Ember vs Things 3: Two Views Instead of Four
Things 3 perfected the four-view task manager. Ember asks whether you needed four views at all.
Things 3 is the most polished task app on Apple platforms, and that is not faint praise. It won Apple Design Awards, it pioneered the calm aesthetic every todo app now copies, and its one-time pricing is rare and genuinely customer-friendly. If you are comparing Ember and Things, you are already someone who values simplicity. The difference between the two apps is what they think simplicity means.
The quick comparison
| Ember | Things 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99/month or $44.99/year, three-week free trial | One-time: $9.99 iPhone, $19.99 iPad, $49.99 Mac |
| Platforms | iPhone (iOS 26+) | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro |
| Core structure | Two views: Now and Next | Four views: Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday |
| Daily reset | Yes. Unfinished Now tasks return to Next every morning | No. Unfinished Today tasks stay in Today |
| AI | Delegate tasks to your own agent (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) via MCP | None |
| Repeating tasks, subtasks, lists | Yes | Yes |
| Collaboration | No | No |
| Best for | One clean list every morning, AI delegation | Deep Apple ecosystem use, one-time pricing |
Four views means four decisions
Things gives every task a place: Today, Upcoming, Anytime, or Someday. It is a complete system, and for some people that completeness is the appeal. But every layer of structure is a decision you make per task, several times a day. Is this for today? Is it scheduled? Is it an eventually or a maybe?
Ember collapses that to one question: are you doing this now, or next? Everything else (which list it lives in, when it repeats, what its subtasks are) stays out of your way until you need it. We wrote about this in more detail in What Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday Get Wrong.
The morning difference
In Things, yesterday’s unfinished Today items are still sitting in Today when you wake up. The list only grows, and pruning it is on you.
Ember’s daily reset moves unfinished Now tasks back to Next overnight. You start every morning with a clean list and deliberately pull back what still matters. It is the fresh-page feeling of a paper notebook, except the app remembers your repeating tasks, your subtasks, and your lists.
AI: a real difference, not a checkbox
Things has no AI features, by design, and many of its users prefer it that way. Ember does not have a built-in chatbot either. Instead, it ships an MCP server: you tag a task for delegation, and the AI agent you already use (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP client) picks it up, asks clarifying questions, and does the legwork. If AI is irrelevant to you, Ember stays out of your way. If you already work with an agent every day, no other simple task manager meets you there.
Pricing, honestly
Things’ one-time pricing is better if you keep apps for years and use an iPad or Mac, where Ember does not have apps today. Ember is a subscription because sync and the MCP service are ongoing costs. Either plan starts with a three-week free trial, and the yearly plan works out to $3.75/month.
Pick Things 3 if
- You want native iPad, Mac, Watch, or Vision Pro apps
- You prefer paying once over subscribing
- The Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday structure already works for you
Pick Ember if
- Your Today list keeps turning into a guilt archive
- You want one decision per task, not four
- You want to hand tasks to the AI agent you already use, straight from your list