Focuh vs Things
Things wins on polish and Areas. Focuh wins if you need Today next to Google Calendar, loops that stay, and a Mac blocker that holds. Free. Early beta. No subscription.
What Things is for
Things 3 is the polished paid Mac todo app. Made by Cultured Code, it won two Apple Design Awards, and it earned them. Areas and Projects give everything you own a place. Today, Upcoming, Anytime, and Someday give every task a time. Capture is instant, repeating tasks are first class, and it syncs across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. You pay once per platform, about $50 on Mac, with no subscription.
If your bottleneck is organizing everything you have committed to, Things is built for that.
What Focuh is for
Focuh is the ADHD todo list I built for myself, on Mac and web. Today sits next to Google Calendar, so the plan and the day share one screen. Week is the week. Loops are standing to-dos with no date. You pull a copy onto today and the loop stays. Goals are the one win for the horizon.
On Mac, website and app blocking is system-wide, so it still holds when I leave the browser.
Free. Early beta. No subscription. Mac and web. No mobile.
Honest differences
Things wins on polish and structure. Areas, Projects, headings, and tags can hold a whole life, and every interaction feels considered. Focuh has none of that hierarchy. It is a young app with a flat list, a week, and loops.
Things wins on platforms and pricing model too. It runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Watch, and you buy it once instead of renting it. Focuh has no mobile app.
Focuh wins if execution on the Mac is where your day leaks. Things shows calendar events at the top of Today, but Focuh puts the full Google Calendar day next to the list, so you can see where the time actually is. Things repeats tasks on a schedule whether or not today has room; loops wait until you pull them, so a skipped day does not become a pile of guilt. And Things has no blocker. A beautifully organized Today list does not close Reddit. Focuh blocks websites and apps across the whole Mac while you work.
Price: Focuh is free. Early beta. No subscription. Things is a one-time purchase per platform, about $50 on Mac and extra on iPhone and iPad. That is not a dig. It is fair pricing for a finished product.
| Feature | Focuh | Things 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Areas, Projects, headings | No | Yes, core feature |
| Polish and design maturity | Early beta | Apple Design Award winner |
| Google Calendar next to Today | Yes | Events listed in Today |
| Loops for standing to-dos | Yes, pull when ready | Scheduled repeating tasks |
| System-wide Mac blocking (websites and apps) | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Mac and web | Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch |
| Price | Free. Early beta. No subscription. | One-time purchase per platform (~$50 Mac) |
Who should pick which
Pick Things if you want the nicest todo app on the Mac, you organize your life in Areas and Projects, and you want it in your pocket on iPhone.
Pick Focuh if the list was never the problem and the day is: you need Today next to GCal, loops that stay out of the way until you pull them, and the Mac blocker to hold.
They can coexist, Things as the system of record and Focuh as the day. If you only pick one, pick the bottleneck you actually have.
Try Focuh in the browser at www.focuh.com/today, or download it for Mac to get the system-wide blocker.