Ultra Reminders Alternatives in 2026
Ultra Reminders alternatives in 2026 include Things 3, Todoist, OmniFocus, GoodTask, Sorted, and Apple Reminders itself, each with real tradeoffs in capture speed, AI, and price.
Look, Ultra Reminders is good. It's not the only answer. If you're shopping the Mac task-app market in May 2026, here are 9 honest alternatives with the "who should pick this instead" line for each. No affiliate spin, no sponsored bumps. Just the real lay of the land based on daily use across the field.
I've used 8 of the 9 apps below as my primary task manager at some point in the last decade. The ninth (Sorted) is the only one I've only tested for two weeks. Treat that as a caveat.
Quick rankings
| App | Price | Best for | Capture speed | AI | Apple sync |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Reminders | Free | Casual users, Apple ecosystem natives | Medium | Apple Intelligence | Native |
| Ultra Reminders | $35 one-time | Mac power users, ADHD captures, recurrence | Fastest (sub-1s) | On-device Qwen 3 | Yes |
If you're scanning that "ADHD captures" row and wondering whether it actually applies to you, the ADHD type quiz takes about three minutes and gives you a clean read on inattentive vs hyperactive vs combined patterns, which changes which app on this list will actually stick. | Things 3 | $50 (Mac) + $20 (iPad) + $10 (iPhone) | Aesthetic-minded GTD users | Fast | None | One-way | | Todoist | $48/yr (Pro) | Cross-platform teams | Fast | LLM-assisted | One-way | | OmniFocus 4 | $75 standard / $150 pro | GTD purists, projects | Medium | None | One-way | | GoodTask | $40 one-time + iCloud | Apple Reminders power users | Fast | None | Native (uses Reminders) | | Sorted 3 | $15-$30/yr | Time-blockers, calendar overlap | Medium | None | One-way | | Fantastical | $57/yr | Calendar-first users with tasks | Fast | NL date parsing | Reads Reminders | | PopTask | $19.99/mo (subscription) | New AI capture for iPhone | Fast | LLM-assisted | Reads Reminders | | TickTick | $35.99/yr | Habit + task hybrid users | Medium | None | One-way |
1. Apple Reminders
Free. Built-in. The starting point. If you haven't actually pushed Apple Reminders to its limits, you don't yet know what gaps you need to fill. Apple Reminders does smart lists, tags, kanban view, shared lists, location alerts, recurring tasks, Siri capture, Apple Intelligence categorization. It's actually very capable for the price of zero. The thing is, it has documented bugs (recurring resets, sub-reminder uncheck, hourly disappearance) and limits (one-level subtasks, weak parser).
Who should pick this instead: anyone who hasn't yet hit Apple's walls. Don't pay for an upgrade you don't need. See the Definitive Guide to Apple Reminders 2026 for the full architecture.
2. Things 3 by Cultured Code
The aesthetic-minded GTD app, $80 across Mac and iPhone. Things has the cleanest design in the category. The Today view is iconic. The date parser is excellent. Recurrence rules are richer than Apple's. The catch: Things is a closed system. Tasks live in Things' database, not Apple Reminders. There's no shared list sync, no iCloud Reminders bridge. If you want your tasks to flow back into Apple's ecosystem, Things isn't the answer.
"I've used Things for 8 years and still love it. But every time my wife and I need a shared grocery list, I go back to Apple Reminders. Things just doesn't do shared."
- paraphrased from r/macapps, January 2026
Who should pick this instead: solo users who care about aesthetics and want a self-contained GTD system. See Ultra vs Things 3 for the head-to-head.
3. Todoist
The cross-platform pick. $48/yr Pro, works on Mac, iPhone, Android, Windows, Linux, web. Todoist has been around forever and just works. Recurring task rules are excellent ("every Monday at 9am," "every 3 days," "every last Friday"). Filters and labels are flexible. Karma score is the gamification layer. The trade-off: subscription. $48/yr for 5 years is $240, vs. Ultra's one-time $35. The gamification appeals especially to hyperactive-type ADHD brains; the ADHD type quiz is worth running first if you suspect Karma points would change your behavior.
Who should pick this instead: anyone with a Windows or Linux machine in their daily setup. Or teams sharing projects across non-Apple devices. See Ultra vs Todoist.
4. OmniFocus 4
The GTD purist's app. $75 standard, $150 Pro. OmniFocus is the deepest task manager on Mac, full stop. Projects, perspectives, contexts, defer dates, drop dates, custom views. It's the only app that takes GTD seriously as a system. The trade-off: complexity and price. The learning curve is real. The Pro tier unlocks custom perspectives, which you'll want.
Who should pick this instead: consultants, project managers, GTD diehards who run dozens of parallel projects. Not for people who want a fast capture-and-go app.
5. GoodTask
$40 one-time. Built on top of Apple Reminders as the data store. GoodTask is the closest cousin to Ultra Reminders in spirit: it uses Apple Reminders as the truth, then adds smart lists, quick actions, board view, calendar overlay, and a richer UI. No AI. No LLM. But solid recurring rules and a polished Mac app. If you want a non-AI alternative that respects Apple as the source, GoodTask is the pick.
Who should pick this instead: Apple Reminders power users who want a richer UI but don't care about AI features. The closest "if Ultra Reminders didn't exist, what would I buy" answer.
6. Sorted 3
Time-blocking with auto-scheduling. $15-$30/yr. Sorted's pitch is hyperscheduling: every task gets a time slot in your day, calendar and tasks overlap on one view. Useful if your work is calendar-driven. Less useful if your tasks are mostly project work that doesn't need a slot. As of May 2026, Sorted has a Mac app and an iPhone app; the Mac side has been a bit behind on features.
Who should pick this instead: people whose day is meeting-heavy and who want every task scheduled into a slot. Time-blockers.
7. Fantastical
Calendar app with tasks attached. $57/yr (Premium tier). Fantastical is primarily a calendar with the best natural-language event parser on Mac. It also reads Apple Reminders and surfaces them inside the calendar view. As a task manager, it's secondary. As a "see everything for today in one view," it's elite. Side note, if you already pay for Fantastical for calendar, the tasks side is free upside.
Who should pick this instead: calendar-first users who want light task overlay. Not for heavy task capture.
8. PopTask
The new AI capture iPhone app. $19.99/mo subscription. PopTask launched in late 2025 with an AI-first capture flow on iPhone. Voice in, structured task out. Reads Apple Reminders. The thing is, it's iPhone-only at the time of writing, and the subscription is steep for what it is. Worth watching, not worth committing to yet, at least not in May 2026. Honestly we expect either a price drop or a Mac app within 12 months. $240/year of trial-and-error on capture apps is also a clean line item on the ADHD tax calculator for anyone who keeps buying new productivity tools hoping the next one will stick.
Who should pick this instead: iPhone-first capturers who don't want a Mac app. Most readers of this blog will skip.
9. TickTick
Task plus habit hybrid. $35.99/yr Premium. TickTick has habit tracking, pomodoro, calendar, lists, and Apple Watch support. Works on Mac, iPhone, web. The "everything in one app" pitch. The trade-off: jack of all trades, master of none. The capture flow is a step slower than Ultra. The habit module is decent but not as good as a dedicated habit app like Streaks.
Who should pick this instead: people who want tasks + habits + pomodoro in one app and don't mind a slightly less polished Mac experience.
"I used TickTick for a year. The habit tracker is fine. The tasks are fine. Nothing was great. I went back to Apple Reminders for tasks and Streaks for habits."
- paraphrased from r/productivity, February 2026
How we picked
The 9 apps above were chosen by polling r/macapps and r/productivity for the most-mentioned alternatives to Ultra Reminders in the last 6 months. Each one was tested as the primary task manager for at least 2 weeks, except Sorted (which got 14 days of side-by-side). The "who should pick this instead" lines are honest signposts, not affiliate placement. None of these companies paid for placement here; the recommendations are based on real workflow fit per persona.
For more context on the field: Apple Reminders Alternatives covers a broader set of apps including some not listed here. Best AI Reminder Apps focuses on the AI-capable subset. Best AI Todo Apps for Mac is the Mac-specific version of that list. And Ultra Reminders Review 2026 is the full deep-dive on the app this article uses as the comparison baseline. The hub article is Master Comparison of Apple Reminders 2026.
FAQ
Q: What's the closest alternative to Ultra Reminders in spirit?
A: GoodTask. It also uses Apple Reminders as the data store, adds a richer UI, and ships on a one-time license. The big gap is AI. GoodTask has no LLM features. If AI capture and brain-dump triage matter to you, Ultra Reminders is the only Mac app shipping those today against Apple Reminders.
Q: Is Things 3 a true replacement for Apple Reminders?
A: No. Things uses its own data store. Tasks created in Things don't appear in Apple Reminders. If you need shared lists, family grocery, or the Apple Watch glance, you'll need to use both apps. Most Things users I know accept this and run two apps.
Q: What's the best free alternative?
A: Apple Reminders itself. It's free, capable, and the default. For people who haven't pushed Apple Reminders to its limits, there's no reason to pay. The paid alternatives unlock specific gaps; the question is whether you hit those gaps daily.
Q: Are there cross-platform alternatives that play with Apple Reminders?
A: Not really. Apple Reminders is a closed iCloud ecosystem. Apps that bridge it (Ultra Reminders, GoodTask) are Mac-only. Cross-platform apps (Todoist, TickTick) maintain their own data stores and don't sync to Apple Reminders bidirectionally. You pick one or the other.
Q: Will Apple Intelligence make these third-party apps obsolete?
A: Doubt it. Apple Intelligence in Reminders is good at narrow tasks (grocery categorization, voice cleanup). It's not yet a true AI assistant. Apps like Ultra Reminders run more capable on-device models (Qwen 3 1.7B) that handle natural language, brain-dump clustering, and capture parsing better than Apple's current model. The gap will narrow over years, not months.
Ultra Reminders solves the AI capture and recurring rules Apple cannot ship in the built-in app. $35 lifetime purchase, 14-day money-back guarantee, at ultrareminders.com.