Overhang vs SwiftBar

Overhang is a free macOS app for accessing status bar items that macOS has stopped drawing. It lists each item beside the icon of the app that owns it and lets users open its menu. Listing items needs no permissions; optional click-through uses Accessibility. Some apps handle mouse events in a way Overhang cannot press, so the app brings the owning application to the front in those cases. It supports Macs with and without a notch, plus external displays. Settings cover launching at login and enabling click-through.

Overhang does not require a network connection and says it collects, sends, or stores no user information. It has no analytics, account system, or server. While running, it reads menu bar icon positions, sizes, and owning apps in memory, then discards that information when it quits. The free plan costs nothing and requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later; it is a universal binary for Apple silicon and Intel. The maker says release builds are signed with an Apple Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, and identifies GitHub repository releases as the only official builds. Support requests are directed to GitHub Issues.

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.