Bartender vs Cornice

Bartender manages macOS menu bar items, controlling which ones appear and when. It can reveal items quickly, search them, and use custom hotkeys and triggers. Users can hide, rearrange, and group items, create custom items from built-in data sources or scripts without coding, and switch profiles by hotkey, trigger, or display setup. Bartender 7’s Command Bar searches for and triggers menu bar items; clipboard history is included for Pro users. Automation options include built-in triggers, Shortcuts, AppleScript, hotkeys, and Siri. The app works without Screen Recording permission, showing app icons rather than snapshots when permission is disabled. The maker says captures remain cached locally on the device and app data is not transmitted to its servers. Bartender 7 is built for macOS 27 Golden Gate; users on macOS 26 Tahoe are directed to Bartender 6 while Bartender 7 support is pending. Bartender 7 costs 24.99 USD as a one-time purchase, and Pro costs $19.99 a year. A license covers all Macs owned and personally used by its holder.

Cornice is a free, open-source menu bar manager for macOS. A divider hides the menu bar items to its left, and clicking it reveals them again. An optional second divider creates a section that stays hidden even when the rest of the items are revealed. Users can adjust divider thickness and height, choose among five chevron styles, and configure keyboard shortcuts and auto-hide behavior. Cornice does not move other applications’ menu bar icons, so the divider must be positioned by hand. Optional two-finger trackpad gestures on a window title bar can resize or reposition windows, or send them to the Dock. Hiding and revealing menu bar items requires no permissions; Accessibility access is requested only when those optional gestures are enabled. The interface supports sixteen languages that can be switched without restarting. The project is distributed under GPL-3.0. It costs nothing and requires macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later on Apple Silicon. Builds are signed for development but not notarised, so macOS requires a manual first launch through its warning. After an update, gesture users must grant Accessibility permission again.