Mac Applications & Utilities offers a great way to get the most out of your Catalina toting MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Some users prefer to pack their device with easy-to-use tools that smooth their workflow, while others prefer to have complex utilities that might take time to set up but saves time in the long run. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

Get the perfect suite of Mac Apps that meet your needs, ease your daily tasks & increases productivity!

Which Apps Should I Have On My MacBook Pro?

Slack is a useful messaging platform designed for mac-OS. It is one of the best productivity app that helps you to integrate and streamline communication. This business communication app offers cross-team transparency and more natural productivity within a business.

All these Best Mac Software should help you squeeze more productive hours out of everyday use.

1. Browse and download a wide variety of award-winning video, audio, business, utility, or graphics software programs for both PC and Mac.
2. Integrates with Zoho and third-party apps. ⛔️ CONS: Free version has limited features. If you are looking for more serious project management software for Mac, Jira may be your best bet. It is the #1 tool used by agile teams using Scrum, Kanban, & hybrid models for workflow and project management.

Best Paid Mac Cleaner

1. Disk Clean Pro

All-round Mac Optimization & Cleaning utility, Disk Clean Pro is an excellent tool to clean, optimize & protect your Mac with a package of features. As the name itself suggests, Disk Clean Pro scans out junk, log & unused files, and possesses ways to optimize the system. Here are all the benefits that come along with this best Mac solution!

FEATURES: Disk Clean Pro

• System cleaner
• Logs cleaner
• Trash cleaner
• Cleaning partial downloads
• Duplicate finder
• Internet privacy
• Shredder

Best Free Mac Cleaner

2. App Cleaner & Uninstaller Pro

App Cleaner is another best cleaning solution for your Mac machine. It helps you delete unwanted applications safely along with leftover files to recover huge chunks of space. You can use the Mac cleaner to disable, hide login items & launch agents so that no residues or unwanted files hamper your performance. Listed are the functionalities offered by App Cleaner!

FEATURES: App Cleaner & Uninstaller Pro

• Finds & removes Mac widgets & Internet plugins.
• Remove multiple Mac apps & associated files in one go.
• Locate & delete broken service files without any hassles.
• It helps you recover lots of storage space.
• Observe a noticeable performance boost.

Best Paid Antivirus For Mac

1. Norton AntiVirus Plus

Norton Antivirus Plus is a reliable Mac Antivirus solution to have stable and all-round protection for your MacBook. The software runs fast & detects malicious threats accurately. The Mac utility offers Real-Time Threat Protection, a Password Manager, Smart Firewall & 2GB of Cloud Backup, to store important files & prevent them from data loss. Norton offers multiple versions, based on device use!

FEATURES: Norton AntiVirus Plus

• A built-in firewall for ideal protection.
• Finds & eliminates potential malware, spyware, online threats & other viruses.
• Capable of catching phishing emails that might trick you into compromising personal data.
• Cloud Storage for safeguarding personal documents.
• Automated backup.
• Parental Controls.

Paid Mac App For Increasing Productivity

1. Airmail 3

For Apple users, who are not happy with the native design of macOS mail. Having Airmail 3 on their machine can completely transform the way & feel of handling emails. It helps you get a clear, systemized & Gmail-like interface on MacBook Pro. The Mac app comes with a customizable interface for easy email management. You can schedule emails, snooze it & manage your daily tasks for better productivity.

FEATURES: Airmail 3

• Easy to set up.
• Highly customizable for better management.
• Snooze messages for convivence.
• Lets you treat emails like tasks.

Free Mac App For Increasing Productivity

2. Alfred

Similar to your Mac’s built-in ‘Spotlight’ search, Alfred helps in making a hassle-free search on your machine while keeping your fingers on the keyboard, rather than on mouse. The Mac utility is perfect for those suffering from mouse-related repetitive stress. You can use Alfred, to search for folders, files & even surf the web using just your keyboard.

FEATURES: Alfred

• Lets you search & browse with ease.
• With Alfred’s clipboard history, you don’t need to type the same URLs again.
• You can link keywords & hotkeys to create a customized workflow.
• You can perform math calculations in a jiffy.
• And perform other basic tasks without any hassles.

Best Paid App For MacBook Pro For Writers

1. Scrivener

Scrivener is nothing short of the most comprehensive writing program around. It offers all the essential tools you’ll need to get started as a writer. The Mac app is packed with various brainstorming tools, a virtual draft board for pinning ideas & note cards. It offers a dedicated section for storing research docs for quick access. What’s more?

FEATURES: Scrivener

• Comes with dozens of project templates for Screenplays, Novels, Stories etc.
• Import different file types.
• Get familiar with different writing & formatting types & tools.
• Name generator.
• Live word counts.
• Export to Word.
• Print or create PDF files.

Best Free App For MacBook Pro For Writers

2. Grammarly

Spell-check on iPhones are awesome, but it’s not that greats on Mac machines. That’s why Grammarly shines. It’s available as a dedicated Mac Application & as a Safari extension. You can rely on this freemium Mac application to do powerful spelling & grammar checking. Grammarly arrives as a true life savior for anyone who works with clumsy typing fingers.

FEATURES: Grammarly

• Just drag & drop documents you would like to proofread.
• Makes sure that anything you write is effective, precise & error-free.
• It offers a bunch of context-free suggestions to polish your writing.
• Compatible with platforms like Facebook, Twitter & almost anywhere on the web.

Must-Have Paid PDF Editor For MacBook

1. PDF Expert

Having to work with PDFs is a fact of life. Fortunately, PDF Expert makes the task super-easy. The Mac software doesn’t allow you to fill out the forms or merge PDF files, but it also offers users great editing tools. You can rely on PDF Expert to annotate, sign PDF files without any hassles. Here are some of the benefits that make it one of the Best PDF Editor for Mac.

FEATURES: PDF Expert

• Edit PDF text, images, links & outlines.
• Its quick annotations, hassle-free form filing & file merging completely the task in record time.
• Convert PDF files to popular formats such as Word, Pages, Docs, etc.
• It helps you create signatures with a single click.
• Helps users to share the documents to clients, co-workers & everyone in between through built-in options.

Must-Have Free PDF Editor For MacBook

2. PDFelement 6 – PDF Editor

A complete package of editing tools such as PDF Editor, Annotator, Converter, Reader, Form Filler & much more. PDFelement is an amazing PDF solution to change the way you work & manage your important files. Be it basic key features to edit, delete, cut, change font attributes, edit a hyperlink, or advanced tools to combine, convert, reorganize PDFs. PDFelement 6 has everything you’ll need!

FEATURES: PDFelement Pro

• Fill PDF forms.
• Extract, crop, delete, insert pages.
• Convert PDFs to popular file formats, including DOCX, PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, etc.
• Combine different file formats into a new PDF.
• Set a password to protect files from being opened by unauthorized users.
• Support printing, send PDFs, save files to cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.

Also Read: 7 Best App Uninstaller For Mac to Remove Unwanted Apps

Best Paid Mac App For Students

1. Setapp

Setapp is like Netflix for Mac applications. It provides users with a library of Mac utilities, just ready to install on your machine. You can explore a huge range of software & apps, for nearly every task to be done on your Mac. Be it a Duplicate Finder, Mac Cleaner, Personal Budgeting, Task Manager, Coding, Blogging, etc. you name it & you can get it all for a single monthly fee.

FEATURES: Setapp

• Just pay a subscription-free for $9.99 & you can have access to more than 120+ Mac apps.
• Use the number of best mac software under one subscription.
• Several Mac utilities get added to Setapp.
• Suitable for students & freelancers to get a handy toolkit of major apps all under one license fee.

Best Free Mac App For Students

2. iStudiez Pro

It’s a task organizer & planner app, designed specifically for students. You can use iStudiez Pro to manage all types of schedules & everyday jobs easily. A special section is dedicated to keeping track of homework, assignments & other projects. You can organize them as per date or by priority to sort them into pending & completed tasks.

FEATURES: iStudiez Pro

• Clean & intuitive interface.
• Track your grades. An option to calculate GPA based on current & past semesters.
• Follow up with your homework.
• Organize your schedule.
• Everything can be synced across all the devices (iPhone, iPad or both) for easy access.

Best Mac Software For Photographers (Paid)

1. Duplicate Photos Fixer

Removing duplicates means removing unnecessary junk. Since most of the aspiring & pro photographers deal with lots of exact and similar-looking pictures. A Mac Software like Duplicate Photos Fixer would of great use to manage those duplicate, edited & resized photos, which are saved under different names. It’s one of the best apps for MacBook Pro to manage huge photo collection, delete unnecessary duplicates & reclaim huge storage space.

FEATURES: Duplicate Photos Fixer

• Easy-to-use & user-friendly interface.
• Find & remove both identical & similar looking photos.
• Different scanning modes for accurate identification.
• Auto-mark duplicates so that you don’t need to select the detected duplicates manually.
• Recover huge chunks of space by clearing dupes.
• Supports multiple file formats.
• Review results before deleting duplicates.

Best Mac Software For Photographers (Free)

2. Pixelmator

Pixelmator boasts a massive bunch of powerful photo editing features to help you touch & enhance images with fun. The Mac software is designed to integrate seemingly well with macOS Catalina’s fresh & modern look. It’s power-packed tools, lets you draw, paint, apply dazzling effects & create amazing compositions without many hassles.

FEATURES: Pixelmator

• Top-notch painting tools.
• Lots of retouching tools.
• Correct wrinkles, repair scratches & lighten specific areas.
• A plethora of drawing tools to apply shadows, strokes & more effortlessly.
• Breath-taking effects.

Also Read: Top Ten Duplicate File Finders For Mac

Editor’s Choice Mac Apps

1. Photos Exif Editor

Photos Exif Editor is a fast, reliable & easy-to-use Mac software to help users read, write & modify EXIF information/metadata from single or multiple photos at once. EXIF data is basically a set of data attached to each image you capture. It includes information such as Date, Camera Model, Size, Location & other Camera Settings. Reviewing this data can help you to know a lot about a particular photo. Moreover, you can easily manipulate this data according to different needs!

FEATURES: Photos Exif Editor

• View, edit & modify EXIF, IPTC & XMP photo metadata.
• See camera & lens setting information. This data comes handy if you’re an aspiring photographer.
• Change Geo-location coordinates to disguise the actual location of the picture taken.
• Delete entire metadata in a go, to have complete protection from any type of security threat.
• Supports multiple file formats.

2. Tweak Photos

Tweak Photos is a perfect batch photo editing Mac tool, that brings a plethora of features to alter and enhance images to make it the liveliest. Mac Software has all the essential functionalities to resize, auto-correct, rotate, flip, de-noise, control brightness, sharpness, etc. You can apply lots of beautiful effects, frames, borders & whatnot to make photos look more pleasing & aesthetic.

FEATURES: Tweak Photos

• A perfect set of mesmerizing photo filters & effects to give an exclusive touch to your pictures.
• Create, apply elegant & effective watermarks.
• Keep track of the sequence of effects for better multi-layer management.
• Supports multiple file formats, making it the best batch photo editing software.
• De-noise images without much hassles.
• Rename multiple files at once.
• Convert photos in bulk & more.

Also Read: How to Speedup MacBook Pro: Make Your MacBook Pro Faster

Bottom Line

Discussed Best Mac Apps & Utilities can help you express your creativity, become more productive, enhance security & helps you take care of your MacBook.

FAQs: Best Mac Apps 2020

1. Which Are The Best Apps For MacBook Pro?

Although, your Apple machine comes packed with lots of in-built applications & tools that can fulfill all your basic needs & requirements. But the market has lots of wonderful & useful apps in each category, to make the most out of your machine. Check out the above list to choose the most recommended Mac Software!

2. How Do I Download Apps For Mac?

Since all the aforementioned Mac Software is available on the official App Store, you can follow the steps below to install them on your machine.

1. Open the App Store, using Dock, Launchpad or Spotlight search.
2. Look for the Mac application you would like to install.
3. Click on the Get button or Price to start the installation process. (Get option is for free Mac apps & Price for paid utilities.
4. Enter your Apple ID & Password (If needed).

Enjoy the Best Mac Software on your machine, the new downloaded utility would be visible in the Launchpad app.

3. Do Macs Need Cleaning Software?

Unlike Windows PCs, Mac machines don’t have registries. But having the best cleaning utility can certainly help users to reclaim storage space & get rid of unwanted, unused & unnecessary stuff in a few clicks.

Must Read:

We clean our rooms and clothes so why not our Macs? But who can waste the entire day digging through folders and files? There are so many places like music, videos, apps and email downloads, and countless more locations on your Mac where junk and clutter accumulates. In 2021 cleaning your Mac is easier than ever. Which is why millions of people download free and low-cost Mac cleaning software.

To start off, we've made a quick comparison chart about the best Mac cleaners for Mac.

A handy cleaner may prove that your Mac is still alive and can actually perform at its best. In this article we’ve brought together some of the best Mac cleaning solutions around to clean, optimize, and maintain Macs that are available in 2021.

Top 12 best cleaners for Mac: Free and premium versions

1. CleanMyMac X

Mac Os X Download

CleanMyMac X takes the first place with good reason — this cleaner combines features of both cleaning software and antimalware tool. Its Smart Scan promises a “nice and thorough scan of your Mac.” It does what it says, detecting junk like user cache files and system logs, checking your Mac for malicious software, and speeding up your MacBook. Looks like, there is a threat in my system, that I need to get rid of:

Frankly speaking, CleanMyMac X is Tesla Roadster among other Mac cleaners. And it does a great job revealing your junk and other clutter, uninstalling unneeded apps and their leftovers, and keeping your Mac’s system clean and optimized. Another pro is that CleanMyMac X is Apple-notarized, which means it’s safe for your Mac. You can download its free version right here.

Price: $39.95
Free version: Available here

2. Disk Doctor

Disk Doctor is developed in the UK and was awarded the 'Mac Gem’ award by MacWorld in 2013. CNET and other tech journalists also praise functionality. As of 2021, it still looks like a useful tool for Mac cleaning that removes junk slowing down and reducing the computing power of your Mac.

Price: $2.99
Free version: N/A

3. Gemini 2

Gemini 2 is the duplicate finder that allows you to free up gigabytes of storage and organize your files. In just a few minutes.

It quickly scans every corner of your Mac and weeds out useless copies. No matter what type of file it is: a photo, music track, or a doc… Gemini will definitely find it. And once the scan is done, you can remove the duplicates in a click. Or review results to make sure nothing important gets deleted.

If you remove something by accident, it takes just a click to put it back. And to make sure things like that never happen again, you can exclude specific files and folders from scan. Try out the free version right here.

The app has seen a major update in 2021 which included a real-time duplicate monitor. This new tool notifies you of duplicates the moment they are created on your Mac.

Price: $19.96
Free version: Available here

4. DaisyDisk

DaisyDisk gives you a visual representation of your Mac folders, making it easy to see what is taking up space and delete the folders you don't need. All you need to do is select a drive, DaisyDisk will scan it, then you can delete everything that is wasting valuable space. It comes with a free and premium version.

Price:$9.99
Free version: Trial version available

5. AppCleaner & Uninstaller

If you only need to uninstall apps on Mac, AppCleaner is a good pick. AppCleaner only removes applications, plugins, and widgets, which are again, small apps. AppCleaner works in a familiar drag & drop mode. Its interface is also clean and easy to understand for a newbie.

After feeding the apps to AppCleaner, you should visit the Leftovers section of the app to erase their remains. Why we place AppCleaner & Uninstaller among free Mac cleaner tools? Because it is 100% free. Whether you will fully clean your Mac using it, is a different question.
AppCleaner & Uninstaller is created by FreeMacSoft, also the makers of LiteIcon, an icon customizer for Mac.
Price: Voluntary donation

6. Smart Mac Care

If you launch Smart Mac Care, it will look hauntingly familiar to other free Mac cleaner apps. Not only features will be called the same, everything up to the fonts, will be identical to some other app you’ve just used. That’s not a minus, though. You can still free up a lot of space with Smart Mac Care.

Smart Mac Care operates by a logic of “scans.” There is a Junk Scan, Malware Scan, Privacy Scan, etc. Just like Mac Booster, Smart Mac Care removes duplicates scattered in various locations on your Mac. There’s also a Memory Optimizer feature that promises to free up RAM on your Mac. In a word, Smart Mac Care resembles every other generic product whose only difference is in packaging. This is supported by the fact that we couldn’t find any credible third-party reviews for this app.

On another skeptical note: to uninstall Smart Mac Care you have to enter your admin password. This is not the case with other Mac cleaners we’ve used.
Price: $56.62 per year
Free version: Demo available

7. Drive Genius

Drive Genius is labeled a “Mac monitoring software.” It’s a whole suite of tools that provide powerful disk diagnostics. It’s hard to list a thing that this software doesn’t do. You can scan for malware, secure-erase files, customize icons — it’s dozens of apps in one body. What makes Drive Genius unique is, probably, its search for corrupted files and inconsistencies on your drive. If your Mac is an old one, keeping it in good health will be easier with Drive Genius.

In a free version, you can use just a fraction of tools, notably a DiskPulse utility. This is an automatic Mac health checker that notifies you before your hard drive fails. Unlike Mac cleaners that merely scan, it is able to repair damage on your disks, which makes it a real deal. Be prepared that hard drive scan may take some time, but the results are worth it. The latest version of Drive Genius released in 2020 adds long-awaited support for macOS Big Sur.

Price: $299 for Professional edition
Free version: Limited Lite edition is available

8. CCleaner

Originally created in 2004 by Piriform, CCleaner comes with a free and professional version, focusing on businesses and business customers. CCleaner is a cross-platform tool, for PCs, Macs, Android, and it has a Cloud, Network and Technician tool, depending on what you need and the platform/software you use.

The premium version comes with a lot more features, including real-time alerts, free updates, and dedicated support. Although created for PCs in the early days, CCleaner does well to identify unwanted files on a Mac, so that users can select and delete the files and folders they don't need to free up space. As a cleaner for Mac, customers are pretty happy with the results of CCleaner.
Price: $19.95
Free version: Available

9. Sensei

The Sensei app is a relatively new app on the market, but it can be another useful tool for your Mac. The Sensei software developers call the app “Pro Mac Cleaner” on their website. I would call it a performance controlling tool.

Sensei presents a detailed picture of how your Mac performs. In the Dashboard, you can find out information about your MacBook, check your CPU’s current temperature, and see how much of your RAM is used. Cooling gives you exact information on your Mac’s fans' speed.

Its Clean option helps to get rid of user cache, logs, large files, etc. The Uninstaller feature allows you to delete apps from your Mac and remove their traces. It doesn’t list pre-installed apps from Apple, such as Safari or Calendar, but it shows every app you have installed on your Mac.

Surely, you can clean up your Mac manually, but using dedicated software will save you tons of time.

Price: $29 per year
Free version: Available

Free Mac cleaners review

Video Download Software For Mac

The following Mac cleaning apps are either completely free or donation-based. You won’t find any trial limitations here. If you’re looking for a no thrill basic cleanup, these free Mac cleaners might help you.

10. Onyx

OnyX is a french Mac cleaning solution developed by Titanium software. It weighs only 5 MB but that doesn’t mean its capabilities are limited. OnyX is a tool that programmers will have a lot of fun with. With it, you can peek under the hood of your macOS and automate a whole list of jobs, like disk cleanup and cache removal. You can even tweak the color of folders on your Mac, and even make them invisible. Deservedly, it's among the best free Mac cleaners.

OnyX is one of the best Mac cleaners because it cleans many specific under-the-surface files, like inner databases and logs. If you know what is XPC cache is, you’ll probably like this app. But for us, ordinary Mac users who came here for the design and glossy buttons, OnyX will require some learning time.
Those who use OnyX say it is stable and reliable. There is no dedicated customer service (because OnyX is free software), but you shouldn’t be worried. The only likely damage is you accidentally deleting files by yourself.
Price: Free cleaner

11. Clean me

This open-source app that only exists in the form of GitHub download is good enough for cleaning caches and logs. It’s so small its ZIP file weighs only 1.3 MB.
Clean me shows the size of each category of cache files. It analyzes such junk as Application Cache, User Cache, and more temporary files

The developer recommends that you start your cleanup with auto-selected options. Otherwise, you may delete something valuable by accident. So treat it as an analyzer and you’ll be safe.
Price: Free cleaner

12. Native macOS cleaner (Optimize Storage)

Your macOS has its own cleaner of sorts. You’ve probably come across it when checking your occupied disk space.
Go to Apple menu.
Now, click About this Mac > Storage > Manage.

In the sidebar you’ll see the main categories of files on your Mac. Going through Documents is likely to be the most fruitful option. Check the Size and click on Last Accessed. Now you’ve found all those movies gathering dust in your Downloads.
In the same way you can delete some old apps. This feature could be an alternative to a free Mac cleaner; the only problem is it works largely on the surface. You won’t be able to remove System Junk or analyze the grey areas occupied by “Other.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Can’t my Mac clean itself?

Free Apps For Imac Computer

Your macOS also has a built-in Mac cleaner, which Apple called Optimized Storage. Though its capabilities are limited, it gives you basic directions on where to start the cleanup. But for a thorough system cleanup and removing malware, you’ll need a dedicated Mac cleaner app.

Can Mac cleaner apps delete my important files?

Typically, best Mac cleaner apps have a protection built-in. They will usually select only those files that are safe for deletion.

Will Mac cleaners slow down my Mac?

Some cleaners try to get into your Login items, thus creating an extra burden on the processor. On a flip side, the reliable Mac cleaner apps might even speed up your Mac. They remove all the outdated junk files giving your Mac an extra boost.

Top Mac Software Free Online

Mac cleaning apps you should avoid

Best Free Apps For Mac

Above we've touched the trusted Mac cleanup solutions but there are many that work on the dark side. Malwarebytes lists Advanced Mac Cleaner Pro and similar tools as unwanted applications. Here are some signs that should warn you against using scam Mac cleaners.
Signs of Mac cleaner scam:

Top Mac software, free downloads

• 'Your Mac is infected' intrusive message
• An app is installed as part of different app
• An app finds 2323 (the number is an example) threats on your Mac
• Mac cleaner redirects your search engine page

Best Free Programs For Mac

Be safe and happy cleaning.