Software Alternatives & Reviews

yabai VS Rectangle

Compare yabai VS Rectangle and see what are their differences

yabai logo yabai

A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning

Rectangle logo Rectangle

Window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.
  • yabai Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-26
  • Rectangle Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-20

yabai videos

Yabai Demonstration

More videos:

  • Demo - yabai macOS Tiling Window Manager Demonstration

Rectangle videos

SKYWALKER RECTANGLE TRAMPOLINE REVIEW!!!

More videos:

  • Review - Skywalker Rectangle Trampoline Review #1
  • Review - Marvin Malton 160 Rectangle Flying Hour Watch Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to yabai and Rectangle)
Window Manager
35 35%
65% 65
Mac Tools
18 18%
82% 82
OSX Tools
34 34%
66% 66
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using yabai and Rectangle. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare yabai and Rectangle

yabai Reviews

We have no reviews of yabai yet.
Be the first one to post

Rectangle Reviews

Best 6 Mac Window Managers
Rectangle shows that you don’t need to dip into your bank account to get window resizer tools. This free Mac window manager lets you manage multiple windows using keyboard shortcuts, menu options, or by dragging and dropping. Just like Magnet, you can split your screen up into quarters, thirds, or halves.
Source: mackeeper.com
Top 6 Window Manager Apps for Mac
Most window manager apps for Mac support multiple monitors. They can help you move windows between screens and create custom layouts for each monitor. Many window manager apps – such as BetterSnapTool, Magnet, and Rectangle – offer this functionality.
The 6 Best Mac Window Management Tools
However, it might take some time for you to get used to the shortcuts in the Rectangle app since there are many. Furthermore, you can also add some of your apps to exceptions if you want to keep them away from Rectangle's shortcuts.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Rectangle should be more popular than yabai. It has been mentiond 447 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

yabai mentions (132)

  • Ask HN: Best Hacks for a Ultrawide Monitor?
    I have a 49 inch CRG9 and the best recommendation for window management is Yabai (https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai). Yabai is a greedy window management solution that tries to fit opened applications in given space and skhd let's you easily jump between those using keyboard shortcuts. This has massively improved my ultrawide experience. Only disclaimer is, configuring yabai has a slight learning curve. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Is there an app that does this Windows feature?
    Want something free that's better than tiling on Windows? Yabai. Source: 5 months ago
  • macOS Containers v0.0.1
    SIP is a feature that protects you from malicious actors with root (admin) access on your device. After they've encrypted your photos and drives and changed your passwords, it prevents them from making your machine unbootable by deleting or altering system binaries. As a side effect of this protection, you give up certain freedoms to customize your system. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
    This is disproven by the fact that Yabai [1] can instantly swap spaces with SIP disabled. [1] https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Ask HN: Why does Apple refuse to add window snapping to macOS?
    I feel the same way. I would much prefer no animation at all, and an instant transition to another space. Apparently this is possible with [yabai](https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai), but it requires disabling system integrity protection which I am personally uncomfortable with. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
View more

Rectangle mentions (447)

  • Updating My Mac Window Shortcuts Strategy for Optimal Workflow
    Rectangle’s installation is incredibly straightforward. Its immediate out-of-the-box functionality was a pleasant surprise. For anyone seeking to reduce the friction of window management on their Mac, Rectangle is a solution I wholeheartedly recommend. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • How I stay (more) focused with ADHD
    Tip: I use Rectangle app to set up keyboard shortcuts to resize windows (I only have three shortcuts there: left/right half of the screen and full screen). - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best Hacks for a Ultrawide Monitor?
    If you are using MacOS, I recommend these 2 apps 1. "Rectangle" for window management https://rectangleapp.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Working in the Vision Pro [video]
    Use tiling window manager + one large or ultrawidescreen monitor. If you have Mac, rectangle is good free software (https://rectangleapp.com/). - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers
    But Raycast also has some functionality in that direction. [1] - https://rectangleapp.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing yabai and Rectangle, you can also consider the following products

Magnet Window Manager - Magnet Developers

Moom - Move your mouse over the green zoom button in any window, and Moom's mouse control overlay will appear (as seen in the above animation).

Mizage Divvy - Divvy is an entirely new way of managing your workspace.

BTT Remote - A remote control for you Mac, using your iPhone or iPad

AppCleaner - AppCleaner is a small application which allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps. Installing an application distributes many files throughout your System using space of your Hard Drive unnecessarily.

i3 - A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.