Pelmet vs Bartender
Bartender is a paid, closed-source menu bar manager with the deepest feature set on macOS, including menu bar search and per-app rules, and it requires Screen Recording and Accessibility permission. Pelmet is free and MIT licensed, needs no permissions for its core features, and is the only one of the two that tells you when the MacBook notch has hidden an icon.
Pelmet
Free · MITOpen source, no permissions required, detects notch overflow. macOS 13+.
Bartender
Paid licenceProprietary, closed source. Also on Setapp. Official site.
Side by side
Pelmet vs Bartender, feature by feature
| Capability | Pelmet | Bartender | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (MIT) | Paid licence | |
| Source code available | ✓ | — | |
| Hide and show menu bar icons | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Works without Screen Recording permission | ✓ | — | Bartender reads the menu bar visually, which is what makes features like search possible. |
| Works without Accessibility permission | ✓ | — | |
| Reports icons hidden by the MacBook notch | ✓ | — | |
| Panel listing hidden items | Shelf | Bartender Bar | |
| Search your menu bar items | — | ✓ | |
| Per-app and conditional rules | — | ✓ | Show an icon only when it changes, or only in certain apps. On Pelmet's roadmap, not shipped. |
| Menu bar styling and spacing controls | ◑ | ✓ | |
| Custom keyboard shortcut | — | ✓ | |
| Show on hover | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Third-party analytics SDK in the app | — | ✓ | Bartender 5.0.52 added the Amplitude analytics framework, which was widely reported in June 2024. Pelmet sends one anonymous daily event to its own endpoint and nothing else. |
| Signed and notarized | ✓ | ✓ |
Which one
Who each app is actually for
Choose Pelmet if…
- You want the tool to be free and auditable, with the whole hiding mechanism in a few readable Swift files.
- You are unwilling to grant Screen Recording to a background utility.
- You use a notched MacBook and want to know when macOS drops an icon instead of guessing.
- You want a small, single-purpose app rather than a settings surface.
Choose Bartender if…
- You want menu bar search — typing a few letters to jump to any status item.
- You want conditional rules: show this icon only when it updates, hide that one only in Zoom.
- You want deep visual customisation of the menu bar itself.
- You are already on Setapp, where it costs nothing extra.
Verdict
Bartender does more, and if you want per-app rules or menu bar search it is still the app to buy. But it asks for a licence fee, closed source, Screen Recording, and Accessibility to do it. Pelmet covers the part most people actually need — park the clutter, keep the essentials, and know when the notch has eaten something — for free and with no permissions at all.
Switching
Moving from Bartender to Pelmet
- 01
Quit Bartender before installing Pelmet
Two menu bar managers will fight over the same status items and their saved positions. Quit Bartender first (or uninstall it) so Pelmet can seed its divider cleanly.
- 02
Install Pelmet
brew install --cask ismatBabirli/pelmet/pelmet, or download the notarized DMG. Pelmet appears next to the clock, not in the Dock.
- 03
Rebuild your layout with ⌘-drag
Bartender's visible/hidden split becomes Pelmet's divider. Command-drag the icons you always want to see to the right of the ╱, and leave everything else on the left.
- 04
Revoke the permissions you no longer need
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording and Accessibility, and remove Bartender's entries. Pelmet needs neither.
FAQ
Questions
- Is there a free alternative to Bartender for Mac?
- Yes, several. Pelmet is free and MIT licensed and adds notch overflow detection. Ice is free and GPL-3.0 with the largest free feature set. Hidden Bar is free, MIT, and deliberately minimal. All three hide and show menu bar icons without a licence fee.
- Why did people start looking for Bartender alternatives in 2024?
- Bartender changed hands without an announcement. Users discovered the new owner through a code-signature change in version 5.0.52, which also introduced the Amplitude analytics framework. The original developer later confirmed the sale and apologised for the lack of transparency.
- Can Pelmet do everything Bartender does?
- No, and it does not try to. Pelmet has no menu bar search and no per-app rules. It hides icons, reveals them on a shortcut or hover, and reports what the notch hid.
Other comparisons
Try Pelmet — it uninstalls as fast as it installs
Free, MIT licensed, and no permissions to grant. If it is not better than Bartender for you, brew uninstall --cask pelmet and nothing is left behind.
$brew install --cask ismatBabirli/pelmet/pelmet