The Best Mac Menu Bar Apps: Productivity Tools You Need

The Mac menu bar is prime real estate for quick-access tools. The right collection of menu bar apps can dramatically improve your productivity. Here are some of the best options across different categories.

System Monitoring

iStat Menus

A comprehensive system monitor that displays CPU usage, memory pressure, network activity, disk usage, battery health, and more—all from your menu bar. Highly customizable with different display styles and the ability to show only what matters to you.

Stats

A free, open-source alternative for system monitoring. Shows CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, and sensor information. Lighter weight than iStat Menus and actively maintained on GitHub.

Clipboard Managers

Paste

Keeps a history of everything you copy, accessible from the menu bar. Search through your clipboard history, organize items into pinboards, and sync across devices via iCloud. The visual preview makes finding past clips easy.

Maccy

A lightweight, free, and open-source clipboard manager. No frills, just reliable clipboard history with keyboard shortcuts for quick access.

Window Management

Rectangle

Free and open-source window management with menu bar controls. Snap windows to screen edges, use keyboard shortcuts, and organize your workspace efficiently. Essential for anyone working with multiple windows.

Magnet

A popular paid alternative with similar functionality. Drag windows to screen edges or use shortcuts to resize and position them.

Time and Focus

Dato

Replaces the default menu bar clock with a much more capable alternative. Shows multiple time zones, calendar events, and integrates with your calendar. Click to see a monthly calendar view.

Focus

Blocks distracting websites and apps during focus sessions. The menu bar icon lets you start, pause, or end focus sessions without breaking your workflow.

Quick Actions

Dropzone

A menu bar launcher for quick file actions. Drag files onto Dropzone to upload them, move them to specific folders, or run custom actions. Great for repetitive file tasks.

Yoink

A shelf that lives in your menu bar for temporarily holding files and content during drag-and-drop operations between apps or spaces.

Utilities

Hidden Bar

A free, simple menu bar organizer. Lets you hide icons you don’t need to see constantly. Basic but effective for reducing clutter.

Amphetamine

Keeps your Mac awake when you need it. Prevent sleep during downloads, presentations, or any time you don’t want your screen dimming. Highly configurable with triggers and schedules.

Hand Mirror

Shows a quick camera preview from your menu bar. Perfect for checking your appearance before video calls.

The Organization Problem

With all these useful apps, your menu bar can quickly become overcrowded. Each app wants visibility, but screen space is limited—especially on MacBooks with a notch.

This is where a menu bar organizer becomes essential. Rather than choosing between apps, you can have them all:

  • Keep your most-used apps always visible
  • Tuck less frequent tools into a collapsible section
  • Hide background utilities entirely until you need them

Bar Bar Jinks handles this with its three-tier visibility system and quick search feature. Press a keyboard shortcut to instantly find and access any menu bar icon, even hidden ones.

Choosing Your Setup

When selecting menu bar apps, consider:

  1. Overlap — Do two apps do similar things? Pick one
  2. Actual usage — Will you really use this daily?
  3. Resource impact — Some apps consume more CPU/memory than others
  4. Privacy — Does the app require unnecessary permissions or collect data?

Start minimal and add apps as you discover genuine needs. A focused set of tools beats a cluttered collection.

Conclusion

The right menu bar apps can transform how you work on your Mac. System monitors keep you informed, clipboard managers save time, and utilities fill in macOS gaps. Just remember: collect too many and you’ll need an organizer to manage them all.