The Best Free (or Cheap) Mac Apps to Get You Started

Your wallet is still wincing from the purchase of shiny new Apple hardware, I truly can empathise, and so have prepared this article to relieve the pain. The following selection of free or cheap apps will get you up and running, nary a Blue Screen Of Death in sight. Never fear; despite what the prices may suggest, all software is of a quality befitting the glowing fruit you bear.

This article will receive updates as I discover new and superior apps, if existing apps become abandoned by developers, and when Apple updates OS X and inevitably “Sherlocks” apps.

Are you trying to perform a task not covered by any of the apps features herein? Have a Windows app upon which you relied and can’t find a Mac alternative? Try my follow-up articles for advanced users and specific needs, or discover the abilities of pre-installed OS X apps. If all else fails, you can email me or hit me up on Twitter.

Productivity

• Alfred (free) - Quick launch search bar - Arguably no longer relevant for Yosemite+
• Alfred PowerPack (£17) - adds advanced features to Alfred
• Airmail ($2) - The best Gmail email app
• Dropbox (free+) - no longer relevant for Yosemite+
• Evernote? (free+) - Powerful note taking with cloud syncing
• Skitch? - Partner app to Evernote for annotating anything

Utilities

• AppCleaner (free) - uninstall apps
• Carbon Copy Cloner (free) - Create bootable system backups. Paid version available if you want scheduling/automation.
• Fluid (free or US$5) - Create site-specific browsers (SSB), e.g. I have the SoundCloud website as completely separate SoundCloud app.
• JDownloader - ugly but super powerful download manager - recommend downloading the 2.0 beta
• Moom ($10) - Manage windows like Windows
• NameChanger (free) - Easily batch rename many files
• TheUnarchiver (free) - Decompress any archive, e.g. ZIP, RAR, etc
• Transmission (free) - Simple bit torrent client
• TRIM Enabler (free) - If you install a third-party SSD, run this to enable TRIM and increase SSD performane
• Glims (free) - Plugin for Safari to enable many features - this still relevant/compatible for Mavericks+?

Media

• VLC (free) - Robust, multi-format video player
• MPlayerX (free) - Alternative to VLC
• Handbrake (free, requires VLC) - Rip DVDs and encode movie files
• Perian - Adds multi-format video codec support to QuickTime - no longer compatible in Mavericks+
• Flip4Mac (free $5.95) - Compliments Perian to enable Quicktime to play non-DRM Windows Media files. Used to be free (subsidised by Microsoft), though is now commercial software. Like Perian, Flip4Mac is incompatible with OS X Mavericks and onwards.
• iPhoto (Free with new Mac, or $18.99) - Photo organisation for casual photographers
• Aperture ($79.99) - Photo organisation and editing for enthusiast photographers. This might seem like a lot of cash, but it’s actually cheap when you consider the functionality and the cost of alternatives (Adobe Lightroom, Capture One)
• Plex (free) - HTPC (Home Theatre PC) enables you to access your centralised media collection from any device, both at home and away
• XLD (free) - Convert any audio format to any other audio format (I use mostly for converting FLAC to ALAC)
• Vox (free) - Minimalist audio player, alternative to iTunes. Plays FLAC, OGG, etc.

Misc. and not-so-cheap

• Kuvva (free) - A new, awesome desktop wallpaper ever day!
• Hazel ($28) - Automate folder and file actions.
• 1Password ($49.99 plus smartphone app cost) - Never forget another password.
• Little Snitch ($34.95) - Monitor and manage apps attempting to connect to the Internet