Lifetime Mac
Window management & desktop control

AltTab

Window switcher with thumbnails, free core plus a one-time pro tier

Price: $9.99 once

This versionThe next major is a new purchase

Price read on alt-tab.app, the page Buy direct opens.

The catch

$9.99 Pro covers the current major version only; the $24.99 lifetime tier is the forever one

The full picture

The free build is genuinely free and open source and still does the main job — per-window switching with live thumbnails across Spaces and displays, dark mode, live preview, window controls, trackpad gestures. But several things people assume are free became Pro-only in 2026: typing to search the window list, the App Icons and Window Titles display styles, auto-sizing, and more than a handful of shortcut sets (Pro allows up to nine). Pro at $9.99 is version-locked to the current major release, so a future major version would be another purchase; only the $24.99 Lifetime tier includes every future update. AltTab needs Accessibility and Screen Recording permission to draw thumbnails, which costs some CPU and battery on older Macs with many windows open, and its default binding collides with system Command-Tab until you remap one of them.

Replaces
Setapp
Seats
3 Macs
Developer account
None needed

What it looks like

Images belong to their developers.

What you’re buying

Command-Tab on macOS cycles applications, so six browser windows are one entry and you land in the wrong one. AltTab replaces it with a switcher that lists every window separately, each with a live thumbnail, including windows sitting on other Spaces and other displays. You can close or minimise a window from inside the switcher without bringing it forward first.

The licensing changed in 2026 and the old "it is just free" answer no longer holds. The core remains GPL-3.0 and free: per-window switching, thumbnails, live preview, window controls, trackpad gestures. Behind Pro sit the things heavy users reach for — typing to filter the window list, the App Icons and Window Titles display styles, auto-sizing, and more than a couple of shortcut sets. Pro is $9.99 once for the current major version; Pro Lifetime is $24.99 and covers every future one. Both are single payments, both cover three devices, and there is a 14-day trial and a 30-day refund window.

Two practical notes: it needs Accessibility and Screen Recording permission to draw the thumbnails, which costs a little battery when many windows are open, and its default binding will fight system Command-Tab until you remap one of them.

If you keep four windows open, the free build is the whole app. Pro is for people who live in the switcher.

What owners report

Points that recur across the discussions below. A report of what users say, not our verdict: we don’t review software.

Praised

  • Users repeatedly say the draw is landing on one specific window across Spaces and displays, which macOS's own switcher will not do

Criticised

  • Long-time free users repeatedly object that features they were already using - extra shortcut sets, auto-sizing - were moved into Pro, rather than Pro covering only new work
  • The upgrade prompts are a recurring complaint, with users asking for a way to switch them off and trading defaults commands to do it

Details

The price in full

The base app is free and GPL-3.0 — `brew install --cask alt-tab` or a GitHub release. On top of that, AltTab Pro is $9.99 one-time, described on the pricing page as "All Pro features. One-time purchase, no subscription. Includes all updates for the current major version." Pro Lifetime is $24.99: "Everything in Pro, plus every future update — forever." Both cover 3 devices per licence, with a 14-day Pro trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Paddle handles local currency, so UK and EU buyers see £7.99 / £19.99 and €9.99 / €24.99.

The AltTab page at alt-tab.app
The developer’s own page. alt-tab.app, captured 22 Sep 2026
Free trial
Yes
Works offline
Yes
Apple Silicon
Native
Minimum macOS
not stated
Developer
Louis Pontoise (lwouis)
Source
github.com

Also bought outright