# Menu bar masters

> Small apps that live up top, earn their spot and never get in the way. 10 native Mac apps, hand-picked by MacWorthy. Facts checked 2026-10-19.

## Compared

| App | Price | Mac App Store | Homebrew | Open source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Ice](https://macworthy.com/apps/ice/) | Open source | No | `jordanbaird-ice` | GPL-3.0 |
| [Bartender 6](https://macworthy.com/apps/bartender-6/) | One-time purchase | No | `bartender` | No |
| [iStat Menus](https://macworthy.com/apps/istat-menus/) | One-time purchase | No | `istat-menus` | No |
| [Dato](https://macworthy.com/apps/dato/) | One-time purchase | Yes | No | No |
| [SoundSource](https://macworthy.com/apps/soundsource/) | One-time purchase | No | `soundsource` | No |
| [Amphetamine](https://macworthy.com/apps/amphetamine/) | Free | Yes | No | No |
| [Tot](https://macworthy.com/apps/tot/) | Free + Pro | Yes | No | No |
| [Hand Mirror](https://macworthy.com/apps/hand-mirror/) | One-time purchase | Yes | No | No |
| [Sip](https://macworthy.com/apps/sip/) | Subscription | No | `sip-app` | No |
| [Maccy](https://macworthy.com/apps/maccy/) | Open source | No | `maccy` | MIT |

## The apps

- **[Ice](https://macworthy.com/apps/ice.md)**: A powerful, free menu bar manager. Ice hides menu bar items behind a click or hover, offers a separate bar for overflow and lets you restyle the menu bar.
- **[Bartender 6](https://macworthy.com/apps/bartender-6.md)**: Organize and hide menu bar icons. Bartender tidies your menu bar with hidden sections, triggers, rules and custom spacing, so only what matters shows.
- **[iStat Menus](https://macworthy.com/apps/istat-menus.md)**: Your Mac's vital signs, in the menu bar. CPU, GPU, memory, network, sensors, battery and weather, with beautiful graphs. The gold standard of system monitors.
- **[Dato](https://macworthy.com/apps/dato.md)**: The menu bar clock macOS should have had. Dato puts the date, calendar events, world clocks and week numbers in your menu bar, with join buttons for upcoming meetings.
- **[SoundSource](https://macworthy.com/apps/soundsource.md)**: Per-app volume and effects, from the menu bar. Set volume per app, send each app to a different output and add EQ or effects to anything. SoundSource fixes Mac audio.
- **[Amphetamine](https://macworthy.com/apps/amphetamine.md)**: Keep your Mac awake, on your terms. Amphetamine stops sleep for a duration, while an app runs, while a download finishes and more. Powerful triggers, free forever.
- **[Tot](https://macworthy.com/apps/tot.md)**: Seven dots. Seven notes. That's it. Tot is a tiny text scratchpad in your menu bar with exactly seven colored notes. It is constraint as a feature.
- **[Hand Mirror](https://macworthy.com/apps/hand-mirror.md)**: Check your camera with one click. Click the menu bar icon to see yourself before a call. That's the app, and it does it beautifully.
- **[Sip](https://macworthy.com/apps/sip.md)**: Collect, organize and share colors. Sip picks colors from anywhere on screen, keeps palettes in your menu bar and exports to every format a designer or developer could want.
- **[Maccy](https://macworthy.com/apps/maccy.md)**: A tiny, keyboard-first clipboard manager. Maccy lives in the menu bar and keeps a searchable list of what you copied. It is free, open source and out of your way.

HTML version: https://macworthy.com/collections/menu-bar-masters/