The Mac is home to some of the finest free software around, but sometimes there’s no replacing a premium app. Depending on how much the purchase can turbo-charge your workflow, opening your wallet could be a decision that pays for itself when it comes to efficiency, productivity, and making life that little bit easier.
Here are three premium Mac apps that I use and love.
1
Ulysses
Outside of Safari, Ulysses is my most-used Mac app. Ulysses is a Markdown editor that costs $5.99 per month or $39.99 per year. Though I wish there was an option to buy the app outright (and I’m never a big fan of subscription-based payment models), Ulysses is one app that I think is worth the ongoing cost.
As someone who spends a lot of time writing, I quite clicked with a Markdown editor until I gave Ulysses a shot. For the uninitiated, Markdown is a simple markup language for publishing written content on the web. I use it for everything including my Slack chats, especially articles I produce for How-To Geek (like this one).
Ulysses integrates your markup into the text, so bold text appears bold, links are clickable, and headings stand out as you’d expect them to. Copying text will copy it in its markdown form, but you can also easily copy in plain text or HTML (something I use frequently when moving content from Ulysses to How-To Geek’s back-end).
This means I can use a fast native app on my Mac rather than worrying about web-based editors or exporting content from a platform like Google Docs with the aid of an extension. I’ve learned to never underestimate how much my writing environment matters, and Ulysses is a beautiful, minimalist environment in which to work.
It comes with a nice selection of extra features, including themes (with the option to edit and create your own), a built-in backup system, password lock (if you need it), and a nested organizer that lets you put folders within folders and color-code or label them to suit. There’s a built-in proofreader that can check spelling, grammar, and other issues. The Dashboard sidebar shows you information like reading time and allows you to quickly jump to different sections. You can also export, print with a variety of styles, and publish directly to platforms like WordPress, Medium, and Ghost.
While there are some excellent free Markdown editors out there, I’ve tried them all and I always come back to Ulysses. There are iPhone and iPad versions for those who need them, and a free trial is included regardless of which one you download. While Apple Notes is (finally) getting Markdown support in macOS 26, Obsidian is also worth a shot if you need a Markdown note-taking app.
2
Pieoneer
Pieoneer is a launcher app for your Mac that puts useful items on a pie chart that appears wherever your mouse cursor happens to be. It’s the sort of app that’s perfect for anyone who is bad at remembering keyboard shortcuts, but also one that can integrate nicely into your existing workflow. In some cases, it can be faster to use Pioneer to complete a task than to use a keyboard shortcut.
The app costs $9.99 and has three main modes of operation: switcher, launcher, and controller. Each of these is triggered using a different default keyboard shortcut (or you could combine Pioneer with BetterTouchTool to invoke it with a dedicated gesture). Each of these modes will cause a different pie chart to appear around your pointer.
Switcher allows you to quickly switch between different open apps, much like Command+Tab. It’s handy for reaching apps that are buried several layers deep, since you don’t need to keep tapping Tab to get there. You can also exclude apps from this menu to make it tidier and easier to navigate, so it becomes a more efficient version of Apple’s built-in version.
Launcher lets you access a customizable menu of specific apps or locations. This is great if you have a small list of core apps that you want to keep close at all times. It works well for frequently-accessed folders, which is something I find Spotlight doesn’t do so well.
Lastly, there’s controller mode, which puts a list of useful shortcuts that are specific to the active (front-most) app that you currently have open. You can completely customize these, with Safari and Finder entries already filled out with useful features like Empty Bin and Empty Caches. If there’s a keyboard shortcut for the function, you can add it. If there’s not a keyboard shortcut, you can create one and then add it afterwards.
Pieoneer is most useful when you take the time to set it up properly. It’s a solid alternative for anyone who finds the app switcher too crowded, who doesn’t get along with Spotlight search, or who has enough keyboard shortcuts to remember already.
3
Airfoil
Ever wondered why Apple’s best AirPlay feature is only limited to the Music app? I’m talking about the ability to send audio to multiple locations, like different AirPlay or Bluetooth speakers, AirPlay receivers like the Apple TV, and your Mac’s built-in speakers; all at the same time. I use this frequently to send music to my HomePod and the built-in speakers on my MacBook Pro, but if I want to do the same for music on YouTube or local files playing in Foobar2000 then I’m out of luck.
That’s where Airfoil comes in. This is a $35 utility that adds this functionality and more to your Mac. It feels like the audio mixer that Apple forgot to make, since it’s powerful but also straightforward to use. You can choose a source like system-wide audio or a specific application, and then decide where it goes depending on what’s nearby.
Based on my testing, the feature is near-perfect in terms of latency (though Apple’s implementation has a slight edge if we’re splitting hairs.) Fortunately, you can download a free trial to test it out for yourself to see how it works for your setup. There’s also a satellite app available for other Macs, iPhones, and iPads, with which you can control the main Airfoil application.
You can dig into the settings and create custom groups, perfect if you have a whole set of wireless devices that you want to output audio to at once. You can also nominate default devices to start transmitting to. This is one app that does pretty much one task, and does it well.
I found that the most useful feature was the ability to select a specific audio input device and route it directly to a wireless speaker. In my case, I used the app to wirelessly bridge a USB turntable and a HomePod speaker using an old MacBook Pro as an intermediary device. This allows me to listen to vinyl records that are playing on a turntable in the next room, anywhere there’s a compatible speaker.
Looking for even more Mac apps? Check out our favorite open-source options, alternatives to Apple’s built-in apps, and some single-purpose Mac apps we can’t live without.
