Honest comparison
Life Manager Pro vs Things 3
Things 3 is a beautifully designed, focused task manager with apps across every Apple device. Life Manager Pro is Mac-only and less polished, but adds CRM, goals, journal, and automatic meeting capture around the task list.
| Life Manager Pro | Things 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 one-time (all-in) | $49.99 Mac + $19.99 iPad + $9.99 iPhone (~$80 total, sold separately) |
| Scope | Tasks, CRM, goals, journal, notes, meeting capture | Task management only |
| Meeting recording & transcription | Built in | None |
| Calendar integration | Two-way EventKit sync, per-calendar rules | Today/Upcoming views show calendar events (read-only overlay) |
| Task views | Table, kanban, gantt | Single opinionated list view (Today / Upcoming / Anytime) |
| Design / interaction polish | Functional, utilitarian | Widely regarded as best-in-class design and interaction polish |
| Companion apps | Mac only | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac |
| Learning curve | More to learn (broader system) | Minimal — fast to pick up |
| Custom fields | Custom fields on 9 entity types | None |
Competitor pricing as of July 2026.
Where Things 3 wins
- Full companion apps across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch — genuinely one of the best-regarded task-capture experiences in the Apple ecosystem — vs. Life Manager Pro's Mac-only footprint.
- Widely praised for design simplicity and interaction polish; often cited as the benchmark for an elegant to-do app.
- Simpler at-a-glance daily planning (Today/Upcoming) for people who want just task capture, no broader system to learn.
- Lighter learning curve if all you want is a fast, beautiful to-do list.
Where Life Manager Pro wins
- Cheaper for the full cross-device Things experience: $49 one-time vs. roughly $80 total for Things across Mac, iPad, and iPhone, each purchased separately.
- Much broader scope: CRM, goals/OKRs, journal, notes, and meeting capture — Things 3 is deliberately a focused task manager and nothing more.
- Multiple structured views (table, kanban, gantt) vs. Things' single, opinionated list-based view.
- Automatic meeting-to-task capture, a category Things doesn't address at all.
- Two-way native calendar sync (EventKit) with per-calendar rules — Things only overlays calendar events for viewing in Today/Upcoming.
vs Things 3
Should you actually switch?
Can I import my Things 3 tasks?
Not directly — there's no built-in Things importer today. You'd need to recreate your projects and tasks manually.
Is Life Manager Pro as polished as Things 3?
Honestly, no — Things 3 is widely regarded as one of the best-designed task apps available, and its interaction polish is a real strength. Life Manager Pro is more utilitarian; it prioritizes breadth (CRM, goals, meeting capture) over that level of design refinement.
Do I need an iPhone app?
If you do, Things 3 has one and Life Manager Pro doesn't. Life Manager Pro is Mac-only with no mobile companion.
Why switch from Things 3 at all?
Only if you want more than task management — a CRM, goals/OKRs, a journal, and automatic meeting-to-task capture. If Things 3's task list already covers what you need, there's no reason to add a broader system.
Things 3 does tasks beautifully. It doesn't do the rest of your life.
14-day free trial, no credit card. See if the CRM, goals, and meeting capture are worth adding.