Chaos vs Things 3: Which Apple Ecosystem Task Manager Wins?
Category: Reviews · Stage: Consideration
By Max Beech, Head of Content
Updated 20 October 2025
Things 3 has been the gold standard for Apple-native task management since 2017. Its minimalist design and native performance make it a favourite among Mac and iPhone users. Chaos launched in 2024 with a different promise: AI-powered context awareness and agentic capabilities. Both are beautiful, both are Apple-exclusive—but they solve different problems.
TL;DR
- Things 3 excels at manual task organisation with elegant design and offline reliability
- Chaos focuses on AI-powered task capture, context-aware reminders, and proactive suggestions
- Things 3 is one-time purchase (£49.99); Chaos uses subscription pricing
- Best for Things 3: People who love manual control and minimalism
- Best for Chaos: People who need AI to remember context and nudge at the right moment
Jump to: 1. Task capture | 2. Organisation philosophy | 3. Reminders and context | 4. Pricing and verdict
Task capture
Things 3: Quick Entry perfected
Things 3's Quick Entry (⌃Space on Mac, widget on iPhone) is instant. Type a task, hit return, done. Natural language parsing handles dates ("tomorrow at 3pm") and tags ("#work"). It's fast, reliable, and doesn't require AI.
Strengths:
- Offline-first—works on aeroplanes
- Zero-latency input
- Familiar natural language patterns
Weaknesses:
- No voice capture (uses Siri, which is unreliable)
- No automatic context extraction from emails/messages
Chaos: AI-powered capture everywhere
Chaos captures tasks via voice, text, email forwarding, and browser extensions. It uses AI to extract context: "Email Sarah about the Q3 budget after I finish the client call" becomes a task with the email draft started, linked to your calendar, and triggered after the meeting ends.
Strengths:
- Multimodal input (voice, text, email, images)
- Automatic context linking (calendar, location, contacts)
- Proactive suggestions from meetings and emails
Weaknesses:
- Requires internet for AI processing
- Occasionally misinterprets ambiguous input
Winner: Chaos for automatic context extraction, Things 3 for minimalist manual entry.
Organisation philosophy
Things 3: Manual intentionality
Things 3 uses Areas (life domains), Projects (multi-step goals), and Tags. You decide where everything goes. This forces intentionality: filing a task makes you think about its purpose.
The Today view is manually curated. You drag tasks into it each morning, creating your "intention for the day." Many users love this ritual; others find it repetitive.
Philosophy: You are the organiser. Things is the canvas.
Chaos: AI suggests, you refine
Chaos watches your behaviour and suggests task groupings. It learns that "client work" tasks often happen Tuesday-Thursday mornings and surfaces them then. It notices you always handle admin on Friday afternoons and batches those tasks accordingly.
You can override AI suggestions, but the default is "let Chaos organise by context and timing."
Philosophy: AI handles the filing. You focus on doing.
Winner: Things 3 for people who want full control, Chaos for people who want intelligent defaults.
Reminders and context
Things 3: Time-based reminders only
Things 3 reminders trigger at specific times: "9am tomorrow," "Friday at 3pm." That's it. No location awareness, no conditional triggers.
If you set "Buy milk" for 5pm but you're stuck in a meeting, the reminder fires anyway, unhelpfully.
Chaos: Context-aware nudges
Chaos tracks location, calendar, device, and even email sentiment to determine when to remind you. Examples:
- "Buy milk" → triggers when you're near a supermarket
- "Ask Sarah about budget" → triggers when Sarah emails you
- "Review slides" → triggers when you're at your desk with 30 minutes free before the presentation
This is Chaos's defining feature. A 2024 user survey found that context-aware reminders reduced "ignored notifications" by 64% compared to time-only reminders.^[1]^
Winner: Chaos decisively. Context-awareness is transformative.
Integrations and ecosystem
Things 3: Apple-only, minimal integrations
Things 3 integrates with:
- Apple Calendar (read-only)
- Apple Reminders (import only)
- Apple Shortcuts (powerful automation)
That's it. No Zapier, no API, no third-party sync. This is intentional—Things prioritises simplicity and privacy over extensibility.
Chaos: Cross-platform aspirations
Chaos currently supports iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Android in beta (2024). Integrations include:
- Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar (bidirectional sync)
- Email clients (Gmail, Outlook—forward emails to create tasks)
- Slack, Teams (capture tasks from messages)
- Zapier (custom workflows)
Winner: Chaos for flexibility, Things 3 for Apple purity.
Pricing
| Aspect | Things 3 | Chaos | |--------|----------|-------| | iPhone | £9.99 (one-time) | Subscription (tiers vary) | | iPad | £19.99 (one-time) | Included in subscription | | Mac | £49.99 (one-time) | Included in subscription | | Total (all devices) | £79.97 upfront | £8-15/month (~£96-180/year) |
Cost over time
- Year 1: Things 3 costs £79.97, Chaos costs £96-180
- Year 3: Things 3 still £79.97, Chaos costs £288-540
- Year 5: Things 3 still £79.97, Chaos costs £480-900
If you plan to use your task manager for 5+ years and don't need AI features, Things 3 is substantially cheaper. If you value AI and context-awareness enough to justify £8-15/month, Chaos delivers unique value.
Who should choose which?
Choose Things 3 if you:
- Love minimalist design and want zero AI
- Work primarily on Apple devices
- Prefer manual organisation and daily planning rituals
- Want to pay once and own the software forever
- Value offline reliability
Choose Chaos if you:
- Struggle with remembering when/where to do tasks
- Want AI to capture and organise tasks automatically
- Need location and calendar-based triggers
- Work across ecosystems (Mac + Android phone, etc.)
- Value proactive suggestions from meetings and emails
Can you use both?
Some users pair them:
- Things 3 for personal projects and long-term goals (Areas and Projects)
- Chaos for work tasks with complex context (meetings, emails, location-based errands)
There's minimal overlap if you define clear boundaries. Export/import between them isn't seamless, but manual sync is manageable for users committed to both.
Key takeaways
- Things 3 is unmatched for minimalist, manual task management on Apple devices
- Chaos leverages AI for context-aware reminders and automatic organisation
- Things 3 is cheaper long-term; Chaos charges monthly for ongoing AI improvements
- Context-awareness is Chaos's killer feature—if you need it, nothing else compares
Verdict
Things 3 is perfect if you want a digital notebook that respects your organisational style and never changes. Chaos is perfect if you want an assistant that learns your patterns and nudges you at exactly the right moment. Neither is better universally—pick based on your philosophy: manual control or intelligent automation.
For similar comparisons, see Chaos vs Omnifocus for GTD power users or Chaos vs TickTick for cross-platform needs.
About the author
Max Beech reviews productivity tools with real-world testing. Every comparison includes hands-on use of both apps for at least 30 days.
Disclosure: Chaos is the author's employer, but this review reflects genuine product differences. Things 3 is recommended where it's genuinely the better fit.