Ribbon is the choice for most Mac users comparing these two tilers, because both of them shrink every window to fit the screen. Ribbon keeps each window's width on a strip, leaves SIP on, and uses native Spaces. Pick AeroSpace for free i3-style tiling with SIP fully on. Pick yabai for BSP on real Spaces and a scriptable CLI.
The short version
| If you... | Pick |
|---|---|
| Want windows that keep their width | Ribbon |
| Know i3 or Sway and want the same keys | AeroSpace |
| Want instant workspace switching with no animation | AeroSpace |
| Must keep SIP fully on and still move windows between workspaces | AeroSpace |
| Want native Spaces and Mission Control to keep working | yabai |
| Script your desktop and read window state as JSON | yabai |
| Need Intel and macOS 11 or 12 | yabai |
| Want one config file and no second hotkey tool | AeroSpace |
AeroSpace vs yabai at a glance
| Ribbon | AeroSpace | yabai | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needs SIP disabled | No | Never ("will never require you to disable SIP") | No for tiling; partly, for 8 features |
| Layout | Scrolling strip; widths stay put | i3-style tree: tiles and accordion | BSP, plus stack and float, per Space |
| Workspaces | Real macOS Spaces | Its own emulated workspaces | Real macOS Spaces |
| Hotkeys | Built in | Built in | None; use skhd or similar |
| Config | Settings window plus ribbon.toml | ~/.aerospace.toml; "will never provide a GUI" | yabairc shell script plus CLI |
| Querying state | ribbonctl sends commands; it can't query | aerospace list-windows and other list commands | yabai -m query with JSON |
| macOS | 14+, Apple silicon | 13+ | 11+ on Intel, 12+ on Apple silicon |
| Latest release | 1.0.9, 11 Nov 2026 | v0.21.3-Beta, July 2026 | v7.1.25, May 2026 |
| Status | Shipping | Public beta | Mature, years of use |
| Licence | $17 / $39 / $59, no trial | MIT, free | MIT, free |
Ribbon
Both tilers share the screen between every window. Ribbon keeps each window at the width you gave it and lets the strip run past the screen edge. It keeps SIP on, uses native Spaces, and has built-in shortcuts and a settings window. It's $17 one-time for one Mac.
Good to know: Ribbon needs Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later, and there is no free trial. If you script your desktop, either tiler here can query state and Ribbon's ribbonctl cannot. Ribbon vs AeroSpace and Ribbon vs yabai go into detail.
The real difference: workspaces
This is the choice under every other row.
AeroSpace replaces Spaces. It keeps its own workspaces and parks windows from inactive ones out of view. That's how it gets "fast workspaces switching without animations and without the necessity to disable SIP". The cost: Mission Control, per-Space app assignments and anything else that thinks in Spaces stops reflecting what you see.
yabai uses real Spaces. Mission Control keeps meaning something, and Space animations stay. But creating, destroying or moving Spaces from a script, and sending a window to Space 3 from the keyboard, are among the eight features that need the scripting addition, which needs SIP partly off.
So the question is simple. Do you need keyboard control of workspaces with SIP on? AeroSpace. Do you need native Spaces? yabai.
What "SIP partly off" means for yabai
yabai's wiki lists eight features that need its Dock.app scripting addition: moving, creating and destroying Spaces; removing shadows; transparency; animations; scratchpads; window layers; sticky windows; and picture-in-picture for any window.
On Apple silicon, the documented route is Recovery mode, csrutil enable --without fs --without debug --without nvram, then sudo nvram boot-args=-arm64e_preview_abi, then loading the scripting addition. Some macOS updates mean redoing parts of it. Many people make that trade deliberately and are happy with it. On a company laptop, ask IT first. The full walkthrough is in yabai without SIP.
Configuration and hotkeys
AeroSpace ships its keys. Out of the box, Alt with h, j, k and l moves focus, ⌥⇧ with the same keys moves windows, and Alt with 1 to 9 switches workspace. Change them in ~/.aerospace.toml. One file does everything.
yabai ships no hotkeys at all. You install skhd or similar and bind keys to yabai -m commands. Two tools, two files, more power. If you already have a dotfiles repo, that's a feature.
Layout model
AeroSpace builds an i3-style tree. New windows join the focused container, and you reshape it with join and layout commands, or switch a container to an accordion where windows overlap with a small offset.
yabai's default is binary space partitioning: each new window splits the focused one in half. It's automatic and predictable. On a big monitor it's great. On a 14 inch laptop, the fourth split is narrow.
Which one should you pick?
- Windows keep getting too narrow: Ribbon.
- Coming from i3 or Sway: AeroSpace. You'll feel at home in a day.
- Corporate Mac where SIP can't change: AeroSpace, or yabai with SIP on if you don't need the eight features.
- You live in Mission Control: yabai.
- You write scripts that read window state: yabai.
- Intel on macOS 11 or 12: yabai.
- You want a settings window: neither. Look at Amethyst or the tiling comparison.