Awesome Mac: A macOS App List by Category
/awesome-mac
Awesome Mac is a single GitHub page that sorts macOS software into categories — text editors, office suites, Markdown tools, note apps, journaling — with icons marking open-source, freeware, App Store, and native-app status. Reach for it when you already know the category and just need real options to compare side by side. Skip it if you want one confident pick, since nothing here is ranked or reviewed.
Understanding the Awesome Mac Project
Awesome Mac is a curated README on GitHub that groups macOS software by category — Text Editors, Office, Markdown Tools, Note-taking, Journaling, Writing, and more — with a one-line description and a direct link per entry. Icons mark whether an app is open source, freeware, an App Store listing, or a native build. The main list is also mirrored into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese editions.
Categories and Curation in Awesome Mac
- ✓Categorized entries covering text editors, office suites, Markdown tools, note-taking apps, journaling apps, and writing software, each with its own subsection
- ✓Icon badges that distinguish open-source, freeware, App Store, native-app, and awesome-list cross-reference entries at a glance
- ✓Each listing is a one-line description plus a direct link to the developer's own site or GitHub repo, no affiliate middleman
- ✓Localized editions in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese (README-zh.md, README-ko.md, README-ja.md)
- ✓A companion RSS feed (./feed/feed.md) for tracking new additions to the list
- ✓A separate spin-off list, Awesome Command Line Apps (command-line-apps.md), covering terminal tools instead of GUI apps
- ✓Cross-links to other awesome-lists, like the Emacs and Vim plugin collections, instead of duplicating entries a dedicated list already covers
Who is Awesome Mac for?
Awesome Mac suits developers and power users hunting for open-source or native alternatives to mainstream apps — the OSS and native icons make filtering by hand straightforward. It's less useful for someone who wants a single confident recommendation, since the list doesn't rank or review entries, just catalogs them by category.
Strengths
- ✓Icon system (OSS, freeware, App Store, native) lets you filter by eye without opening every link
- ✓Direct links to the developer's own site or repo, no aggregator middleman or affiliate redirect
- ✓CC0-1.0 license means you can fork, embed, or repurpose the whole list with no attribution requirement
- ✓Localized into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese for readers who'd rather not parse English category names
- ✓Cross-links to other awesome-lists (Emacs, Vim, Standard Notes) instead of duplicating entries that already have a dedicated collection
Points to Consider
- △No search or filter bar — finding an app means scrolling through the relevant category section by hand
- △Entries aren't reviewed or ranked; a one-line blurb sits next to competitors with no comparison of which is actually better
- △Coverage depends on contributor activity, so some categories (Text Editors, Note-taking) run long while others stay thin
- △The main README is in English; the zh/ko/ja files are separate documents that can lag behind the main list
Similar macOS Software Collections
Common Questions About Awesome Mac
Awesome Mac is released under the CC0-1.0 license, so the list content is dedicated to the public domain and free to reuse without attribution.
Awesome Mac takes contributions through GitHub pull requests; the README points contributors to the CONTRIBUTING.md guidelines in docs/ before submitting a new entry.
Awesome Mac mixes free and paid software in the same categories — icon badges mark which entries are open source, freeware, or App Store links, rather than the list being restricted to one type.
Awesome Mac maintains separate README files for Chinese (README-zh.md), Korean (README-ko.md), and Japanese (README-ja.md) readers, linked from the top of the main list.
The main Awesome Mac list focuses on GUI apps; command-line tools live in a separate companion list, Awesome Command Line Apps, linked from the README.
Best use cases
- •Replacing a bloated Electron editor: browse the Text Editors section for native alternatives like CodeEdit or LiteEdit, both flagged native and open source, when you want something lighter than VS Code
- •Picking a Markdown app without downloading five trial versions — the Markdown Tools section lets you compare one-line descriptions for Typora, Zettlr, Obsidian, and a dozen others side by side
- •Vetting a note-taking app for local-first storage.
- •Finding a free journaling app before paying for Day One's subscription — Journey and Life Note sit in the same Journaling section
- •Locating a command-line equivalent through the linked Awesome Command Line Apps list instead of a GUI app
Related repositories
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