List of Mac software

Digital audio workstations

• Ableton Live
• Ardour
• Cubase
• Digital Performer
• GarageBand
• Logic Pro and MainStage
• REAPER
• Reason
• Renoise
• Steinberg Nuendo

Audio editing

• Audacity, digital audio editor

DJing

• djay, digital music mixing software
• Mixxx, DJ mix software

Notation software

• Dorico
• Impro-Visor, notation software with a particular orientation towards jazz solos
• LilyPond
• Overture
• MuseScore

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
• Finale, proprietary music notation software
• 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
• Colloquy, freeware advanced IRC and SILC client
• Discord, IM and VoIP social platform
• FaceTime, videoconferencing between Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
• iMessage, instant messaging between Mac, and iDevices
• Irssi, IrssiX and MacIrssi
• Kopete, free multi-protocol IM client
• LiveChat, online customer service software
• Microsoft Teams, team collaboration application
• Palringo
• Psi (instant messenger), free IM client for the XMPP protocol
• Signal, open-source, encrypted messaging service for IM, voice calls and video calls
• Snak, IRC client (shareware)
• Ventrilo, audio chatroom application
• Telegram, cross-platform, encrypted IM client
• WhatsApp

Discontinued

• aMSN, free Windows Live Messenger clone
• AOL Instant Messenger, discontinued as of December 15, 2017
• ChitChat, open-source IM client supporting the Yahoo! Messenger protocol
• HexChat, IRC client, discontinued as of February 9, 2024
• Skype, telecommunications application supporting IM and VoIP-based videotelephony retired as of May 5, 2025
• Ircle, IRC client (shareware)
• Microsoft Messenger for Mac, cross-platform IM client
• Yahoo! Messenger, IM client, also supporting VoIP, file transfers and webcam hosting

• Kid Pix Deluxe 3X, bitmap drawing program
• Stagecast Creator, programming and internet authoring for kids

• 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
• Cursor, code editor integrating advanced artificial intelligence features
• Dylan, programming language
• 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 for Pascal and C++
• 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, programming language
• PHP, programming language
• Python, programming language
• 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
• Visual Studio Code, code editor and IDE with debugging features
• 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
• 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
• Outlook Express
• Postbox
• Proton Mail
• Sparrow, as well as Sparrow Lite

Other email software

• Gmail Notifier

• Classic FTP
• Cyberduck
• Fetch
• Fugu
• FileZilla
• ForkLift
• Interarchy
• Transmit
• WebDrive, FTP and cloud client
• Yummy FTP

• 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
• FreeCAD
• SketchUp, 3D modeling software
• Houdini
• Lightwave
• MacDraft - 2D CAD
• Maya
• Modo
• PowerCADD
• ZBrush

Distributed document authoring

• Adobe Acrobat, software to view, create, manipulate, print and manage PDF files
• Preview, built-in image viewer and PDF viewer of the macOS operating system

Icon editors, viewers

• Icon Composer, part of Apple Developer Tools
• IconBuilder, plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks for the editing and creation of icons
• Microsoft Office

File conversion and management

Active

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

Discontinued

• iPhoto, discontinued photo management application

Layout and desktop publishing

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 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
• Fontographer
• GIMP, free bitmap graphics editor
• GraphicConverter, displays and edits raster graphics files
• Inkscape, free vector graphics editor
• Luminar
• 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
• Retouch4me Arams, AI-based photo editor
• Seashore, open source, based around the GIMP's technology, but with native macOS (Cocoa) UI

Discontinued

• Adobe Fireworks, supports GIF animation
• Adobe FreeHand, vector graphics editor

• Aperture, Apple's pro photo management, editing, publishing application
• GIMPShop, free open source cross-platform bitmap graphics editor
• MacPaint, painting software by Apple (discontinued)

• Bonjour, service discovery on a local area network
• Finder
• QuickTime
• Terminal
• X11.app

• Cram (software)
• Dictionary (software)
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Rosetta Stone (software), proprietary language learning software
• Ultralingua, proprietary electronic dictionaries and language tools
• World Book Encyclopedia, multimedia

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

• Boxee, Mac and Apple TV
• Front Row
• Mira
• MythTV
• SageTV
• Plex
• Kodi

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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
  • Microsoft Publisher, desktop publishing application
• MoneyWiz, personal finance application
• Montage, screenwriting software
• NeoOffice - discontinued
• Nisus Writer
• OmniFocus
• OpenOffice.org - discontinued
• WriteNow
• Taste, word processor (discontinued)

• 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

• FreeMind
• Mindjet
• OmniOutliner
• OmniGraffle
• XMind

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

• Celestia, 3D astronomy program
• SimThyr, Simulation system for thyroid homeostasis
• Stellarium, 3D astronomy program

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

• Activity Monitor, default system monitor for hardware and software
• After Dark, computer screensaver 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)
• CleanMyMac, maintenance and optimisation utility
• 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
• MacKeeper, cleanup utility
• 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

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• Adobe Contribute
• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Adobe GoLive
• Claris Homepage
• Coda
• Freeway
• iWeb
• NVu
• RapidWeaver, a template-based website editor

• 20th Century Video Almanac
• 4 Paws of Crab
• 75 Seasons: The History of the NFL
• Algebra Smart
• AMA Family Medical Guide