Best Mac apps in 2027: prices and requirements

This is the table that really decides for you. As of 15 November 2026, this is what each one asks for:

The reading is clear: the two that have tightened the most are Raycast, which now asks for macOS Tahoe and Apple Silicon, and Make Mac Better, which asks for macOS 15 and Apple Silicon. The rest still leave room. If your Mac is an Intel on macOS 13 or 14, you still have a very decent list.

One warning before you update in 2027: when the next macOS arrives, expect several of these to raise their minimum again. Check the requirements before you pay, not after.

Same apps, other question: what does this cost over twelve months.

I deliberately do not add up a final figure: some are in euros and others in dollars, and the exchange rate and taxes move it around. But do the sum yourself before January. A Notion Plus and a Raycast Pro, both paid monthly, are already more than €200 a year, and both have free plans that are usually enough for one person.

You are not out of the game. This works today:

• Rectangle for windows, free, from macOS 14.
• LocalSend for moving files over the local network, free.
• Obsidian for notes, free for personal use.
• Notion, from macOS 13.
• CleanShot X for screenshots, from macOS 13, and Shottr from macOS 12.
• Neto for money, if your Mac reaches macOS 15.
• IINA as a video player: it needs macOS 12, and macOS 11 on Intel Macs.

What you will not be able to use is Raycast in its current version, or Make Mac Better. In Raycast's case its site offers a version 1 for Macs that do not qualify; for Make Mac Better there is no Intel alternative.

It is the healthiest trend of the past two years: there are more and more good apps you buy once. If you want a complete Mac without paying every month:

• Windows: Rectangle, free.
• Files between devices: LocalSend, free.
• Video: IINA, free.
• Notes: Obsidian, free for personal use, and without subscribing to Sync you can still sync through iCloud Drive or whatever you already use.
• Screenshots: Shottr for $12 once, or CleanShot X Basic for $35.
• Several utilities in one: Make Mac Better for €19.99 once.

That gives you a sorted Mac for less than a single month of several subscriptions together. The honest exception is mine: Neto Pro is a subscription, although the app is free and the free plan is genuinely usable.

Notion. The place where shared things live: documents, tasks, databases and the context of a project. The free plan is enough for one person, with files up to 5 MB and 7 days of history. Plus costs €9.50 per member a month.

Obsidian. Notes as Markdown files inside a folder of yours, linked to each other, with no account. Free for personal use. Sync and Publish are optional, and the commercial licence is $50 per user a year.

Raycast. The launcher that replaces Spotlight and ends up being the centre of your keyboard: searching, calculating, clipboard history, text snippets, windows. The free plan already brings all of that. The current version requires macOS Tahoe and Apple Silicon.

Rectangle. Windows on half the screen, in quarters or full with a shortcut. Free, open source, from macOS 14. Rectangle Pro is a separate paid product with a 10-day trial.

CleanShot X. Screenshots with annotations and scrolling capture, a clean desktop, screen recording with automatic zoom and links to share. Basic for $35 one-time with a year of updates. From macOS 13.

LocalSend. Files between macOS, Windows, Linux, Android and iOS over your home wifi, with no account and no cloud. Free, under the Apache 2.0 licence. If the devices cannot see each other, check the firewall and that they are on the same network.

Neto. My app. Spending, savings, investments and debts in a single number, your net worth, without connecting your bank: you log transactions yourself in two taps, and anything with a market price brings it in (crypto, stocks and ETFs by ticker, funds by ISIN). Since this year there is a native Mac app, built in SwiftUI, with the same features as the iPhone one and an interface made for a big screen, not the phone app stretched out. It needs macOS 15. It is free, with Pro at €1.99 a month or €49.99 a year and a three-day trial, and because it is a universal purchase, if you already pay on the iPhone the Mac is included. More detail in net worth and in expense tracker.

Make Mac Better. My friend's, and that is why it goes last. It bundles into one purchase what usually takes six apps: arranging and tiling windows, a second Dock with widgets, captures with an editor, recording, the notch, keeping the Mac awake, sorting files and 44 PDF, image and video tools, plus moving photos off your phone by reading a QR code. €19.99 one-time for one active Mac, with a five-day refund window, and it asks for macOS 15 with Apple Silicon. They have their own list, best Mac apps in 2027, which Neto is on too.

Three things I keep seeing on other people's Macs:

1. 1. Subscriptions you use once a month. If you have not opened it in thirty days, cancel it: almost all of them let you come back.
2. 2. Two apps that do the same thing. The classic is Rectangle plus another window app, or two screenshot tools. Keep one and free up the shortcuts.
3. 3. The expense app that asks for your bank login. If you do not want to hand over access to your account, there are options that never ask. Mine is one, and the full list is in tracking expenses without bank sync.