Rectangle app vs. BetterSnapTool: Free vs. Paid Window Snapping on Mac
BetterSnapTool predates Rectangle mac by years — it’s been on the Mac App Store since the early 2010s, built by folivora.AI GmbH, the same developer behind BetterTouchTool. Rectangle app arrived later as a free, open-source alternative. Both snap windows to screen edges and corners; the differences are in customization depth, price, and how each is distributed.
The basics, verified against current listings
Rectangle: free, open source (MIT license), distributed from rectangleapp.com or Homebrew, runs on macOS 10.15 and later.
BetterSnapTool: $1.99 as a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, currently listing macOS 10.12 or later as its requirement, an 8 MB download, and English/German localization. Its most recent listed update is version 1.9.12. The App Store listing shows in-app purchases, but these are for BetterTouchTool licenses (a separate app by the same developer) rather than anything inside BetterSnapTool itself — the snapping features described in the listing are part of the base $1.99 purchase.
Where they overlap
Both cover the standard set: drag a window to an edge or corner to resize it into a half or quarter, assign keyboard shortcuts to any snap position, and work across multiple monitors. Both are lightweight menu bar utilities rather than full window-tiling systems, and both rely on macOS’s Accessibility permission to move windows.
Where BetterSnapTool differs
Custom snap areas anywhere on the screen, not just a fixed grid. BetterSnapTool’s listing describes creating your own snap zones at arbitrary positions and sizes, each independently assignable to a keyboard shortcut, a color, and a text prompt — and these can be set globally or scoped to a specific application. Rectangle’s actions are also assignable per shortcut, but they come from a fixed catalog of halves, quarters, thirds, and similar fractions rather than fully arbitrary user-defined zones.
Modifier-key move and resize without dragging a title bar or corner. A frequently mentioned feature in BetterSnapTool’s own listing and its user reviews: hold a chosen modifier key and move the cursor over any part of a window — active or not — to move or resize it, without clicking the title bar or hunting for a resize handle. This isn’t a feature Rectangle’s documentation describes.
Title bar and traffic-light button remapping. BetterSnapTool lets you choose what happens when you double-click a window’s title bar, and reassign what the red, yellow, or green window buttons do on right-click. Rectangle doesn’t touch title bar or traffic-light behavior at all.
Design customization for the snap preview. The on-screen preview shown while dragging can be recolored and relabeled per snap area in BetterSnapTool. Rectangle’s snap footprint is not user-customizable in appearance.
Where Rectangle differs
Free and open source. Rectangle’s entire codebase is public on GitHub, so its behavior and permission usage can be audited independently — not something available for BetterSnapTool as a closed-source App Store app.
Broader keyboard action set out of the box, including thirds, two-thirds, sixths, and named fourths as default actions without having to build a custom snap area for each one. One App Store review of BetterSnapTool notes it added a “two thirds” option only in a later update, whereas Rectangle ships thirds and two-thirds as defaults from the start.
A URL scheme for scripting. Rectangle actions can be triggered from a URL (rectangle://execute-action?name=...), useful for wiring into Alfred, Raycast, or Keyboard Maestro. BetterSnapTool’s public materials don’t document an equivalent scripting hook — if you need this, verify directly with the developer before assuming it’s absent.
Distribution outside the App Store. Rectangle installs via a direct download or Homebrew, avoiding App Store sandboxing entirely. BetterSnapTool is Mac App Store only.
What neither app does
Neither moves windows between macOS Spaces (virtual desktops) — that’s outside what the Accessibility API allows either developer to touch. Neither spans a single window across two physical monitors, since macOS itself doesn’t render windows that way.
Which one to pick
Choose Rectangle if you want the standard set of window sizes for free, prefer auditable open-source software, or plan to script window placement from another tool.
Choose BetterSnapTool if you specifically want snap zones at arbitrary positions and sizes rather than a fixed grid, want to remap title bar double-clicks and traffic-light buttons, or like the modifier-key move/resize behavior its long-time users specifically call out. At $1.99, it’s a low-cost purchase either way, and its multi-year track record on the App Store (updates going back to 2011, still maintained as of its September 2024 release) is a longer history than Rectangle’s.
Both are safe, well-established choices. The decision is about how much you value fully custom snap zones and title-bar remapping against Rectangle’s open-source model, broader keyboard defaults, and scripting support.