Rectangle for macOS
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 30 window managers by recommenders
Free open-source macOS app that adds keyboard shortcuts and snapping to arrange windows, fixing weak native window handling. Critics call it a hack and say it lacks full tiling.
Free open-source macOS app that adds keyboard shortcuts and snapping to arrange windows, fixing weak native window handling. Critics call it a hack and say it lacks full tiling.
70 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 67
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 96%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: 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: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1 year
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 67 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 22 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 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
Keyboard shortcuts for moving windows
“I've been using Rectangle for years now. IMO the shortcuts actually make it a massive improvement over Windows.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe – the saga continues” “I end up using Rectangle on macos for moving windows and maximising them using keyboard shortcuts”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)” “Rectangle [1] is a great way to get key combinations for resizing and moving my windows around.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe” - Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “MacBook Neo Review: No Other Budget Laptop Can Compete”
- Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe”
- Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Native Instant Space Switching on macOS”
- Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Released”
- Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)”
Standard first install on new Macs
“Rectangle is a must-have, it's the very first thing I install after getting brew configured on a new Mac.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe – the saga continues” “A mac with homebrew and rectangle installed works well enough as a hobby development machine”
Comment from 19 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly” “Rectangle and some alternative window switcher plus brew are the minimum to survive”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “Block the "Upgrade to Tahoe" Alerts” - Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe – the saga continues”
- Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly”
Better than native macOS snapping
“I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra” “Far better than the MacOS's native snapping, which is half-assed.”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “macOS 27 Golden Gate – Review” “Rectangle solved my macos window management annoyances.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra” Quick, easy window arranging
“The keybinds are convenient and the auto-sizing/tiling is pleasant as can be.”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe” “Lots of options for snapping them and keeping windows nice and organized.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Resizing windows on macOS Tahoe – the saga continues” “I've used Rectangle for years so I can arrange windows more quickly.”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe” - Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Feels janky or hacky
“I have found some hacky options to do this, but they are just too janky for my taste”
Comment from 4 Apr 2026 in “Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor” “Rectangle is a literal hack on top that hopefully works when you need it.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “I said no and Apple said yes” “I found that it was janky enough I switched back to Rectangle.”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Turning a MacBook into a touchscreen with $1 of hardware (2018)”
Other window managers people recommend
The four most recommended other window managers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyprland | 82 | 33 | 71% | 12 | 1 mo4 owners | Approved |
| Rectangle for macOSThis page | 67 | 3 | 96% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Enlightenment window manager | 51 | 19 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| FVWM | 28 | 4 | 88% | 8 | 25 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| AwesomeWM | 26 | 2 | 93% | 11 | 12 yrs3 owners | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 79 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Had been a fan of Rectangle until I re-discovered for myself a regular mouse”
“Rectangle is a literal hack on top that hopefully works when you need it.”
“Far better than the MacOS's native snapping, which is half-assed.”
“I can mostly ignore the problems with Karabiner, Hammerspoon and Rectangle.”
“Rectangle was a life saver since it basically let me replicate manual window management pretty closely”
“I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.”
“Rectangle solved my macos window management annoyances.”
“A mac with homebrew and rectangle installed works well enough as a hobby development machine”
“I bought a Macbook and installed Homebrew and Rectangle on it.”
“Luckily, I recently found Rectangle[0] and InstantSpaceSwitcher[1]. The former gives keyboard based arranging”
“You can use Rectangle to get all that what you want in terms of tiling.”
“customize a Mac to feel comfy (AutoRaise, Rectangle, DiscreteScroll, ...)”
“I use the third-party tool Rectangle for window management.”
“Window management via keyboard is fixable with rectangle”
“Use an OSS window management tool like `rectangle`”
“Throw everything around with hotkeys using OSS rectangle”
“I have found some hacky options to do this, but they are just too janky for my taste”
“I end up using Rectangle on macos for moving windows and maximising them using keyboard shortcuts”
“I found that it was janky enough I switched back to Rectangle.”
“I installed 3rd party software called Rectangle for this last year so it’s kind of solved”
“I feel super productive with this workflow, never need to fiddle with manual resize.”
“I feel seriously handicapped without these shortcuts.”
“it helps a lot, but IMHO workspace integration is poor still”
“You can get there with Rectangle or Raycast though.”
“Drag lock is a good setting, just test drove it and will be using it.”
“Rectangle allows you to set the hotkeys for window snapping and sizing”
“It compares prices across multiple retailers, recommends hardware based on your actual needs”
“Rectangle and some alternative window switcher plus brew are the minimum to survive”
“Rectangle or something similar is one of the first things I install”
“Lots of options for snapping them and keeping windows nice and organized.”
“it just screams for a third-party software to do the heavy lifting”
“You should look into the open source macos app Rectangle.”
“Rectangle is a must-have, it's the very first thing I install after getting brew configured on a new Mac.”
“I've been using Rectangle for years now. IMO the shortcuts actually make it a massive improvement over Windows.”
“I don't even remember the last time I resized a window by hand.”
“Rectangle [1] is a great way to get key combinations for resizing and moving my windows around.”
“same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse”
“The keybinds are convenient and the auto-sizing/tiling is pleasant as can be.”
“I've used Rectangle for years so I can arrange windows more quickly.”
“I'm very grateful to the authors of Hammerspoon and Rectangle”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.