Rectanglevs
Magnet
Magnet: If you prefer a single Mac App Store purchase with no separate Pro app to manage
Rectangle
Free open source window snapping for macOS, with a separate paid Rectangle Pro for extra features
As of 1 September 2026, Rectangle has a free plan and paid plans start at $9.99/one-time. A menu bar app that snaps windows to halves, thirds and corners of the screen using keyboard shortcuts, drag to screen edges or Stage Manager style layouts. Softwr lists it under Utilities. Rectangle is made by Rectangle (open source project), available on Mac.
Overview
What Rectangle does
Rectangle lets a user resize and position windows with keyboard shortcuts or by dragging to screen edges, covering halves, quarters, thirds, sixths and near-full screen. It runs from the menu bar, supports multiple displays and works with almost every macOS window including many that resist normal resizing. The distinguishing fact is licence model. Rectangle itself is free and open source, hosted on GitHub, with no purchase required and no feature gating. A separate paid app, Rectangle Pro, is sold outside the Mac App Store and through it, at a one-time price around 10 US dollars, adding features such as window snap areas that follow the cursor, per-app window size memory and additional gesture support. Magnet, the closest comparable tool, is Mac App Store only and paid from the start, currently a few dollars as a one-time purchase, with no free tier at all. Rectangle suits users who want a capable window manager without paying anything, and developers comfortable installing from GitHub or Homebrew rather than the App Store. The trade-off is that Rectangle Pro exists as a second, separate product rather than an in-app upgrade, so a user has to actively seek it out and install a different app to get the extra features, and the free version, while generous, lacks some of Magnet convenience of a single Mac App Store purchase with automatic updates.
What people use it for
- A developer who wants source-available window management with no cost and no account
- Anyone replacing Magnet who does not want to pay even a small one-time fee
- A user who installs software via Homebrew rather than the Mac App Store
- A power user who later wants Rectangle Pro extras but does not need them from day one
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Rectangle.
- Rectangle Pro is a separate app rather than an in-app purchase, so upgrading means installing and managing a second piece of software.
- It is Mac only, so it offers nothing for a user who also runs Windows and wants one window manager everywhere.
- It has no official paid support channel, being a community open source project, so issues are handled through GitHub rather than a vendor support desk.
- Some very old or unusually built third party apps still resist Rectangle window snapping, a limitation shared with most third party window managers on macOS.
- Because it is not distributed through the Mac App Store, some users have to manually approve accessibility permissions and updates rather than getting silent App Store updates.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Rectangle
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- RectanglevsBetterTouchTool
BetterTouchTool: If you want window management bundled with much broader gesture and shortcut customisation
- RectanglevsAlfred
Alfred: If you want window snapping as one small part of a larger launcher and automation tool
Pricing
What Rectangle costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Rectangle
Free
- Free and open source, no account needed
- Keyboard and drag window snapping
- Multi-display support
Rectangle Pro
$9.99 /one-time
- Separate paid app, not an in-app unlock
- Cursor-following snap areas
- Per-app window size memory
Capabilities
Features
Keyboard shortcuts
Configurable hotkeys for halves, thirds, quarters and corners
Drag to snap
Drag a window to a screen edge or corner to trigger a snap area
Multi-display support
Move and resize windows across multiple monitors with shortcuts
Almost full screen
A near-maximise option that leaves a visible margin around the window
Rectangle Pro extras
Cursor-following snap areas, per-app memory and more layouts in the paid app
Open source core
Source available on GitHub, installable via Homebrew or direct download
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Rectangle really free?
Yes. The core app is free and open source with no feature gating or trial period.
What does Rectangle Pro add?
Cursor-following snap areas, per-app window size memory and some additional layouts, sold as a separate one-time purchase app.
How is it different from Magnet?
Rectangle is free and open source; Magnet is a paid Mac App Store app from the start with no free tier.
Keep looking
Where to go from Rectangle
- Rectangle alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Rectangle pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Rectangle badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Utilities softwareThe full category
- Best Utilities softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Utilities software for
Compare Rectangle with
- Magnet
- BetterTouchTool
- Karabiner-Elements
- Kap
- Maccy
- Shottr
- CleanShot X
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- Hazel
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- PeaZip
- Rclone
- Sedaru
- AutoHotkey
- CrystalDiskInfo
- Magnet
- Hazel
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Rectangle, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Rectangle
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Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Rectangle
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