Mac window managers: which one does which job
People call two very different tools a window manager. One arranges windows on the screen you are looking at. The other remembers where windows belong and puts them back when your displays change. Most people who go looking want one and end up with the other.
The two jobs
Arranging is snapping a window to half the screen, tiling four of them, or resizing with the keyboard. It happens while you are sitting there, and it is the job almost every Mac window manager does.
Restoring is different. Your displays change — you undock, a monitor sleeps, you plug in at the office — and macOS moves every window onto whatever screen is left. Arranging tools do not touch this, because nothing was asked of them at the moment it happened.
The two are not rivals. A tiler and a restorer do unrelated work and run together without conflict.
What each tool actually does
| Tool | Price | What it does | Puts windows back after a display change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rectangle | Free | Snapping and keyboard resizing, open source | No |
| Magnet | $4.99 | Snapping by dragging or shortcut | No |
| Loop | Free | Radial window resizing, open source | No |
| Moom | $15 | Snapping, resizing and layouts you build and save | Applies a saved layout, if you set that up |
| Stay | Free | Stores window positions on command | Yes |
| Display Maid | $5.99 | Saves window sets per display configuration | Yes |
| Resettle | $14.99 once | Remembers each display setup as you work | Yes, with nothing to set up |
Prices come from each tool's own page or App Store listing, checked in September 2026.
What macOS does on its own
Recent versions of macOS tile windows for you: drag one to an edge, or use Move & Resize in the Window menu. For arranging on a single screen, that is most of what a snapping app was for.
It does not keep a layout per display setup. Nothing in System Settings remembers that your editor lives on the left monitor at the office and on the laptop at home. That gap is why restoring tools exist. Why macOS moves the windows in the first place.
So which do you need
- You want windows to snap into halves and quarters: Rectangle, free. Magnet if you prefer it from the App Store.
- You want keyboard-driven tiling and workspaces: a tiling manager such as AeroSpace, free.
- You want layouts you build yourself, plus tiling: Moom.
- Your windows scatter every time a monitor comes or goes: a restorer — Stay, Display Maid or Resettle. How those three compare.
Where Resettle fits
Resettle is not a window manager in the arranging sense. It has no snapping, no tiling and no shortcuts for moving windows around, and it is meant to run alongside whichever tool you use for that.
It does one thing: learn where every window sits on each display setup — laptop alone, home monitor, office dock, lid closed — and put them back when that setup returns.
- Nothing to set up. It learns as you work; there are no layouts to build.
- Tells identical monitors apart, including the same model at home and at work.
- Full-screen windows go back to full screen on the right display.
- It never guesses. An unclear window is left alone, and every restore can be undone.
- $14.99 once, one Mac, no subscription.
Questions
Does macOS have a built-in window manager?
Recent versions tile windows: drag one to a screen edge, or use Move & Resize in the Window menu. macOS does not save a layout for each monitor setup, so it cannot put your windows back after you reconnect a display.
What is the difference between a tiling window manager and a window layout app?
A tiling manager arranges the windows on the screen in front of you. A layout app remembers where windows belong across your display setups and restores them when those setups return. They do unrelated jobs and can run together.
Is Rectangle enough?
For snapping and resizing, usually yes, and it is free. It does not restore your layout when a monitor disconnects or reconnects, because that is not what it does.
Do I need two apps?
Only if you want both jobs done. Many people run a snapping tool for arranging and a restorer for display changes; the two do not conflict.