Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

MyST Markdown VS Things

Compare MyST Markdown VS Things and see what are their differences

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MyST Markdown logo MyST Markdown

MyST makes Markdown more extensible & powerful to support an ecosystem of tools for computational narratives, technical documentation, and open scientific communication.

Things logo Things

Things is an easy to use task manager.
  • MyST Markdown Landing page
    Landing page //
    2025-06-04
  • Things Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-17

MyST Markdown features and specs

  • Extended Markdown Syntax
    MyST Markdown extends the standard Markdown syntax with additional features, like the ability to include directives and roles, which allow for more complex and structured documents.
  • Compatibility with Sphinx
    MyST integrates seamlessly with Sphinx, a popular documentation generator, allowing users to leverage Sphinx's powerful features such as cross-references, indexing, and more.
  • Flexibility
    It provides flexibility for users to create richer content by including features like citations, math formulas (via LaTeX), and more nuanced control over document formatting.
  • Community and Extensions
    MyST benefits from a growing community and a variety of extensions, which means users have access to a wealth of additional functionality and community support.

Possible disadvantages of MyST Markdown

  • Learning Curve
    While MyST adds powerful features, it can also present a learning curve for users who are only familiar with standard Markdown and are not used to the more complex syntax extensions.
  • Tooling Support
    Some tools and platforms that support standard Markdown may not fully support MyST Markdown syntax, potentially limiting its use in certain environments.
  • Complexity
    The additional features and syntax can make documents more complex and harder to maintain, especially for larger projects where simplicity is an advantage.
  • Conversion Overheads
    When converting between MyST Markdown and other formats, there may be some overhead to ensure features are properly supported and rendered, which could be a drawback in some workflows.

Things features and specs

  • User Experience
    Things is known for its clean, intuitive, and beautifully designed user interface, making it easy to use.
  • Integration with Apple Ecosystem
    Seamlessly integrates with macOS and iOS devices, offering features like Handoff and deep Apple Calendar integration.
  • Powerful Task Management
    Supports projects, areas, headings, and tags, providing a robust system for managing complex tasks and workflows.
  • Quick Entry
    Provides a quick entry function allowing users to capture tasks efficiently, which can later be categorized and detailed.
  • Updates and Support
    Regularly updated with new features and enhancements, backed by reliable customer support.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
    Offers extensive keyboard shortcuts for power users to navigate and manage tasks quickly.
  • Natural Language Processing
    Allows users to input tasks using natural language, which is then intelligently parsed and scheduled.

Possible disadvantages of Things

  • Cost
    Things requires a one-time purchase for each platform (macOS, iOS), making it relatively expensive compared to some subscription-based competitors.
  • Platform Limitation
    Only available on Apple devices (macOS and iOS), making it inaccessible for users on Windows, Android, or other platforms.
  • No Collaboration Features
    Lacks built-in collaboration tools, which can be a drawback for teams looking to share and manage tasks collectively.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic interface is user-friendly, fully utilizing advanced features can require time and a deeper understanding.
  • Limited Automation
    Offers fewer automation options and integrations compared to some competitors like Todoist or Microsoft To Do.

Analysis of MyST Markdown

Overall verdict

  • MyST Markdown is an excellent choice for technical and scientific writing, offering a powerful extension of Markdown that supports rich structured documents, cross-references, and executable content while remaining approachable and open source.

Why this product is good

  • Extends standard Markdown with powerful features like directives, roles, cross-references, citations, and figures that are essential for technical and academic documents
  • Supports executable content and integration with Jupyter, enabling reproducible computational narratives and interactive documents
  • Enables multiple output formats including websites, PDFs, and static sites from a single source, making it versatile for publishing
  • Open source and community-driven, with active development backed by the Executable Books project and growing adoption in scientific publishing
  • Compatible with modern scholarly workflows, including structured metadata, equations, and professional typesetting

Recommended for

  • Researchers and academics writing scientific papers, theses, or journal articles
  • Technical writers creating documentation with complex cross-references and structured content
  • Data scientists and educators building interactive, computational notebooks and books
  • Teams publishing content to both web and print formats from a single source
  • Users already working within the Jupyter ecosystem who want richer authoring capabilities

Analysis of Things

Overall verdict

  • Things is widely regarded as an excellent productivity tool, especially for Apple ecosystem users. It combines elegance with functionality, making it a top choice for those who prefer a minimalist but powerful task manager.

Why this product is good

  • Things by Cultured Code is highly acclaimed for its clean, intuitive design and effective task management features. It provides a seamless user experience with its natural language input, powerful integration with macOS and iOS, and features like projects, areas, deadlines, and reminders that help users organize their tasks efficiently. The app is particularly praised for its focus on simplicity and ease of use, which allows users to focus on their tasks without being overwhelmed by features.

Recommended for

    Things is ideal for individuals who are deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem and appreciate a minimalist design approach. It's perfect for users who prefer a straightforward, no-frills task management system that emphasizes ease of use, efficiency, and aesthetic appeal.

MyST Markdown videos

(LIVE) Writing a scientific paper faster with MyST Markdown

More videos:

  • Review - Catalyzing Scientific Publishing and Collaboration with MyST Markdown | pyOpenSci

Things videos

Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews: THINGS

More videos:

  • Review - Things 3: Full Review (2019)
  • Review - OmniFocus vs. Things 3 review: which is best for you?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MyST Markdown and Things)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Task Management
0 0%
100% 100
Markdown Editor
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare MyST Markdown and Things

MyST Markdown Reviews

We have no reviews of MyST Markdown yet.
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Things Reviews

11 Ayanza Alternatives
Things 3 is a multi-award-winning personal task manager that assists you in keeping track of your tasks. The environment of the application is attractive with a fresh new look, delightful integrations, and powerful features. It has been completely effective to boost efficiency with easy to use and is attractive to the eye. The themes are a creative and powerful feature that...
Five of the Best To-Do Apps for iOS
Things 3 is one of the few to-do apps that's not subscription based, and it costs $9.99 to purchase. Things 3 is also available for Mac and iPad, though each app must be purchased individually.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Things seems to be a lot more popular than MyST Markdown. While we know about 58 links to Things, we've tracked only 5 mentions of MyST Markdown. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MyST Markdown mentions (5)

  • Quarkdown – Markdown with Superpowers
    Nice! But in the Comparison should be MyST - https://mystmd.org/ This is the new markdown standard to be…. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Typst: A Possible LaTeX Replacement
    Only cons: precise typesetting is not harder. But this is less of the problem. I would prefer a content that is friendly to read and is responsive, than a precise typesetting. [1] https://mystmd.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Open-source 3B param model better than Mistral OCR
    I am lazily posting this all over the thread, but do check out MyST Markdown too! https://mystmd.org. We handle footnotes as a structured object. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Open-source 3B param model better than Mistral OCR
    Feel free to check out MyST Markdown, which very much aims to specify "structured Markdown": https://mystmd.org. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Tritium – The Legal IDE in Rust
    Much (but not all) of what you are looking for exists in the reStructuredText [1] space. Sphinx [2] is an SSG focused on technical writing about software that you may find worth exploring. Also, the scientific text community has been pushing MyST [3] which is an attempt to take some of the best ideas of reStructuredText and reapply them to Markdown-style syntax as a baseline. The MyST tools are a lot more recent... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago

Things mentions (58)

  • We don't need startups, we need Digital-Mittelstand
    Correct: https://culturedcode.com/things/ Looks like the different apps (desktop, mobile, iPad) have different prices, but all are one-time payments of $10-$50. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Essential Software for Mac Users: Three Recommended Efficient Tools
    Things 3is an award-winning task management application known for its clean, elegant interface and intuitive usability. It employs a minimalist design style, allowing users to easily add, organize, and view tasks, helping individuals efficiently manage daily affairs. While Things 3 does not support team collaboration features, it provides a smooth user experience on macOS as a personal task management tool. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Show HN: I built a task manager that separates "Do" & "Due" dates
    How badly do Twos want to SEO rank on searches for Things? https://culturedcode.com/things/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?
    Alfred - Productivity App for macOS [1] iTerm2 - macOS Terminal Replacement [2] Dropshare App - upload anything anywhere on macOS [3] Mimestream - A native macOS email client for Gmail [4] Things - To-Do List for Mac & iOS [5] [1] https://www.alfredapp.com [2] https://iterm2.com [3] https://dropshare.app [4] https://mimestream.com [5] https://culturedcode.com/things. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Ready to advance from Evernote, looking at Obsidian
    Currently, I use Things (https://culturedcode.com/things/) for tasks and Evernote for notes, and experimented with Freeform (I love the visual aspect and simplicity). At work, I've used Notion, Mural, Miro, LucidChart, Quip, and many other collaboration-based knowledge systems. I never researched the best of personal knowledge systems until now. Source: almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing MyST Markdown and Things, you can also consider the following products

R Markdown - Dynamic Documents for R

Todoist - Todoist is a to-do list that helps you get organized, at work and in life.

Quarkdown - Markdown with superpowers: a modern typesetting system.

TickTick - TickTickis a cross-platform to-do list app & task manager helps you to get all things done and make life well organized.

Markdown by DaringFireball - Text-to-HTML conversion tool/syntax for web writers, by John Gruber

Remember The Milk - Remember The Milk is a task and time management application for mobile devices.