macOS Sequoia tiling or a window manager?

If your Mac runs macOS 15 Sequoia or later and all you do is put two windows in halves now and then, the built-in tiling is enough: it is free and there is nothing to install. A window manager earns its place when you want the same thing on macOS 13 or 14, a shortcut of your own for every position, thirds, whole layouts for three or four windows, or two windows that keep acting as a pair.

What the built-in tiling does

Apple added window tiling in macOS 15 Sequoia. There are three ways to use it:

• Drag. Take a window to the left or right edge of the screen for a half, into a corner for a quarter, or up to the menu bar to fill the screen. A frame shows where the window will land before you let go.
• The green button. Move the pointer over the green button at the top left of a window and a small panel offers tiling positions.
• The Window menu. The same positions are commands, most of them under Move & Resize, with a keyboard shortcut shown beside several of them.

Drag a tiled window away and it goes back to the size it had before. The switches for all of this are in System Settings, under Desktop & Dock, where you can turn tiling by dragging on or off and choose whether tiled windows have a margin around them.

It is a solid basic set, it needs no permission because it is part of the system, and for many people it is all they will ever use. The step-by-step version is in the guide on how to snap windows side by side on a Mac.

What it leaves out

These are the gaps people most often run into. Apple changes macOS every year, so check the Window menu on your own version before you take any list, this one included, as final.

• Macs on macOS 13 and 14. Ventura and Sonoma have no tiling. They have Split View, which holds two windows in full screen.
• Thirds. Sequoia's positions are built from halves and quarters. There is no three-column layout and no two thirds with one third beside it.
• A layout picker. Nothing shows you a set of whole layouts and lets you drop a window into a zone, the way Snap Layouts does on Windows.
• Help filling the rest. After the first window is placed, macOS does not offer your other open windows for the space that is left.

What a window manager adds

Window managers differ, so here are two as examples, described only as far as their makers do.

Rectangle is free and open source. It gives keyboard shortcuts for halves, quarters and thirds, and snaps a window when you drag it to an edge. If shortcuts and thirds are what you are missing, it may be all you need.

SnapForMac is built for putting two or three windows side by side. Next to the built-in tiling it looks like this:

Pro also has pairs: one shortcut puts the window in front and the one behind it side by side, another swaps their sides, and a click back into one brings its partner forward too. SnapForMac Pro starts at $14.99, paid once, not a subscription. The free part has no time limit. The features page lists every feature and which ones are free.

What an extra app costs you

A fair comparison includes the costs, and money is the smallest of them.

• A permission. Any app that moves other apps' windows needs the Accessibility permission, which is broad. Read the guide to the macOS Accessibility permission before you grant it to anything.
• One more thing running. A window manager sits in the menu bar and starts with your Mac if you let it.
• New keys to learn. Its shortcuts differ from the ones in the Window menu.
• A possible clash. On macOS 15, the system and the app can both answer the same drag, as described next.

Running both on macOS 15

You can keep the built-in tiling and a window manager side by side, with one thing to settle. When you drag a window to an edge, macOS and the window manager may both react, and the window ends up placed twice.

The fix is to let one of them own dragging. If you want the window manager's drag, with its preview and its layout bar at the top of the screen, switch the system one off in System Settings, under Desktop & Dock. If you prefer Apple's drag, leave it on and use the window manager for its shortcuts and layouts. In SnapForMac you can also pause snapping from the menu bar whenever you want it out of the way.

Keyboard shortcuts do not clash in the same way, because Apple's tiling shortcuts and SnapForMac's defaults use different keys.

How to decide

1. Check your version. Open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. On macOS 13 or 14 the choice is Split View or a window manager.
2. Use the built-in tiling for a week if you have it. Note each time you wish it did something else.
3. Match the wish to a tool. Shortcuts and thirds: a free window manager covers it. A layout picker, window suggestions or pairs: that is what SnapForMac is for.
4. Try before paying. SnapForMac's halves, quarters, maximise, centre, restore and drag to snap are free, and the Snap Layouts bar can be tried 5 times a day.

If you are coming from a PC and what you miss is the picker itself, the guide on Windows Snap Layouts on a Mac maps each part across. SnapForMac needs macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel; the download page has the requirements and the install steps.

Questions people ask

Do I still need a window manager on macOS Sequoia?

Not for halves and quarters: macOS 15 does those itself. You may still want one for thirds, a bar of whole layouts, a list of windows to fill the other zones, pairs that swap sides with one shortcut, or a shortcut for every position.

Does macOS Sequoia have window snapping like Windows?

Partly. Dragging a window to an edge or a corner tiles it to a half or a quarter, much as on Windows. macOS has no layout picker and does not suggest other windows for the remaining space.

Can I use macOS tiling and a window manager at the same time?

Yes. The one thing to settle is dragging to an edge, which both may answer. Switch the system's drag tiling off under System Settings, Desktop & Dock, or keep it and use the window manager for shortcuts and layouts.

How do I turn off window tiling in macOS Sequoia?

Open System Settings and choose Desktop & Dock. The switches for tiling when you drag a window to a screen edge or to the menu bar are in the section about windows. Turn off the ones you do not want.

Does SnapForMac work on Macs that cannot run macOS 15?

Yes, as long as the Mac runs macOS 13 Ventura or later. It works on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and those older versions of macOS have no tiling of their own.