A Mac window manager is one of four options: built-in tools, a snapping app, a tiling app, or a scrolling app. They are not flavours of the same thing. A new window tells them apart. This page is the map of those options.
The definition, in one page, is what is a window manager on Mac. A ranked list is the best Mac window manager comparison.
Built into macOS
Spaces, Stage Manager, Split View and window tiling are already on the Mac. What each one is belongs on the definition page. Use them when you do not want another app. The options overview is split screen Mac. The steps are how to split screen on Mac. The keys are split screen Mac shortcut.
Snapping apps
A snapping app moves the one window you drag or key. Rectangle is the free one, with thirds and shortcuts that work on macOS 14. Magnet, BetterSnapTool, Loop, Moom and Rectangle Pro are the others. Moom and Rectangle Pro can save a layout and put it back when you plug in a monitor.
None of them react when a window opens. On macOS 15 and later, turn off either Apple's edge drag or the app's. Both listening to the same edge is how a window snaps twice.
Tiling
A tiling window manager fills the screen with the windows you have, and resizes them when the set changes. You keep each workspace sparse, or the tiles get thin.
- AeroSpace is i3-style, with its own workspaces, a TOML file, and SIP left on. AeroSpace on Mac. Setup is how to use AeroSpace.
- yabai tiles on real Spaces. Some extras need SIP partly off.
- Amethyst cycles layouts from a preferences window.
The columns for SIP, Spaces and config are in Mac tiling window managers.
Scrolling
A scrolling window manager does not overlap windows, and it does not force them all on screen. Each window is a column. You scroll the row. Widths stay put. That is the one to look at when a laptop is the main screen and you keep a lot of apps open.
Ribbon is a scrolling window manager for Apple silicon on macOS 14 or later. One strip per display, inside normal Spaces. Option plus a two-finger scroll moves it. ⌘⌃2 and ⌘⌃4 build a temporary split or grid, and ⌘⌃\ returns to the strip. The price is $17 for one Mac, $39 for three and $59 for five.
The model is what a scrolling window manager is. The other apps are in the scrolling comparison.
Run one window manager. Two of them move the same window and undo each other.