A curated list of MacOS apps.
- All of the apps mentioned here are free, unless explicitly stated.
- Prices are for Ireland (usually include 23% VAT), which differs for other countries.
- Some prices are given in different currencies, as they did not provide local pricing.
- Some apps have been tested and very subjectively assessed by me - these will link to pages in this repo.
- Other apps - not tested & described - are marked as 🔗 (external links).
This is more for me than anyone else, and is not meant as a detractor or critique of an app, but rather that I (for whatever reason) like it more or less:
- ★★★★★ - An exceptional app. Get it at once and cherish it.
- ★★★★ - A very good app. top of the class.
- ★★★ - Decent app. Does the job.
- ★★ - Crappy app, not worth looking at it.
- ★ - Absolutely dreadful app. I wish I hadn't seen it.
Related list: awesome-ios
- Raycast AI ★★★★ 🔗 - AI toolset provided as part of the Raycast Pro + Advanced AI subscription. For a single monthly sub you get all top models + prompts + scenarios + the new @ask-ai feature (Subscription: ~$10 pro + ~$10 advanced AI).
- ChatGPT ★★★★ 🔗 - OpenAI's own app. Excellent UX and great feature set for a monthly sub of ~$20.
- BoltAI ★★★ 🔗 - bring-your-own-api-key. Lots of features, "evolving" UX ;-).
- SUBgpt ★★★ 🔗 - bring-your-own-api-key. Lots of features, "evolving" UX ;-).
- IINA ★★★★★ 🔗 - The ultimate video player for mac.
- Permute ★★★★★ 🔗 - Best video/audio/image converter (Paid: $15)
- Meta ★★★★ 🔗 - pretty looking mp3 tag editor. (Paid: $20)
- PDF Squeezer ★★★★ 🔗 - Best PDF compressor (Paid: €20)
- Downie ★★★ 🔗 - A youtube downloader. Comes with browser extensions. Used to be great, but recently doesn't work that well and downloads are much slower than via ytdl (Paid €19)
- HandBrake ★★★ 🔗 - Converts videos from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.
- Infuse ★★★ 🔗 - a nice mmedia player from a variety of sources (local, network, plex). (Subscription: $10/y or Lifetime: $95)
- MakeMKV ★★★ 🔗 - Converts videos to mkv.
- Reflex ★★★ 🔗 - ensures that media keys hit the right app (stop YT taking over).
- Swinsian ★★★ 🔗 - A great music player for local libraries (Paid: $25)
- Tagger ★★★ 🔗 - mp3 tags editor.
- Yomu ★★★ 🔗 - An independent reader for book lovers (Paid: €7).
- Anybox ★★★★ - Great bookmark manager. (Free option, with paid pro sub: $15/y, or Lifetime: $40)
- GoodLinks ★★★ - Quite good for the purpose (Paid: $5)
- Pile ★ - free option, (Full version: €48)
- Telik ★★★ 🔗 - track YT channels for new videos.
- Arc ★★★★★ 🔗 - Tabs in the sidebar. Nice organisation and usability. Command palette for everything. Amazing UX.
- Velja ★★★★★ 🔗 - Browser picker with lots of cool built-in.
- Firefox ★★★ 🔗 - secure & configurable web browser. Used to be great, but not anymore.
- Choosy ★★★ 🔗 - Opens every link in the right browser (Paid: $10).
- SigmaOS ★★ 🔗 - Tabs in the sidebar. Like Arc but worse. Cannot even change the wallpaper.
- Zen ★★★ 🔗 - Firefox reskined to look like Arc. Better than sigmaOS, but still far to go to be usable.
- CleanShot X ★★★★★ 🔗 - Best screenshot/video recording app for mac! (Paid: $29)
- ColorSlurp ★★★★★ 🔗 - best color picker for mac! (Freemium, Pro €8)
- PixelSnap2 ★★★★★ 🔗 - measure stuff on screen, draw guides, etc. ($40)
- Sketch ★★★★★ 🔗 - a design tool with amazing UX (Subscription: $120/yr)
- Iconology ★★ 🔗 - icon maker
- iConvert Icons ★★★ 🔗 - A darag&drop image converter (Paid: $10)
- ImageOptim ★★★ 🔗 - Best image compressor
- Image2icon ★★★ 🔗 - Easy, drag&drop icon creation (Free/Paid: $9.99).
- Mizframa ★★★ 🔗 - Beautiful mockup generator (puts screenshots in devices) (Lifetime €23).
- xScope ★★★ 🔗 - does measuring, color picking & other designy things (Paid: $50)
- Vectornator ★★★ 🔗 - Vector graphics editor. Different but free!
- Webfont ★★★ 🔗 - turn svgs to iconfonts. Limited free version (Subscription: $10/y)
- Bruno ★★★★ 🔗 - Bruno is a Git-integrated, fully offline, and open-source API client OpenSource with premium paid features.
- iTerm2 ★★★★★ 🔗 - Customizable terminal emulator.
- Nimble Commander ★★★★ 🔗 - Best dual-panel file manager.
- VSCode ★★★★★ 🔗 - Code editor. Best in class.
- Aurora ★ - opensource IDE built by the community, for the community.
- DBngin ★★★ 🔗 - All-in-one database version management.
- CotEditor ★★★ 🔗 - similar to Notepad++ for Windows.
- CodeEdit ★ 🔗 - opensource IDE, early alpha version, which shows. Very few things work and froze on a larger repo. Probably more targeted towards desktop/mobile rather than web devs.
- Cork ★★★★ 🔗 - A paid UI for homebrew. But well worth it. (Paid €25).
- Dash ★★★ 🔗 - instant offline access to 200+ API documentation sets (you can even backup stack-overflow!) (Paid: €33).
- Forklift ★★ 🔗 - 2 panel file browser (Paid: $29.95)
- Ghostty ★★★ 🔗 - Terminal emulator. Generally great, but has no search!
- Insomnia Core ★★★ 🔗 - REST API tester. Electron & slow. Used to be good, now barely usable.
- Kaleidoscope ★★ 🔗 - file & folder diff viewer, very easy to use & setup and very expensive (Sub €100/y).
- Laravel Herd ★★★ 🔗 - One click PHP development environment. Zero dependencies (basic version is free, pro is $100/yr).
- Marta ★★★ 🔗 - 2-panel file browser with command palette
- Patterns ★★★ 🔗 - Regex tester (Paid: $3)
- RapidAPI (formerly: Paw) ★★★ 🔗 - API & HTTP client, now free!
- RegExp.app ★★★ 🔗 - regex tester for JS, Python, Go, Swift & Rust
- Sequel Ace ★★★ 🔗 - a nice MySQL/SQLite DB manager for mac.
- SQLiteStudio ★★★ 🔗 - SQLite DB manager
- TablePlus ★★★ 🔗 - DB manager for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Redis, etc. (Limited free version and paid options from $90/1 Mac).
- Warp ★★★ - The terminal for the 21st century. Free for now. Bloated with crap & stuffed with unnecessary AI.
- Zed ★★★ 🔗 - next-generation code editor designed for high-performance collaboration with humans and AI. OpenSource and super fast, slowly becoming good enough to use for work.
- Spark ★★★★ - free with limited options and branded signature. Not perfect, but there's no competition for non-gmail clients. Paid premium option (Subscription: €70/y).
- Airmail ★★★ - decent app, native and fast (Subscription: €35/y)
- Canary Mail ★★ - crappy email client with some free option and paid pro feature ($20/y)
- Edison Mail ★★
- MailMate ★★★ - (Paid: €60)
- FMail ★★★ 🔗 - unofficial desktop app for FastMail. Now deprecated in favour of the new version, which is not as good (does not show in menubar, only in the dock).
- TempBox ★★★ - opensource temp email app.
- Swift Mail ★★★ - The only email client that uses FastMail's JMAP. Free for now (it's in beta) but no updates since 2022, so it's probably dead.
- LinearMouse ★★★ 🔗 - mouse and trackpad customizer (also works wil magic mouse).
- BetterMouse 🔗 - External mouse customizer (speed, smoothness, etc). Haven't tried that, but looks great (Paid: $8).
- BetterTouchTool 🔗 - mouse gestures, keyboard shortcuts, etc. (Standard: €12.30, Lifetime: €27.33)
- SteerMouse ★★★ 🔗 - External mouse customizer (Paid: $20).
- Smooze ★★★ 🔗 - External mouse customizer (speed, smoothness, etc) (Paid: $25).
- Craft ★★★★★ - note taking and organizing app (Subscription: $60/year, with a decent free option).
- Mela ★★★★ 🔗 - simple, elegant and modern recipe manager (Paid: $10 mac, $5 ios).
- Ulysses ★★★★★ - amazing writing app, with grammar check (Subscription: $50/year).
- Bear ★★★ - note taking app based on markdown and tags. (Subscription: $30/year).
- Drafts ★★ - note taking (Subscription: €21/year).
- Evernote ★★ 🔗 - simple note taking app that just works. OK-ish UX and ubiquitous support (Subscription: $160/y).
- FirstDraftPro ★★★ - writing app (Subscription: $84/year).
- GoodNotes ★ - note taking (Paid: $9).
- Mellel ★ - word processor (Paid: €50).
- Notebooks ★ - note taking (Paid: €48).
- Notion ★★★ 🔗 - feature-rich information management solution. Quite powerful, however, it does add a lot of "friction" to every simple thing (generous free tier, or subscription: $96/y).
- Supernotes ★★ - note taking (Paid: €82).
- UpNote ★★★ 🔗 - feature rich note taking app. Has it all: folders, tags, and tables. Not sure why, but somehow the UX is not quite there for me (Subscription: $1/m or Lifetime: $30)
- Workflowy ★ - probably an outlining app (Subscription: $50/year).
- ApolloOne 🔗 - (Subscription: €12/y)
- LilyView ★ - (Paid: $10).
- Lyn ★★ - (Paid: $26).
- Pixea ★ - free, (Paid "Plus" version €6).
- qView ★ - open source.
- Alfred ★★★★ 🔗 - Excellent Spotlight replacement. Basic version is free, but only with the "Powerpack" it reaches its full potential (Powerpack cost: £29)
- Raycast ★★★★★ 🔗 - spotlight alternative. Has lots of features out-of-the-box. Hundreds of plugins in the store. Beautiful and fast. Free for personal use.
- Parcel ★★★★ 🔗 - Tracks deliveries and can automatically fetch amazon orders! (Subscription ~€5/yr)
- aText ★ 🔗 - text expander. v2 was good. v3 is an unusable abomination of an app! (Paid: $5/y or $30 lifetime).
- ControlPlane ★★ 🔗 - context automation (abandonware).
- FiScript ★★★ 🔗 - add options to context menu.
- Gestimer ★★★ 🔗 - for quick reminders. v2 not as good as v1. (Paid: $10)
- Glide - Glide is a focus pointer which dims parts of your screen for better focus and reading experience (Paid: $7).
- Homerow ★★★ 🔗 - navigate everything on screen with the keyboard (free for now, later paid: ~$30-40)
- JustFocus ★★★ 🔗 - A simple and free pomodoro app, that shows full-screen notifications.
- Klokki Slim ★★★ 🔗 - nice & simple time tracking app.
- OpenIn ★★★ 🔗 - Handle opening urls & files in different browsers (allows for rules or even javascripts) (Paid: $10)
- OpenInTerminal ★★★ 🔗 - Finder toolbar and menubar app for MacOS to open the current directory in Terminal, iTerm, VSCode and others.
- OwlOCR ★★★ 🔗 - OCR anything (Core version is free, Pro costs $8.99).
- PDFgear ★★★ 🔗 - although with a decade old UI, it's a decent app for pdf annotation, and can make filling non-interactive forms a breeze. And it's free!
- Shiori ★★★ 🔗 - pinboard client for mac (like Spotlight for pinboard).
- 1password ★★★★★ 🔗 - The ultimate password manager for apple ecosystem! (Subscription ~€36/yr)
- Adguard ★★★★ 🔗 - System-wide ad-blocker. It's expensive ($65) but occasionally gets discounted (even down to $14).
- Bitwarden ★★★ 🔗 - Self-hostable, open source password manager with free apps for mobile & desktop.
- Enpass ★★★ 🔗 - a nice password manager with 2e2 encryption and custom storage (dropbox, icloud, google drive, etc). (Subscription: €22/y or lifetime: €93)
- Reeder Classic ★★★★★ 🔗 - The best RSS reader for Apple devices (Paid: $10).
- Readwise Reader ★★★★ 🔗 - aims to become a total reader (pdf, books, news, rss, newsletters, youtube). Some great features, some nice AI integration. (Subscription: $96/y)
- Reeder ★★★ 🔗 - A decent replacement for the classic version, but not as good (Sub: $10/y).
- HackIt ★★★ 🔗 - native hacker news app for mac.
- Muzzle ★★★ 🔗 - Automatically turn on Do Not Disturb when screen sharing.
- Session ★★★ 🔗 - Even more private Signal clone.
- Signal ★★★ 🔗 - Private Open Source messenger (with audio & video).
- Telegram ★★★ 🔗 - Private messenger with great UX (only Secret Chats are encrypted).
- freezingcam ★★★ 🔗 - fakes poor connection 😉.
- AppCleaner ★★★★ 🔗 - Cleans-up after you uninstall another app.
- Bartender ★★★ 🔗 - Hide icons in menubar (Paid: $15 + local taxes).
- Daisy Disk ★★★★ 🔗 - Disk usage viewer/manager (Paid: €11)
- Dato ★★★★ 🔗 - Menubar Clock with calendar integration (Paid: $4.99)
- DropOver ★★★★ 🔗 - drag&drop helper (Paid: €4)
- Lunar ★★★★ 🔗 - set external monitors brightness (hardware or software) (Paid: €20)
- ActiveDock2 ★★★ 🔗 - Replaces MacOS with a different dock. Doesn't look that well, functions worse, and cannot even hide the native dock, so... there's really no point in using this app (unless as a second dock on a different edge maybe?). (Paid: €24.10/y or Lifetime: €57.85)
- Amphetemine ★★★ 🔗 - Prevent mac from going to sleep.
- CommandQ ★★★ 🔗 - when you accidentally quit apps (Paid: $13)
- Forecast Bar ★★★ 🔗 - a menubar weather app (Subscription ~€10.50 a year)
- iperf ★★★★ 🔗 - network performance/throughput measure tool.
- Latest ★★★ 🔗 - update apps - nicer UI than MacUpdater, but doesn't support many apps (that MacUpdater does), and doesn't run in background.
- LaunchControl ★★★ 🔗 - GUI for launchd (Paid: €28.05).
- LingonX ★★★ 🔗 - GUI for launchd (Paid: €23).
- MacUpdater ★★★ 🔗 - Keep all applications up to date (Paid: $15).
- PasteBot ★★★ 🔗 - best clipboard manager (Paid: $13)
- Pearcleaner ★★★ 🔗 - AppCleaner alternative. Quite good and has CLI.
- PopClip ★★★ 🔗 - popover on selected text (like on iOS but better) (Paid: $19)
- ProcessSpy ★★★ 🔗 - shows all processes and the actually useful details (like command) (Paid: $7)
- ScreenFocus ★★★ 🔗 - dim other monitors when not needed (Paid: $8)
- SDCardFormatter ★★★ 🔗 - does the job.
- Shortcut Detective ★★★ 🔗 - detects which app receives a keyboard shortcut (hotkey)
- ShortcutDetective ★★★ 🔗 - detects which app receives a keyboard shortcut.
- Sidebar.app ★★ 🔗 - replace dock with ugly windows-like taskbar (Paid: €20)
- Sloth ★★★ 🔗 - displays all open files and sockets in use by all running processes.
- Soulver (with Alfred integration) ★★★ 🔗 - to calculate anything (like numi but better) (Paid: ~$37)
- Transnomino ★★★★ 🔗 - the best file renamer tool for mac.
- WiFi Explorer Lite ★★★ 🔗 - excellent WiFi scanner/analyser (Paid: $2)
- xsearch ★★★ 🔗 - allows to set custom search providers in safari (Paid: €3.50).
- Fantastical ★★★★★ 🔗 - probably the best calendar app for mac (Subscription €70/yr)
- Things ★★★★★ - Best task manager ($50 for Mac + $10 for iPhone).
- Linear ★★★★★ 🔗 - a beautiful project manager for teams and solo devs (very limited free tier, Standard is $8/month/user). Can be 2-way synced with GitHub issues.
- Agenda ★★★ 🔗 - neither a good note app, nor a good calendar (Paid: €42).
- Busycal ★★★ 🔗 - seems to be feature rich, almost in par with fantastical, but keeps crashing & freezing and doesn't work as well (Paid: $50)
- Calendar 366 II ★★★ 🔗 - good looking but not as feature rich as fantastical (Paid: $15)
- DayOne ★★★ 🔗 - Good diary/journal app (Basic free, or premium subscription: $36/yr)
- Diarly ★★★★ 🔗 - Excellent diary/journal app (Basic free, or premium subscription: €23/yr)
- Morgen ★★★ 🔗 - Nice UI with a command-palette. Integrates with tasks and allows to move them to calendar. (Very limited free option. Sub: $9/m).
- Noteplan ★★★ - Creates calendar events & tasks from markdown notes(Subscription: €117/y).
- Sorted ★★★ - (Paid: Pro $25 mac + $15 ios).
- Structured ★★★★ 🔗 - Quite a good daily planner. Shows a timeline of your day with a great UX. (Yearly: €10, Lifetime: €35).
- Todoist ★★★★ - (Subscription: Pro €36-€48/y).
- Moom ★★★★ 🔗 - one of the best. custom grid sizes & lots of useful options (Paid $15).
- Swish ★★★★ 🔗 - brilliant gestures to throw windows left & right. Nicely supplements other window managers (Paid €12).
| App | Description | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bettersnaptool 🔗 | allows to create custom snap areas | ★★★ | $3 |
| DisplayMaid 🔗 | Stay app alternative (keeps app windows where they're set) | ★★★ | $7.40 |
| Divvy 🔗 | odd UX, but not the worst app | ★★ | $14 |
| Grid 🔗 | has gestures but only default list of positions. similar to swish | ★★★ | €3.77 |
| Lasso 🔗 | Another window manager. Nice idea but interaction is cumbersome and moving a window takes too long. | ★★ | €10 |
| LayoutSwitcher 🔗 | Beta, buggy & slow. Keyboard centric, and a cool idea, just needs some love (and customization). | ★★ | €1+ |
| Magnet 🔗 | poor feature set. | ★★ | $8 |
| Mosaic 🔗 | good, but too complex. can show a bar with preset layouts, dragging windows on them will reposition | ★★★ | £10-25 |
| Phoenix 🔗 | A cool open-source DIY window manager. Configurable & programmable with javascript. | ★★★ | - |
| Rectangle 🔗 | quite good, but only default positions. | ★★ | - |
| RectanglePro 🔗 | very good, lots of options and customizations. full control over positions & sizes. | ★★★★ | $10 |
| Stay 🔗 | ensures that your windows are where you want them, even as you connect and disconnect displays | ★★★ | $12.90 |
| Yabai 🔗 | a different idea. extremely convoluted setup, aimed more towards devs | ★★ | - |
| Window-collage 🔗 | cannot remove default positions! | ★★ | - |
| Wins 🔗 | arrange window with a panel | ★★ | $14 |
- Contexts ★★★★ 🔗 - cmd+tab replacement that shows windows not apps. very flexible and functional. Absolutely best when it comes to stability and performance. But not actively developed. (Paid $10).
| App | Description | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| AltTab 🔗 | Window switcher with previews. Looks better with every release, but not without issues and crashes | ★★★★ | - |
| Command-Tab Plus 🔗 | Cmd+tab replacement. shows apps only. good looking but limited in functionality. | ★★ | €15.50 |
| DocFlipper 🔗 | Nice Cmd+Tab switcher with bookmarks. Cool idea, but UX not there. Lots of friction. | ★★★ | $20 |
| Homerow 🔗 | navigate mac UI with keyboard | ★★ | $40/y |
| rcmd 🔗 | press right cmd + letter to switch to a specific app | ★★ | €7 |
| SnapHotkey 🔗 | map any hotkey to any app; left/right modifier distinction, toggle show/hide, multi-window cycling | ★★★ | $9.99 |
| SuperTab 🔗 | cmd+tab replacer with more stuff | ★ | $10 |
| Witch 🔗 | another app/window switcher | ★★ | €16.49 |
| Wooshy 🔗 | navigate mac UI with keyboard | ★★ | $4/m |
- VictorMono 🔗 - ligatures, fantastic coursive.
- FiraCode 🔗 - ligatures.
- And their patched versions from Nerd Fonts 🔗 (fonts with added icon glyphs).
- Peek 🔗 - to quicklook code files (Paid: $3).
- FolderPreview 🔗 - to preview folder contents.
- Archive.today 🔗 - access internet-archived version of the current site with a button (Paid €2).
- Keys 🔗 - lets users keyboard-navigate the web by dynamically generating and rendering shortcut keys in the least ugly/confusing way possible.
- Noir 🔗 - make all websites dark. Has custom schedule and can ignore sites that already have dark mode. Available also for iOS 🔗 (Mac $3, iOS $3).
- SponsorBlock 🔗 - skips sponsored segments in YouTube videos (Paid for Safari: $4).
- StopTheMadness 🔗 - stops websites from making your browser harder to use
- SuperCopy 🔗 - copy URL of the current tab with
⌘+⇧+C - UnTrap 🔗 - Customize youtube (remove sidebar, toolbar sections, etc.) (Paid for Safari: $2).
- UserScripts 🔗 - allows to inject custom script to sites (like temper monkey, et al.), e.g. to get Youtube dislike button back.
- Apache Conf 🔗 - config file syntax support.
- DotENV 🔗 -
.envsyntax highlighting. - EditorConfig for VS Code 🔗 - plugin for editorconfig.
- Error Lens 🔗 – show errors better.
- ESLint 🔗 – js/ts syntax validator.
- GithubCopilot 🔗 - AI coding helper.
- HTML CSS Support 🔗 - CSS Intellisense for HTML.
- Markdown All in One 🔗 - keyboard shortcuts, table of contents, auto preview and more.
- Multiple cursor case preserve 🔗 - Preserves case of the selected words, when editing multiple words at once.
- npm Intellisense 🔗 - autocompletes npm modules in import statements.
- Open Folder Context Menus for VS Code 🔗 - adds two new context menus to the Explorer: "Open New Workbench Here" and "Reopen Workbench Here".
- Open in Finder 🔗 - opens the current file or project in Finder.
- Open in GitHub, Bitbucket, Gitlab, VisualStudio.com 🔗 - adds context menu option to jump to a source code line in Github, etc.
- Path Intellisense 🔗 - autocompletes filenames.
- perfect-dark 🔗 - absolutely best dark theme for VSCode.
- PHP Intelephense 🔗 - better PHP support (has an annoying "buy pro" popup with every update).
- Stylelint 🔗 - CSS, Less & Sass Linter support.
- Subtle Match Brackets 🔗 - Underlined matching brackets without covering the code (like the native does).
- Svelte for VS Code 🔗 - syntax highlighting and rich intellisense for Svelte components.
- SVG 🔗 - SVG Language Support Extension. Can preview SVG images.
- Version Lens 🔗 - shows package version information e.g. in
package.jsonfiles. - VSCode Great Icons 🔗 - best icons for VSCode.
- MacMenuBar.com 🔗 - A directory of 500+ Mac menu bar apps.