Open-source Mac apps, each with its source, license and official download in one place.
Browse the catalog · How we verify · Add an app
- The license from the file, not a guess. GitHub's license detector reports
NOASSERTIONfor Rectangle, Sequel Ace, CotEditor and HandBrake; their license files say MIT, MIT, Apache-2.0 and GPL-2.0. Each listing links the file it was read from and the date it was checked. - Source available, labelled. Apps whose code comes with extra restrictions (Commons Clause, FSL, CC BY-NC and similar) carry a separate label, explained on their page and easy to filter out. They are never counted as open source.
- Official downloads only. The Get button goes to the project's own release page or website. A Homebrew command is shown only when the cask installs from that same source. Nothing is mirrored or repackaged.
- Status you can see. When a project stops (no release or meaningful commit for about two years, or its README says so), the app carries an Unmaintained label instead of disappearing.
Inclusion is not a security audit or an endorsement. The research notes list every source and every app left out, with the reason.
1,869 macOS apps: 1,837 open source and 32 source available. Source-available apps have additional restrictions and are labeled separately. Each category's list is generated from content/apps; edit the app folders to contribute.
| Category | Apps |
|---|---|
| Productivity | 288 |
| Developer tools | 330 |
| Utilities | 571 |
| Media | 161 |
| Privacy & security | 63 |
| Writing | 53 |
| Design | 60 |
| Internet | 99 |
| Education | 29 |
| Games | 36 |
| AI | 179 |
Every app is one folder in content/apps. Suggest an app, report a listing problem, or open a pull request. CONTRIBUTING.md has the format, the image policy and the checks. Corrections from an app's maintainers are applied first.
content/apps/rectangle/
index.md # metadata and the description
assets/
icon.png # official icon, with its source recorded
screenshot.png
The YAML frontmatter holds the facts: category, tags, the products an app replaces, repository, website, download, Homebrew cask, license and license evidence, verification date and image credits. Astro builds the site from these folders; a Bun script validates them and generates the category lists above. Alternatives and topic pages pick up new apps through their fields and tags.
Requires Bun 1.4.3 or later.
bun install --frozen-lockfile
bun run dev # local site at http://localhost:4321/
bun run validate # check every app record
bun run check # TypeScript and Astro
bun test
bun run build
bun run check:linksbun run sync copies catalog assets and refreshes the generated lists; commit them with your change. CI runs the same checks, and every merge to main deploys to GitHub Pages. The discovery queue and the Homebrew matcher are described in CONTRIBUTING.md; the data model in ARCHITECTURE.md, site setup in PUBLISHING.md and project decisions in DECISIONS.md.
Discovery sources include mac-apps, open-source-mac-os-apps and awesome-mac; the full comparison is in the research notes. Built with Astro and Lucide (third-party notices).
The code and text of OpenMacApps are MIT licensed (LICENSE). App icons, screenshots and names belong to their owners; each app records the source and terms of its images in content/apps, and an app's code license does not automatically cover its artwork. Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc.; OpenMacApps is not affiliated with Apple.
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