What is Magnet?
Magnet is a paid window manager for macOS that snaps windows into halves, quarters and thirds when you drag them to a screen edge or corner, or when you apply a keyboard shortcut. It is sold on the Mac App Store as a one-time purchase of $4.99 with a perpetual licence, no subscription and no in-app purchases. The App Store listing and the developer's own FAQ both put the floor at macOS 13 Ventura. It handles fullscreen, halves, quarters and thirds across up to six external displays, including vertical screens, and can arrange windows on any active Space. It only manages standard resizable windows, so non-standard windows and Adobe Creative Suite releases older than 2017 are not supported.
Verified product facts
- Type
- window managerEditorially reviewed
- Platform
- macOS
- Pricing
- One-time purchaseDeveloper-stated
- Price
- USD 4.99(US App Store)Developer-stated
- Developer
- BOOTCODE A.S.Developer-stated
- Relationship to Nuanyue
- Third-party product — not published by NuanyueEditorially reviewed
- Licence
- Proprietary (perpetual licence)
- Current version
- 3.0.7Developer-stated
- Official website
- magnet.crowdcafe.com/
Last updated . Facts marked developer-stated come from the developer and are not independently confirmed; editorially reviewed marks a Nuanyue judgement.
Key features
What Magnet does at a glance.
Snap windows to halves, quarters and thirds
By dragging to edges and corners
Customisable keyboard shortcuts
For every layout
Menu bar icon and green-button menu
For applying layouts
Fullscreen, halves, quarters and thirds
Across up to six external displays
Support for vertical displays and vertical screen orientations
iCloud sync of custom commands and preferences
What you can use Magnet for
- Arranging several windows into halves, quarters and thirds on one screen
- Applying a window layout from a keyboard shortcut
- Organising windows across up to six external displays
- Arranging windows on a vertical display
Who is Magnet for?
- Mac users who keep many windows open and arrange them by hand
- People who want a one-time purchase rather than a subscription
- Users with multiple external displays, including vertical ones
Who is Magnet not for?
- Windows or Linux users — Magnet is macOS only
- Macs running macOS 12 or earlier — Magnet requires macOS 13 Ventura
- Anyone who needs to move windows between Spaces — Magnet arranges windows only within the active Space
- Users of non-standard windows or Adobe Creative Suite releases older than 2017 — those windows are not supported
Limitations
- Requires macOS 13 Ventura or later
- It can arrange windows within the active Space but not move them across Spaces
- Apple Silicon support is not stated in the sources Nuanyue tracks
Strengths and trade-offs
What Magnet does well, and what to weigh before choosing it. Points marked developer-stated come from the developer’s own material and have not been independently confirmed.
Strengths
- Sold as a one-time purchase of $4.99 with a perpetual licence, with no subscription and no in-app purchases.
- Handles fullscreen, halves, quarters and thirds across up to six external displays, including vertical screens.
- Layouts can be applied by dragging, by keyboard shortcut, from the menu bar, or from the window's green-button menu.
Trade-offs
- Requires macOS 13 Ventura or later, so it will not run on older Macs.
- Only standard resizable windows are handled; the developer states that non-standard windows and Adobe Creative Suite releases older than 2017 are not supported.
First-use experience
What the app asks of you when you set it up. Only established facts appear here; anything we could not confirm is left out rather than guessed at.
- Installation
- Install from the Mac App Store; the developer states that reinstalling is free and keeps your current settings.
- First launch
- Magnet must be granted Accessibility permission before it can move and resize windows; the FAQ documents removing and re-adding it if snapping stops working after a macOS update.
- System integration
- Runs from the menu bar and adds a layout menu to the window's green button; it can arrange windows on any active Space but not across different Spaces.
What it does
Magnet is a window manager for macOS. Dragging a window to a screen edge or corner snaps it into a half, a quarter or a third; the same layouts can be applied from customisable keyboard shortcuts, from the menu bar icon, or from a menu attached to the window’s green button. It supports fullscreen, halves, quarters and thirds, up to six external displays, and vertical screens.
Layouts and triggers
- Drag to a side edge — arranges horizontal and vertical halves.
- Drag to a corner — snaps the window into a quarter.
- Drag to the top — maximises the window on the current screen.
- Drag to the bottom — creates thirds; sliding along it expands to two thirds.
- Keyboard shortcuts — every layout has one, and custom commands can be added.
- Green-button menu — layouts are also available from the window control.
Spaces, displays and limits
Magnet can arrange windows on any active Space, but not across different Spaces. Up to six external displays are supported, along with vertical displays, where thirds run along the sides and quarters and halves sit on the corners and bottom edge.
The developer states that Magnet handles standard resizable windows only. Non-standard windows used by some apps are not moved, and Adobe Creative Suite and Creative Cloud releases older than 2017 are explicitly unsupported. A window with a minimum width can also refuse to shrink to half of a small screen.
Pricing
Magnet is a one-time purchase of $4.99 on the Mac App Store. The listing states a perpetual licence, no subscription and no in-app purchases, and updates are delivered through the store.
Apple Silicon
Recorded as unknown. Neither the App Store listing nor the developer’s FAQ states the build’s architecture, so Nuanyue leaves the field unestablished rather than inferring it.
Release history
Dated releases recorded for Magnet, newest first, each with the source it was read from.
3.0.7
Current Mac App Store release; the listing states support for macOS 13 Ventura through macOS 15 Sequoia, with performance and bug fixes.
Source: Mac App Store
Questions about Magnet
Is Magnet free?
No. It is a one-time purchase of $4.99 on the Mac App Store, with a perpetual licence and no in-app purchases or subscription.
Does Magnet require a subscription?
No. The App Store description states a perpetual licence, no subscription and no in-app purchases, and the developer says the purchase includes free updates.
Which macOS version does Magnet require?
macOS 13 Ventura or later. The developer's FAQ states that if a Mac can run that version, Magnet will work on it.
Can Magnet move windows between Spaces?
No. It can arrange windows within any active Space, but not across different Spaces.
Why is a window not resizing?
Magnet handles standard resizable windows. The developer states that non-standard windows used by some apps — including Adobe Creative Suite and Creative Cloud apps older than 2017 — are not supported.
Competitors
Direct competitors: overlapping features aimed at the same users.
Rectangle
Free open-source window manager for macOS, with a paid Pro tier.
Both snap windows to halves, quarters and thirds from edges and shortcuts, but Rectangle is free and open source while Magnet is a $4.99 App Store purchase.
Works well with
Not a replacement — apps commonly used alongside this one.
AltTab
Windows-style Alt-Tab window switcher for macOS.
AltTab switches between open windows while Magnet arranges them, so the two address different parts of the same window workflow.
Bartender
Menu bar manager with hiding, triggers and a second bar.
Bartender manages the menu bar where Magnet's icon lives, so the two occupy different surfaces of the desktop.
stats
free Mac system monitor for the menubar.
Stats shows system resource use in the menu bar and Magnet organises windows; they are separate utilities with no functional overlap.
Links
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the sources below. Last updated .
- Magnet on the Mac App StoreGrade A
- Magnet — official websiteGrade B
- BOOTCODE A.S. — developer websiteGrade B
- Magnet — documentationGrade C
