A ThingsToGetMe alternative, compared honestly
ThingsToGetMe is a good universal wish list, and plenty of people should stay on it. This page is for the ones weighing it up or moving on: what it does well, where yourwishpage differs, and which of the two suits the list you are about to make.
Peter's Christmas Wishlist 🎄
6 gift ideas ·Christmas ·in 56 days ·1 already reserved
Boss Guitar Pedal
Adidas SL72
Restaurant Voucher
Guitar Strings
Elixir Nanoweb, 10–46 if possible
What a universal wish list is for
A universal wish list is one that no shop owns. A shop’s own list holds what that shop sells; a universal one holds a link from anywhere, or a plain sentence, and the people buying get each thing wherever they like. The example list on this page is the idea in miniature: Peter’s Christmas list has a Boss guitar pedal from Thomann, Adidas SL72 trainers from Zalando, guitar strings, a bottle of Rioja, dinner at his favourite restaurant and a restaurant voucher that Anna has already reserved. No single shop’s list could hold it.
The other half of the idea is the reserve step. Somebody opening the list marks the thing they are getting, everyone after them sees that it is taken, and nothing arrives twice. Every site in this category does some version of that. Where they differ is in what else they do, how they pay for themselves, and what the person whose list it is gets to see.
ThingsToGetMe, at thingstogetme.com, is one of the best-known sites of this kind in Britain and the US, and the obvious comparison for anyone leaving the Amazon wish list for something shop-neutral. Everything below about it comes from its own website at the time of writing, October 2026. Features change, so check anything that matters to you there.
What ThingsToGetMe does well
Worth saying plainly, because a comparison page that finds nothing good on the other side is not worth reading. ThingsToGetMe is free, has been run by the same small family since 2017 by its own account, answers email from the person who writes the code, and does a great deal:
- No sign-up for anyone. Not for guests, and not even for the person making the list, who can start one straight away. Here the list’s owner does sign up once, in exchange for a permanent address.
- A browser button and real apps. Extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari add a product while you browse, and there are iOS and Android apps in the stores.
- The surprise, by default. The owner does not see who has reserved what until they open a section called Reveal, and can switch that section off altogether if they do not trust themselves.
- Money and post. Money funds collect cash towards something large, and a private shipping service lets people send gifts without ever seeing the owner’s address, which matters to charities and to anyone with an online following.
- A long list of extras. Themes, groups for sharing, Secret Santa, events and invitations, printable templates, two people editing one list, and an importer for lists kept somewhere else.
If several of those are why you chose it, the honest advice is to stay. yourwishpage does fewer things, on purpose, and the rest of this page is about which fewer things.
yourwishpage, ThingsToGetMe and a shop’s own list, side by side
Three ways to keep a gift list. The last column stands for the big retailers’ own lists in general; the details vary from shop to shop, and the ThingsToGetMe column is as its site described itself in October 2026.
| yourwishpage | ThingsToGetMe | A shop’s own wish list | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to the list’s owner | Free | Free | Free |
| How it pays for itself | It does not: no ads, no affiliate links, no fees | Some shop links are monetised, its privacy policy says; fees on money funds and private shipping | It sells you the gifts |
| Which shops | Any link, or a typed wish | Any link, or a typed item | Its own range |
| To reserve a gift | A first name, no account | No account | Usually a shop account, to buy |
| What the owner sees | How many are reserved, never which; there is no setting | Nothing until they open Reveal, which can be switched off | Depends on a setting |
| Adding as you shop | Paste a link, the camera button, Android’s Share menu | Browser extensions, iOS and Android apps | A button on its own pages |
| Money | None; group gifts are settled between friends | Money funds, with a fee per contribution | Gift cards |
| Your address | Never asked for; nothing ships through the site | Optional; private shipping in some countries, for a fee the guest pays | Needed for delivery |
For most people the decision sits in two rows: the second, about who earns what when your aunt buys the pedal, and the fifth, about whether the list can ever tell you what is coming.
Hidden by default, or hidden full stop
Both sites keep reservations away from the owner. The difference is that ThingsToGetMe keeps them in a room you can walk into: the Reveal section holds the names, and any message the giver left, ready for the thank-you notes. That is a real convenience. It is also the one door through which an owner adding a last wish in mid-December finds out about the pedal.
Here there is no room. The server strips every reservation out of the owner’s page before it is built, so the information is not hidden in your view; it is never in it. You see "6 wishes · 1 reserved" and nothing about which. Not after the birthday, not in the settings, not by asking us.
The cost is the thank-you list: you find out who gave what by unwrapping it, the way people did before websites. Guests see the opposite of you, every taken wish with a first name next to it, because that is what stops two of them buying the same trainers. The wishlist without signup page sets out what a guest gives and what is stored about them.
Adding from any shop without a browser button
ThingsToGetMe’s browser extension is a good tool, and there is no equivalent here. What there is instead is the add box. Paste a link from any shop and the title, photo and price come across whenever the shop shares them; when it does not, the wish is saved anyway with the link on it, and you type the rest. A wish with no link at all, "a bottle of Rioja" or "dinner at the Italian on the corner", works exactly the same way.
On a phone, the site installs from the browser as a web app, with no app store involved, and brings two things a desktop extension cannot:
- Snap a wish. A camera button under the add box. Photograph the thing in the shop and it is on the list with its photo, named after the day; the name and the price can wait until the bus home.
- Android’s Share menu. Share a product from a shop’s own app, or a page from the browser, to yourwishpage and pick the list. iPhones do not let web apps into that menu, so there it is the camera and the add box.
What yourwishpage leaves out: money, post and commission
ThingsToGetMe stays free partly through the links people click on its lists, and says so openly: its privacy policy explains that some links to buy items are monetised. That is a reasonable trade, plainly disclosed. yourwishpage makes a different one. The links you paste are kept as you pasted them, with no affiliate tag added, there are no ads, and nothing on the site is for sale.
It also handles no money and posts nothing. There are no money funds, so there is no fee on a contribution and no payout to wait for, and there is no shipping service, so your address is never asked for and nobody pays a handling charge to send you a jumper. Gifts reach you the way they always have: in a bag, through the front door.
The problem money funds solve, five people and one expensive present, still gets solved. Put the big wish on the list, one person reserves it, and their first name tells the others whom to talk to; the money moves the way your friends already pay each other back. The group gift page explains how that usually goes.
One page for every list, year after year
On ThingsToGetMe each list has its own link, with a personalised one available on request. Here there is one address, yourwishpage.com/your-name, and every list you make hangs off it. The family bookmarks it once and finds the Christmas list in November and the birthday list in March without you sending anything new.
Lists also know their dates. Give one a date and the page counts down to it, and a birthday list rolls on to the next year by itself, carrying the wishes that did not come true last time.
- Templates. Finished lists of eight wishes, for kids, adults, a family and a Secret Santa, that open as your own list in one tap. Browse the templates.
- Paper and a QR code. Every list prints cleanly without the buttons, and every list has a QR code to download, for the relative who will not open a link.
- A Secret Santa draw. Built in, with no account for anybody taking part: type the names, and the site hands back one private link each.
Moving a list across
There is no importer here, so moving is done by hand, and a list of twenty wishes takes about a quarter of an hour. The order that loses nothing:
- Sign up and choose the address. yourwishpage.com/your-name is the one link you will give everyone from now on, so pick a name the family will recognise.
- Copy the shop links across. Open each item on the old list, copy its shop link and paste it into the add box. Typed items you retype, with the note that went with them: the size, the colour, "any brand".
- Leave the old list up until the day. Anyone who has already reserved something did it there. Send the new link for whatever is still open, and take the old one down afterwards.
- Send the link where the family talks. In a group chat it unfurls into a card with the list’s name and how many wishes are still free, never which.
A move is also a good moment to prune. If half the old list no longer appeals, the guide to what to put on a Christmas list is a quick way to rebuild it with things you still want.
Which one to pick
Stay with ThingsToGetMe, or choose it, if you want to collect money, need your address kept from the people sending you things, live in a browser extension, want an app from the store, or need two people editing one list. It does all of those and yourwishpage does none of them.
Choose yourwishpage if what you want is the plain version done strictly: any shop, guests who type a first name and nothing else, no commission on anybody’s purchase, one page for every occasion, and a surprise that cannot be spoiled because the information is not there to see.
Is ThingsToGetMe free?
Making and sharing a list is free, and its site says it always will be. At the time of writing, money funds carry a transaction fee per contribution, which the giver covers by default, private shipping carries a handling fee paid by the guest, and some links to shops are monetised, as its privacy policy explains.
Is yourwishpage free?
Yes, entirely. There are no ads, no affiliate tags on the links you paste, no paid tier and nothing for sale, and the site handles no money at all.
Do the people buying need an account?
Not on either site. Here a guest opens the link, presses "I’ll get this" on a wish and types a first name. The wishlist without signup page has the detail.
Can I see what has been reserved on my list?
Not here, ever: you see how many wishes are reserved, never which, and no setting changes that. On ThingsToGetMe reservations stay hidden until you open the Reveal section, which you can also switch off.
Is there a browser extension?
No. Paste a link into the add box from any browser, or install the site on your phone as a web app and use the camera button, or the Share menu on Android.
Can I import my list from ThingsToGetMe?
There is no importer. Copy each item’s shop link into the add box and the title, photo and price come across whenever the shop shares them. A list of twenty takes about a quarter of an hour.
Can friends put money towards something big?
Not through the site, which handles no payments. Put the big wish on the list, one person reserves it and the others join them, and the money passes between you directly. The group gift page explains the usual way round it.
What is a universal wish list?
A list that is not tied to one shop. Each wish can be a link from anywhere or a typed sentence, and the people buying reserve what they are getting, so nothing is bought twice.
Does it work in other languages?
Yes. The site is in English, Spanish and German, and visitors get the language their browser asks for. The wishes themselves stay exactly as you wrote them.
