LifetimeMac

Free, bought outright

Costs nothing, ever. Mostly open source, and none the worse for it.

AppPriceLicenceThe catch
AeroSpaceNikita BobkoFreeOpen sourceconfigured only by hand in a TOML file, and it replaces macOS Spaces rather than using them
AffinityCanva (Serif)FreeFreeFree, but the download runs through a Canva account and the AI tools need a paid Canva plan
AmethystIan YhFreeOpen sourceit uses native Spaces, so you keep the slow macOS switching animation, and it is still a 0.x release
AmphetamineWilliam C. GustafsonFreeFreeMac App Store only — no direct download or licence file, and the source is closed
AppCleanerFreeMacSoftFreeFreeno build listed for macOS 27 yet — the newest release on the page stops at macOS 26
BrunoBruno (usebruno)FreeOpen sourceDeeper git and team features are subscription-only; only the open-source app is free
calibreKovid GoyalFreeOpen sourceCurrent builds need macOS 14 or newer, so an older Mac is stuck on an old version
CryptomatorSkymatic GmbHFreeOpen sourceFree on the desktop only — the iOS app is a separate €29.99 purchase
EspansoFederico Terzi and contributorsFreeOpen sourcesnippets are YAML files you edit by hand, and syncing them between Macs is your job
GhosttyMitchell Hashimoto and contributorsFreeOpen sourceSupport is GitHub issues, and some niche iTerm2 features are still missing
GifskiSindre SorhusFreeOpen sourceIt converts video you already have — recording the screen is another app's job
GrandPerspectiveErwin BonsmaFreeOpen sourceNone found
HammerspoonHammerspoon contributorsFreeOpen sourcethere is no GUI at all, so every behaviour you want is something you write in Lua
HandBrakeHandBrake TeamFreeOpen sourceIt will not read the copy protection on a commercial DVD or Blu-ray by itself
IceJordan BairdFreeOpen sourcethe repo has not been pushed to in a year and some README features are still unimplemented
IINAIINA ProjectFreeOpen sourceVolunteer-run, so fixes and releases arrive when contributors have time
ImageOptimKornel LesińskiFreeOpen sourceFree covers the Mac app only — server-side compression is the paid ImageOptim API
InkscapeThe Inkscape ProjectFreeOpen sourceThe macOS build is a GTK port — menus, shortcuts and dialogs don't behave like a Mac app
iTerm2George NachmanFreeOpen sourceOne maintainer sets the pace, and very high-volume output feels slower than GPU terminals
ItsycalSanjay Madan (Mowglii)FreeOpen sourceEvents can be created and deleted but not edited — editing still means a trip to Calendar.app
Karabiner-ElementsTakayama FumihikoFreeOpen sourceanything interesting is a JSON complex modification, and it remaps keyboards only
KeePassXCKeePassXC TeamFreeOpen sourceNo sync of its own, and the iOS app is a separate paid purchase from someone else
KekaAone (aonez)FreeFreeIt creates 7z and zip but only extracts rar, and cannot edit an archive you already have
KeyCastrKeyCastr contributorsFreeOpen sourceNeeds system-wide Input Monitoring permission, so it can see everything you type
KritaKrita Foundation / KDE communityFreeOpen sourceThe $12.99 Mac App Store build unlocks nothing extra — it is a donation with auto-updates
LibreOfficeThe Document FoundationFreeOpen sourceComplex Word and Excel files can shift on round-trip, especially macros and tracked changes
LuLuObjective-See FoundationFreeOpen sourceNo commercial support, and rule handling is rougher than the paid alternatives
MaccyAlex RodionovFreeOpen sourceno iOS app and no sync, so the history stays on the one Mac
MarkEditMarkEdit-appFreeOpen sourceNone found
MonitorControlMonitorControl contributorsFreeOpen sourcesupport is a GitHub issue tracker, and each new macOS release needs a matching build
OBS StudioOBS ProjectFreeOpen sourceNo editor and no official support — scenes and macOS audio routing are yours to set up
ObsidianObsidianFreeFreeMulti-device sync is $48 a year unless you wire up iCloud or git yourself
OnyXTitanium Software (Joël Barrière)FreeFreeEach major macOS release needs its own build, and the current one is Apple silicon only
PDFgearPDFgear SoftwareFreeFreeClosed source with no stated business model, so nothing guarantees it stays free
PikaCharlie GleasonFreeOpen sourcePicking and contrast only — no palettes, no measuring, no screenshot tools
RaycastRaycast Technologies Inc.FreeFreeNo one-time option exists, and the free tier keeps clipboard history for only three months
RectangleRyan HansonFreeOpen sourceSaved layouts, display-triggered layouts and window throwing are held back for the paid Rectangle Pro
SkimSkim projectFreeOpen sourceReads and annotates only — no page editing, OCR or form filling
StatsSerhiy Mytrovtsiy (exelban)FreeOpen sourceFan control is in legacy mode and, in the README's words, receives no updates or fixes
SyncthingThe Syncthing projectFreeOpen sourceNo official Mac app — you configure it in a browser, and the menu bar wrappers are third-party
ThunderbirdMZLA Technologies (Mozilla)FreeOpen sourceNothing to pay, but it is a cross-platform app that never quite feels Mac-native
TinkerToolMarcel Bresink Software-SystemeFreeFreeOnly surfaces preferences Apple already ships; the system-level tools are in paid TinkerTool System
VeraCryptIDRIX / VeraCrypt projectFreeOpen sourceNeeds macFUSE, a system extension that can lag weeks behind a new macOS release
ZettlrHendrik ErzFreeOpen sourceExport beyond HTML needs Pandoc, and PDF needs a LaTeX install on top
ZoteroDigital ScholarFreeOpen sourceThe app is free forever, but only 300 MB of sync storage is; a PDF library outgrows that fast