# The fastest growing open source Mac apps

> The open source Mac apps gaining GitHub stars the fastest, so you can find the next Rectangle or IINA early. Updated November 8, 2026. Page: https://macpip.com/rankings/trending-open-source-mac-apps

The most starred list is a hall of fame. This one is the waiting room: open source Mac apps collecting stars quickly right now. It uses the same hand-picked list of real Mac apps, so no libraries or lists sneak in.

GitHub no longer shows when each star was given, so MacPip counts the stars itself every few days. Once those counts cover 30 days, apps are ranked by stars gained in the last 30 days. Until then they are ranked by stars per month since the repo was made, and the method box says which one you are looking at.

## How this ranking works

- Source: GitHub's public repository data (stars, language, last push).
- Read on: November 8, 2026. Updated every week.
- Included: The same hand-picked open source Mac apps as the most starred list, with at least 500 stars.

## The list

| # | App | Stars a month since launch | GitHub stars | Repo made | Maker | On MacPip | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Compositor: A layered image editor that wants to be the Photoshop of open source. | 10,449 | 18,537 | 2026-09 | Robbie | No | https://github.com/robbietilton/Compositor |
| 2 | Vorssaint: A big toolbox of small menu bar helpers in one app. | 6,830 | 33,654 | 2026-06 | vorssaint | No | https://github.com/vorssaint/vorssaint-utils |
| 3 | cmux: A Ghostty-based terminal with vertical tabs, made for coding agents. | 3,070 | 28,747 | 2026-01 | manaflow-ai | No | https://github.com/manaflow-ai/cmux |
| 4 | Tinycast: A light launcher for everyday tasks. | 2,127 | 9,292 | 2026-06 | Abue Ammar | No | https://github.com/abue-ammar/tinycast |
| 5 | Palmier Pro: A video editor built around AI tools. | 2,072 | 14,702 | 2026-04 | Palmier | No | https://github.com/palmier-io/palmier-pro |
| 6 | CodexBar: Shows your Codex and Claude Code usage in the menu bar. | 1,961 | 23,061 | 2025-11 | Peter Steinberger | No | https://github.com/steipete/CodexBar |
| 7 | WhatCable: Tells you in plain English what each USB-C cable can do. | 1,442 | 9,095 | 2026-05 | Darryl Morley | No | https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable |
| 8 | Thaw: A newer open source menu bar manager. | 1,353 | 12,622 | 2026-01 | thaw-app | No | https://github.com/thaw-app/Thaw |
| 9 | Ghostty: A fast terminal with a real native Mac app. Also on Linux. | 1,153 | 63,889 | 2022-03 | Ghostty | No | https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty |
| 10 | PureMac: A free cleaner with no tracking. | 1,089 | 7,693 | 2026-04 | Moamen Basel | No | https://github.com/momenbasel/PureMac |
| 11 | FineTune: Volume per app and multi-output audio from the menu bar. | 1,040 | 10,076 | 2026-01 | Ronit Singh | No | https://github.com/ronitsingh10/FineTune |
| 12 | FluidVoice: Dictation that runs on your Mac, not in the cloud. | 949 | 12,909 | 2025-09 | ALTIC | No | https://github.com/altic-dev/FluidVoice |
| 13 | Status Trio: Wi-Fi, battery and Bluetooth in one menu bar item. | 927 | 1,766 | 2026-09 | lingyired | No | https://github.com/lingyired/status-trio |
| 14 | Ice: Hides and sorts a crowded menu bar. | 765 | 29,989 | 2023-08 | Jordan Baird | No | https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice |
| 15 | Crisp: Every hidden display setting in one menu bar app. | 651 | 2,351 | 2026-07 | Didrik Galteland | No | https://github.com/didriksg/Crisp |
| 16 | AeroSpace: A tiling window manager in the style of i3, set up with one text file. | 571 | 23,770 | 2023-05 | Nikita Bobko | No | https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace |
| 17 | Osaurus: Run local AI models and agents in one native app. | 552 | 8,148 | 2025-08 | Osaurus | No | https://github.com/osaurus-ai/osaurus |
| 18 | Dayflow: Writes a timeline of your day from your screen, privately. | 547 | 7,401 | 2025-09 | Jerry Liu | No | https://github.com/JerryZLiu/Dayflow |
| 19 | macshot: Screenshots and recordings with notes and arrows. | 510 | 4,074 | 2026-03 | sw33tLie | No | https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot |
| 20 | OpenUsage: Tracks what your AI subscriptions are using. | 495 | 4,569 | 2026-02 | Robin Ebers | No | https://github.com/robinebers/openusage |
| 21 | Stats: CPU, memory, network and battery in your menu bar. | 484 | 43,234 | 2019-05 | Serhiy Mytrovtsiy | No | https://github.com/exelban/stats |
| 22 | Textream: A free teleprompter. | 473 | 4,255 | 2026-02 | Fatih Kadir Akın | No | https://github.com/f/textream |
| 23 | Boring Notch: Turns the notch into a music and file shelf. | 416 | 11,316 | 2024-08 | The Boring Team | No | https://github.com/TheBoredTeam/boring.notch |
| 24 | CodeEdit: A code editor built the Mac way. Still early, moving fast. | 412 | 23,102 | 2022-03 | CodeEdit | No | https://github.com/CodeEditApp/CodeEdit |
| 25 | UTM: Run Windows, Linux or another macOS in a window. | 405 | 36,784 | 2019-04 | UTM | No | https://github.com/utmapp/UTM |
| 26 | IINA: The video player most Mac people switch to and keep. | 397 | 47,058 | 2016-12 | IINA | No | https://github.com/iina/iina |
| 27 | Mac Sai: A cleaner and malware scanner. | 389 | 2,122 | 2026-05 | Iliya Mirzaei | No | https://github.com/iliyami/MacSai |
| 28 | Snapzy: Screenshots and screen recording, open source. | 362 | 3,542 | 2026-01 | Trong Duong | No | https://github.com/duongductrong/Snapzy |
| 29 | Rectangle: Snap windows with shortcuts. Small, free, does one job well. | 341 | 30,258 | 2019-06 | Ryan Hanson | No | https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle |
| 30 | Homebrew app: Homebrew's own Mac app. | 340 | 2,817 | 2026-03 | Homebrew | No | https://github.com/Homebrew/BrewUI |

## Questions

### Which open source Mac app is growing fastest?
Compositor, with about 10,449 stars a month since its repo was made in 2026.

### How does MacPip know how many stars an app gained?
MacPip reads each repo's star count every few days and keeps the numbers. The gain is the stars today minus the stars about 30 days ago.

### Why not use GitHub trending?
GitHub trending mixes every kind of repo and every platform. This list only has open source apps you can use on a Mac, picked by hand.