Axtio vs. Things 3: Gorgeous Lists Meet the Grid

Things 3 is the most elegant task manager on Apple platforms. Axtio asks what happens when you give that same calm a second dimension.

Things gets calm right

Things 3 proves that a task manager can feel serene. Its typography, gestures, and restraint are a lesson in taste, and its Today view is genuinely helpful for a linear day.

The ceiling of the list

Because Things is list-first, it shares the list's ceiling: it shows what's next, not what's stuck. Work you've delegated or are waiting on has no natural home, so it drifts. And Things lives in the Apple garden — no help on a work Windows machine or a shared browser.

Axtio's two axes and open door

Axtio keeps the calm and adds the missing axis: horizontal position encodes ownership. It also runs anywhere there's a browser, storing data locally so it's private without an account. Same restraint, wider reach, one more useful dimension.

Different homes for different minds

If you live entirely on Apple devices and think in lists, Things is a delight. If you think spatially and cross platforms, Axtio's grid may fit your head better.

Keep reading: visual tracking vs lists, the geometry of focus.