I remember opening my brand new MacBook a few years ago. The screen was gorgeous, the trackpad was perfect, but looking up at the top right corner, it felt blindingly empty. Apple gives you the time, a Wi-Fi icon, and a battery percentage. That’s it.
For a while, I tried to keep it minimal. But as my work scaled, I found myself constantly context-switching. I'd cmd+tab out of my code editor, open Safari, log into RevenueCat, wait for the dashboard to load, completely lose my train of thought, and then try to get back to coding. It was miserable.
The realization hit me: the menu bar shouldn't be empty. It’s the only strip of pixels on a Mac that is always visible, no matter what you are doing. It’s prime real estate. I started hunting for mac utility bar apps that could solve my problem.
I installed dozens. A lot of them were heavy, electron-based trash that drained my battery. But a few were genuinely brilliant. Here are the top 10 mac apps that survived the purge and are permanently cemented to the top of my screen.
I’m putting this at #1 because I was so frustrated by the lack of native revenue trackers that I literally built it myself. Before Baritto, checking my daily MRR meant breaking my flow state entirely. Now, my live RevenueCat numbers and upcoming project deadlines sit globally at the top of my screen. It’s lightweight, built natively for Mac, and does exactly what it says on the tin. If you're a maker, Baritto is non-negotiable.
The apps that run everything else
2. Bartender
Look, if you actually install 10 apps into your menu bar, it’s going to look like a messy junk drawer real fast. Bartender is the bouncer for your top bar. It lets you hide the icons you don't need to see every second (like Wi-Fi) and exposes the ones you do (like your Baritto revenue tracker). It is the backbone of a clean setup.
3. Magnet
I know macOS has finally improved window snapping, but Magnet is just deeply ingrained in my muscle memory at this point. Being able to mash `Ctrl+Option+Right` and have a browser window perfectly snap to the side of my screen without touching the mouse is pure magic.
4. Amphetamine
Sometimes you need your Mac to just stay awake. Whether it’s rendering a massive video file or running a long Python script in the terminal, closing the lid or walking away usually suspends the machine. Amphetamine lives quietly in the menu bar—click the little pill icon, and your Mac refuses to sleep. Simple, free, perfect.
5. Raycast
Raycast is technically a Spotlight replacement, but its menu bar integration is what sealed the deal for me. You can script it to do almost anything. I use it to format JSON, kill frozen processes, and search my clipboard history. It replaces about four other utility tools I used to run simultaneously.
Finding balance
The trap with menu bar apps is downloading too many. The goal isn't to fill the space; the goal is to eliminate friction. If an app saves you three clicks a day, it stays. If it sits there just looking pretty, kill the process.
If you build things on the internet for a living, do yourself a favor: grab Baritto today, pin your revenue to your screen, and get back to work.