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 old Macintosh software.

Digital audio workstations

 * Ableton Live
 * Ardour
 * Cubase
 * Digital Performer
 * GarageBand
 * Logic Pro and MainStage
 * REAPER
 * Reason
 * Renoise
 * Steinberg 2019 Mac Pro

Audio editing

 * Audacity – digital audio editor

DJing

 * djay – digital music mixing software
 * Mixxx – DJ mix software

Notation software

 * Impro-Visor
 * Finale
 * LilyPond
 * Overture

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
 * 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

Active

 * Adium – multi-protocol IM client
 * aMSN – free Windows Live Messenger clone
 * ChitChat – open-source IM client supporting the Yahoo! Messenger protocol
 * Colloquy – freeware advanced IRC and SILC client
 * Discord – IM and VoIP social platform
 * Fire – open source, multiprotocol IM client
 * FaceTime – videoconferencing between Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
 * iMessage – instant messaging between Mac, and iDevices
 * Ircle – IRC client (shareware)
 * Irssi – IrssiX and MacIrssi
 * Kopete – free multi-protocol IM client
 * LiveChat – online customer service software
 * Microsoft Messenger for Mac – cross-paltform IM client
 * Microsoft Teams – team collaboration application
 * Palringo
 * Psi (instant messenger) – free IM client for the XMPP protocol
 * Skype – telecommunications application supporting IM and VoIP-based videotelephony
 * Snak – IRC client (shareware)
 * Ventrilo – audio chatroom application
 * Yahoo! Messenger – IM client, also supporting VoIP, file transfers and webcam hosting
 * Telegram – cross-platform, encrypted IM client

Discontinued

 * AOL Instant Messenger – discontinued as of December 15, 2017
 * HexChat – IRC client, discontinued as of February 9, 2024

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
 * Dylan
 * 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 Pascal
 * C++ (high-level programming langlauge)
 * 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
 * PHP
 * Python
 * 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
 * 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 clients

 * Apple Mail – the bundled email client
 * Claris Emailer – classic Mac OS only, no longer available
 * 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
 * Opera Mail
 * 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

CAD, 3D graphics

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

Distributed document authoring

 * Adobe Acrobat
 * Preview

Icon editors, viewers

 * Icon Composer – part of Apple Developer Tools
 * IconBuilder
 * Microsoft Office

Active

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

Discontinued

 * iPhoto – discontinued photo management application

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 Fireworks – supports GIF animation
 * 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
 * EazyDraw – vector graphics editor; versions available that can convert old formats such as MacDraw files
 * Fontographer
 * GIMP – free bitmap graphics editor
 * GIMPShop – free open source cross-platform bitmap graphics editor
 * GraphicConverter – displays and edits raster graphics files
 * Inkscape – free vector graphics editor
 * Luminar
 * Macromedia FreeHand – vector graphics editor
 * 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
 * Seashore – open source, based around the GIMP's technology, but with native macOS (Cocoa) UI

Discontinued

 * Aperture – Apple's pro photo management, editing, publishing application
 * MacPaint – painting software by Apple (discontinued)

Integrated software technologies

 * 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

 * Fityk
 * Grapher
 * Maple (software)
 * Mathematica
 * MATLAB
 * MathMagic
 * Octave (software) – open source
 * R (programming language)
 * Sysquake
 * SciLab – open source

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
 * 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

 * FreeMind
 * Mindjet
 * OmniOutliner
 * OmniGraffle
 * XMind

Peer-to-peer file sharing

 * aMule
 * BitTorrent client
 * FrostWire
 * LimeWire
 * Poisoned
 * rTorrent
 * Transmission (BitTorrent)
 * μTorrent
 * Vuze – Bittorrent client, was Azureus

Science

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

Text editors

 * ACE
 * BBEdit
 * BBEdit Lite
 * Coda
 * Emacs
 * jEdit
 * iA Writer
 * Komodo Edit
 * Nano
 * SimpleText
 * Smultron
 * SubEthaEdit
 * TeachText
 * TextEdit
 * TextMate
 * TextWrangler
 * vim
 * XEmacs
 * Ulysses

Utilities

 * Activity Monitor – default system monitor for hardware and 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)
 * 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
 * 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, 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

 * 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

 * ecto
 * MarsEdit