Looking for a Magnet alternative?

If you've used Magnet for a while, you've probably noticed it stops at the snap. Sash is the Mac window manager that handles what comes after: Snap Assist, Snap Groups, and a real Alt-Tab. Free snapping forever, $19.99 once for the rest.

Last updated: September 2026

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The 30-second version

Magnet is a fine snapping tool. It does halves, quarters, and thirds with hotkeys, and it costs $4.99. That's about it.

If you're looking for an alternative, it's almost always because you've realised snapping is only the first step. After the snap, Windows shows you the rest of your windows (Snap Assist), lets you switch to two snapped windows as a pair (Snap Groups), and shows window thumbnails in Alt-Tab. Magnet doesn't do any of that. Sash does, in one app. Free for 14 days, no card.

Why people look for a Magnet alternative

Most people don't replace Magnet because it broke. They replace it because they outgrew it. The same themes come up over and over:

• "Snapping is great, but then what?" You snap a browser to the left half, and now you need to find the right window for the other half. macOS doesn't help. Magnet doesn't help. You ⌘-Tab and squint at app icons until you find it.
• "Alt-Tab on Mac still shows app icons." Magnet doesn't replace ⌘-Tab, and Apple still hasn't either. Three Finder windows open? You see one Finder icon.
• "Two snapped windows aren't a pair." Magnet has no concept of a group. Once two windows are side by side, the switcher doesn't know they belong together.
• "It hasn't really moved in years." Magnet still works, but its last update was in early 2025. Mac multitasking has changed since then. Magnet hasn't.
• "It's stuck in the App Store sandbox." Some of the features people want from a modern window manager need APIs the sandbox doesn't allow.

If any of those felt familiar, the rest of this page is for you.

Sash, briefly

I switched from Windows to a Mac about a year ago. Loved everything about it except the window management. The Mac answer to this is to install three different apps — one for snapping, one for layouts, one for alt-tab — and you still only get about halfway to what Windows ships out of the box.

I started messing with Hammerspoon as a proof of concept, just to see what was actually possible. Once I realized the answer was "most of it," I decided to build it properly.

That was six months ago. Sash is what came out. Snap Assist, Snap Groups, real Alt-Tab, all in one place. Free snapping forever. $19.99 once for the rest.

— Mo, Alt Labs Inc.

At a glance

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Feature by feature

Snapping the basics

Both apps do halves, quarters, and thirds, with hotkeys and drag-to-snap. If you've used Magnet, your muscle memory transfers either way. Tie on the basics. The gap opens below.

Snap Assist

This is the one most people are looking for without knowing what to call it. On Windows 11, after you snap a window to the left half, the right half lights up with a picker of every other open window. You pick one. It snaps. Done in under a second.

Magnet snaps the first window and leaves you to find the next. Sash snaps the first window, then shows the picker for the empty zone. Pick with the arrow keys or click. It's the difference between two snaps taking two seconds and ten.

Snap Groups

Snap Groups means two snapped windows behave as a pair. Switch to both at once. Drag the divider between them to resize both. In Magnet, two snapped windows are two unrelated windows as far as the OS is concerned. In Sash they alt-tab as one and one divider resizes both. This is the feature that fixes "I have to re-snap everything every time I switch tasks."

Alt-Tab

⌘-Tab shows app icons, not windows. Magnet doesn't change this; it's not what Magnet is for. Sash adds a real Alt-Tab: hold ⌥, tap ⇥, cycle window thumbnails, one per window.

Pricing

Magnet is $4.99 one-time on the Mac App Store, with no free tier and no trial. Sash's snapping is free forever. Snap Assist, Snap Groups, and Alt-Tab unlock for $19.99 once (Standard, two Macs) or $29.99 once (Family, five Macs), with a 14-day full trial and no card. If you're paying $4.99 for snapping, Sash gives you snapping for free. The $19.99 buys the parts Magnet doesn't have.

Distribution

Magnet is on the Mac App Store, inside the sandbox. Sash is a direct download from getsash.app, signed and notarized by Apple, and off the App Store on purpose: the Accessibility and Screen Recording APIs behind Snap Assist and Alt-Tab aren't allowed inside the sandbox. For most people that's a one-time permission grant during setup and never thought about again.

When Magnet is still the right pick

I'm not going to tell you to leave Magnet if it's working for you. Keep it if:

• You only need snapping, and you don't want to think about it again.
• You need Mac App Store distribution. Some workplaces require it.
• You're price-anchored at $5 and free-for-snapping doesn't pull you in.

When Sash is the better fit

• You came to Mac from Windows and miss what comes after the snap.
• You switch windows constantly and the app-icon view drives you up the wall.
• You snap the same two windows together every day and wish they behaved as a pair.
• You'd rather pay once for one app than install three.
• You already use Magnet and you've started searching for an alternative, which is probably why you're here.

How to switch

There's nothing to migrate. Install Sash, leave Magnet running for a few days if you want to compare hotkeys, then uninstall Magnet when you're ready. Sash's default snap hotkeys are ⌃⌥⌘ + arrows. If you have Magnet's defaults memorised, rebind Sash to match in Settings. The trial is the full Pro tier. 14 days. No card.

Common questions

Try Sash for 14 days. No card.

Free snapping forever. Snap Assist, Snap Groups, and real Alt-Tab unlock for $19.99 once.

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See also: Sash vs. Magnet · Sash vs. Rectangle · all Mac window managers compared

Magnet prices and features checked September 2026. Spot an error? Email hello@getsash.app and we'll fix it.