JellyBar vs SwiftBar
JellyBar
jellybar.appSwiftBar
swiftbar.appSide by side
| Figure | JellyBar | SwiftBar |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Menu Bar Customization Software | 7.5 (#15) | 7.7 (#10) |
| Distribution | The app is notarized by Apple and can be downloaded for Mac or installed with Homebrew. | The maker's page offers a direct macOS download and installation through Homebrew. |
| Maker | JellyBar is made by Marc Vigod, an independent developer based in New Jersey, as part of Vigod Labs. | The product page identifies SwiftBar as an open source project by Ameba. |
| Purpose | JellyBar reorders, hides, and groups menu bar icons, keeping hidden icons one click away. | SwiftBar runs scripts from a plugin folder and displays their output in the macOS menu bar. |
Plans
In their own words
JellyBar
JellyBar is a free macOS utility for rearranging, hiding and grouping menu bar icons. Its editor has Active and Hidden sections; dragging an icon between them updates the menu bar automatically. Hidden icons can be shown by hovering after a configurable delay, set to one second by default, or by clicking the chevron. Spacers in three sizes and bullet dots help organize groups. JellyBar keeps the 30 newest automatic layout backups. Manual snapshots remain pinned indefinitely and can sync to iCloud Drive. Accessibility permission is required, while Screen Recording is optional for icon previews in settings. The maker says there is no analytics, telemetry or app-originated network traffic. It supports macOS 15 Sequoia and later on Apple Silicon, including desktops, external displays and clamshell MacBooks with an external monitor. Native support for notched MacBook screens remains in development.
SwiftBar
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.