

No published price

Things 3 does not publish a price we could read, so there is nothing to compare against. What building costs is below.

Money you would actually spend

Keep paying

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Subscription price × seats × 12

Build it

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AI build —APIs + hosting —

Time you would spend

—

What you would spend

Your monthly price$/moAI to build it$ onceAPIs + hosting$/mo

What we assumed

Initial buildhrsMonthly upkeephrsYour rate$/hr

The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.

Runnable build prompt

Not run yet

Build a local-first macOS SwiftUI app (Swift + Core Data) that implements: (1) tasks and projects with headings and checklists; (2) tags and a Quick Find full-text + tag search using SQLite FTS; (3) natural-language date input for scheduling and setting time-based reminders (use a small NLP date parser library); (4) drag-and-drop, multi-select, and insertion UI for placing items; (5) read-only Calendar integration to show events in the Today/Upcoming view. Out of scope: multi-device sync, Things Cloud, Watch/iPad/Vision-specific apps, and App Store release packaging. Include error handling, unit tests for persistence and parsing, and basic UI tests for list operations.

How we checked4 sources · 3/3 runs agreed · evidence score 61

How the score was reached

Partly verdict base52
An open-source build was found+5
4 cited sources+3
3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
Hard moats found in the evidence-3
Evidence score61

The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.

How scoring works →

Cited sources · 4

Every page the run actually retrieved.

official productThings - To-Do List App for Mac & iOS
official pricingApp Store Pricing – Things
official docsWhat’s New in Things — Features
open sourceSynapse repository

Integrity checks

What held up, and what did not.

✓ 3 independent runs, one answer✓ Citations limited to fetched pages! 2 moats quoted from the page