free alternatives to paid Mac apps
hop.tools does the job of several paid utilities. these pages compare them honestly — including where the paid one is better and where you would be giving something up. no page here claims hop.tools wins on everything, because it doesn't.
- TextSniper vs. hop$7.99–11.99, one-timethe same text recognition, for nothing — and seventeen other tools with it.
- iStat Menus vs. hop$11.99 one-timeload, temperatures and battery health without the licence.
- Paste vs. hop$2.49–3.99/mo, $29.99/yr, $89.99 oncehistory that reaches past the window Spotlight gives you, for nothing.
- Magnet vs. hop$4.99 one-timewindow snapping that comes with seventeen other tools.
- CleanMyMac vs. hopfrom ~$40/yrremove an app and its leftovers — without the maintenance theatre.
- Raycast vs. hopfree + Pro $10/mo or $96/yrthe clipboard and window layouts you open it for, in the menu bar instead.
- Brow vs. hopfree + Pro $4.99/moforty free tools against eighteen, and only one of the two publishes its source.
- Setapp vs. hopfrom $14.99/morenting a catalogue of 250 apps, or installing one free app.
- Bartender vs. hopfrom $12 one-timea cluttered menu bar fixed by having fewer icons, not by hiding them.
- Amphetamine vs. hopfreethe same keep-awake switch, without a separate app for it.
- Keka vs. hopfree from the site, $6.49 on the App Storethe rar-shaped hole in Finder, without a second archiver.
- ColorSlurp vs. hopfree + Pro $19.99/yrhex, rgb and hsl at once — and no screen recording permission.
- Toggl Track vs. hopfree up to 3 users + from $9/user/mohours counted on your Mac, with no account to sign into.
- Speedtest by Ookla vs. hopfree, no in-app purchases on Macthree numbers in the panel, measured through Apple's own servers.
- Alfred vs. hopfree + Powerpack from £34clipboard history without the Powerpack — and without typing.
- Rectangle vs. hopfree, open sourcewindow layouts as one of eighteen tools rather than an app of their own.
- Maccy vs. hopfree, or $9.99 in the App Storeclipboard history that also keeps whole files, by name.
- AppCleaner vs. hopfreeremovals go to the trash, and every app shows what it weighs.
- Stats vs. hopfree, open sourcequiet until something leaves the range you set.
- Permute vs. hop$14.99 one-timeconvert offline, see the size before you commit, keep Intel support.
- The Unarchiver vs. hopfreeopens archives and packs them back up, which The Unarchiver does not.
- TRex vs. hopfree, open sourcetext off the screen, plus qr codes in the same pass.
- TomatoBar vs. hopfree, open sourcea timer that keeps its own time while the Mac sleeps.
- Transmission vs. hopfree, open sourcemagnet links in the panel, seeding stopped at ratio 1.0.
- OnlySwitch vs. hopfree, open sourcea switch flips a state. a tool does a job.
- HandBrake vs. hopfree, open sourcea transcoder rebuilds the picture. sometimes the box is all that is wrong.
- Timing vs. hop$11/mo or $108/yr, no free tierhours you start yourself, on a Mac nothing is watching all day.
- Caffeine vs. hopfreethe same coffee cup, behind the same icon as seventeen other tools.
frequently asked questions
- can hop really replace a paid app?
- for some of them yes, for others no, and each page here says which. hop covers the part of a paid utility most people actually use. if you live in the deep settings of a specialised app, the specialised app stays the better tool.
- why is it free if those apps cost money?
- hop is a personal project, open source under the MIT licence, with no company behind it and no revenue to protect. paid apps pay for support, marketing and full-time development — that is what the price buys, and it is a fair thing to buy.
- is a free app riskier to install?
- hop is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without a warning, and updates are verified with Ed25519. the whole source is public. that is more than most paid utilities show you.
- can i run hop next to the paid app i already have?
- yes. modules are switched off one by one, so you can keep the paid app for the one job it does best and let hop cover the rest. nothing here asks you to uninstall anything.
- how are these comparisons kept honest?
- every page names what the paid app does better and what you would give up before it says anything in hop's favour. prices and versions are checked against the vendor's own page at the time of writing, and the date is on the app's release notes.
download hopfree · macOS 14+ · Apple silicon and Intel