The 11 best macro software for Mac in 2026

Looking for the right macro software for Mac? We tested the field and ranked 11 tools by what they actually reach, how easy they are to set up, how much control they give you, how reliable they are, and what they cost. One thing up front: we make Buttons, so we have a horse in this race. We put our own tool at #1 and we say plainly where cheaper and free options beat it.

Here's the dividing line that decides which tool you need. Most Mac macro tools are integration or keystroke macros. They fire hotkeys, run scripts, and drive apps through the hooks a developer chose to expose. Buttons works differently, at the screen level, so it can reach a portal or app that has no API at all. Pick based on which side of that line your work lives on.

Key takeaways

• Best overall for reach: Buttons runs at the screen level, so it reaches apps and portals with no API. It costs $19.99/month and is Mac-only.
• Best free and native: Apple Shortcuts, Automator, and AppleScript ship with macOS at no cost.
• Best for portal-bound work: Buttons, because it clicks and types through a real portal that classic tools can't script.
• Best budget power tool: Keyboard Maestro, a one-time US$36 license for a deep macro engine.

Comparison table

Here's how the 11 tools stack up at a glance, ranked in the order we cover them below.

_Overall scores are our own editorial ranking based on reach, ease of setup, supervision, reliability, and price, not a third-party rating._

What is macro software (and how it works on a Mac)

Macro software records or scripts a set of steps and then replays them on command, so you stop doing the same clicks by hand. On a Mac, three kinds of tools do this in different ways.

Keystroke and text macros fire a hotkey or expand a snippet, like turning "addr" into your full address. App-scripting macros drive an application through the commands its developer exposed, which is how AppleScript and Automator control a scriptable app. Screen-level AI automation watches the screen and acts on what it sees, clicking and typing through your real apps the way you would.

That last difference matters. Classic macOS tools only reach what an app chose to expose, so a portal with no API falls outside their reach. Screen-level tools reach anything visible on your Mac.

How we ranked these tools

We scored each tool on five things. Reach: how much of your real work it can actually touch. Ease of setup: how fast you go from idea to a running macro. Supervision and control: whether you can watch, pause, and stop a run. Reliability: whether it keeps working when apps change. Price: what you pay and how. Every score is our own editorial judgment, not a third-party rating.

The 11 best macro software for Mac

1. Buttons

Buttons is an AI that works your Mac at the screen level. It clicks, types, and moves through your real apps on screen, so it reaches apps and portals with no API. You describe a task in plain words and Buttons lays it out as editable steps. Supervision is built in: every step is tagged with who does it, checkpoints pause and ask before anything is sent or posted, and pressing Escape stops a run instantly. This is where Buttons fits: recurring, portal-bound work you still want to watch.

Pros and cons

• Pro: reaches apps and portals with no API, because it acts on the screen.
• Pro: plain-language setup, and checkpoints hold before anything is sent or posted.
• Con: Mac-only, for macOS 14 and later on Apple silicon and Intel.
• Con: the machine is busy during a run, so you supervise it rather than multitask.
• Con: to act, Buttons captures the chosen screen during a run and sends those images to Anthropic's API. Screenshots are not stored or used to train models, and run logs are off by default.
• Con: you download it directly from usebuttons.com. It is not in the Mac App Store.

Pricing: $19.99/month, one plan with everything included, with a 7-day free trial and no card required.

Review: No verified third-party review was found for Buttons. We looked on recognized review platforms and found only unrelated apps with similar names, so we are flagging this as a gap rather than filling it.

2. Keyboard Maestro

Keyboard Maestro is a Mac-only macro engine that triggers sequences of keystrokes, clicks, and app actions from hotkeys and other triggers. It is a favorite for deep, power-user macros, and it can sync macros via Dropbox, iCloud Drive, or the like.

Pros and cons

• Pro: a low one-time cost instead of a subscription.
• Pro: deep trigger and action library for complex keyboard-driven macros.
• Con: Mac-only, and it drives apps through hooks, so a no-API portal stays out of reach.

Pricing: a one-time license of US$36 for a new customer, licensed per user and usable on up to five Macs. Upgrades for existing users are US$25. It requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later.

Review: On G2 it holds a 5.0 / 5 rating from one verified review, where a small-business reviewer wrote, "Your able to create new commands and can easily switch or make new ones. Having the Duplicate button definitely saves time…"

3. BetterTouchTool

BetterTouchTool is a Mac utility that automates the system and customizes your input devices. It handles keyboard shortcuts, Touch Bar customization, and Trackpad, Magic Mouse, and normal mouse gestures, which makes it strong for gesture-triggered macros.

Pros and cons

• Pro: deep control over gestures and input devices.
• Pro: a long 45-day free trial and a cheap lifetime option.
• Con: focused on input and system tweaks, so it is not built to drive a no-API portal end to end.

Pricing: a Standard License is $15 with two years of free updates, and a Lifetime License is $25 with free updates for as long as the app exists. There is a free 45-day trial, and it is also available on Setapp.

Review: On AlternativeTo it rates 4.4 / 5 ("Very Good", 7 reviews). The top positive comment says, "My mac would be unusable without this app. This is the first thing I install on a new Mac."

4. Apple Shortcuts

Apple Shortcuts is a free app built into macOS for creating task automations called shortcuts. Each shortcut is made of one or more actions, and each action is a single step that performs a function. Actions can interact with apps and content on your Apple devices and with services on the internet. Mac-specific collections include Quick Actions in the Finder and Menu Bar shortcuts.

Pros and cons

• Pro: free and native to macOS.
• Pro: connects across your Apple devices and internet services.
• Con: it reaches what apps expose through actions, so a no-API portal falls outside its range.

Pricing: free, built into macOS.

Review: In a June 2025 assessment, Tom's Guide described it this way: "That app is Shortcuts, and it lets you automate tasks on your devices, even across apps." There is no dedicated star rating for this built-in app, so this is a credited publication assessment rather than a numeric score.

5. Automator

Automator is a free, built-in macOS app that lets you create a custom workflow without knowing programming or scripting languages. Automator documents are called workflows, made up of actions that run in sequence. Those workflows can be imported into the Shortcuts app, where they become a collection of shortcuts.

Pros and cons

• Pro: free, native, and approachable for simple file workflows.
• Pro: workflows carry over into Shortcuts.
• Con: it works through supported actions, so a portal with no integration stays out of reach.

Pricing: free, built into macOS.

Review: No verified third-party rating was found. Automator is a free, built-in Apple app without a dedicated product listing on recognized review platforms, so we are noting this as a gap rather than filling it.

6. AppleScript

AppleScript is built into macOS and bundled via Script Editor, so it is free as part of the operating system. It is a mature, English-like yet object-oriented scripting language for controlling scriptable apps and parts of macOS. It drives applications through Apple events, and it can automate repetitive tasks and combine features from multiple scriptable apps.

Pros and cons

• Pro: free, native, and precise for scripted control of scriptable apps.
• Pro: can chain features across several scriptable apps.
• Con: it only controls apps that are scriptable, so a no-API portal falls outside its reach, and it asks you to write code.

Pricing: free, included with macOS.

Review: No verified third-party review was found. AppleScript is a free, built-in Apple technology with no dedicated product listing or rating on recognized platforms, so we are noting this as a gap rather than filling it.

7. Hazel

Hazel does automated, rules-based organizing and cleaning of folders. It moves, renames, sorts, archives, and deletes files by the rules you set, which makes it the go-to for automated file organization. Hazel 6 adds on-the-fly OCR text recognition, file revert, reading of encrypted PDFs, custom list attributes, and a pause action.

Pros and cons

• Pro: a one-time price instead of a subscription.
• Pro: strong, hands-off file rules that run in the background.
• Con: it focuses on files and folders, so it is not a general macro engine for driving apps.

Pricing: one-time pricing, with a single-user license at $42, a family pack at $65, and an upgrade from any previous version at $20. It requires macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later and supports all Apple Silicon Macs.

Review: On MacUpdate it rates 4.4 / 5 across 144 user rates. One reviewer wrote, "Hazel simply works, and works well once you understand how it works and how to set Hazel up properly."

8. Alfred (with Powerpack)

Alfred is a macOS launcher whose core app is free to download and use. The paid Powerpack adds no-code Workflows launched by hotkey or keyword, Clipboard History, auto-expanding Snippets, powered-up search, and Run Shell and Terminal commands. That combination makes it a strong keyboard launcher for building workflows.

Pros and cons

• Pro: free core app, with a one-time Powerpack rather than a subscription.
• Pro: no-code Workflows plus clipboard and snippet tools in one launcher.
• Con: workflows run through defined actions and shell commands, so a no-API portal is hard to drive end to end.

Pricing: the core app is free. Powerpack is a one-time purchase priced in GBP, with a Single License at £34 and a Mega Supporter tier at £59 that includes free lifetime upgrades.

Review: On Capterra it rates 4.7 / 5 across 6 reviews. A reviewer wrote, "Lots of features from file/archives finding to calculator, web search and more. Better than Spotlight."

9. TextExpander

TextExpander turns short abbreviations into reusable Snippets, with dynamic fill-ins, date math, and shared team libraries. It is built for text and snippet macros, and it works beyond the Mac too.

Pros and cons

• Pro: cross-platform, on Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, and iPad.
• Pro: shared team libraries keep everyone's snippets in sync.
• Con: it expands text, so it will not click or navigate through a portal for you.

Pricing: a per-user subscription, with a Free tier at $0, Pro at $6/user/month billed annually ($60/yr), Business at $12/user/month billed annually ($120/yr), and custom Enterprise pricing. There is a 30-day free trial with no credit card.

Review: On Capterra it rates 4.7 / 5 across 64 reviews. One reviewer wrote, "It saves a lot of time when you have to type out the same/similar things in your job."

10. Raycast

Raycast is a launcher for developer command workflows, with core built-ins like Clipboard History, Calculator, and Window Management, plus community extensions. Raycast AI is powered by multiple providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, with Bring Your Own Key support.

Pros and cons

• Pro: a capable free-forever tier with community extensions.
• Pro: cross-platform and AI-enabled with your own keys.
• Con: it runs commands and extensions, so a no-API portal is not its target.

Pricing: Free forever; Pro at $8/month billed annually (or $10/month monthly); Teams Pro at $12/user/month billed annually; custom Enterprise pricing. It is available on macOS, Windows, and iOS.

Review: On G2 it rates 4.7 / 5 across 16 reviews. A reviewer wrote, "Raycast is the perfect app to replace Spotlight!"

11. Karabiner-Elements

Karabiner-Elements is a powerful key remapper and keyboard customizer for macOS. You install it via direct download or Homebrew, and it is the tool of choice for keyboard remapping macros. It runs background services and requires Accessibility and Input Monitoring permissions.

Pros and cons

• Pro: free and open source, with optional donations only.
• Pro: deep, reliable keyboard remapping.
• Con: it remaps keys, so it will not drive an app or portal through a full task.

Pricing: free and open source (Unlicense / public domain). It supports macOS 26 Tahoe, 15 Sequoia, 14 Sonoma, and 13 Ventura, on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

Review: On Product Hunt it holds a 5.0 rating from 2 reviews, where one reviewer called it a "Simple, performant key re-mapper."

How to choose the right macro software for your Mac

Start with reach. Ask whether your task touches an app that exposes hooks or actions, or an app with no API. If everything you automate is scriptable, a free native tool like Shortcuts or a one-time license like Keyboard Maestro will carry you a long way. If your work runs through a portal that nothing can script, you need a screen-level tool.

Then weigh three practical things. Cost, since free and one-time tools save money when they fit. Setup effort, since some tools ask you to write code. Control, since some jobs, like sending or posting, need a human checkpoint mid-run. Match the tool to the job in front of you.

Who each tool is best for

• Power users who script fixed macros: Keyboard Maestro.
• People who want free and native: Apple Shortcuts, Automator, and AppleScript.
• Gesture and input tinkerers: BetterTouchTool and Karabiner-Elements.
• Anyone drowning in file cleanup: Hazel.
• Keyboard-first launcher fans: Alfred and Raycast.
• Heavy typists repeating the same text: TextExpander.
• Anyone with recurring, portal-bound, no-API work they want to supervise: Buttons.

Common macro automation pitfalls to avoid

Watch for the macro that clicks where a button used to be, then breaks when an app updates its layout. Watch for scripts that stall the moment they touch an app with no API. And watch for full fire-and-forget automation on tasks where a wrong entry is worse than doing it by hand, like a mis-keyed number in a quote or a reconciliation. For those, keep a human checkpoint before anything is sent or posted.

Conclusion and recommendation

Here's the honest verdict. If your work is scriptable and your budget is tight, the free native tools win: Apple Shortcuts, Automator, and AppleScript cost nothing and ship with macOS. Keyboard Maestro is the better buy for deep, fixed macros at a one-time US$36. Those tools all hit the same wall, though, when a task runs through an app with no API.

That gap is where Buttons earns its place. It automates recurring, portal-bound work at the screen level, and it keeps you in control with checkpoints you supervise. It costs $19.99/month, it is Mac-only, and the machine is busy while it runs. If that fits your work, Try Buttons free for 7 days →

Tools featured in this list

• Buttons
• Keyboard Maestro
• BetterTouchTool
• Apple Shortcuts
• Automator
• AppleScript
• Hazel
• Alfred (with Powerpack)
• TextExpander
• Raycast
• Karabiner-Elements