iBar-Menubar vs xbar

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.

xbar puts output from scripts and programs in the macOS menu bar, where selected information can be checked at a glance. Its library offers hundreds of ready-made plugins across areas such as AWS, finance, email, music, network, system, and weather. Examples include network status, YubiKey OATH TOTP codes, an OKX price ticker, Bluetooth trackpad battery status, miner statistics, and an RSS reader. Users can also write plugins in any language. The app's Preferences > Plugins view is where users can discover and manage plugins; the plugin directory is ~/Library/Application Support/xbar/plugins. xbar is free at free and open source under the MIT License. The project says Mat Ryer and Leah Anthony rewrote it in Go using Wails. The latest release requires macOS Catalina or newer (10.15 or later). Grouped and custom menu items and keyboard shortcuts are supported, but hiding or rearranging menu items is not. The v2.1.7-beta notes say the plugin timeout increased from one minute to two minutes.