Magnet is one of the best-known Mac window managers. It turns screen edges, corners, keyboard shortcuts, the green window button, and a menu bar icon into quick ways to resize and position windows.

Modern macOS already includes useful tiling for halves, quarters, and multi-window arrangements. Third-party apps still go further, however. Rectangle offers extensive snapping and keyboard control for free. Moom adds saved layouts, grids, chained actions, and deep customization. Loop uses a visual radial menu, theming, custom frames, and other modern interaction ideas.

This comparison looks at all four from a Mac-user perspective: snapping, keyboard control, custom positions, saved layouts, multiple displays, learning curve, licensing, and current pricing.

Quick Verdict

Choose Magnet if you want a polished App Store utility with intuitive dragging, keyboard shortcuts, green-button controls, iCloud-synced settings, and a low one-time price.

Choose Rectangle if you want the best free traditional window manager, with many positions, customizable shortcuts, drag-to-snap areas, multiple-display commands, and open source code.

Choose Moom if you want to create detailed window layouts, restore groups of app windows, build action chains, use grids, and customize nearly every part of window placement.

Choose Loop if you prefer a visual radial menu, live previews, custom frames, themes, cycles, and an open source app with a more experimental interaction style.

Feature Comparison

What Does macOS Already Do?

Before buying or installing anything, try the window tiling built into current versions of macOS. You can drag windows to screen edges, hold Option while dragging, use the green window button, choose commands from the Window menu, or use system keyboard shortcuts.

Apple supports left, right, top, and bottom halves; four corners; full-screen fill; centering; and arrangements that place two, three, or four windows together. You can also control whether tiled windows have margins in Desktop & Dock settings.

That is enough for occasional side-by-side work. A dedicated window manager becomes worthwhile when you want more positions, memorable custom shortcuts, repeatable actions, saved workspaces, better multi-monitor control, or an interface that is faster than navigating Apple's menus.

Magnet

Magnet is the easiest paid recommendation here. It is distributed through the Mac App Store, costs little, and focuses on making common window arrangements immediately accessible.

Dragging a window into a trigger area moves it into the associated position. Keyboard shortcuts provide a faster route once they become familiar, while the menu bar and green window button expose commands without requiring memorization. Current versions also let users customize trigger areas, commands, layout properties, keyboard shortcuts, and visual behavior.

Magnet covers the positions most people need: halves, thirds, two-thirds, quarters, centering, full-screen fill, and movement between displays. It supports external monitors and vertical displays. The App Store listing also advertises optional iCloud synchronization, which is useful when configuring more than one Mac.

Its appeal is less about having the longest feature list and more about packaging. Installation, updates, payment, and Family Sharing all use Apple's systems. Magnet is also a tiny app, does not require a subscription or in-app purchases, and its App Store privacy label says the developer does not collect data.

Magnet does not specialize in restoring complete workspaces. It can define many commands and positions, but Moom is the stronger choice when the goal is to place several specific application windows into a saved arrangement with one action. Loop is more visually distinctive, while Rectangle provides much of the conventional snapping experience for free.

The US Mac App Store currently lists Magnet at $4.99 as a one-time purchase. It requires macOS 13 or later and supports Family Sharing for up to six family members.

Choose Magnet if you want a dependable window utility that feels like a small extension to macOS rather than a system you need to design.

Rectangle

Rectangle is the value winner. It is free, open source, supports Intel and Apple silicon Macs, and runs on macOS 10.15 or later. For many users, it covers enough ground that there is no need to pay for another window manager.

Rectangle works through customizable keyboard shortcuts and snap areas. Drag a window to an edge or corner and a preview shows where it will land. The standard actions include halves, quarters, thirds, two-thirds, centering, maximizing, moving without resizing, and sending a window to another display.

Its list of optional actions is unusually broad. Rectangle can place windows into fourths, sixths, eighths, ninths, top or bottom thirds, and other arrangements. Repeating selected shortcuts can cycle through related positions, which reduces the number of key combinations you need to remember.

Power users can trigger actions through Rectangle URLs, ignore apps that conflict with its shortcuts, import or export configuration as JSON, and install through Homebrew. The project is actively maintained on GitHub and had a new release on May 31, 2026.

The free app does not restore full multi-app workspaces. Rectangle Pro adds app layouts, custom snap targets, a configurable snap panel, custom sizes and positions, iCloud sync, window stashing, cursor gestures, and automatic actions when displays connect or disconnect. Rectangle Pro currently costs $9.99 once after a 10-day trial and permits activation on three Macs.

Rectangle's main tradeoff is that its breadth can create a busier preferences screen and a larger shortcut vocabulary than Magnet. Users who only want left half, right half, quarters, and maximize may prefer Magnet's App Store packaging or simply use macOS itself.

Choose Rectangle if you want a capable free app, enjoy configuring shortcuts, or need many standard positions without paying.

Moom

Moom is the workflow builder in this comparison. It can perform ordinary snapping, but its real advantage is the ability to create reusable actions and layouts instead of treating each window move as an isolated command.

Hover over a window's green, red, or yellow button and Moom can display a customizable pop-up palette. That palette can contain up to 61 actions, including positions, grids, folders, and layouts. The app also offers snap regions, menu commands, keyboard controls, modifier-key mouse movement, and an on-screen controller.

Saved layouts are the key feature. You can arrange windows from a known set of apps, save the arrangement, and restore it later. Moom can also save app-independent layouts that affect the most recently used windows. This is useful when moving between a MacBook screen and an external monitor or rebuilding the same writing, development, research, or trading workspace every morning.

Custom actions can be organized into folders or combined into chains. One chain might move a window to another display and resize it in a single operation. A looping chain can cycle through several positions each time it runs. Grids make it possible to create precise layouts without calculating dimensions manually.

This power makes Moom the most complex option here. It rewards configuration and experimentation, but it is excessive for someone who only wants Windows-style edge snapping. Magnet and Rectangle are faster to understand, while Loop offers visual customization without going as deep into workspace automation.

Moom 4.5 requires macOS 10.13 or later. It has a free trial and currently costs $15 as a one-time purchase. Owners of Moom 3 can upgrade at a discount.

Choose Moom if window arrangements are part of a repeatable professional workflow and saved layouts will repay the setup time.

Loop

Loop is the most visually distinctive app in the comparison. Instead of centering the workflow on a long menu or many unrelated shortcuts, Loop can show a radial menu near the pointer with window positions arranged around it.

The radial approach provides spatial memory: move toward the area where you want the window to go and see a preview before committing. Loop also supports modifier-and-arrow controls, modifier-and-mouse movement, traditional drag snapping, padding and margins, movement across displays, action sequences, custom frames, window stashing, and restoration of a window's previous frame.

Customization is a major part of the product. Frames can be defined for unusual screen proportions, radial-menu items can be arranged around a personal workflow, and themes can change the appearance. The project also exposes URL or scripting-oriented actions for automation.

Loop is free and open source. Its GitHub project provides downloads and Homebrew installation, and the code is available under the GPL-3.0 license. Like the other third-party window managers, it requires Accessibility permission so it can move and resize windows.

The tradeoff is maturity and convention. Magnet, Rectangle, and Moom have more traditional interaction models and may be easier to deploy for users who already know exactly which shortcuts they expect. Loop also does not offer Moom's full saved-workspace system.

Choose Loop if a visual control surface is easier to remember than a large shortcut list, or if custom frames and theming make window management feel more approachable.

Which One Should You Use?

Use Magnet if you prefer Mac App Store purchasing and updates, want a polished low-cost utility, and mainly need quick snapping plus customizable commands.

Use Rectangle if you want a free, open source replacement for basic snapping tools or need a large catalog of keyboard-driven positions.

Use Moom if you regularly reconnect displays, recreate the same multi-window setup, or want precise grids, chains, and saved layouts.

Use Loop if you want live visual feedback, radial muscle memory, themes, unusual custom frames, or an open source app that feels different from conventional snap utilities.

Stay with built-in macOS tiling if you only arrange two to four windows occasionally. Apple's current implementation is much more capable than older versions of macOS and may already cover your needs.

Final Verdict

Magnet is the best simple paid option. It combines intuitive controls, meaningful customization, App Store convenience, iCloud sync, and a $4.99 perpetual license.

Rectangle is the best choice for most people. It is free, open source, actively maintained, and supports far more positions and shortcuts than the average user will need. Rectangle Pro is a sensible upgrade when saved app layouts, custom targets, or display-triggered automation become important.

Moom is the power-user winner. Its saved layouts, custom palettes, grids, folders, chains, and multi-display tools can manage workflows that simpler snap utilities do not attempt.

Loop is the most innovative interface. Its radial menu, previews, themes, custom frames, and action sequences are compelling for people who prefer visual interaction to memorizing many shortcuts.

My practical recommendation: start with macOS tiling, try Rectangle if you outgrow it, choose Magnet for App Store simplicity, move to Moom for saved workspaces, and try Loop when a radial visual workflow sounds more natural.

Note: Features and US prices are current as of June 2026. App prices, system requirements, licensing, and feature sets can change. Verify the latest details on each app's official website or Mac App Store page before purchasing.