My Best Free Mac Apps in 2026
Nothing to buy. Nothing that expires.
My Medium friends can read this over on Medium.
"Free" gets diluted fast in app stores. A 14-day trial. A feature locked behind a $9.99 unlock. A storage cap that fills up right when the app becomes useful.
These aren't that. Every app below costs nothing, for what most people need it to do.
Apple Notes
Free because it's already on your Mac. No install, no App Store click, no account beyond the one you already have.
I use it every day, for drafts, checklists, scanned receipts, quick links. It syncs to iPhone and iPad without a setting to find. I went deep on why it beats Notion and Obsidian for me in a separate piece.
Homebrew
Not an app. The thing that installs the free apps.
Homebrew is a free package manager, one line in the terminal, and suddenly the Mac App Store stops being the only way onto your Mac. Half the apps on this list, I got through it.
I wrote about why I stopped using the Mac App Store for that reason. Once Homebrew is in, everything else gets easier to install and easier to update.
Maccy
A clipboard manager. Copy five things, paste any of them later, not just the last one.
Small feature. Changes how you work more than it should. Free and open source, and this is where I send people*.
Rectangle
Window snapping without paying for it. Drag to a screen edge, or use a shortcut, and the window fills half the screen, a corner, or the whole thing.
I've read good things about it for years. Never installed it myself, my windows stay messy on purpose. But for anyone who works across multiple windows all day, it's a real upgrade for zero dollars.
Amphetamine
Keeps your Mac awake. That's it. No screensaver kicking in mid-presentation, no sleep killing a long download or export.
One menu bar icon, one free download. I've seen it recommended everywhere I look for this kind of utility.
Downsides
Free comes with its own cost, just not in dollars.
Small open source apps like Maccy, Rectangle, and Amphetamine live or die on one or two developers staying interested. No company backing means no guaranteed roadmap, no support line, no promise it still works after the next macOS update.
And a few of these ask for donations, tips, or a paid version with extras. Fair. Someone still has to maintain the thing.
The Bottom Line
None of these apps try to upsell you into anything. That's rare now.
Start with Apple Notes and Homebrew. Add Maccy if you copy and paste all day. The rest depends on how you use your Mac.
*this is an affiliate link, I may earn a commission.