List of Mac software

The following is a list of Mac software – notable computer applications for current macOS operating systems.

For software designed for the Classic Mac OS, see List of Classic Mac OS software.

Audio software

Digital audio workstations

Audio editing

Audacity – digital audio editor

DJing

djay – digital music mixing software
Mixxx – DJ mix software

Notation software

Dorico
Impro-Visor – notation software with a particular orientation towards jazz solos
LilyPond
Overture
MuseScore

Misc audio tools

Audio Hijack – audio recorder
baudline – signal analyzer
BeaTunes - BPM analyzer and iTunes companion tool
Cog – open source audio player, supports multiple formats
fre:ac – open source audio converter and CD ripper
ixi software – free improvisation and sketching tools
Jaikoz – music file mass tagger
Max – Cycling 74's visual programming language for MIDI, audio, video; with MSP, Jitter
Music MiniPlayer - miniplayer for Apple Music
ReBirth – virtual synth program simulates Roland TR-808, TB-303
Recycle – music loop editor

Discontinued audio apps

Adobe Soundbooth – music and soundtrack editing
Audion – media player
BIAS Peak – mastering
Finale – proprietary music notation software
iTunes – audio/video Jukebox by Apple
Logic Express – prosumer music production by Apple
Logic Studio – music writing studio package by Apple
- Apple Loops Utility – production and organisation of Apple Loops
- Apple Qmaster and Qadministrator
- Mainstage – program to play software synthesizers live
- QuickTime Pro – pro version of QuickTime
- Soundtrack Pro – post production audio editor
- WaveBurner – CD mastering and production software
RiffWorks – guitar recording and online song collaboration software

Chat (text, voice, image, and video)

Active

Adium – multi-protocol IM client
Colloquy – freeware advanced IRC and SILC client
Discord – IM and VoIP social platform
FaceTime – videoconferencing between Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
iMessage – instant messaging between Mac, and iDevices
Irssi – IrssiX and MacIrssi
Kopete – free multi-protocol IM client
LiveChat – online customer service software
Microsoft Teams – team collaboration application
Palringo
Psi (instant messenger) – free IM client for the XMPP protocol
Signal – open-source, encrypted messaging service for IM, voice calls and video calls
Snak – IRC client (shareware)
Ventrilo – audio chatroom application
Telegram – cross-platform, encrypted IM client
WhatsApp

Discontinued

aMSN – free Windows Live Messenger clone
AOL Instant Messenger – discontinued as of December 15, 2017
ChitChat – open-source IM client supporting the Yahoo! Messenger protocol
HexChat – IRC client, discontinued as of February 9, 2024
Skype – telecommunications application supporting IM and VoIP-based videotelephony retired as of May 5, 2025
Ircle – IRC client (shareware)
Microsoft Messenger for Mac – cross-platform IM client
Yahoo! Messenger – IM client, also supporting VoIP, file transfers and webcam hosting

Children's software

Kid Pix Deluxe 3X – bitmap drawing program
Stagecast Creator – programming and internet authoring for kids

Developer tools and IDEs

Apache Web Server – free and open-source web server software
AppCode – an Objective-C IDE by JetBrains for macOS and iOS development
Aptana – an open source integrated development environment (IDE) for building Ajax web applications
Clozure CL – an open source integrated development environment (IDE) for building Common Lisp applications
Code::Blocks – open source IDE for C++
CodeWarrior – development environment, framework
Coldstone game engine – game engine specializing in role-playing and adventure-style games
Cursor – code editor integrating advanced artificial intelligence features
Dylan – programming language
Eclipse – open source Java-based IDE for developing rich-client applications, includes SWT library, replaces Swing by using underlying OS native windowing abilities
Fink – Debian package manager for ported Unix software
Free Pascal – Object Pascal compiler, XCode plugin available
GNU Compiler Collection – collection of compilers for different programming languages, hardware architectures and operating systems
Glasgow Haskell Compiler
Helix – relational database IDE
Homebrew - Package manager for installing many open source, mostly terminal based, utilities. Includes Apache, PHP, Python and many more.
HotSpot – Sun's Java Virtual Machine
IntelliJ IDEA – a JAVA IDE by JetBrains (free limited community edition)
Komodo – commercial multi-language IDE from ActiveState
Lazarus – cross-platform IDE to develop software with Free Pascal, specialized in graphical software
LiveCode – high-level cross-platform IDE
MacApp – application development framework for Pascal and C++
Macintosh Programmer's Workshop (MPW)
Macports – a package management system that simplifies the installation of free/open source software on the macOS.
Macromedia Authorware – application (CBT, eLearning) development, no Mac development environment since version 4, though can still package applications with the 'Mac Packager' for OS 8 through 10 playback
Mono – open source implementation of Microsoft .NET Framework with a C# compiler
NetBeans – modular, open source, multi-language platform and IDE for Java written in pure Java
Omnis Studio – cross-platform development environment for creating enterprise and web applications for macOS, Windows, Linux, Solaris
Panorama – database engine
Perl – programming language
PHP – programming language
Python – programming language
Qt Creator – an IDE for C++ GUI applications, by Trolltech
Real Studio – cross-platform compiled REALbasic BASIC programming language IDE
ResEdit – resource editor
Script Debugger – an AppleScript and Open Scripting Architecture IDE
SuperCard – high-level IDE
Tcl/tk – scripting shell & GUI utility that allows cross platform development. Included with macOS.
TextMate – multipurpose text editor that supports Ruby, PHP, and Python
Torque (game engine) – game creation software
Visual Studio Code – code editor and IDE with debugging features
WebKit – open source application framework for Safari (web browser)
WebObjects – Java web application server and a server-based web application framework
wxPython – API merging Python and wxWidgets
Xcode – IDE made by Apple, which comes as a part of macOS and is available as a downloadon, was called Project Builders of Florida tech

Email

Email clients

Apple Mail – the bundled email client
Entourage – email client by Microsoft; analogous to Microsoft Outlook
Eudora
Foxmail
Lotus Notes
Mailbird
Mailplane – a WebKit-based client for Gmail
Microsoft Outlook
Mozilla Thunderbird
Mulberry – open-source software for e-mail, calendars and contacts
Outlook Express
Postbox
Proton Mail
Sparrow – as well as Sparrow Lite

Other email software

Gmail Notifier

FTP clients

Classic FTP
Cyberduck
Fetch
Fugu
FileZilla
ForkLift
Interarchy
Transmit
WebDrive – FTP and cloud client
Yummy FTP

Games

Steam – digital distribution software for video games and related media

Graphics, layout, and desktop publishing

CAD, 3D graphics

3D-Coat
Autodesk Alias
Ashlar-Vellum – 2D/3D drafting, 3D modeling
ArchiCAD
AutoCAD
Blender
BricsCAD
Cheetah3D
Cinema 4D
FreeCAD
SketchUp – 3D modeling software
Houdini
Lightwave
MacDraft - 2D CAD
Maya
Modo
PowerCADD
ZBrush

Distributed document authoring

Adobe Acrobat – software to view, create, manipulate, print and manage PDF files
Preview – built-in image viewer and PDF viewer of the macOS operating system

Icon editors, viewers

Icon Composer – part of Apple Developer Tools
IconBuilder – plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks for the editing and creation of icons
Microsoft Office

File conversion and management

Active

Adobe Bridge – digital asset management app
BibDesk – free bibliographic database app that organizes linked files
Font Book – font management tool
GraphicConverter – graphics editor, opens/converts a wide range of file formats
Photos – photo management application

Discontinued

iPhoto – discontinued photo management application

Layout and desktop publishing

Active

Adobe InDesign – page layout
iCalamus – page layout
iStudio Publisher – page layout
Pages – part of iWork
QuarkXPress – page layout
Ready, Set, Go! – page layout
Scribus – page layout
TeX – publishing
- MacTeX – TeX redistribution of TeX Live for Mac
- Comparison of TeX Editors
The Print Shop – page layout

Discontinued

iBooks Author – created interactive books for Apple Books

Raster and vector graphics

This section lists bitmap graphics editors and vector graphics editors.

Active

Adobe Illustrator – vector graphics editor
Adobe Photoshop – also offers some vector graphics features
Affinity Designer – vector graphics editor for Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows
Anime Studio – 2D based vector animation
Collabora Online – enterprise-ready edition of LibreOffice
Corel Painter
Fontographer
GIMP – free bitmap graphics editor
GraphicConverter – displays and edits raster graphics files
Inkscape – free vector graphics editor
Luminar
Paintbrush – free simple bitmap graphics program
Photos – official photo management and editing application developed by Apple
Photo Booth – photo camera, video recorder
Pixelmator – hardware-accelerated integrated photo editor
Polarr – photo editing app
Retouch4me Arams – AI-based photo editor
Seashore – open source, based around the GIMP's technology, but with native macOS (Cocoa) UI

Discontinued

Adobe Fireworks – supports GIF animation
Adobe FreeHand – vector graphics editor

Aperture – Apple's pro photo management, editing, publishing application
GIMPShop – free open source cross-platform bitmap graphics editor
MacPaint – painting software by Apple (discontinued)

Integrated software technologies

Bonjour – service discovery on a local area network
Finder
QuickTime
Terminal
X11.app

Language and reference tools

Cram (software)
Dictionary (software)
Encyclopædia Britannica
Rosetta Stone (software) – proprietary language learning software
Ultralingua – proprietary electronic dictionaries and language tools
World Book Encyclopedia – multimedia

Mathematics software

Media center

Boxee – Mac and Apple TV
Front Row
Mira
MythTV
SageTV
Plex
Kodi

Multimedia authoring

Adobe Director – animation/application development
Adobe Flash – vector animation
Adobe LiveMotion – a discontinued competitor to Flash, until Adobe bought Macromedia
Apple Media Tool – a discontinued multimedia authoring tool published by Apple
Dragonframe - stop motion animation and time-lapse
iBooks Author – created interactive books for Apple Books (discontinued)
iLife – media suite by Apple
Unity – 3D authoring

Networking and telecommunications

Apple Remote Desktop
Google Earth
iStumbler – find wireless networks and devices
Karelia Watson (defunct)
KisMAC
Little Snitch – network monitor and outgoing connection firewall
NetSpot – software tool for wireless network assessment, scanning, and surveys, analyzing Wi-Fi coverage and performance
Timbuktu – remote control
WiFi Explorer – a wireless network scanner tool

News aggregators

Feedly – news aggregator, and news aggregator reading application
NetNewsWire – news aggregator reading application
NewsFire – news aggregator reading application
RSSOwl – news aggregator reading application
Safari (web browser) - news aggregation via built-in RSS support
Apple Mail – news aggregation via (discontinued) built-in RSS support

Office and productivity

AbiWord
Adobe Acrobat – PDF viewer and editor
Address Book – bundled with macOS
AppleWorks – word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications (discontinued)
Banktivity – personal finance, budgeting, investments
Bean (word processor) – free TXT/RTF/DOC word processor
Bear – markdown note-taking application
Celtx
Collabora Online enterprise-ready edition of LibreOffice
CricketGraph – graphmaker
Delicious Library
FileMaker
FlowVella
Fortora Fresh Finance
Helix (database)
iBank – personal finance application
iCal – calendar management, bundled with macOS
iWork – suite:
- Pages – word processor application
- Numbers – spreadsheet application
- Keynote – presentation application
Journler – diary and personal information manager with personal wiki features
KOffice
LibreOffice
MacLinkPlus Deluxe – file format translation tool for PowerPC-era Mac OS X, converting and opening files created in other operating systems
Mellel
Microsoft Office – office suite:
- Microsoft Word – word processor application
- Microsoft Excel – spreadsheet application
- Microsoft PowerPoint – presentation application
- Microsoft Entourage – email application (replaced by Microsoft Outlook)
- Microsoft Outlook – email application
- Microsoft OneNote – note-taking application
- Microsoft Publisher – desktop publishing application
MoneyWiz – personal finance application
Montage – screenwriting software
NeoOffice - discontinued
Nisus Writer
OmniFocus
OpenOffice.org - discontinued
WriteNow
Taste – word processor (discontinued)

Operating systems

Darwin – the BSD-licensed core of macOS
macOS – originally named "Mac OS X" until 2012 and then "OS X" until 2016
macOS Server – the server computing variant of macOS

Outliners and mind-mapping

Peer-to-peer file sharing

Sciences

Celestia – 3D astronomy program
SimThyr – Simulation system for thyroid homeostasis
Stellarium – 3D astronomy program

Text editors

Utilities

Activity Monitor – default system monitor for hardware and software
After Dark – computer screensaver software
AppZapper – uninstaller (shareware)
Automator – built-in, utility to automate repetitive tasks
Butler – free, launcher and utility to automate repetitive tasks
CandyBar – system customization software (commercial)
CDFinder – disk cataloging software (commercial)
CleanMyMac – maintenance and optimisation utility
DaisyDisk – disk visualization tool
Dashboard – built-in macOS widgets
Grab – built-in macOS screenshot utility
Growl – global notifications system, free
iSync – syncing software, bundled with Mac OS X up to 10.6
LaunchBar – provides instant access to local data, search engines and more by entering abbreviations of search item names, commercial
MacKeeper – cleanup utility
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing – proprietary, typing tutor
OnyX – a freeware system maintenance and optimization tool for macOS
Path Finder – replacement for Apple's Finder
Quicksilver – a framework for accessing and manipulating many forms of data
SheepShaver – PowerPC emulator, allows, among other things, running Mac OS 9 on Intel Macs
Sherlock – file searching (version 2), web services (version 3)
Stickies – put Post-It Note-like notes on the desktop
System Settings – default Mac system option application
UUTool – uuencoded/uudecode and other transcoding
Xsan – storage network utility
Yahoo! Widget Engine – JavaScript-based widget system

Anti-malware software

macOS includes the built-in XProtect antimalware as part of GateKeeper. The software listed in this section is antivirus software and malware removal software.

BitDefender Antivirus for Mac – antivirus
Intego VirusBarrier – antivirus
MacScan – malware removal
Malwarebytes — malware removal
McAffee VirusScan – antivirus
Norton Antivirus for Mac – antivirus
Sophos – antivirus

Archiving, backup, restore, recovery

This section lists software for file archiving, backup and restore, data compression and data recovery.

Archive Utility – built-in archive file handler
Archiver – paid, file archiving
BetterZip – file archiver and compressor
Compact Pro – data compression
Disk Drill – data recovery
Stellar Data Recovery – data recovery
The Unarchiver — file archiving
Time Machine (macOS) – built-in backup software
WinZip – file archiver and compressor utility

Discontinued archiving apps

Backup – discontinued Apple backup utility, part of MobileMe
Stuffit – data compression

Disc burning apps

Roxio Toast – DVD authoring application

Discontinued disc burning apps

Adobe Encore
Disco – disc burning
DVD Studio Pro – DVD authoring application
iDVD – a basic DVD-authoring application

Video

Adobe After Effects – digital visual effects, motion graphics and compositing application
Adobe Premiere Pro – timeline-based video editing software
Adobe Presenter Video Express – screencasting and video editing software
ArKaos – VJ software
Avid
DaVinci Resolve – video editing suite
DivX
DivX Player
DVD Player (Apple) – DVD player software built into macOS
FFmpeg – audio/video converter
Final Cut Express
Final Cut Studio – audio-video editing suite:
- Apple Qmaster
- Cinema Tools
- Compressor
- DVD Studio Pro
- Final Cut Pro
- LiveType
- Motion 2
- Soundtrack Pro
HandBrake – DVD to MPEG-4 and other formats converter
iMovie – basic video editing application
Miro Media Player
MPlayer
Perian
QuickTime – including its Player and QuickTime Pro
RealPlayer
Shotcut – open source rich video editor
Shake
Windows Media Player
VLC media player – free and open-source media player

Virtualization, emulation, and dual-booting

Bochs
Boot Camp – a multi-boot utility built into macOS from 10.5 on Intel Macs only
CrossOver – commercial implementation of Wine
DOSBox – DOS emulator
Hercules emulator
pcAnywhere – VNC-style remote control
Parallels Workstation – commercial full virtualization software for desktop and server
Q – emulates an IBM-compatible PC on a Mac, allows running PC operating systems
VMware Fusion – virtualization software
Wine – Windows API reimplementation
Virtual PC – full virtualization software allows running other operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, on PowerPC Macs (discontinued in 2007)
VirtualBox
vMac – emulates a Macintosh Plus and can run Apple Macintosh System versions 1.1 to 7.5.5.

Web browsers

Firefox

Camino

Amaya – free
Brave – free and open-source, Chromium-based
Camino – open source
Flock – free, Mozilla Firefox based
Google Chrome – free, proprietary, Chromium-based
iCab – free
Konqueror – open source
Lynx – free
Mozilla – open source, combines browser, email client, WYSIWYG editor
Mozilla Firefox – open source
Microsoft Edge – free, proprietary, Chromium-based
Netscape Navigator – free, proprietary
OmniWeb – free, proprietary
Opera – free, proprietary, Chromium-based
Safari (web browser) – built-in from Mac OS X 10.3, available as a separate download for Mac OS X 10.2
SeaMonkey – open source Internet application suite
Shiira – open source
Sleipnir – free, by Fenrir Inc
Tor (anonymity network) – free, open source
Torch (web browser) – free, by Torch Media Inc.
Vivaldi – free, proprietary, Chromium-based
Internet Explorer for Mac – free, by Microsoft
WebKit – Safari application framework, also in the form of an application

Web design and content management

Adobe Contribute
Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe GoLive
Claris Homepage
Coda
Freeway
iWeb
NVu
RapidWeaver – a template-based website editor

Weblog clients

Other

References

↑ "AIM has been discontinued as of December 15, 2017". help.aol.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
↑ "2.16.2, The Final Release – HexChat". hexchat.github.io. Archived from the original on 2024-03-10. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
↑ Hernandez, Joe; Neuman, Scott (2025-05-05). "It's last call for Skype as the once-popular video calling app shuts down". NPR. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
↑ "MacDraft Professional | Powerful 2D CAD, drafting, technical illustration and more for Mac | Microspot Ltd".
↑ "Retouch4me — Advantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Retouching". retouch4me.oxem.dev. Retrieved 2024-10-28.

[1] "AIM has been discontinued as of December 15, 2017". help.aol.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-17.

[2] "2.16.2, The Final Release – HexChat". hexchat.github.io. Archived from the original on 2024-03-10. Retrieved 2024-06-11.

[3] Hernandez, Joe; Neuman, Scott (2025-05-05). "It's last call for Skype as the once-popular video calling app shuts down". NPR. Retrieved 2025-05-08.

[4] "MacDraft Professional | Powerful 2D CAD, drafting, technical illustration and more for Mac | Microspot Ltd".

[5] "Retouch4me — Advantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Retouching". retouch4me.oxem.dev. Retrieved 2024-10-28.

v t e Software by Apple
Operating systems	Apple DOS Apple III (SOS) Classic Mac OS Darwin iOS iPadOS GS/OS Lisa OS macOS (OS X) MacWorks XL ProDOS tvOS visionOS watchOS
Consumer	Bento Clips Final Cut Express Front Row GarageBand iCloud iDVD iLife iMovie iTunes iWork Keynote Pages Numbers iPhoto Logic Express Memoji Photomator Pixelmator Classic Pro
Professional	Aperture Apple Media Tool Apple Qmaster Color DVD Studio Pro FileMaker Final Cut Pro Motion Compressor Final Cut Studio Cinema Tools Logic Studio Logic Pro MacProject MacTerminal MainStage Shake Soundtrack Pro
Creator Studio	Final Cut Pro Motion Compressor Logic Pro MainStage Pixelmator Pro Keynote Pages Numbers Freeform
Education	Classroom
Bundled	AppleWorks Books Calendar Contacts Mail Messages FaceTime MacDraw MacPaint MacWrite Music Passwords Photo Booth Photos Podcasts Safari TextEdit
Server	Apple Remote Desktop FoundationDB macOS Server WebObjects Xgrid Xsan
Developer	HyperCard iBooks Author Instruments Interface Builder Quartz Composer ResEdit Swift Xcode
Internet	.Mac Dashcode iAd Producer iChat iWeb MobileMe
on Windows	AirPort Utility AppleWorks Bonjour Boot Camp iCloud iTunes MobileMe QuickTime Software Update
List of Apple II application software • List of Mac software • List of Classic Mac OS software

List of Mac software

Audio software

Digital audio workstations

Audio editing

DJing

Notation software

Misc audio tools

Discontinued audio apps

Chat (text, voice, image, and video)

Active

Discontinued

Children's software

Developer tools and IDEs

Email

Email clients

Other email software

FTP clients

Games

Graphics, layout, and desktop publishing

CAD, 3D graphics

Distributed document authoring

Icon editors, viewers

File conversion and management

Active

Discontinued

Layout and desktop publishing

Active

Discontinued

Raster and vector graphics

Active

Discontinued

Integrated software technologies

Language and reference tools

Mathematics software

Media center

Multimedia authoring

Networking and telecommunications

News aggregators

Office and productivity

Operating systems

Outliners and mind-mapping

Peer-to-peer file sharing

Sciences

Text editors

Utilities

Anti-malware software

Archiving, backup, restore, recovery

Discontinued archiving apps

Disc burning apps

Discontinued disc burning apps

Video

Virtualization, emulation, and dual-booting

Web browsers

Web design and content management

Weblog clients

Other

See also

References