If you're on macOS 26 Tahoe and want a free scrolling window manager, try OmniWM before you pay for anything, including us. It's the most feature-packed window manager on the Mac right now. It gives you niri-style scrolling and Hyprland-style dwindle per workspace, plus an overview, a command palette, a drop-down Ghostty terminal, scratchpads, a workspace bar and a scriptable CLI.
So why does Ribbon exist? Scope, mostly. OmniWM wants to be your whole desktop layer. Ribbon only decides where windows sit and how wide they are, and it runs on macOS 14 and 15, where OmniWM doesn't.
OmniWM facts were checked on 1 November 2026 against omniwm.app, its Compatibility, Requirements & Limitations page (updated 29 Oct 2026), its Layout Modes guide and the GitHub repo. Ribbon facts come from meetribbon.app. We make Ribbon.
OmniWM in 2026
- Version: v0.7.6 (8 Oct 2026). Free, GPL-2.0-only. Official releases are Developer ID signed and Apple-notarized.
- Hardware and OS: Apple silicon only, macOS 26 Tahoe or later. Hidden Bar concealment and optional AI issue-report rewriting need macOS 27.
- Permissions: Accessibility and Input Monitoring are required. Screen Recording is optional (it powers overview thumbnails). Full Disk Access is optional (Hidden Bar, notifications widget).
- Spaces: "Displays have separate Spaces" must be on. OmniWM recommends one native Space per display and navigating with OmniWM's own workspaces. Windows on inactive native Spaces aren't tiled.
- Private APIs: it uses selected private Apple APIs, which is why it pins a strict macOS baseline.
- Other window managers: it checks for AeroSpace, Amethyst, komorebi, Nehir, Paneru, yabai and others at launch, and won't manage windows while one is running.
- Layouts per workspace: Niri (scrolling containers that run left and right in horizontal orientation, or up and down on a vertical monitor) and Hyprland Dwindle (BSP). Toggle with Option+Shift+L.
- Install:
brew install --cask omniwm(official Homebrew cask) or a GitHub release.
The 10 differences
| # | Difference | OmniWM | Ribbon |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | macOS and hardware | macOS 26+, Apple silicon only | macOS 14+, Apple silicon only |
| 2 | Permissions | Accessibility + Input Monitoring (required); Screen Recording, Full Disk Access (optional) | Accessibility only |
| 3 | Workspaces | Its own workspaces; one native Space per display recommended | Native macOS Spaces, untouched; Ribbon arranges windows inside them |
| 4 | Layout engines | Niri scrolling and Dwindle BSP, chosen per workspace | One scrolling strip per display, plus stacks, tabbed columns and one-shot grids (⌘⌃2 … ⌘⌃6) |
| 5 | Extras | Overview, command palette, Ghostty quake terminal, scratchpads (10 slots), workspace bar, Hidden Bar, Menu Anywhere, system stats, OmniShell widgets | A strip mini-map, focus border and window dimming. Nothing outside window management |
| 6 | Trackpad | Column scrolling on by default (finger count and Snap or Momentum style configurable), opt-in workspace swipe, finger drag to move or resize tiles | Three-finger swipe by default (four, or off), plus Option + two-finger scroll; sensitivity and natural direction adjustable |
| 7 | Configuration | GUI settings plus settings.toml (Nix and Home Manager supported) | GUI settings plus ~/.config/ribbon/ribbon.toml (comments preserved), four shortcut styles |
| 8 | Automation | omniwmctl over a Unix socket (NDJSON; IPC is off by default): queries, actions, rules and event subscriptions | ribbon:// URLs and ribbonctl for focus, move, width, float, jump, display and engine start/stop. No queries or events |
| 9 | Use of private APIs | Yes, selected private Apple APIs | Yes. Accessibility plus private SkyLight window-server calls (for moving windows and Spaces info). No Dock injection, SIP stays on |
| 10 | Price and source | Free, open source (GPL-2.0-only) | Paid one-time licence from $12 (1 Mac, founding price), closed source (pricing) |
Shared ground: both keep SIP on, both refuse (OmniWM) or advise against (Ribbon) running beside another window manager, and both put new windows next to the focused one instead of shrinking the rest.
Why the macOS requirement decides it for many people
Plenty of Macs that people work on every day aren't on Tahoe. Some are company machines held on Sequoia by IT. Some belong to people who wait a few months before upgrading. For those Macs, OmniWM isn't an option, however good it is. Ribbon runs on macOS 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia and 26 Tahoe. Neither app runs on Intel Macs.
If you're on Tahoe already, the requirement doesn't matter, and the comparison comes down to scope and price.
Scope: a whole desktop layer vs one job
OmniWM's homepage describes it as bringing "the Hyprland and Niri experience to macOS". It replaces your workspace model, adds its own bar beside the notch, a launcher-style command palette, a drop-down terminal and a widget system scripted in Luau. If you came from a Linux rice and want that on a Mac, that's the appeal.
Ribbon is narrower. It doesn't add a bar, a launcher or a terminal, and it doesn't replace Spaces or Mission Control. You keep Spotlight or Raycast, your menu bar, your Dock and macOS's own Spaces swipe, and Ribbon only decides where windows sit and how wide they are. When you quit it, windows go back to the frames they had before (how quitting works).
We'll be blunt about the cost of our approach. Some day you'll want an overview or a scratchpad, and Ribbon won't have one. OmniWM's cost is the opposite: more permissions, more settings, and a desktop that stops behaving like stock macOS.
Who should pick which
Choose OmniWM if:
- You're on macOS 26+ with Apple silicon.
- You want both scrolling and BSP, chosen per workspace.
- You'd use the overview, scratchpads, quake terminal or workspace bar.
- You want deep scripting with event subscriptions.
- You want it free and open source.
Choose Ribbon if:
- You're on macOS 14 or 15, or can't upgrade a work Mac.
- You'd rather grant one permission (Accessibility) than two or four.
- You want native macOS Spaces and Mission Control to keep working as usual.
- You want a smaller tool you can learn in an afternoon. The interactive shortcuts page covers the core chords.
Trying both
You can't run them at the same time. OmniWM will refuse to manage windows while another manager is running. To compare fairly:
- Use each for a full working day, not ten minutes.
- Quit one completely (and remove it from login items) before you launch the other.
- Turn off Stage Manager for both.
- Compare on the same task. A good test is your busiest hour with the same five or six apps.
Bottom line
On Tahoe, OmniWM is the free, maximal option, and many people will be happy with it. Ribbon is for people who want the scrolling strip without a new desktop layer, or who aren't on Tahoe. Read how the strip works or download Ribbon.