StoweShort version: Things is the best-crafted traditional task manager on Apple platforms and you buy it once; Structured is the best way to see your day as a visual timeline; Stowe is the one built around speaking your plan, with the AI that structures your words running on-device. They overlap less than their App Store categories suggest — which one fits depends on whether you think in lists, in timelines, or out loud.
A disclosure before the table: I build Stowe. I use that word "build" deliberately — it is a one-person app, and this comparison is written by that one person. I have tried to be accurate about where the other two are better, because they genuinely are in places, and because a comparison that always concludes "buy mine" is just an ad. Verify anything here against the apps themselves; all three have free ways to try them.
How do the three compare at a glance?
| Stowe | Structured | Things | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core idea | Speak a brain dump, get 3–5 doable things for today | Your day as a visual timeline of blocks | Classic task manager: projects, areas, headings, someday |
| Capture | Voice-first; talk naturally, on-device AI splits it into tasks with dates. Typing works too | Typed entry and calendar import; Siri support | Fast typed quick-entry; add by voice via Siri |
| AI | On-device (Apple Intelligence); speech becomes structured tasks without a server | AI-assisted scheduling features in the paid tier | None built in — deliberately |
| Works offline | Fully — capture, transcription and structuring all on-device; works in airplane mode | Day planning works offline; some features need a connection | Yes; sync resumes when you're back online |
| Accounts | None; data stays on your devices and private iCloud | Not required to start | None; syncs via its own Things Cloud |
| Platforms | iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — one purchase covers all three | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android and web | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — bought per platform |
| Pricing model | Free with an optional Pro subscription | Free tier with a paid upgrade | One-time purchase per platform; no subscription |
Details shift with updates — treat the table as a snapshot from August 2026 and check current listings before deciding.
Where does Things win?
Things wins on craft, and it is not close. Cultured Code has been refining it for well over a decade; it won an Apple Design Award, and the win shows in a thousand small interactions — drag and drop, keyboard control on the Mac, the way projects and headings keep a large system feeling calm. If you want a serious, deep task manager and you are willing to organize it yourself, Things is the safest recommendation on this page.
It also wins on pricing model for many people: you pay once per platform and own it. No subscription. In 2026 that is rare and worth real credit.
What Things is not is voice-first. You can add items by voice through Siri, and quick entry by keyboard is excellent, but the app assumes you will do the structuring — deciding what is a project, what is today, what is someday. That structuring is precisely what some people find satisfying and others find to be the wall they hit every evening.
Where does Structured win?
Structured wins if you need to see your day, not just list it. Its timeline view — tasks as blocks laid against the hours of the day, alongside your calendar events — is the clearest answer I have seen to "when will I actually do this?", and no plain list, Stowe's included, answers that question as well. For people who lose time rather than lose tasks, the visual timeline is the feature.
Its free tier is broad enough to run your day in for a long while, and it reaches beyond Apple platforms, which Stowe and Things do not. Its AI features sit in the paid tier and lean toward scheduling assistance — helping place things in time — which fits the app's timeline-first idea.
The trade-off is that a timeline wants filling. Structured rewards people who will plan their day in blocks; if the act of laying out blocks is the kind of admin you avoid, the timeline becomes another empty form.
Where does Stowe win?
Stowe wins if the mess starts in your head and talking is how it gets out. It is the only one of the three built voice-first: you tap the mic, say everything — tangents, half sentences, five unrelated errands in one breath — and on-device AI splits it into tasks, routines, and things with dates attached. Capture and sorting are one step, not two.
It is also the only one of the three where speech is understood entirely on-device. There is no account and no server; it works, completely, in airplane mode. And it is opinionated about size: today holds 3–5 things and the rest waits out of sight, which is either the feature you have been looking for or a constraint you will resent — it is deliberately not a place to marshal a two-hundred-item system.
That opinionation is the honest limitation. Stowe has no projects, no timeline, no collaboration, and it is Apple-only. It is free with an optional Pro subscription, and it is built by one person, which cuts both ways: coherent, but not a big team.
Which one should you pick?
- Pick Things if you want the finest traditional task manager on Apple platforms, you are happy to organize projects yourself, and you prefer paying once over subscribing.
- Pick Structured if your problem is time — you need to see the day laid out as a timeline, or you need Android or the web.
- Pick Stowe if your problem is getting things out of your head — you want to speak a brain dump, have it sorted for you on-device, and be handed a day small enough to finish, privately.
For a shorter two-way table, see Stowe vs Structured; there are also side-by-sides with Voiset and Tiimo.
They also combine: some people dump and plan the day in one app and keep long-term projects in another. There is no rule that you pick one system for everything — only that whatever you pick, the thoughts stop living in your head.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper long-term, Things or a subscription app?
Things, almost always — you pay once per platform and own it, so the cost stops. Stowe and Structured both have free tiers that may be all you need, but their paid tiers are subscriptions, and any subscription passes a one-time price within a few years. If lifetime cost is the deciding factor, Things wins on arithmetic.
Can I use Things or Structured by voice?
Yes, through Siri — both accept items added by voice, one at a time. Neither is built voice-first: speaking several unrelated things in one breath gets you one blob or one item, not a sorted set of tasks. If voice is your main way in rather than an occasional shortcut, that difference is the whole comparison.
Which of the three works on Android or the web?
Only Structured — it runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android and the web. Things and Stowe are Apple-only. If your life includes an Android phone or a work machine where only a browser is allowed, Structured is the one that follows you there.
Can I combine these apps instead of picking one?
Yes, and people do — a common split is dumping and day-planning in one app while long-term projects live in another. The apps do not sync with each other, so keep the boundary clean: one app owns today, the other owns someday. The only real rule is that thoughts stop living in your head.