Setapp alternatives: Mac apps you buy once

From its maker: Droppy brings files, clipboard history and everyday controls to your Mac's notch or a floating Dynamic Island. Gather files in the File Tray, find text, links, images and files you copied, control music and arrange shelf widgets for your daily tools.

Seiton keeps a crowded menu bar under control. Icons you rarely use go behind a divider and come back with one click, you can sort everything into three sections, and there is a search for menu bar items. It works fully offline. One-time purchase with a 14-day trial, from $6.99 at its launch price. It needs macOS 26 or later, and its maker names Bartender as the app it replaces.

Reel is a classic clipboard manager done carefully. Press Shift-Command-V, find what you copied, hit Return and it pastes into the app you were in. It keeps text, links, code, colors, images and files, with search, pinboards for snippets and previews. It is $11.99 once for 1 Mac at its launch price, with a 14-day trial, and needs macOS 11 or later.

From its maker: QuickShot handles screenshots on the Mac from capture to sharing. Grab an area or a window, then mark it up in the editor with arrows, text, shapes and blur.

From its maker: Blook is a self-hosted, private, and lightweight bookmark manager for the links you use every day, beautifully organised and always instantly searchable.

From its maker: The Activity Monitor for the AI era. Cortex turns a thousand processes into the sixty apps you actually run, remembers the last 30 days, and shows what your Neural Engine and local models are doing.

From its maker: Compress video, sign PDFs, remove backgrounds, transcribe, free up storage and more. 94 native tools that run on your Mac.

Kofe Flow is a calm Pomodoro timer in the menu bar, with an iPhone app that stays in sync. Focus analytics stay on your Mac, and timer sync is optional and anonymous. It is free, with Lifetime Pro at $14.99 once.

From its maker: ByeCtrlClick blocks the context menu that opens when you Control-click, system-wide and in every app. Right-click keeps working.

From its maker: Aurator turns your voice into clean text in every app on your Mac, writes whole messages for you, and coaches you to speak better from your own words. Private by default, cloud by choice.

Cuewake lets you attach notes, checklists, links and files to Mac apps and webpages, so your next step is waiting when you come back to them. It is a one-time purchase at $9, needs no account, works offline and runs natively on Apple silicon. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Slap Alert is for founders who like to see a sale land. It watches Stripe, Paddle, RevenueCat, Polar or Dodo Payments with a read-only key, and Shopify orders arrive by webhook. For every new sale, a pixel monkey slaps a sticky note on your screen with who paid and how much, and win cards mark milestones like your first $1k. It is free for scripts, or $19 once with a 7-day trial.