Blog
Roundups comparing the Mac apps worth putting side by side for one job, written for people working out which kind of tool their problem actually needs.
Productivity
OmniFocus alternatives for Mac, and what you are replacing
Most people leaving OmniFocus do not need a smaller task manager, they need something that answers a different question: not what is on the list, but which item on it can actually be started today.
Utilities
Time Machine alternatives for Mac, and what each one is for
People look for a Time Machine alternative for three different reasons - a dead Mac, a folder broken an hour ago, or one file's earlier state - and no single tool answers all three, so the useful question is which layer you are missing.
Utilities
Hazel alternatives for Mac, free and paid
Hazel is the most capable file automation app on the Mac, and most people looking for an alternative do not want less capability - they want a rule they can still read in six months, and a preview before anything moves.
Productivity
The best screen time apps for Mac
Screen time on a Mac is three jobs rather than one: measuring the day in a way you can trust, limiting the things you open by reflex, and breaking the hours themselves before your eyes and back start complaining.
Focus
Freedom alternatives for Mac, without the subscription
Freedom is the right answer when the phone is the problem, but if what breaks your day is one Mac tab opening itself, you are paying a subscription for cross-device sync you never use.
Focus
The best Mac apps for ADHD
There is no ADHD app for a Mac, only ordinary apps that each remove one specific cost: choosing what to work on, starting it, breaking a wall of work into a next step, catching a reflex, and noticing you never stopped.
Focus
Session alternatives for Mac, from free to one-time
A Pomodoro timer is twenty-five minutes and a bell, so before subscribing to one, work out whether you will use the analytics and the reflection prompts that the subscription is really for.
Utilities
Free up disk space on a Mac
The space you can get back on a Mac is not one number but four named piles, and only three of them are worth installing anything for: old installers, duplicate files, and what the apps you deleted left behind.
Health
WaterMinder alternatives for Mac, and where you forget
Hydration apps are built for the wrist, but people who forget to drink usually forget in one specific place - at a desk, in front of a Mac - which is an argument for putting the reminder there instead.
Productivity
On-device AI apps for Mac
On-device AI on a Mac means the model runs on your own silicon rather than in a data center, which buys you privacy and offline use at the cost of the breadth a frontier model gives you.
Focus
The best focus apps for Mac
There is no single best focus app for Mac, because three different problems share the name: not starting needs a timer, drifting mid-session needs a blocker, and never stopping needs a break reminder.
Productivity
Productivity apps for Mac
A Mac productivity app is a tool that reduces the number of decisions you make about your work, and the four here cover the day end to end: the plan, the priority, the pace and the ledger.
Utilities
Mac utility apps worth installing
A Mac utility is a small app that removes one recurring annoyance from your day rather than adding a workflow, and the three here handle distraction, file clutter and forgotten dates.
Focus
The best Pomodoro timer for Mac
The best Pomodoro timer for Mac is the one whose break you actually take: a native menu-bar app that starts in one click, works offline, and makes the pause hard to skip.
Health
Desk health apps for Mac
Desk health apps for Mac interrupt long sitting sessions on a schedule, prompting you to rest your eyes, move, or drink water at intervals you set.
Menu bar
Small Mac menu bar apps worth keeping
A menu bar app earns its slot by removing one recurring decision or chore without ever needing to be opened, which is why the good ones are small, native and quiet.
What ends up here
Roundups. Each one takes a job - blocking a site, seeing where the day went, getting a folder back - and compares the apps that do it, ours and other people's, including the places where somebody else's wins.
Nothing here is sponsored. Where an app of ours is a good answer we say so and link to it, and where it is not, we say that too.
Some of them start from a name rather than a job, because that is how people search: Hazel, Freedom, Session, OmniFocus, WaterMinder and Time Machine each get a page that says what they are good at first.
For one app in full, feature by feature, the handbook has a guide for each of them.