Boring Notch alternatives
Start with the honest answer: Boring Notch is free, open source under GPL-3.0, has 10.3k GitHub stars, is actively maintained and runs on Intel Macs as well as Apple Silicon. If it does what you need, no alternative on this page is an upgrade and you should keep using it. There are two reasons people genuinely outgrow it, and they are both about scope rather than quality.
Disclosure: I build Dynamic Notch, one of the paid alternatives below. I am not going to pretend a well-run free project is worse than it is, so this page is mostly about telling you whether you are in the minority who would get something for their money.
Reason one: you want modules it does not have
Boring Notch is built around music, with a visualiser and playback controls, plus a file shelf with AirDrop, calendar, and HUD replacements for volume, brightness and keyboard backlight. That is a coherent set and it covers the common case well.
What it does not cover is the rest of the menu bar. If you are still running a separate clipboard manager, a timer, a notes scratchpad, a weather widget and a colour picker, those five icons are still there competing for the space the notch is already eating into. Dynamic Notch runs sixteen modules including clipboard history, quick notes, a timer, a pinned current task, weather, a camera mirror, a download watcher, and a colour picker that reports HEX, RGB, HSL and a Swift literal with the WCAG contrast ratio already worked out. It is $5.99 once.
Reason two: you want someone to email
This is the real difference between free and paid here, and it cuts both ways. With an open-source project, support is a GitHub issue queue staffed by people doing it in their spare time, and a fix arrives when someone feels like writing it. That is a fair trade for free, and for a lot of people it is fine.
If a broken notch app during a work week is a problem you want to be able to escalate, a paid app with a person behind it is worth the one-off cost. That applies to Dynamic Notch, NotchNook and Alcove equally.
The alternatives side by side
| App | Price | Model | Open source | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Notch | $5.99 | One-time | No | Replacing several menu bar utilities at once without paying a subscription. |
| Boring Notch | Free | Open source | GPL-3.0 | Anyone who wants the source, a GPL licence, and no payment at all. |
| NotchNook | ~$25* | One-time or monthly | No | People who want the most refined version of the idea and do not mind paying most for it. |
| Alcove | $14.99 | One-time | No | People who care most about the animation and the iPhone-like feel of the thing. |
| MediaMate | ~$7* | One-time, free tier | No | Replacing the ugly macOS HUD and nothing more. |
| DynamicLake | ~$15* | One-time | No | People comparing paid options who want an alternative to NotchNook. |
When to stay with Boring Notch
- You mostly want music controls. That is what it was built for and it does it well. Paying for more modules you will not switch on is a waste.
- You have an Intel MacBook. Boring Notch supports Intel. Dynamic Notch is Apple Silicon (M1 or later) only, and most of the paid category is the same.
- You want to read or change the source. No paid app here is open source. If that matters to you it is not a close call.
- You would rather not pay for utilities. Entirely reasonable, and this category is one of the few where the free option is genuinely competitive.
Common questions
Is Boring Notch still maintained?
Yes. It is at 10.3k GitHub stars with active development, and requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later to install. Building from source needs macOS 15.6 or later.
What is the closest paid equivalent to Boring Notch?
Dynamic Notch at $5.99 is the nearest on price and the broadest on modules, at sixteen. Alcove at $14.99 is closer if what you want is Apple-like animation and live activities rather than more utilities.
Can I run two Mac notch apps at once?
Not usefully. Two apps drawing in the same place at the top of the screen will fight over it. Try one, and if it is not right, quit it before installing the other.
If you want the other eleven modules
$5.99 once, no subscription, macOS 14.6 or later on Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Watch the 1:14 demo first, and if Boring Notch already does everything you need, keep it. That is a perfectly good outcome.
Get Dynamic Notch, $5.99