LifetimeMac

BetterTouchTool

gestures, shortcuts and window snapping, with a real $25 lifetime licence

This version

The catch

The $15 tier is time-limited rather than version-limited: after two years you keep the last build you were sent, so a later macOS release may eventually break something that never gets fixed. The $25 lifetime tier is the one to buy if you intend to keep the app. Configuration effort is real — this is not an install-and-forget utility. It is also on Setapp, where it stops working if the membership lapses.

Buy BetterTouchTool once
Rent Setapp

$15 once = 2 months of Setapp. Over five years that is $540 rented against $15 owned — $525 kept, and you still have the app.

Setapp priced at $108 a year — Mac plan billed annually; $14.99/month if billed monthly. Checked 2026-09-22.

BetterTouchTool is the app you reach for when macOS almost does what you want and you are willing to spend an evening telling it exactly what you want instead. Custom trackpad and Magic Mouse gestures, per-app keyboard remaps, drag-to-edge window snapping with saved layouts, notch and Touch Bar widgets, scripts attached to any of it. It is less a window manager than a general input layer, and it can retire three or four single-purpose utilities at once.

The licensing is unusually plain-spoken and worth reading twice. $15 gets you updates for two years; after that the app keeps running but stays on the last build you received, which eventually means a macOS release breaks something and no fix arrives. $25 gets every update for as long as the app exists, plus anything else Andreas Hegenberg ships in the two years after you buy. People run this app for a decade, so the $25 tier is usually the cheaper of the two in the end.

The trial is 45 days with no account, which is long enough to find out whether you enjoy this kind of tinkering or resent it. That is the real question. If you open the settings window, see how many panes there are and close it again, that is a legitimate answer — Rectangle or Swish will make you happier for a tenth of the attention.

The BetterTouchTool page at folivora.ai
Page capture from folivora.ai, taken 2026-09-22. Images belong to their developers.
  • Custom trackpad, Magic Mouse and mouse gestures bound to any action
  • Window snapping with drag-to-edge zones and saved custom layouts
  • Notch (Floating Menu) and Touch Bar widget builder
  • Per-app keyboard shortcut remapping, plus scripting hooks
  • 45-day trial with no account, and a genuine $25 lifetime licence

The facts

Price
$15
What you get
One payment buys this major version outright. The next major version is a separate purchase, if you want it.
Details
Standard Licence $15, which "receives updates for 2 years", after which you keep the last version you received forever. Lifetime Licence $25, which "receives all updates while BetterTouchTool exists" plus any other macOS apps the developer releases in the following two years. Exact price varies with country and tax. 45-day free trial, no account required.
Free trial
Yes
On Setapp
Yes
Minimum macOS
not stated
Price checked
2026-09-22
Check it yourself
Price band
$15 to $30