The Best Mac Apps in 2026: 18 Must-Have Apps for Every Mac

A new Mac is great out of the box, but a handful of small apps make it noticeably faster to use every day. These are the best Mac apps we’d install on any Mac: tools that fix real gaps in macOS rather than duplicate what’s already built in. Most are free or a one-time purchase, and every one runs on current macOS.

They’re grouped by what they do, so skip to the category you need.

The best Mac apps at a glance

App	Category	Price model	Best for
Raycast	Launcher	Free, Pro subscription	Replacing Spotlight with an all-in-one command bar
Alfred	Launcher	Free, Powerpack one-time	Fast, private, deeply customizable launching
Rectangle	Window management	Free, open source	Snapping windows with keyboard shortcuts
Magnet	Window management	One-time purchase	A simple, App Store window snapper
AltTab	Window switching	Free, open source (optional Pro)	Windows-style switching with window previews
Maccy	Clipboard	Free, open source	Lightweight, keyboard-first clipboard history
Paste	Clipboard	Subscription	Visual clipboard history synced to iPhone
Obsidian	Notes	Free, optional paid sync	Linked notes stored as plain Markdown files
Bear	Notes	Free, Pro subscription	Beautiful, fast notes on Apple devices
Bartender	Menu bar	One-time, optional Pro yearly	Polished control over menu bar icons
Thaw	Menu bar	Free, open source	Hiding menu bar icons for free
Stats	Menu bar	Free, open source	CPU, memory, network and battery at a glance
The Unarchiver	Utilities	Free	Opening RAR, 7z and other archives
IINA	Utilities	Free, open source	Playing any video file
1Password	Utilities	Subscription	Passwords shared across every platform
CleanShot X	Screenshots & recording	One-time, optional cloud subscription	Screenshots and screen recordings with annotations
DaisyDisk	Storage	One-time purchase	Seeing what’s filling your disk
AppCleaner	Storage	Free	Uninstalling apps along with their leftovers

Launchers and productivity

A launcher replaces Spotlight with something faster and far more capable: open apps, find files, do math, search the web, run scripts, and much more from one keyboard shortcut. If you install only one app from this list, make it one of these two. Our Raycast vs Alfred comparison goes deeper on which one fits you.

Raycast

Best for: An all-in-one command bar · Price: Freemium (Pro subscription) · Website

Raycast opens with a shortcut and does nearly everything: launches apps, searches files, and runs commands from a large store of free extensions for tools like GitHub, Linear, Spotify and Notion. The free plan includes clipboard history, text snippets, window management, quicklinks and a calculator, which means one install replaces three or four separate utilities. Paid plans add Raycast AI, cloud sync, unlimited clipboard history and custom themes.

The current version, Raycast 2, requires macOS Tahoe or later on an Apple silicon Mac.

• Pros: Generous free plan, huge extension store, modern interface
• Cons: AI and sync need a subscription; current version needs Apple silicon and macOS Tahoe

Alfred

Best for: Fast, private launching you can customize deeply · Price: Free, Powerpack is a one-time purchase · Website

Alfred has been the Mac power user’s launcher for over a decade. The free version is a quick app launcher and file search. The Powerpack, a paid license, unlocks clipboard history, snippets, preference sync and Workflows, Alfred’s visual automation system with a big library of community workflows. Everything runs locally, and the app is tiny and fast. Alfred 6 has been announced for this autumn, and Powerpack purchases now include the upgrade.

• Pros: Very light, works offline, one-time price, still supports older Macs
• Cons: Best features locked behind the Powerpack; interface feels more traditional

Window management

Since macOS Sequoia, you can tile windows by dragging them to the edge of the screen or by hovering over a window’s green button and picking a layout. That’s enough for some people. These apps give you more layouts and faster keyboard shortcuts.

Rectangle

Best for: Snapping windows with keyboard shortcuts · Price: Free (open source) · Website

Rectangle moves and resizes windows to halves, thirds, quarters and more with a shortcut, or by dragging a window to a screen edge. It’s free, open source and does exactly what it says. A paid Rectangle Pro adds extras like saved layouts and cursor-based window throwing, but most people never need it. The current version requires macOS Sonoma or later.

• Pros: Free, fast, sensible default shortcuts
• Cons: Settings window is functional rather than pretty

Magnet

Best for: A simple window snapper from the App Store · Price: Paid (one-time purchase) · Website

Magnet does the same core job as Rectangle: drag windows to edges and corners, or use shortcuts to arrange them. It’s sold only through the Mac App Store, which some people prefer for automatic updates and easy installs across Macs.

• Pros: Polished, App Store convenience, supports multiple displays
• Cons: Paid when Rectangle is free and does nearly the same thing

AltTab

Best for: Switching between windows, not just apps · Price: Free (open source), optional Pro · Website

⌘ Command + Tab on a Mac switches between apps, not windows, which gets awkward when you have three browser windows open. AltTab brings Windows-style switching with thumbnail previews of every window. The core app is free and open source; an optional Pro license adds search and extra styles.

• Pros: Shows every window with previews, highly configurable
• Cons: Needs Screen Recording permission for thumbnails

Clipboard managers

A clipboard manager remembers everything you copy so you can paste it again later. macOS Tahoe added basic clipboard history to Spotlight, but it keeps items for a limited time and can’t pin favorites. Our full roundup of the best clipboard managers for Mac compares more options.

Maccy

Best for: Lightweight, keyboard-first clipboard history · Price: Free (open source) · Website

Press ⇧ Shift + ⌘ + C, type a few letters, press Return, and Maccy pastes whatever you copied earlier. It lives in the menu bar, stores everything locally, and lets you pin items you paste often. It’s free from the website and GitHub; the Mac App Store version is paid as a way to support the developer. Requires macOS Sonoma or later.

• Pros: Free, fast, tiny, private
• Cons: No sync between devices; plain interface

Paste

Best for: A visual clipboard that syncs to iPhone and iPad · Price: Subscription · Website

Paste shows your clipboard history as a row of large visual cards, with unlimited history, pinboards for saved snippets, and iCloud sync to iPhone and iPad. It’s the most polished clipboard manager on the Mac, and the price reflects that.

• Pros: Beautiful interface, unlimited history, syncs across Apple devices
• Cons: Subscription only

Notes

Apple Notes is good and free. These two are for people who want Markdown, links between notes, or more control over where notes live.

Obsidian

Best for: Linked notes you fully own · Price: Free, optional paid Sync and Publish · Website

Obsidian stores notes as plain Markdown files in a folder on your Mac, so they’re readable by any app, forever. Link notes together, view them as a graph, and extend it with thousands of community plugins. It’s free for personal and commercial use; Obsidian Sync and Publish are optional subscriptions, and you can sync your vault with iCloud Drive instead.

• Pros: Your files, no lock-in, endlessly extensible
• Cons: Can turn into a hobby; not as polished as native Mac apps

Bear

Best for: Beautiful, fast notes on Apple devices · Price: Free, Pro subscription · Website

Bear is a native Mac, iPhone and iPad notes app with a clean Markdown editor, tags instead of folders, and lovely themes. The free version works fully on one device; Bear Pro adds iCloud sync between devices, more themes and search inside PDFs and images.

• Pros: Gorgeous, fast, feels like a native Apple app
• Cons: Apple devices only; sync needs Pro

Menu bar

Menu bar icons pile up fast, and on a MacBook with a notch some of them simply disappear behind it. macOS Tahoe lets you turn individual app icons off under System Settings › Menu Bar, but it can’t hide icons in a drawer you open on demand. These apps can.

Bartender

Best for: Polished, rules-based control of menu bar icons · Price: Paid (one-time), optional Pro yearly plan · Website

Bartender hides menu bar icons in a secondary bar, shows them when you need them, and can reveal icons automatically based on triggers such as battery level or Wi-Fi changes. It sells a one-time license per major version, plus an optional yearly Pro plan with extra tools and future upgrades. There’s a free trial. Bartender was sold to a new owner in 2024, which drew criticism at the time, so read the current privacy policy if that matters to you.

• Pros: The most capable menu bar manager, actively updated for new macOS releases
• Cons: Paid, and pricing has moved toward paid upgrades and a Pro tier

Thaw

Best for: Hiding menu bar icons for free · Price: Free (open source) · Website

Thaw is an actively maintained, open-source fork of Ice, the popular free Bartender alternative whose development stalled before macOS Tahoe. It hides icons behind a toggle, shows them on hover, click, scroll or a hotkey, and lets you search any menu bar item from the keyboard. Thaw 2 is the stable version for macOS Tahoe, Thaw 1 supports Sonoma and Sequoia, and a Thaw 3 beta is available for macOS 27.

• Pros: Free, no account, active development
• Cons: Younger project, expect the occasional rough edge

Stats

Best for: System monitoring in the menu bar · Price: Free (open source) · Website

Stats puts live CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery and temperature readouts in your menu bar, each as its own small widget. It’s a free, open-source alternative to paid monitors like iStat Menus. On macOS Tahoe, if Stats is running but no icons show up, turn it on under System Settings › Menu Bar.

• Pros: Free, modular, very detailed
• Cons: Too many widgets can add to menu bar clutter

Everyday utilities

The Unarchiver

Best for: Opening archives macOS can’t · Price: Free · Website

macOS opens ZIP files on its own but chokes on RAR, 7z and many older formats. The Unarchiver handles dozens of archive types with a double-click. It’s free from the Mac App Store or the website.

• Pros: Free, handles almost any archive format
• Cons: Extract only; it doesn’t create archives

IINA

Best for: Playing any video file · Price: Free (open source) · Website

QuickTime Player is limited to a short list of formats. IINA plays almost anything (MKV, AVI, WebM and more) with a modern Mac interface, Picture in Picture, trackpad gestures and solid subtitle support. It’s built on the open-source mpv player.

• Pros: Plays everything, native design, free
• Cons: Advanced settings can be overwhelming

1Password

Best for: A password manager that works everywhere · Price: Subscription · Website

Apple’s free Passwords app is a solid choice if you only use Apple devices. 1Password is worth paying for if you also use Windows or Android, share passwords with family or a team, or want features like secure document storage and SSH key management for developers.

• Pros: Works on every platform, excellent browser extensions, family and team sharing
• Cons: Subscription; overkill if Apple Passwords already covers you

Screenshots and screen recording

CleanShot X

Best for: Screenshots and recordings you annotate and share · Price: Paid (one-time), optional cloud subscription · Website

CleanShot X replaces the built-in screenshot tool with one that does everything: scrolling captures, annotations, blur, screen recording with webcam overlay, GIF export and text recognition. A one-time license includes a year of updates; a separate cloud plan adds unlimited hosted sharing links. It’s also included in Setapp.

• Pros: Every screenshot feature in one place, excellent annotation tools
• Cons: No free trial (there’s a money-back guarantee instead)

Happy with what’s built in? Our guide to Mac screenshot shortcuts covers everything macOS can already do, and our best screen recorders for Mac roundup compares recording-focused apps.

Storage and cleanup

DaisyDisk

Best for: Finding what’s filling your disk · Price: Paid (one-time purchase) · Website

DaisyDisk scans your drive and draws it as an interactive ring chart, so the folders using the most space jump out immediately. Drag anything you don’t need to the collector and delete it in one go. There’s a free trial to scan your disk before you buy. See our full list of disk space analyzers for Mac for free alternatives.

• Pros: Fast, clear visuals, one-time price
• Cons: Paid when free analyzers exist

AppCleaner

Best for: Uninstalling apps completely · Price: Free · Website

When you drag an app to the Trash, its settings and caches stay behind. Drop the app onto AppCleaner instead and it finds the related files, lets you review them, and removes everything together. The current version requires macOS Sequoia or later, and older versions are still available for older Macs. Our guide to deleting apps on Mac explains what those leftover files are.

• Pros: Free, simple, shows you exactly what it will delete
• Cons: Review the list before deleting; matches are by name

How we picked

We started from the gaps a fresh macOS install leaves (launching, window control, clipboard history, archives, video formats, storage) and chose apps that fill them well. Every app here:

• Is actively developed and runs on current macOS, with recent updates for macOS Tahoe
• Comes from a developer with a long track record or an active open-source project
• Has an official download source we link to directly
• Is free or has a fair price model, with free and open-source picks wherever they’re genuinely as good

We left out apps that duplicate features macOS now handles well, and we don’t quote exact prices because they change often. Check each developer’s site for current pricing before you buy.