Todoist vs Things 3 vs Zero-Friction Tasks in 2026

Todoist, Things 3, and Zero-Friction Tasks are not three versions of the same product. Todoist is the broadest cloud planning system. Things 3 is the polished Apple-only personal planner. Zero-Friction Tasks is the private capture-first app for people who want the task saved before the tool asks for identity, workspace, or process.

If you are choosing between them in 2026, start with the job: capture something quickly, plan a personal week, or coordinate work with other people.

Direct answer

Choose Todoist if you need cloud planning, collaboration, APIs, and integrations. Choose Things 3 if you live entirely on Apple devices and want a polished personal planner with one-time app purchases. Choose Zero-Friction Tasks if the first job is private capture across your own devices, with no email account before the first task and end-to-end encrypted sync when you need continuity.

Methodology and facts checked

Facts were checked on September 14, 2026 against official product, pricing, security, support, API, export, and download pages. I weighted the comparison by the searcher's likely decision: not "which app has the most features," but "which app fits my capture, privacy, platform, and planning trade-off?"

The criteria were:

1. Can the app capture a task before the user has committed to an account, workspace, or full planning system?
2. Does offline mode mean local-first use, or only a cached cloud account after login?
3. Is task content end-to-end encrypted before upload, merely encrypted in transit and at rest, or not covered by an E2EE claim?
4. Which platforms are first-class, and which are unavailable?
5. Does the product support individual planning, team collaboration, APIs, export, or local automation?
6. What kind of user should not choose each app?

For more focused sibling comparisons, read Todoist vs Zero-Friction Tasks for Private Capture, Things 3 vs Zero-Friction Tasks, and Best End-to-End Encrypted To-Do Apps in 2026 Compared.

Recommendation by user type

1. Use Todoist if your tasks belong to an account-based productivity system. Todoist is the clearest fit when you want projects, recurring dates, filters, labels, calendar layout, comments, file uploads, teams, integrations, and a mature public API. It is also the clearest choice when collaboration matters more than minimizing identity and cloud surface area.

2. Use Things 3 if your workflow is personal and Apple-only. Things is clearest when you want a native planner that feels calm, opinionated, and local on Apple hardware. Its limitation is not quality; it is scope. There is no Windows app, Android app, Linux app, or web app, and real-time sharing is not supported.

3. Use Zero-Friction Tasks if the capture moment is private and small. Zero-Friction is built for the sentence you would otherwise lose: a client follow-up, health errand, invoice note, security reminder, or personal thought. The app should not require email signup, a team workspace, or an account recovery system before that sentence exists.

4. Do not choose Zero-Friction if the task already belongs to a team. Assigned tasks, comments, permission matrices, customer request queues, SSO, SCIM, activity reports, and manager dashboards are team-system jobs. Todoist Business or another team workspace is a better fit there.

Capture speed: the first five seconds matter

Capture speed is not just about animation or keyboard shortcuts. It is about how many decisions stand between the thought and the saved task.

Todoist is fast once the account exists. Its official pricing page lists Smart Quick Add, recurring due dates, reminders, filters, labels, comments, board layout, calendar layout, and integrations. For a user who already works inside Todoist, the capture path is mature and flexible. The hidden cost is that capture lives inside an account-based cloud system. Todoist's own offline help says you must be logged in before going offline.

Things 3 is fast in the Apple ecosystem because it is a native personal planner. It is not trying to be a cross-platform web workspace. Cultured Code's support docs say Things is sold separately for Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Vision, with Apple Watch included with the iPhone app. That platform focus is why Things can feel so coherent, but it also defines the boundary. If your work laptop is Windows or your phone is Android, Things is not the center of your system.

Zero-Friction Tasks cuts a different piece of the problem. The download page says the web app needs no download, install, or signup; Windows runs from the system tray with Alt+Space; and native apps exist for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, macOS Apple Silicon, and Web. The product bet is narrow: if capture takes too long, the task never enters any system at all.

Planning depth: Todoist is broadest, Things is calmest, Zero-Friction is smallest

Todoist has the broadest planning-depth column. Its official pricing page describes personal projects, boards, calendar layout, task duration, custom reminders, filters, reporting history, team workspaces, roles, permissions, activity logs, shared templates, and centralized billing. That is useful when tasks are no longer private fragments. They have become projects, delegated work, or team commitments.

Things 3 is not as broad, but it is deliberately refined. It is a personal planner for Apple users who want projects, areas, daily planning, and native device integration without the feel of a team SaaS product. Cultured Code's docs also make the collaboration boundary explicit: Things does not support real-time sharing of to-dos or lists at this time.

Zero-Friction is smaller on purpose. It gives you a shallow inbox, lists, reminders, encrypted sync, a free tier, a Pro tier for higher limits, and a REST API. It does not try to replace a project-management suite. That is a strength if the problem is first-mile capture, and a weakness if the problem is operating a team.

Privacy and encryption trade-offs

This is the section where the three products differ most.

Todoist documents strong conventional cloud security. Its security policy says user data, including project names, task names, comments, uploaded files, account information, and payment information, is sent over TLS 1.2 and 1.3, and that projects, tasks, comments, account information, and payment information are stored encrypted at rest. That is encryption in transit and encryption at rest. It is not the same as saying task text is encrypted on the user's device before upload with keys Todoist cannot access. I did not verify an official Todoist task-content E2EE or zero-knowledge task-storage claim.

Things Cloud has a similar distinction. Cultured Code says data exchanged between Things and Things Cloud is encrypted in transit using a 2048-bit certificate and encrypted at rest on the server using 256-bit AES. The same official privacy page says Cultured Code may consider adding client-side end-to-end encryption later. That wording matters: Things Cloud is encrypted and privacy-conscious, but its official docs do not present it as task-content E2EE today.

Zero-Friction Tasks uses task-content E2EE as the default sync model. The encrypted task manager page says the sync code is generated on the device, a key is derived locally, tasks are encrypted before leaving the device, and the server stores ciphertext without the key. It also states the trade-off plainly: if the sync code and every trusted device are lost, the encrypted server copy cannot be recovered.

The honest privacy hierarchy is therefore simple:

• Task-content E2EE by design: Zero-Friction Tasks.
• Encrypted cloud sync, but not documented as task-content E2EE: Things 3 with Things Cloud.
• Encrypted in transit and at rest, account-based cloud processing: Todoist.

None of those models is automatically "best" for every person. E2EE improves content privacy and reduces provider visibility. It also changes recovery, collaboration, and automation trade-offs. Cloud account systems are easier to share, administer, recover, and integrate. You choose the architecture that matches the job.

Platform reality

Todoist is the broadest platform choice. Its downloads page lists Linux, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple Watch, Wear OS, browser extensions, and email add-ons. If the same task system needs to follow you across every mainstream device and into team workflows, Todoist is hard to beat.

Things 3 is the narrowest platform choice, and that is not an accident. Cultured Code says Things works on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and Vision, and explicitly does not work on Windows, Android, Linux, the internet through a browser, or any non-Apple device. That clarity is useful: Things is excellent if your life is Apple-only, and a poor fit if it is not.

Zero-Friction sits between them. It is cross-platform for personal use rather than cross-platform for teams: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 10/11, macOS Apple Silicon, and Web. It is designed for the common personal split where someone uses Windows at a desk and a phone everywhere else.

Price and purchase model

Todoist uses a freemium subscription model. Its official pricing page currently lists Beginner at US$0, Pro at US$5 per user per month billed yearly, and Business at US$8 per user per month billed yearly plus local tax. The paid tiers buy deeper planning, reminders, history, team administration, and collaboration capacity.

Things 3 uses one-time App Store purchases per platform. Cultured Code currently lists Mac at US$49.99, iPhone and Watch at US$9.99, iPad at US$19.99, and Vision Pro at US$29.99, with no Things subscription. You buy the app for the device family you use, and Things Cloud sync is included at no extra charge.

Zero-Friction Tasks uses a free-first model. The download page says the free tier covers 50 tasks, 3 lists, and 3 active reminders, and includes sync, encryption, iOS widgets, the Windows hotkey, and API access. Pro is €5.99/month or €49/year for unlimited tasks, lists, reminders, and recurring reminders. The point is not to undercut every team system; it is to keep private capture available before an account or subscription decision.

API, export, and automation

Todoist has the strongest cloud automation story. Its developer docs describe a REST-style API, a sync endpoint used by first-party clients, webhooks, tasks, projects, comments, activity logs, backups, and other endpoints. If you want automation around an account-based task system, Todoist is mature.

Things 3 is more local and Apple-native. Cultured Code's FAQ says Things does not provide a public API at this time. It does support Things URLs, Apple Shortcuts, AppleScript on Mac, Mail to Things, and local export paths. Its export docs explain how to access a SQLite database file and how to print lists to PDF from the Mac app.

Zero-Friction Tasks exposes a public REST API for tasks, lists, and reminders using the X-Sync-Code header. The important difference is scope: the API is useful for personal capture, scripts, and agents, not for managing a shared company workspace. If your automation requires team permissions and shared accountability, Todoist is the better fit. If your automation needs a private place to write personal tasks, Zero-Friction fits the smaller job.

Who Zero-Friction is for, and who it is not for

Zero-Friction Tasks is for people who treat the first task as private by default. It fits the person who wants to open a web app with no signup, press Alt+Space on Windows, capture on a phone, and sync through a private code rather than an email account.

It is also for people who prefer narrow tools. A shallow inbox is easier to trust when the work is personal, time-sensitive, and small. Not every reminder should become a project. Not every thought should become a row in a cloud workspace.

Zero-Friction is not for teams that need assignments, comments, shared boards, permissions, SSO, admin controls, billing seats, customer queues, or manager reporting. It is not for people who want one app to be a calendar, project system, team wiki, CRM, and automation hub. If your work already belongs to a group process, use a group tool.

Final pick

Choose Todoist if you want breadth: cloud account, collaboration, integrations, API, recurring planning, and team capability.

Choose Things 3 if you want a refined Apple-only personal planner and are comfortable buying separate apps for Apple device families.

Choose Zero-Friction Tasks if the task is still a private sentence and the best product is the one that saves it before it asks who you are.

Download Zero-Friction Tasks if you want private, no-account-first capture with optional encrypted sync across iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS, and Web.

Official sources checked

• Zero-Friction Tasks: Download page, encrypted task manager, and API documentation.
• Todoist: pricing, security policy, offline help, downloads, and developer API docs.
• Things 3: product page, Getting Things, Things Cloud, sync support, privacy and data encryption, FAQ on API support, and exporting data.