Indie Mac apps worth knowing.

Alcove

Dynamic Island for your Mac

BoltAI

The best AI client for Mac

Boom

Screen recording without editing

Astro

App Store Optimization that actually grows your app

Compresto

Reclaim 50GB+ Without Quality Loss

Granola

The AI Notepad for back-to-back meetings

Hand Mirror

A quick camera check, right from the menu bar

Paste

The Best Clipboard Manager for Mac, iPhone, and iPad

Screen Charm

Screen Recorder for Mac with Automatic Zoom

Klack

Satisfying sound with every keystroke

LookAway

Smart Screen Breaks, Blink & Posture Reminders for Mac

Shottr

Screenshot tool for designers, front-end engineers, and pixel professionals

SlapMac

Slap your MacBook. It screams back

HoldSpeak

Type 3x faster with AI powered voice-to-text

IdleMac

Your Mac Knows When You're Slacking

LocalCan

Local domains and persistent Public URLs

MacWhisper

Quickly transcribe audio files into text on your Mac

One Thing

Run your Mac shortcuts from the menu bar. Cleaner, faster, more customizable way to organize and trigger workflows. From Sindre Sorhus.

Pimosa

Simple Video, Photo & Music Editing Tools in one app

Weballoon

Turn Websites Into Isolated Desktop Apps

Acorn

Full-featured photo editor designed for humans

Splonk

Record vertical and screen videos with your iPhone camera on Mac

Airmail

Lightning fast mail client for Mac

Arq

Backup your files to cloud storage

Alacritty

GPU-accelerated terminal emulator

AppCleaner

Thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps

Bartender

Organize your menu bar icons

Alfred

Productivity app for macOS with powerful workflows

Amethyst

Automatic tiling window manager

BBEdit

Professional text and code editor

Bear

Beautiful, flexible writing app

BetterCapture

A lightweight, and intuitive screen recorder with a native look and feel

BetterTouchTool

Customize input devices on your Mac

Carbon Copy Cloner

Reliable Mac backup and cloning solution

Chronicle

Bill organizer and payment tracker

Cog

Audio player for macOS with broad format support

ColorSlurp

Best color picker and organizer for macOS

Commander One

Dual-pane file manager for macOS

CleanShot X

Capture your Mac's screen like a pro

coconutBattery

Check battery health and status

BucketMate

Native S3 GUI Client for macOS

AI Apps

CC Usage Bar

Switch between multiple Claude Code accounts instantly, without the usual logout ritual or browser detours. See live usage and rate limits, keep credentials secure, stay in flow.

CotEditor

Lightweight plain-text editor

Copilot

Personal finance and budgeting app with automatic transaction syncing

CopyClip

Lightweight clipboard history manager

Commitments

Your tasks in menu bar

DaisyDisk

Analyze disk usage and free up space

DevUtils

All-in-one offline toolbox for developers (42+ tools)

Endurance

Extend your MacBook's battery life

eqMac

System-wide audio equalizer for macOS

ForkLift

Advanced dual-pane file manager and FTP client

DEVONthink

Document and information management

Cryptomator

Multi-platform client-side encryption

Due

Reminders with persistent alerts

EtreCheck

System configuration and diagnostic reporting

Craft

Native document editor with sharing

DisplayBuddy

Control the real brightness of monitors directly from Mac

Divvy

Window management at its finest

Encrypto

Encrypt files with AES-256 encryption

Fantastical

Calendar app with natural language input

Focus

Block distracting websites and applications

Fork

Fast and friendly Git client for Mac

FSNotes

Modern notes manager for macOS

Gifox

Delightful GIF recording and sharing

IINA

Modern video player with native macOS design

GitFox

Git client with a focus on simplicity

HomeBar for Homey Pro

Manage your Homey Pro smart home

IconJar

Icon management tool for designers

ImageOptim

Compress images without losing quality

iTerm2

Terminal emulator for macOS

Hazel

Automated organization for your Mac

GitUp

Git interface you've been missing

HandBrake

Open source video transcoder

iA Writer

Focused writing app with beautiful typography

iStat Menus

Advanced Mac system monitor in your menu bar

Itsycal

Tiny menu bar calendar

Kap

Open-source screen recorder

Keyboard Maestro

Automate applications and websites

Kitty

Fast, feature-rich GPU-based terminal

MacDown

Open source Markdown editor for macOS

MacVim

Vim text editor for macOS

Magnet

Window manager that snaps windows into position

KnockKnock

See what's persistently installed on your Mac

Little Snitch

Monitor camera and microphone access

MailMate

Advanced IMAP email client with keyboard control

Marked 2

Markdown preview and conversion

Mimestream

Native Gmail client for macOS

Muxie

Last.fm scrobbler for Apple Music, Spotify Desktop, iPod Classic, Rockbox devices and some others

MWeb

Pro Markdown writing and note-taking

MenubarX

Browser in your menu bar

Moom

Move and zoom windows with ease

Movist Pro

Powerful movie player for macOS

NameQuick

AI-powered file renaming using GPT, Gemini, or local LLMs

NetNewsWire

RSS reader for macOS

Notational Velocity

Modeless note-taking application

Notebooks

Write, organize, and manage information

Nova

Beautiful native code editor from Panic

nvALT

Fork of Notational Velocity with additional features

Nudge

Free window manager with keyboard shortcuts and drag-to-edge snapping

OmniFocus

Professional-grade task management

Path Finder

Powerful Finder alternative

Paw

Advanced API tool for Mac

PDF Expert

Fast, robust PDF editor

PDFgear

Free PDF editor for macOS

Onyx

Multifunction utility for macOS

Orion

Lightweight WebKit browser with zero telemetry

PDFpenPro

Professional PDF editing for Mac

Permute

Easy-to-use media converter

Pika

Beautiful color picker for macOS

Pixave

Ultimate image organizer and viewer

Pixelmator Pro

Powerful native image editor

Postico

Modern PostgreSQL client for macOS

Proxyman

Native HTTP debugging proxy

Rectangle

Window management with keyboard shortcuts

Raycast

Blazingly fast extendable launcher

Revu

Local-first spaced repetition app with FSRS scheduling, Anki import, and study guides

Roam FM

Roam the world through global radio

RocketSim

Enhance Xcode Simulator productivity

SaneBar

Privacy-first menu bar manager. Hide and organize icons

ScreenFloat

Screenshot utility with floating thumbnails

ScreenKite

Screen recording and video editing with auto zoom effect. 4x faster than Screen Studio

Skim

PDF reader and note-taker

Strongbox

Native KeePass client for macOS

SubEthaEdit

Code, write, and edit with collaborative features

SelfControl

Block distracting websites

Snippety

Advanced snippets manager for macOS and iOS

Swish

Control windows with trackpad gestures

Sip

Collect, organize and share colors

Sketch

Professional digital design for Mac

SourceTree

Free Git client from Atlassian

Speakmac

Offline hotkey dictation for macOS that types into any app using on-device transcription

TablePlus

Modern native database management tool

SF Symbols

Browse and export Apple's SF Symbols

Sleeve

Beautiful now playing display for Apple Music

Soulver

Smart notepad calculator that understands plain English math

SoundSource

Superior sound control for macOS

Subler

Mux and tag MP4 files

Subscription Day

Track your paid subscriptions and analyze spending statistics

Surge

Advanced network toolbox for Mac

TablePro

Native database client for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, Redis, and more

TaskPaper

Plain text to-do lists

TextMate

Powerful text editor for macOS

Things

Award-winning task manager

TickerPad

Real-time crypto prices in your macOS menu bar

Tower

Powerful Git client for Mac

Typora

Minimal Markdown editor and reader

The Archive

Note-taking app for writers and researchers

The Unarchiver

Extract many archive formats

Ulysses

Professional writing environment for Mac

Terminal

Built-in media player for macOS

Tot

Elegant text collection on menu bar

Unclutter

Files, notes, and clipboard manager in one

VLC

Cross-platform multimedia player

WiFi Explorer

Scan, monitor and troubleshoot wireless networks

Usage

System activity monitor for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS

Warp

Rust-based terminal with modern features

Wins

Bring system-level window management features to macOS

Writer

Local-first markdown editor with a Rust backend and native WKWebView

Xnapper

Take beautiful screenshots instantly

xScope

Measure, inspect, and test on-screen graphics

Zen Browser

Privacy-focused, customizable browser built on Firefox

Google Chrome

A more simple, secure, and faster web browser than ever, with Google’s smarts built-in

Helium

The Chromium-based web browser made for people, with love. Best privacy by default, unbiased ad-blocking, no bloat and no noise

Visual Studio Code

A code editor redefined and optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications

MacPorts

An open-source community initiative to design an easy-to-use system for compiling, installing, and upgrading either command-line, X11 or Aqua based open-source software

RustDesk

A remote desktop software, the open source TeamViewer alternative, works out of the box, no configuration required

DockDoor

Effortless Alt+Tab switching and dock previews that respect your privacy

Numi

Beautiful calculator app for macOS. It allows you to describe tasks naturally and instantly get an accurate answer. For example, `$20 in euro - 5% discount` or `today + 2 weeks`

tldr-pages

A collection of community-maintained help pages for command-line tools, that aims to be a simpler, more approachable complement to traditional [man pages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_page)

Microsoft Edge

A fast and secure browser with world class performance, built-in privacy, and more

Inkscape

Vector graphics editor

AltTab

AltTab brings the power of Windows alt-tab to macOS

SlimHUD

Replacement for MacOS’ HUDs

Transnomino

A batch rename utility for the Mac

Brave Browser

Web browser focusing on privacy

Firefox

Faster page loading, less memory usage and packed with features, the new Firefox for Mac

Zed

Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter

MOS

A lightweight tool used to smooth scrolling and set scroll direction independently for your mouse on MacOS

Tor Browser

Defend yourself against tracking and surveillance. Circumvent censorship

GIMP

An acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program

Krita

Free and open-source painting and sketching program

Homebrew

The Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux)

KeepingYouAwake

Prevents your Mac from going to sleep

Maccy

Lightweight clipboard manager for macOS

Tempbox

Instant disposable emails for Mac powered by _Mail.tm_

Transmission

Transmission is a fast, easy, and free BitTorrent client

Lid Keeper

Open-source menu bar utility that keeps long downloads, builds, and local jobs running when a MacBook lid closes.

WaveXML

WaveXML auto-syncs Zoom / Sound Devices dual-system audio to camera footage via an XML round-trip for DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro. Free Mac and Windows beta — full app, no clip or feature limits. Local processing; no plugin; no upload.

Communication & Meetings

Tellie

Tellie keeps your script beside the camera, follows the actual words you say on-device, and stays invisible in screen shares and recordings. Stagehand tracks the points you still need to make, even when you ad-lib.

Tuck

Tuck is a native macOS menu bar manager for keeping a crowded menu bar under control. Hide and organize icons, reveal hidden items with Shelf Mode on notched MacBooks, and create app-based visibility rules. Tuck runs locally with zero telemetry, includes a free version, and offers Pro as a one-time purchase.