iBar-Menubar vs SwiftBar

iBar-Menubar helps Mac users reduce menu bar clutter by hiding icons and bringing them back when needed. Its standard mode folds hidden items, while aggregation mode displays them in a panel below the menu bar. The maker says this panel can help reveal icons obscured by a MacBook notch. In aggregation mode, users can temporarily place a hidden icon in the menu bar to use its app menu, then hide it again after an optional delay. The app also lets users adjust icon spacing and reorder icons in its menu bar layout settings. It supports Apple M-series and Intel Macs. The App Store listing requires macOS 10.12 or later and describes the app as Mac only. A free download is available with in-app purchases; the listed annual subscription costs 18 CNY a year. The developer reports that the app collects no data, though Apple says this developer-provided privacy information has not been verified by Apple.

SwiftBar displays the output of custom scripts in the macOS menu bar and turns it into interactive menus. Plugins can be written in Bash, Python, Ruby, Swift, or JavaScript; SwiftBar runs them on a user-defined schedule and builds menu items from their output. Menus can include icons, colors, dropdowns, submenus, and click actions. Items can open URLs, run shell scripts, refresh plugins, or use keyboard shortcuts. Refresh intervals can be set in plugin filenames or with cron syntax in metadata. SwiftBar includes a plugin repository through its Get Plugins menu, and its product page describes hundreds of community-created plugins. Its plugin API is adopted from BitBar, allowing existing BitBar and xbar plugins to run. SwiftBar also supports plugins made with the macOS Shortcuts app and provides a settings interface for their refresh schedule. It is a free, open source project by Ameba, licensed under MIT. SwiftBar requires macOS 12 or later and is available as a direct download or through Homebrew.