How Ribbon compares with other macOS window managers

What makes Ribbon different?#

Ribbon arranges windows on a horizontal strip that is wider than the screen, and you move along it with a three-finger swipe. Most other macOS window managers tile windows to fit inside the screen, or snap them to halves and corners.

This is a "scrolling" layout, the idea behind niri on Linux and PaperWM on GNOME. Every window keeps the width you give it, and nothing is squeezed to make room for a new window.

Which window manager should I choose?#

It depends on how you like to work. Each tool below is good at something different:

• Ribbon, if you want windows side by side at their own widths and like to move with the trackpad.
• AeroSpace, if you want i3-style tiling driven by the keyboard and a text configuration file.
• Rectangle, if you want to snap windows to halves, thirds and corners with shortcuts or by dragging, and otherwise leave macOS as it is.
• yabai, if you want binary space partitioning tiling with deep scripting.
• Amethyst, if you want automatic tiling with xmonad-style layouts.
• PaperWM.spoon, if you already use Hammerspoon and want a scrolling layout configured in Lua.

How do they compare?#

	Layout	How you move around	Configuration	License and price
Ribbon	Scrolling strip, one per display	Three-finger swipe, switcher, Dock and Cmd-Tab	Native Settings window	Paid license for 2 Macs, 14-day free trial (price at launch)
AeroSpace	Tree-based tiling, i3-inspired	Keyboard	Plain-text file; no GUI by design	MIT, free
Rectangle	Snap to halves, thirds and corners	Keyboard shortcuts, drag to screen edges	Preferences window	Free and open source; Rectangle Pro is a paid upgrade
yabai	Binary space partitioning tiling	Keyboard, through a separate tool such as skhd	Config file and command line	MIT, free
Amethyst	Automatic tiling, xmonad-style layouts	Keyboard	Preferences window or a YAML file	MIT, free
PaperWM.spoon	Scrolling strip	Keyboard; optional trackpad swipes	Lua, inside Hammerspoon	MIT, free

What should I know about each one?#

AeroSpace#

AeroSpace is a tiling window manager based on a tree, inspired by i3. It uses its own emulation of virtual workspaces instead of macOS Spaces, does not require disabling System Integrity Protection, and its author says it will never have a GUI for configuration. Source: AeroSpace on GitHub.

Rectangle#

Rectangle moves and resizes windows with keyboard shortcuts and by dragging them to the edges and corners of the screen. It is based on Spectacle. It is free and open source; Rectangle Pro, built on top of it, is a paid app. Sources: Rectangle on GitHub, rectangleapp.com.

yabai#

yabai is a tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning. Keyboard shortcuts are defined with a separate tool such as skhd. Some of its features need System Integrity Protection to be partially disabled, so that it can control the window server. Source: yabai on GitHub.

Amethyst#

Amethyst is an automatic tiling window manager "along the lines of xmonad", with layouts such as Tall, Wide, Column, Row, Fullscreen and Binary Space Partitioning. Its README says it is free and always will be. Source: Amethyst on GitHub.

PaperWM.spoon#

PaperWM.spoon is a tiled, scrollable window manager that runs as a plug-in ("Spoon") for the Hammerspoon automation app, inspired by PaperWM for GNOME. It is configured in Lua and can scroll windows with a two-, three- or four-finger swipe, which is off by default. Ribbon's three-finger gesture technique was inspired by PaperWM.spoon. Source: PaperWM.spoon on GitHub.

Can I use Ribbon with these tools?#

Use one window manager at a time. Two tools that both move windows will fight over them.

When was this comparison checked?#

The facts about other products were checked against their own pages on October 22, 2026. If something here is out of date, the product's own page is right.