Best GiftList Alternatives
GiftList is a free universal wishlist with an AI gift finder. It is a good answer to one specific question — an AI-assisted "what should I get them" helper alongside a free universal list — and if that is your situation, it may be all you need.
This page is for the people it does not fit: those who want a list with no ads in it and nothing being recommended at them. It compares GiftList with Things To Have on the eight things that decide whether a wishlist actually gets used, and lists the alternatives worth considering alongside it.
Short version: if you want a free, calm wishlist app for you and your friends — no ads, no account needed to view, and reservations your family can use without spoiling the surprise — Things To Have is the closest fit. If you need an AI-assisted "what should I get them" helper alongside a free universal list, GiftList is probably still the right tool.
What GiftList does well
- advertises itself as 100% free with no item limits
- apps for web, iOS, Android and browsers, including Safari and Edge
- an AI gift finder for when you do not know what to buy
- genuinely close to Things To Have on price
Why people look for an alternative to GiftList
Reservations are visible enough to matter. Things To Have goes further: nobody — including the list owner — learns who reserved what.
The AI layer sits in front of the list. Recommendations are useful when you are buying and noise when you are not.
Free, but not as simple. More surfaces (AI finder, gift ideas feed) means more of a shop and less of a list.
GiftList vs Things To Have
| App | View without an account | Reservations keep the surprise | Free, no paywall | No ads | Any store + autofill | Works on any device | Sort & filter | Export your data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Things To Have | Yes | Yes — anonymous even to the owner | Yes — everything free | Yes | Yes — autofill without an extension | Yes — web/PWA, nothing to install | Yes | Yes — JSON |
| GiftList | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly | Yes | Yes | Partly | — |
“—” means we could not confirm it from the app’s own documentation.
The best alternatives, compared
| App | View without an account | Reservations keep the surprise | Free, no paywall | No ads | Any store + autofill | Works on any device | Sort & filter | Export your data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Things To Have | Yes | Yes — anonymous even to the owner | Yes — everything free | Yes | Yes — autofill without an extension | Yes — web/PWA, nothing to install | Yes | Yes — JSON |
| Wishlist (wishlistapp.io) | Partly | Yes | Yes | Partly | Yes | Yes — iOS, Android and web | Partly | — |
| WishApp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Wishes | Yes | Yes | Partly — 3 lists free, $9.99/yr | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| GoWish | Partly | Yes | Yes | No — ad-supported | Yes | Yes | Partly | — |
“—” means we could not confirm it from the app’s own documentation.
How the two compare, criterion by criterion
Against the eight criteria, GiftList falls short on 2 of them. The two apps are level on 5 others.
- No ads
- GiftList: partly. Things To Have: yes.
- Sort & filter
- GiftList: partly. Things To Have: yes.
One column is left blank above — Export your data. GiftList's own documentation does not answer it, and a guess in a comparison table is worse than a blank.
Giving up: GiftList's specific strengths, listed above. If those matter more than the criteria in the table — and for some people they genuinely do — staying is the right call.
Which should you choose?
- You want a free list to send to family who will not sign up: Things To Have.
- You want what GiftList is best at (an AI-assisted "what should I get them" helper alongside a free universal list): stay with GiftList.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to GiftList?
Yes — Things To Have has no paywall and no list limits. GiftList is free too, so cost is not the reason to switch — the rest of the table is.
Do my friends need an account to open the list?
Not on Things To Have — viewing never requires a signup. GiftList also lets people view a list without one. This is the criterion that decides how many people actually see your list.
Can I move my list out of GiftList?
GiftList publishes no export we could confirm, so copy what matters before you stop using it. Either way, a pasted list of links is enough to rebuild it here — importing shows a preview before anything is written, and the way back out is an export in JSON.
Keep comparing
- Best wishlist apps — all of them, ranked against the same eight criteria
- Every comparison — one page per app