BetterTouchTool
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 5 keyboard remappers by recommenders
Recommended for powerful trackpad, mouse and keyboard customization on macOS; people call it indispensable and worth the price. Caveat: cumbersome UI and missing single-modifier mapping.
Recommended for powerful trackpad, mouse and keyboard customization on macOS; people call it indispensable and worth the price. Caveat: cumbersome UI and missing single-modifier mapping.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 96%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 25 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Indispensable and worth paying for
“I consider it completely indispensable, and I doubt it would still be in (very) active development today if fans like me weren't paying for it.”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS” “worth the money for me purely for "alt+drag a window from anywhere" style window movement”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS” “it's for me an absolutely indispensable app which I'd happily pay more for”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS” - Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS”
- Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “OpenLogi”
Deep customization with many options
“it allows me to combine key presses with mouse gestures/movements”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “OpenLogi” “it was customizable to be super useful with better touch tool”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Tim Cook's Impeccable Timing” “I'm still quite often amazed by BTT's capabilities”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “OpenLogi” - Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Reviving a 15-year-old netbook with Arch Linux”
- Comment from 19 May 2026 in “New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence”
Window movement and Spaces switching
“One advantage of BTT's current implementation is that it still allows you to move windows to the next/previous space while dragging them”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS” “worth the money for me purely for "alt+drag a window from anywhere" style window movement”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS” “I found out that BetterTouchTool - which I am already using - has this feature”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS” - Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS”
Works well, life-changing for users
“Strongly recommend getting BetterTouchTool for this - changed my life.”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe” “I am incredibly happy with my setup.”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe” “it has been working great for me”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “An open source alternative to Logi-Plus mouse software” - Comment from 16 Aug 2026 in “Were Touch Bar's problems software rather than hardware?”
Other keyboard remappers people recommend
The four most recommended other keyboard remappers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karabiner-Elements | 55 | 4 | 93% | 11 | — | Approved |
| BetterTouchToolThis page | 25 | 1 | 96% | 9 | — | Approved |
| keyd | 19 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Toshy | 6 | 2 | 75% | 7 | — | — |
| Kanata | 5 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
32 of the 35 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“BetterTouchTool has a great MCP which can create native SwiftUI views”
“I'm still quite often amazed by BTT's capabilities”
“it allows me to combine key presses with mouse gestures/movements”
“the UI is just so cumbersome”
“it's absolutely worth its price. It's super powerful”
“It made a huge difference.”
“replicate exactly that behavior (and many more)”
“so it triggers on any input when I double tap the fn/globe icon”
“check BetterTouchTool for tons of options”
“I was wondering whether BetterTouchTool would support the PowerMate, and I sure didn't get disappointed”
“On macOS I use BetterTouchTool for those mapping, you can define exceptions for individual apps.”
“it was customizable to be super useful with better touch tool”
“Just upgraded the license to get this „without animation“ feature and highly recommend BTT.”
“I consider it completely indispensable, and I doubt it would still be in (very) active development today if fans like me weren't paying for it.”
“it is still one of the most important things you can do with BTT!”
“One advantage of BTT's current implementation is that it still allows you to move windows to the next/previous space while dragging them”
“swiping between Spaces feels very snappy”
“BTT only where it still adds something”
“worth the money for me purely for "alt+drag a window from anywhere" style window movement”
“I found out that BetterTouchTool - which I am already using - has this feature”
“it's for me an absolutely indispensable app which I'd happily pay more for”
“Worth it! Easily one of the first things I install on a new mac.”
“A lifetime license for BetterTouchTool with ALL its features is $25.”
“BTT also has nice gestures support for this which is a drop in replacement for options plus.”
“it has been working great for me”
“it isnt perfect, but with BetterTouchTool you can toggle resizing”
“I am incredibly happy with my setup.”
“Strongly recommend getting BetterTouchTool for this - changed my life.”
“it lack some functionality, like mapping a single modifier to a button”
“both are miles better than Options”
“you'll get the functionality (and more) without the bloat”
“Existing solutions either cost money (BetterTouchTool, Middle) or require disabling Mission Control.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.