On this website, I have covered a ton of paid apps, and that’s because in general, paid apps tend to offer more when compared to free apps. However, that does not mean that there are no good free apps out there. In fact, there are a ton of them. That’s why it is going to be a long article as I am bringing a list of 35 best free apps you can get for your Mac right now. Some of the apps on this list are evergreen and you most probably already have them installed on your device. But some of them are entirely new. Well, at least they are new to me and that’s the beauty of it. No matter, how old an app is, it is new for somebody out there. That said, no matter how avid a Mac user you are, I can bet that you will find new Mac apps in this article that you have never heard of before. So, open your Macs and get ready to download these awesome free Mac apps.

Note: Be sure to read our must-have iPhone apps article to get the best apps for your iPhone in 2020.

• Apr 01, 2020  There are several terrific writing apps available on the Mac App Store for focused writing. But if you don’t want to shell out the cash just yet, try one of these free tools for capturing your articles, stories, or essays. Writing with a distraction-free tool allows you to concentrate on what’s most important, your words.
• Oct 05, 2018  Writing on a budget? Here's a rundown of the 5 best free writing apps for Mac. Whether you write on a MacBook, Mac desktop, or even an iPad, there's an app for you.

Best Free Mac Apps You Should Install in 2020

Dec 23, 2019  While the following free Mac typing apps are geared towards children using fun themes, colors, and characters, adults can benefit from the too! The best free iPhone and iPad apps for learning cursive writing; The best free time trackers for Mac to log the hours you work; Newsletter. Get updates directly into your inbox.

While most of the apps in this list are free, some of them offer a paid option. That being said, when it comes to paid apps, I have only included those options that offer a generous free tier. I am using free versions of all the apps (that offer paid options) and find them suitable for most users. No app with a free trial or heavily restricted free tier has been included.

1. Audiobook Binder

While you can listen to books in MP3 format, I like the M4B format more as it supports chapters. M4B is also the native format that Apple Books support. If you want to keep your music library separate from the book library, this is the format to use. Audiobook Binder is an app that lets you convert MP3 files into M4B files. It also lets you bind multiple MP3 files into a single M4B file and converts those MP3 files into chapters. You can also add custom book cover and edit book’s metadata including name, author, and narrator. I have been using this app for the past year and a half to listen to public domain audiobooks and lectures and it has never failed me.

Install:Free

2. LastPass

Password management is something people ignore. Since passwords are hard to remember and most third-party password managers charge a hefty monthly subscription fee, not everyone is aboard the strong and different password train. To those users, I suggest LastPass. LastPass offers a very generous free tier that allows you to use the software on two different machines. And if you want to use it on more, you can always use its web app that works everywhere. I have been using LastPass for the past two years to manage my passwords and I never had any problem.

Its apps are installed on my primary MacBook Pro (learn MacBook Pro tips and tricks) and my iPhone. Since it supports browser plugins and iPhone’s automatic password fill feature, I never have to type my password or remember them. All my passwords are secure, long, and use an alpha-numeric combination. If you are still using the same password everywhere or setting weak passwords, try out LastPass. It’s free for personal use and you have no excuses not to use it. Its one of the best free Mac apps that you can get.

Install:Free, $3/user/month

3. Brave

While I love Safari and use it for most of my tasks, it’s not perfect and I have to turn to other browsers from time to time. My biggest problem with Safari is its nescient extension library. Safari is also slow to adopt the latest web technologies. I know Apple does this to keep browsing private and secure, but sometimes it causes hindrance in my work. For a long time, I was using Chrome for this work but I hated two things about it. First, Google Chrome is a resource hog and decreases battery life, causes overheating, and several other problems. Second and more importantly, I don’t like sharing my data with Google more than I already do. It was one of the reasons why I switch from Android to iOS several years back.

The solution is the Brave browser. It’s a browser that is built on the same Chromium engine that Google Chrome uses, so you are getting all the features and extension support. But, since the creators focus on privacy, your data is always secure. It brings an automatic tracking blocker and even blocks most of the annoying ads. Since it blocks the most harmful scripts, you get to enjoy a faster internet. Also, in my testing, it’s far better than Google Chrome at handling resources. While it’s not as good as Safari, that’s a trade-off that I am ready to make. If you are also looking for a good Chrome alternative, you should try using the Brave browser.

Install:Free

4. CopyClip

CopyClip is a Mac utility that stores everything you copy in a clipboard. Copy-and-paste is so integral to our work that we cannot even imagine a time when this feature was not available. Still, Mac’s clipboard is probably the most neglected feature in the macOS. Even after so decades, you still cannot hold more than one entry in your clipboard. Enter, CopyClip. It’s a clipboard manager that saves entries into the clipboard. You can use a simple keyboard shortcut to easily copy any item and paste them anywhere you want. CopyClip not only saves text input but also preserves images and documents. While I use “Paste” for my clipboard management as it offers more features, for a free app, CopyClip works exceptionally well.

Install:Free

5. BBEdit

For a long time, it was hard to recommend a good free text editor on Mac. All the good ones were paid, and the free ones were just not up to the mark. Well, after a long hiatus, BBEdit, one of the most exemplary text editors, is back on the Mac App Store. For the past 20 years, BBEdit has been the text editor to beat and now that it’s back on the App Store with a freemium model, you can use it for free. Only the advanced features of BBEdit are hidden behind a paywall and 90% of regular users will not need those features.

Whether you want to write a long blog post, edit snippets of code, design website or web apps, BBEdit is the text editor to use. The best thing about BBEdit is how fast it works. It opens text files with hundreds of thousands of words in seconds and never falters. In my years of using this app, I have not lost even a single line of text. It has a powerful search that lets you locate and find keywords across files. There’s no free text editor out there that can match its prowess.

Install:Free, $49.99

6. NetNewsWire

The death of Google Reader placed a dark cloud over the future of RSS readers. But, if anything, RSS is showing a sign of resurgence in the past year or so. From the launch of acclaimed RSS reader app Reeder 4 to the rebirth of NetNewsWire, RSS readers are becoming popular again. And if you are looking to create a personal news feed, there’s no better app to do it with than NetNewsWire. Built on-top of free and open source reader named Evergreen, NetNewsWire is an excellent feed reader for Mac.

The app makes it easy to subscribe to RSS feeds and brings excellent search capabilities. It also brings a beautiful design and I adore its dark mode. It also supports online feed syncing services such as Feedbin. I still prefer Reeder 4 as it brings more features, but seeing how NetNewsWire is still young and free to use, I cannot fault it. If you are looking for a free RSS reader, you should try NetNewsWire.

Install:Free

7. DaVinci Resolve

While Macs come with a basic video editor for free (iMovie), anyone who is serious about video editing will have to go for the pro video editing apps. The problem with apps like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro is that they cost a lot. If you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars, and still want to use a full-fledged video editor, DaVinci Resolve is the best option for you. Even when I am writing this, I cannot believe that such a capable video editor is free to use.

The latest version of the software, DaVinci Resolve 16 combines professional 8K editing, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production all in one software tool. Color correction tools of DaVinci Resolve are better than most paid video editors including FCP and Premiere Pro. From custom timeline settings to facial recognition to keyframe editing, it brings all features that you require from a professional video editor. It is one of the best free Mac software that you can install. Free Mac apps don’t get better than this.

Install:Free

8. Folx

Folx is a powerful native download manager for Mac that not only works great but also looks cool. It features a true Mac-style interface and supports both direct and torrent downloads. The app also offers extensions for Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox. The extensions help Folx in catching downloads and thus ensure that you are not using the crappy download manager of your browser. Folx can split downloads into multiple threads resulting in faster downloads and also support download pause and restart. The free version of the app is enough for most users. I was using it for years without any complaints. I only bought the paid version to support the developers. The extra features are nice to have but they have not drastically affected by usage.

Install:Free, $19.99

9. NightOwl

macOS Mojave introduced dark mode to our favorite desktop operating system. The dark mode on macOS Mojave is not half-cooked as it is on windows. When you turn on the dark mode on your Mac, not only it turns the system UI but also the stock apps. Not only that, apps that support automatic dark mode also adhere to the same guideline. Once you turn it on, they automatically default to dark mode.

While that's great in most situation, I wish Apple included a way to create a whitelist for apps that are not functional in dark mode. The default Mail app and the Evernote app are a few examples of an app that still work best in light mode. That's where NightOwl comes in. It's a menu bar app that allows you to create a whitelist of apps that you don't want to use in dark mode. Not only that, but it also allows you to quickly switch between dark and light mode with a simple click at its icon. You can read more about the app in our article here. The app is completely free to download and use with a voluntary donation.

Install:NightOwl

10. Unsplash Wallpapers

I want to start this article with an app which I have discovered just a couple of months back and have fallen in love. As its name suggests, Unsplash Wallpapers is a wallpaper app for Mac which gives you access to unlimited ultra-high resolution wallpapers for your Macs. One of the things that I love most about MacBooks is its display. Apple packs phenomenal displays on the Macs. Stop me if it’s just me, but I enjoy changing the wallpapers on a regular basis just because they look so damn beautiful on my Mac’s display.

Before I discovered Unsplash Wallpapers, it used to be a chore to change wallpapers. First, I had to find good wallpapers, then I had to download them, and only then I could use them. With Unsplash Wallpapers app, you can change the wallpaper just with one click. If you like a wallpaper, you can even download it. If you love wallpapers, you are going to love this free Mac app.

Install:Unsplash Wallpapers

11. The Unarchiver

This is one of the first free Mac apps that I download whenever I move on to a new Mac. The app is basically the best unarchiving app you can get for your Mac, free or otherwise. The Unarchiver cannot only unarchive common formats such as Zip, RAR (including v5), 7-zip, Tar, Gzip, and Bzip2, but it can also open formats such as StuffIt, DiskDoubler, LZH, ARJ, ARC, ISO and BIN disc images, Windows.EXE installers and more. Basically, it’s a one-stop solution for all your unarchiving needs.

Install:The Unarchiver

12. Amphetamine

We all know that Macs bring a long battery life and while some of it has to do with Apple’s excellent hardware, most of it is because of how macOS efficiently manages battery. One of the things that macOS does to preserve the battery life on your computer is to put it to sleep whenever you don’t interact with your Mac for a set period of time. While this is really good, sometimes you need to keep your Mac running even if you are not interacting with it. One of the examples that come to mind is when you are downloading a large file. If your Mac falls asleep during the download, it will stop it, and depending on the software that you are using to download the file, you might have to restart the download from the beginning.

Amphetamine solves this problem by allowing users to keep their Macs awake even when they are not doing anything. The app is powerful and allows users to keep their Macs awake for how much ever long they want. Not only that, users can also set triggers to keep their Macs awake. For example, you can tell Amphetamine to not put your Mac to sleep whenever a certain app is running. Lastly, it allows you to easily access all these features as it lives right there in your Mac’s menu bar. It’s one of the most useful apps for Macs and I love it.

Install:Amphetamine

13. GIPHY Capture

Gifs are all the rage today. More and more users are creating and sharing their own gifs. And if you want to be one of them then this is the tool you need. GIPHY Capture is an app that lets you capture and create gifs. Once you launch the app it will create a translucent green window with a capture button at the bottom. All you need to do is to drop the window on top of the video you want to capture and click on the capture button. Once you are done with the recording, click on the record button again to stop the recording. It is probably the easiest way to create gifs on your Mac.

Install:GIPHY Capture

14. Spectacle

Spectacle is one of the apps that I install instantly on a new Mac. Macs are good at many things but one thing that still eludes it is a good window management feature. Apple has not solved the window management problem in the latest macOS Catalina so I guess, we have to wait for one more year. In fact, the window management problem has become even worse in macOS Catalina in my opinion. If you are also fed up of Apple's native approach towards window management, you should Install Spectacle.

This is a simple menu bar app that allows you to easily resize and place windows with keyboard commands. I can easily set a window to either half of the display both vertically and horizontally, make it go full screen, snap it to the center, and more. Once you install this app, your window management workflow will become ten times faster.

Install:Spectacle

15. ImageOptim

ImageOptim is one of the most used free Mac apps on my MacBook Pro. In my line of work, I have to attach a ton of screenshots (like in this article). And before I upload any picture on my website, I pass it through ImageOptim. The app deletes all the unnecessary metadata such as GPS position and camera's serial number and compresses the image. This allows me to upload the image on the web without any privacy hazards and ensures that the file sizes are low.

The app is pretty easy to use. You just drag and drop images into its window and then click on the button at the bottom-right corner. If you share a ton of images on the web (whether on your blog or social media websites like Twitter and Facebook), it will be good for you to pass it through ImageOptim first. I have used paid image compression apps but nothing has been as good and as easy to use as ImageOptim.

Install:ImageOptim

16. Alfred 4

Alfred is an all-purpose tool for your Mac which can boost your productivity ten folds if you learn how to use it. Of course, there’s a learning curve to this app, but if you invest in it, it will pay you back. Alfred allows you to quickly launch apps, use text expansion snippets, search on the Mac and web, use hotkeys and keywords, and much more. Alfred used to be a paid app, but the developers were kind enough to release the app for free. There are add-on power packs that you can buy, to use cool features like Alfred workflows. But, for most normal users, the free app itself is enough to boost their productivity.

Install:Alfred 4

17. Pocket

Pocket is a popular read it later service which allows you to save articles offline so that you can read them later. I mostly browse for articles on my Mac and whenever I find something that I would want to read, I just save it in Pocket. Pocket has an excellent Safari extension that allows me to save articles and read them later. Since Pocket syncs across devices, all my saved articles are automatically synced to my iPhone where I can read them at my will. Recently, I have also started using Pocket as a research tool. Since Pocket allows me to organize saved articles using tags, I just tag the items I am using for research so that I can find them easily later.

Install:Pocket

18. Spark

Spark is my most favorite free app on Mac. For those who don’t know, Spark is an email client for Mac. I love spark because it intelligently categorizes all the emails that I receive into different categories, giving me access to the most important emails first. It also has a very robust set of features. I can easily snooze, archive, delete, and tag emails. I also love the fact that it allows me easily search for emails using natural language search. I can also search for emails based on attachments, and more. Lastly, Spark also has apps for both iOS and watchOS so no matter which device I am on, I can user Sparks to get through all my emails.

Install:Spark

19. GIMP

GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program is an open source photo editor for Mac which packs so many features that you won’t be able to discover all of them in your lifetime. It is basically Photoshop but free. You can use GIMP to perform any kind of image manipulation that you can think of. That said, since it packs so many features, GIMP also has a pretty steep learning curve. Also, being a free an open-source project, its user interface is not very intuitive and feels archaic. That’s why I recommend GIMP only to those users who need a robust photo editing software but cannot afford to buy one.

Install:GIMP

20. DarkTable

As per the description of the app on its website, 'DarkTable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer. A virtual light-table and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable light-table, and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them'.

Basically, it is super powerful photo editing app for Mac that allows you to use pro-level photo editing features for free. You are required to learn the app as it has a steep learning curve but once you get used to it, you won't go back to even the best-paid photo editing apps on the market. This one is definitely one of the free Mac apps that you can download in 2019.

Install:DarkTable

21. Simplenote

Simplenote is one of the best designed free Mac apps you can find. As its name suggests, Simplenote is an easy note taking app which allows you to easily jot down notes. What I love about this app is that even though it is completely free, your notes are synced across devices. Apart from its online sync features, I am also a fan of its clean user interface. Simplenote is also a really good app for someone who is looking for a clean app to write long-form content. You can use tags to organize notes easily and search for them using either their title, content, or tags. I have been using this app for quite a few years and I still don’t understand how it’s free. If you love writing, you will love Simplenote.

Install:Simplenote

22. Itsycal

Itsycal is an open source small menu bar calendar application for Mac. If you like Fantastical 2 for Mac, but hate that it’s priced so high, Itsycal is for you. Although Itsycal is nowhere as powerful as Fantastical 2, it brings all the basic features that you would want from a menu bar based calendar app. It shows you month view of your calendar, your upcoming events, and also allows you to create or delete events. I also love the fact that I can configure Itsycal to show not only the date but also the month and the day in the menu bar icon itself. It’s a good menu bar application and a must have for anyone who schedules everything on their calendar.

Install:Itsycal

23. Audacity

Audacity is one of those free Mac apps that is even better than most of the paid apps out there. For those who don’t know, Audacity is an audio editor app for your Mac (available for Windows PC too). If you are someone who deals with a ton of audio, you must have already heard about this software. If you have not, you probably don’t need it. Still, it’s such a good app that I couldn’t keep it away from the list. Just remember that if you ever need to edit an audio file to make it better, Audacity is the tool to do it.

Install:Audacity

24. Lightworks

Lightworks is a full-fledged video editing app which gives you access to all the tools that you will need to get your video editing on. To be fair, Lightworks also sell a Pro version of the app, however, the free version is powerful enough to handle most of the tasks. Whether you are a budding YouTuber or someone who just want to give an edge to their homemade videos, Lightworks is the right tool for you. What I love most about this app is that the website gives you ample tutorial videos to get you started. If by any chance you were looking for a free video editing software, look no further and download Lightworks.

Install:Lightworks

25. HiddenMe

HiddenMe is a small menu bar app which comes in very handy at times when you want to show a clean desktop without having to organize your stuff. The app lives in your menu bar and allows you to do one thing and one thing only, and that’s hiding everything on your desktop. With a click of the button, everything that’s on your desktop is hidden, giving you access to a clean desktop. I constantly use this app whenever I am giving a presentation or taking screenshots of my desktop for an article. This small application has saved me from embarrassing myself a number of times and it can do that for you too.

Install:HiddenMe

26. AppCleaner

Do you know that whenever you delete an app on your Mac, it leaves behind a ton of residual files which does nothing but eating up storage on your Mac? Well, it’s true and if you install and uninstall a ton of apps, you might have lost gigabytes of storage already. While there’s another app on this list which (Onyx) which can help you recover that storage, AppCleaner is an app which makes sure that the apps you delete don’t leave any residual files. Just launch the app and drag and drop the apps that you want to uninstall and it will take care of the rest. It is a must-have utility tool for any Mac user who wants to keep their Mac clean.

Install:AppCleaner

27. LiteIcon

LiteIcon is the app from the same developers who made the AppCleaner. It is a simple app which allows you to change your system icons quickly and easily. Simply drag an icon onto the one you want to change, and click the Apply Changes button. That's all you need to do. If you want your older icon back, just drag out the new icon. If you like to customize how your icons look on Mac, try out LiteIcon.

Install:LiteIcon

28. GrandPerspective

I have written about GrandPerspective a couple of times on this website and you might be familiar with it by now. For those who are new to our website, it’s an app which allows you to visualize storage on your Mac. Using GrandPerspective you can easily find out which files are using how much storage and find and delete the files which are not necessary. GrandPerspective is a very nice app for anyone who doesn’t have any idea as to where all his/her Mac’s storage went.

Install:GrandPerspective

29. Manuscript

Manuscript is a free Mac writing app for students which makes writing school assignments including dissertation easier. Manuscript is a powerful writing app which allows students to complete their assignments right from the planning stage to completing it. It lets students easily insert citations, figures, tables, mathematical equations, and more. The app also allows for importation of citations from various tools including Mendeley, Zotero, Papers 3, Bookends, and EndNote. If you are a student who is looking for a good writing app, you don’t have to look any farther than Manuscript.

Install:Manuscript

30. IINA

IINA is an open-source video player for your Mac which offers one of the best amalgamations of features and user interface. The app looks extremely beautiful and supports all the modern features including force touch, picture-in-picture, and even offers Touch-bar controls for the latest MacBook Pros. IINA also supports almost all the video formats that you can think of, including the ability to play even GIFs. The app also comes with theming capabilities allowing you to use either light or dark themes. I have discovered this app just a few weeks back and I am already in love with it. If you consume a ton of media on your MacBook Pro, this is the right app for you.

Install:IINA

31. OnyX

OnyX is your one-stop solution for all your Mac’s maintenance needs. In fact, I cannot describe the app better and more succinctly than what’s written on its website. OnyX is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the structure of the system files, to run miscellaneous maintenance and cleaning tasks, to configure parameters in the Finder, Dock, Safari, and some of Apple's applications, to delete caches, to remove certain problematic folders and files, to rebuild various databases and indexes, and more. However, do remember that it is an advanced tool and hence before you do anything, make sure that you get familiar with the app as you don’t want to delete files which can corrupt your entire system.

Install:Onyx

Free Apps For Writing On Mac Computer

32. SpotMenu

The last app on our list the SpotMenu app which is a nifty little menu bar application. The app basically allows you to control your iTunes and Spotify music player from the menu bar giving you access to controls such as play, pause, forward, and rewind. It’s a pretty basic application, however, it does come in handy. One thing that I like about the app is that it shows the name of the song that is currently playing right on your Mac’s menu bar. When you click on the icon, the drop-down window which harbors all the features also showcase the album art of the song that you are playing.

Install:SpotMenu

33. White Noise Lite

White Noise Lite is an app that helps you sleep better. If you are a light sleeper who wakes up multiple times in the night without any apparent reason then this app can help you sleep better. It brings fifty different HD quality ambient environment noises to help you sleep. The app brings a beautiful cover flow design which lets you easily swipe between cards to select different tasks. Although the app markets itself as a sleep enhancer, I mostly use to provide background music when I am working as it helps me concentrate. You should download this app right now and see if it helps you sleep better or work better. Whatever the result, you will be better off with this one in your arsenal.

Install:White Noise Lite

34. Shazam

Shazam is an app that needs no introduction. The app helps you discover songs by identifying whatever song is playing in the background. I personally use Shazam more as a tool to keep the list of songs that I have discovered. Suppose I am listening to a song and YouTube and want to save it. I just click on the menu bar icon of Shazam and it identifies the song and saves it on the list. I don't have to write it down anywhere. Later I can see the list and add to my Apple Music Playlist at my convenience. Shazam is a great app for discovering and keeping track of music that you like.

Install:Shazam

35. Muzzy

You know how when you accidentally yank headphones out of your iPhone, the music suddenly stops, well, Muzzy brings that functionality to your Mac. The app also does a lot of other things like allowing users to play, pause, and change the music from its menu bar app, integrates with Last.fm, shows songs lyrics, and more. However, I don’t care for any other features and I just use this app to stop music whenever I accidentally yank my headphones out. Sadly, the app only works if you are playing music through iTunes.

Install:Muzzy

Best Free macOS Apps: Final Thoughts

I hope that you found some apps which are useful to you. Do let me know which of these were your favorite and which ones you discovered. Also, if you know free apps that deserve to be on the list but aren’t, drop their names in the comments section. That’s all I have for this article. If you liked this article, share this on your social media profiles because we need your help to get the word out. As always, drop your opinions and suggestions in the comments section down below. We love to hear from our readers and your comments are always welcome.

Utility • Aug.6, 2019

We write on computers. Computers have the Internet. Internet is an infinite pool of information and entertainment.

Once we sit down to write, hundreds of distractions including Facebook and social media notifications, news, weather alerts, and videos constantly scream for our attention, even if for one second. If we get tempted to look, that second turns into a minute, and then into an hour as we switch tabs, watch cat videos that never stop scrolling our feed, and get lost in the world of social media. When we try to brave these interruptions to get back to our writing, a tiny box pops up in a corner of our computer to inform us that XYZ bought a ticket to the Disney and is feeling happy.

Why don’t we switch off the Internet to write without getting interfered?

Writers, bloggers, and content creators need the web while writing to research the topic or to delve into language. But even if they disconnect from the Internet, various tabs and toolbars of traditional writing software distract them.

Quick navigation

Traditional writing software such as Pages and Microsoft Word aren’t enough.

The most popular writing software — Pages (for iOS) and Microsoft Word — are losing their hold on creators for the market offers smarter writing applications now.

With these new distraction-free writing software, a writer can

Free Apps For Writing On Mac Download

• switch to focused or typewriter mode
• format her writing with markdown editors
• design the outline of her novel and big projects
• preview the writing in pdf form

— while never leaving the keyboard.

Pages and Microsoft Word lack all these above-mentioned capabilities thus forcing writers to find their best writing applications elsewhere.

Writing distraction-free is hard.

To help you write with no interruptions, we analyzed countless writing tools to come up with a list of the best writing applications.

Our favorite editor so far is Ulysses. Ulysses’s sophisticated features, slick interface, and an in-depth user manual for a really affordable price make it stand way ahead than other writing tools. iA Writer comes close to Ulysses in terms of a simple writing interface and has a rich markdown editor, but iA Writer isn’t as capable as Ulysses in terms of advanced features.

We have also provided a list of the deserving competitors of Ulysses and iA Writer. You can compare the most distinguishing features of these apps along their pricing to see which writing application fits you the best.

Let us go through these winner distraction-free writing apps one by one.

Our favorite app to write ‘Distraction-Free’: Ulysses

($4.99 USD per month subscription. Support Macs, iPads and iPhones.)

Ulysses is a simple markdown editor for focused writing. Along with basic edit features that standard writing software come with, Ulysses is a bundle of advanced features for all kinds of writers — while never making them compromise on their creative focus.

Let us go into the setup and features of Ulysses in detail.

Setting up and using Ulysses

Once you install Ulysses on your Mac, the application gives a simple to follow introduction guide on how to make the best of the app. The Library pane on the left side provides a rich user manual with easy to follow instructions while you are writing.

The interface

Ulysses’s interface is user-friendly and is meant for the most non-technical writers.

On the left sidebar, you can find the Library, Introduction to Ulysses, and Inbox — where you can see all your files.

Once you have read through the First Steps of the introduction guide, you can create content right away by clicking on the editor (the pen symbol).

All the documents or in Ulysses’s language — the sheets — that you create go under your Inbox which is uploaded on iCloud, without you having to change any settings. Download Ulysses on your iPhone and iPad and enable iCloud so that you can access all your documents while you are on the go. Ulysses will keep your work synchronized across your devices.

On the top right of the interface, you have the export and publish options, Statistics such as word count on your writing, markup options, and attachments. Click on any one of the choices to edit or add to your writing.

Getting distracted by the various options and just want to write? You can just switch to the typewriter mode in full screen. You can also choose between a dark or light theme to set your environment as per your convenience.

How much simpler can a writing interface get?

Now as we know how to set up and get started with Ulysses, let’s explore the advanced features of Ulysses in detail.

Focus and productivity

Ulysses offers a typewriter mode for focused writing. In this mode, Ulysses only shows you the editor window and hides all the other tabs. While writing in focused mode, you can highlight the current line, a sentence, or an entire paragraph. This way you only need to focus on what you are typing at the moment.

If you wish to edit two documents at the same time, Ulysses provides a double editor. You can use the double editor even in the highlight mode so that you don’t get distracted.

There is a minor flaw here. If you had chosen to display Library from the view menu, even when you go in the typewriter mode, the Library panel displays on the left. To make it go away, you will have to manually deselect Library from the View options.

Ulysses also has an inbuilt Markup Editor. Using Ulysses’s native markup language ‘Markdown XL,’ you can format your writing without ever leaving the keyboard. By using dashes, numbers, and command shortcuts, you can add lists, make a sentence bold, add images and quotes, and mark text for deletion — all with keyboard shortcuts.

During our testing, we used the Markdown XL to write richly formatted texts with just the keyboard shortcuts. What would be a better way to minimize distractions than never touching the mouse?

To maximize productivity, you can even create goals with Ulysses. While tracking goals within Ulysses, you can track your writing progress and stay on schedule — without using any other application.

After thorough testing of Ulysses’s interface, we conclude that Ulysses’s typewriter mode is one of the best digital typewriters in the market.

Organization and management

The job of a writer not only involves writing, but writers also need to organize their work well. Ulysses provides filters and groups to classify similar sets of writing together.

If you have draft blog posts, you can put them under a group. If you are writing characters of a novel? You can can right-click on the group , select ‘New Filter’, and then add the characters under a new filter ‘character.’

Even within a document, you can insert bookmarks to return to the same paragraph later and edit.

Ulysses is meant for a multi-genre writer without having the writer remember what goes where.

Synchronization across devices

Ulysses keep your documents synchronized amongst iPad, iPhone, and Mac. With Ulysses’s perfect synchronization, you don’t have to wait to access the device you last edited your document on.

Ulysses acknowledges that writing ideas occur sporadically and provides a well-integrated environment across devices to write tension-free.

Ulysses even takes a failsafe automatic backup of your entire library on the local hard drive. Even if iCloud gets full or a system update deletes folders, you never lose work.

Export & sharing

Unlike the standard software like Microsoft Word and Pages, you can live preview your document in Ulysses. Whether you need your work as a pdf report or a html file, you can select the preview option from the top-right corner of the screen to see how the document looks.

If everything looks perfect, you can export the document to five formats: Text, html, EPub, PDF, and docs. Or you can even publish the file to Ghost, Medium, and WordPress with Ulysses’s Publishing feature.

Like traditional editors, Ulysses provides word, character, space, and paragraph count. But the impressive feature of Ulysses is that you can even see the time taken to read the document with slow, fast, average, speeds or while speaking it aloud.

This feature is gaining popularity for many publications only accept writing under a specified reading time.

With preview and statistics, you can finalize any writing piece within Ulysses. Then export or publish from within Ulysses to continue writing without getting distracted by the world of the internet.

Apart from these advanced features that can make any writer’s life easy, Ulysses offers Intelligent search, various themes and the option to create your own writing environment, a support of more than ten languages, and much more.

A minor disadvantage of Ulysses is that you might take a bit of a time to get used to the advanced interface of the app, like other writing applications. But once you understand how the shortcuts and full-screen mode works, Ulysses keeps you safe from all distractions.

While testing Ulysses, we have become a life-time fan of Ulysses for the app offers everything that a focused writer wishes for.

But how much do we have to pay for this brilliant writing app?

Availability and pricing

Ulysses has a free trial which you can use to test the software before shifting to a fully-paid environment. Ulysses’s subscription costs $4.99 for a month or $39.99 yearly (3.33 per month) — in the US. You may also get Ulysses from Setapp.

With extensive features and a simple writing interface — while not forgetting the price you pay — Ulysses is by far the best writing application present on Mac and iOS. For the sophisticated features, Ulysses isn’t costly and also offers a special discount to students.

Also great: iA Writer

($29.99 USD one-time purchase. Support Macs, iOS, Android and Windows)

iA Writer is an advanced, markdown text editor for all writers. With a no-nonsense editing interface, iA Writer lets you do what you do the best — write.

iA Writer has a typewriter and focused mode to write distraction-free. You can highlight the current sentence or paragraph in iA Writer similar to Ulysses.

iA Writer’s full-screen mode even hides the open tabs to create the best writing environment for you.

The simple markdown editor of iA Writer provides enough keyboard shortcuts so that you never have to touch the mouse. If you forget the shortcuts, just hover to the bottom of the screen to find the right keyboard shortcut on the markdown toolbar.

With iA Writer, aspiring writers can improve their writing style for this editing tool highlights adverbs, adjectives, verbs, nouns, and even conjunctions. You can track the usage of modifiers, indirect verbs, and weak words to keep them at a minimum.

While in Pages you cannot go into a focus mode, and Microsoft Word first asks you to choose a layout before writing, iA Writer let you type right away on a minimal screen.

But iA Writer lacks Ulysses’ primary features such as live preview without exporting, synchronization amongst various devices, double editor, reading speed, and automatic backups.

When it comes to pricing, iA Writer has a variant pricing for all the platforms. iA Writer’s license costs $29.99 for Mac, $9.99 for iPhone and iPad, and $19.99 for Windows. You may download free trials of iA Writer for Mac, Windows and Android, no free trials on iTunes.

Overall, though iA Writer doesn’t stand against Ulysses in terms of advanced features, if you are looking for an app to simply write and not worry about anything else, and if you prefer one-time purchase over subscription — iA Writer is your best bet.

Other distraction-free writing applications to consider

Ulysses and iA Writer are our best picks. But here are some competitors that are worth mentioning if you have specific requirements for your writing software.

Let us go through these fine writing apps one by one.

Focused

($19.99 one-time license, support for Mac)

Focused is a one of its kind markdown editor that offers soothing inbuilt soundtracks to listen while writing.

Focused has inbuilt Zen soundtracks for better productivity. You can listen to any of the eight tracks while writing to get maximum focus. As the music comes along with Focused, the writer never has to leave the editor or switch applications to change the song or pause the music. Focused is the best tool for people who write with music.

Focused also comes with a markdown editor and a typewriter mode with sentence and paragraph highlighting to write with full concentration.

With a typewriter mode and inbuilt music, Focused might look like the best option to write distraction-free.

But unlike Ulysses or iA Writer, Focused doesn’t have an option to preview writing in pdf format or highlight adverbs and adjectives and misses many other advanced features of our two favorite writing software.

A one-time license of Focused for Mac costs $19.99 — which is better than iA Writer and Ulysses. For the price you pay and depending on the features you need, Focused could be the right fit.

WriteRoom

($9.99 one-time license, support for Mac)

WriteRoom adheres to the literal meaning of the application’s name as the app is just a black screen with green text – An environment that takes you away from the regular world and into a writing room. WriteRoom is for the minimalist writers who don’t want to exit the writing room until they have written their heart out.

Minimalistic writing interface is WriteRoom’s stand-out feature.

WriteRoom’s Mac OS license costs $9.99 — which seems fair for the simple features provided.

On days you find it hard to write, you can switch on WriteRoom and forget about the world. But if you need more features or editing options, you would have to move out of WriteRoom.

Scrivener

($56 one-time license, support for Mac, iOS and Windows)

Scrivener combines the features of a smart digital editor with a real writing process.

Scrivener offers inbuilt templates for novels, dramas, essays, poems, recipes, and even stage plays. While starting a new document, you can not only choose the required project format, but you can also select if you want to create a character or a chapter and then provides the right template.

You can write distraction-free with the full-screen or composition mode of Scrivener with typewriter scrolling.

During the writing project, Index cards can be used to write nascent thoughts. Scrivener’s digital corkboard can be used to arrange these ideas and find a connection between them.

Scrivener also offers an Outliner view for viewing the structure of your writing project. Scrivener Outliner view allows dragging and dropping sections, adding or moving headings, marking to-dos, keeping targets, and tracking progress.

Scrivener is a really smart editor equipped with many advanced editing and project management features. With Scrivener’s Insert tool, you can even add tables, images, Bibliography, and math equations to your writing.

Hundreds of testimonials by recognized authors on Scrivener’s website would agree that Scrivener is an excellent writing and managing tool for a novel or a large project.

Free Apps For Writing On Mac Pdf

But if you want to write a short story or simple blog articles, Scrivener might not be the best option for the interface is not straightforward. During our testing, we found the editor interface complex and full of hard-to-understand options.

Scrivener’s license is priced at $56 for a Mac and $49 for Windows. The iOS version costs $19.99. You can also buy a bundle of the app for Mac OS and Windows that would cost you $94.

For the pricing and the complex features, Scrivener doesn’t look like the best option but it is still a great writing tool for writers who want to manage and plot their entire novels on a writing platform.

ProWritingAid

($70 USD per year subscription, support for Mac, iPad, iPhone, Windows, Web Editor, Chrome Extension)

ProWritingAid is an editor, grammar checker, and style editor. Apart from using the Desktop versions of this application, you can add ProWritingAid to Google docs or install its Chrome extension to edit everything that you write.

As you write, ProWritingAid provides word suggestions or a contextual Thesaurus. It also highlights overused and repeated words to improve writing. By suggesting to delete redundant words, ProWriting Aid fastens the editing process.

The tool emphasizes complex paragraphs and sentences to make the text more readable. While also assessing readability along with other relevant statistics, ProWriting Aid allows you to create your best piece of work.

When its time to publish or send your work to publications, you can check for plagiarism from within ProWritingAid to make sure you didn’t write a duplicate statement.

Even though ProWritingAid is one of the best style editors, unlike Ulysses or iA Writer, ProWritingAid doesn’t have a TypeWriter mode, options to preview writing before exporting it, and markdown keyboard shortcuts.

A one-year subscription to ProWritingAid costs $70, two-year costs $100, and a life-time subscription costs $240.

For this pricing, ProWritingAid seems to be a great grammar and style editor — but it is not one of the best distraction-free apps as even in the full-screen mode you see the application’s toolbar.

Bear

($1.49 USD per month subscription, support for Mac, iPad, iPhone)

Bear is a simple writing and note-taking app.

Bear allows you to write in focused mode with the application’s markdown editor to achieve maximum productivity. With Bear, you can make cross-notes, create checklists within the document, sketch in between text, insert links, and organize your writing with tags.

In addition to the markdown language, Bear comes with twenty programming languages. You can write and code, both, with the same application.

While syncing your writing on various devices and Apple watches, Bear lets you write on the go. Bear also offers export in different formats and direct publishing to Medium, WordPress, and Evernote.

If your focus is on taking notes, writing down inspiration, and project management, Bear is a smart application to achieve the same.

Bear subscription plans are monthly and yearly — $1.49 monthly with a one-week free trial and $14.99 annually with a one-month free trial.

As per the smart pricing and features, Bear is a good choice for content creators who put together inspiration from various sources to create the final draft. But Bear still doesn’t beat Ulysses or iA Writer in terms of a distraction-free interface or advanced features.

Byword

($10.99 one-time license, support for Mac and iOS)

Byword is a straightforward markdown editor for Apple users.

Byword also has the Focused Typewriter Mode to help you write without getting disturbed. With the simple markdown editor of Byword, you can type within the document and use keyboard shortcuts to format your writing.

Byword provides the options to choose between dark and light themes as per the time of the day and user preference. Byword syncs documents across all Mac, iPhone, and iPad devices.

The app comes with standard pdf and html export. You can also publish to Medium, WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, and Evernote from within Byword.

As Byword says, Byword is a Markdown app for writing in plain text efficiently.

Byword is a simple and elegant writer for fiction writers, bloggers, and content creators alike. You can purchase Byword’s license for $10.99, which is a great price for a writing app with the included features. But Byword doesn’t have a free trial to try the app before purchasing.

Storyist

($59 one-time license, support for Mac and iOS)

Another writing tool for Apple users, Storyist, as the name says, is for storytellers, novelists, and screenwriters. With inbuilt templates for screenplays, plays, and novels, Storyist has a rich text editor which supports comments and images as well.

Similar to Scrivener, Storyist has inbuilt templates for stories, novels, screenplays, and plays. While starting a new document, you can opt between the various default templates for scenes, characters, settings, plot points, and outline to get a head-start on writing.

Storyist provides index cards to note your thoughts, then rearrange or expand to build on the idea.

When finished writing, writers can export their writing in pdf, html, rich-text, and many other useful formats. Storyist comes with unique export features as you can export a book directly in the Kindle format from the app.

Storyist is a competitive editing tool for storytellers.

If you are looking for a distraction-free app, Storyist might not be the best choice as there is no focus or typewriter mode. Also, while creating a new file you have to choose from a plethora of templates before you can start writing.

But for a $59 one-time license, Storyist is a powerful application to develop plot outlines, characters, and scenes.

Other apps to support your writing

Writing is more about collecting your inspiration and editing than putting words to paper. Here is our curated list of applications that will aid your writing process by helping you edit, providing grammar and style suggestions, offering the right tools to help you write faster, managing your references, and providing aid with technical writing.

Grammarly (Chrome Extension, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows)

Essentially a grammar checker, Grammarly is an intelligent tool which highlights grammatical errors and suggests style improvements. You can add Grammarly to your Chrome as an extension and edit everything you write on the web — your emails, messages, WordPress articles, and social media posts. Or download the Desktop version to check your writing before sending it or publishing it on another platform.

If you are a beginner writer, consider using Grammarly. For Grammarly has many features that can help a new writer improve her writing — such as providing contextual synonyms, highlighting grammatical errors or complex wording, pointing out redundant and overused words, checking the text for plagiarism, and assessing readability as per the audience.

Grammarly can give you a head start on your writing process.

TextExpander (For Mac OS, iOS, and Microsoft Windows)

As literally as the name goes, TextExpander is a nice text expansion app that allows you to insert ‘snippets’— paragraphs, standard replies, email addresses, code pieces, images — in your writing with the abbreviations you have created. As you write, TextExpander then transforms these snippets into the longer text.

If your work involves sending a lot of emails, adding various signatures, or including standard code chunks, try TextExpander to save time and get your work done faster.

Typora (For Windows, Mac, and Linux)

Typora is another distraction-free markdown editor that allows you to insert mathematical blocks and code in your writing with the help of keyboard shortcuts.

Typora’s markdown editor supports math blocks, code, tables, and lists. The Focus and Typewriter modes that come inbuilt in Typora allow interruption-free writing.

With the live preview feature of Typora, writers can preview even the most mathematically rich documents and then export not only to doc, html, and pdf but to Latex, restructured text, and Textile.

Typora is a great interruption-free tool to write scientific and research-based mathematical documents.

Bookends (For iOS)

Bookends is a reference management system that helps you manage your references collected from various sources.

With Bookends you can add, delete, or search through attachments. You can add and edit your notes or search through them using Notecards. The Tag Clouds feature of Bookends helps in visualizing the stored information. You can then drill down to the reference that the word is sourced from.

Writers and creators need an effective reference system else all their ideas will get mixed up, and they could never sort through them. Bookends is a great tool to organize references and access them easily.

Focus at Will (for Mac, Windows and Linux)

Focus at Will provides you the right music to increase your productivity and help you focus while writing. Using human neuroscience, Focus at will has developed music that reduces distractions, maintains productivity, and enhances focus for a longer time.

After asking your priorities and other personality questions, Focus at Will provides you with a channel that you can listen to while working and an additional fifty channels to choose from.

Why don’t you tune in and see for yourself?

The bottom line

This is our best selection of writing tools and supporting writing applications that will help you write and focus better.

Ulysses is an excellent distraction-free writing app. iA Writer is also a smooth and interference-free application to write. Choose an application as per your devices and platforms, requirements, and writing features while keeping your budget in mind.

Now pick a tool and let your creative juices flow.