In terms of task management, I’ve been a very happy user of, Things, on both the Mac and my iPhone since the software first came out. I haven’t had any plans to switch apps, but today I noticed a todo app called, Wunderlist, that Apple is featuring as this week’s, iPhone app of the week. I decided to take a look, and I have to say I’m pretty impressed.
Like Things, Wunderlist is available for both the Mac and the iPhone, but, unlike Things, it’s also available for Windows. Wunderlist isn’t nearly as full-featured as Things, and it is missing some high-priority features, like scheduled and recurring tasks. But, Wunderlist does have a few key advantages over Things:
- Wunderlist is free on all 3 platforms. (Things costs $49.95 for the Mac, and $9.95 for the iPhone)
- Over-the-air syncing of tasks between Macs, PCs, and iPhones via their free cloud-sync service. (Things can sync between a Mac and an iPhone if they’re on the same local Wifi network – they’ve promised cloud-sync, but haven’t delivered yet)
- Wunderlist can share tasks with other Wunderlist users – over-the-air. (Things can’t do this at all)
I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to ditch Things, but over-the-air syncing is a huge deal for me. It’s been my only real complaint about Things – and it pains me every time I have to remember to launch the app on both my Mac and iPhone while I’m on my local network so they’ll sync up.
Whether you’ve already picked a task-management solution or not, Wunderlist is definately worth a look – especially if you’re on multiple platforms.
On a side-note to this, I do feel a little bad for Cultured Code (the maker of Things). Contrary to the popular belief, I personally do NOT think all software should be cheap (or free). Those guys have put a lot of effort into their apps, and they deserve to make a living as developers. It always irks me a little when someone comes out with a free app that is solid competition to a well established paid app. However, the flip-side of this is I personally think $49.95 is too much for the Mac version of Things. I think $24.95 would be a little more reasonable.
Links: Wunderlist | Things | YouTube
Thanks for the review. I too am a fan of Things for Mac and I agree that Things does have some great features that are missing from Wunderlist. Good call about making Things available for a lower price, especially now as Wunderlist is free. Another note, i really would like to see Things (and Wunderlist) to to be able to create sub-Projects – projects within projects. This feature has been promised by CultureCode for some time but is yet to be delivered. Lets see.
Things is a great product, but way to expensive! Competition is a great for consumers! I hope Things will change its pricing strategy soon for its customers. I might never come back to Things…
I have been using Things for nearly two years now, and so far it has been worth every cent of its money. I strongly disagree with Ludo. I believe $50 is a fairly reasonable price for a powerful, well-designed app that meets practically all of my needs in keeping track of the various projects I’m working on. I have been working as a traffic/production manager in an advertising agency for 15 years, and I don’t want to calculate the amount of money I have been saving lately, because a workflow based upon Things turned out to be more reliable than a to-do list in Filemaker or notes scribbled on a sheet of paper. Or relying on my memory, which usually turns out to be the worst option.
Recently, I have been using Wunderlist as well, and both have their pros and cons.
Things is far the most efficient of both as far as task input is concerned: one shortcut puts up the app in front, pastes the selected text/e-mail/web page, and the focus, area and date can be entrered in the same flow. This way of working fits me like a glove, and it’s the main reason why I prefer Things. I also like how a date can be assigned, but notifications can be set to appear earlier.
But if you want to share projects, esp. with PC/Unix/Android users, Wunderlist would definitely be the way to go.
If Wunderlist would include the possibility to add tasks more easily from other applications by some short cut, and documents (word, mail,…) to tasks, it would probably become my #1 choice.
And I would happily pay some money for that.
Much as I like Things, I’m probably going to switch to Wunderlist because the development time on Things doesn’t justify the price. The features Things needs to improve are huge: teamwork, cloud-sync, and multi-platform so that I can share with people who aren’t on Mac. Whereas the features Wunderlist needs–repeating tasks and subtasks–are really quite minor additions that I’d expect pretty quickly.
I’ve been using Things for years now and I was upset to see 6Wunderkinder “rip” them off. It wasn’t easy for me to pay for things on the Mac and the phone, but now I have to get a solution that is cross platform.
On the flip side, I’m very habitant ro go to Wunderlist since I have no guarantee that the company will survive and keep developing the product. Free is a very tough price to beat and does not put food on your table.
I’d love to get more versions and new features for Things and would be willing to pay 10-20 dollars for it. Maybe even making it $15/yr would be better as far as recurring income for then, and a higher chance that the product will still be around in a few years.