MediaMate vs Alcove: which one fits your notch?
Pick MediaMate if you want the volume, brightness and Now Playing pop-ups to look better and stay out of the way: it is €6.99 once and runs on macOS 13 or later. Pick Alcove if you want the notch itself to become a live Dynamic Island, with music, notifications, Live Activities, swipe gestures and Lock Screen widgets: it is $14.99 once and needs macOS 15. Both are paid once, both come from independent developers, and both current downloads are notarized by Apple and run natively on Apple silicon and Intel.
Last updated: October 2026
Written by the developer of Crest, a different notch app, 6 October 2026. Neither MediaMate nor Alcove is ours. Every price and claim below comes from the makers’ own pages, read that day, and from their current downloads, which we checked on a 16-inch MacBook Pro (Mac16,7) running macOS 27.0.1. We inspected the apps; we did not live with either one for this page, so there is no verdict on feel here.
Side by side
| MediaMate | Alcove | |
|---|---|---|
| Price, 6 Oct 2026 | €6.99 once on Gumroad, pay more if you like | $14.99 once, all future updates included |
| Try before buying | Demo mode in the free download | 72-hour trial |
| Refund | 14-day money-back guarantee | Full refund within 14 days, no reason required |
| Macs per licence | Not stated on its pages | Up to 3 at once |
| macOS | 13 Ventura or later | 15 Sequoia or later |
| What it is | New pop-ups for volume, display brightness and keyboard brightness, plus a Now Playing pop-up in the notch or in a bubble | A Dynamic Island in the notch: music, notifications, Live Activities, swipe gestures, custom pop-ups and Lock Screen widgets |
| Looks | Four themes: iOS style, circular, notch and classic | Duo mode, notch outlines and a live waveform, added in 1.7 |
| Macs without a notch | “All macs are supported”; Touch Bar Macs need a separate mode | A pill shape for notchless displays since 1.7 |
| External displays | Brightness and volume through Lunar or BetterDisplay | BetterDisplay volume since 1.6 |
| Version we checked | 3.8.4, released 13 August 2026 | 1.7.7 from the download page; the changelog lists 1.7.9, 30 June 2026 |
| Signed by | Developer ID, Wouter Hennen, notarized | Developer ID, Henrik Ruscon, notarized |
Where MediaMate is the better pick
- It costs half as much. €6.99 against $14.99, both once.
- It runs on older macOS. macOS 13 Ventura and up, where Alcove needs macOS 15. On a Mac you cannot or will not update, that decides it.
- It changes less. MediaMate replaces the system pop-ups you already see and adds Now Playing. If you want the notch quiet most of the time, that is a feature.
- You can try it with no clock. The free download has a demo mode, where Alcove’s trial runs out after 72 hours.
- Focus filters. It can hide its pop-ups when a Focus mode is on.
Where Alcove is the better pick
- It does far more with the notch. Notifications, Live Activities, swipe gestures and Lock Screen widgets, on top of music and the pop-ups.
- Updates are promised in writing. Its FAQ says all future updates are included in the one payment.
- Three Macs on one licence, with a way to remove one from Settings.
- It is moving fast. Its changelog lists ten releases between April and June 2026.
One thing Alcove says about itself that is worth knowing: its FAQ notes that it “relies on private APIs that have remained functional for years”, and that Apple could change them. MediaMate’s pages do not say either way.
What we checked on the downloads
We downloaded the current MediaMate release from its GitHub releases page and checked the copy of Alcove 1.7.7 on this Mac, the version its download page serves, then asked macOS what it thinks of each. This is the output, trimmed to the lines that matter:
$ defaults read MediaMate.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
3.8.4
$ defaults read MediaMate.app/Contents/Info.plist LSMinimumSystemVersion
13.0
$ lipo -archs MediaMate.app/Contents/MacOS/MediaMate
x86_64 arm64
$ spctl -a -vv -t exec MediaMate.app
MediaMate.app: accepted
source=Notarized Developer ID
origin=Developer ID Application: Wouter Hennen (2MMGJGVTB4)
$ defaults read /Applications/Alcove.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
1.7.7
$ defaults read /Applications/Alcove.app/Contents/Info.plist LSMinimumSystemVersion
15.0
$ lipo -archs /Applications/Alcove.app/Contents/MacOS/Alcove
x86_64 arm64
$ spctl -a -vv /Applications/Alcove.app
/Applications/Alcove.app: accepted
source=Notarized Developer ID
origin=Developer ID Application: Henrik Ruscon (287NUTSP69)So both open without a Gatekeeper warning, both run natively on Apple silicon and Intel, and the macOS minimums on their websites match what the apps themselves declare. On disk, MediaMate takes 20 MB and Alcove 23 MB.
If you were also weighing the free ones
Searches for this comparison often add The Boring Notch and Notchy. Both are free: The Boring Notch is open source and needs macOS 14 Sonoma, and Notchy says it is free forever and runs on macOS 13 Ventura. Every notch app’s price is on one page in how Mac notch apps charge.
Sources
- MediaMate: wouter01.gumroad.com/l/mediamate, wouter01.github.io/MediaMate, and its GitHub releases page (Wouter01/MediaMate-Releases)
- Alcove: tryalcove.com, tryalcove.com/faqs, tryalcove.com/download and tryalcove.com/changelog
FAQ
Is MediaMate or Alcove better for the MacBook notch?
It depends on what you want the notch to do. MediaMate redraws the volume, brightness and Now Playing pop-ups for 6.99 euros on macOS 13 or later. Alcove turns the notch into a Dynamic Island with notifications, Live Activities and widgets for $14.99 on macOS 15 or later. Both are one payment.
Is Alcove a one-time purchase?
Yes. Its FAQ says Alcove is a one-time purchase with all future updates included, on up to 3 devices at once, with a 72-hour trial and a full refund within 14 days. $14.99 on 6 October 2026.
How much is MediaMate, and is there a trial?
6.99 euros once on Gumroad, where you can choose to pay more. The free download has a demo mode, and Gumroad lists a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Do MediaMate and Alcove work on Macs without a notch?
Both say yes. MediaMate's site says all Macs are supported, with a separate mode for Touch Bar Macs. Alcove added a pill shape for notchless displays in version 1.7.
Are MediaMate and Alcove safe to install?
Both current downloads are signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple: macOS accepted both on 6 October 2026, MediaMate 3.8.4 from Wouter Hennen and Alcove 1.7.7 from Henrik Ruscon.
Can I run both at once?
We did not test that. Both replace the volume and brightness pop-ups, so if you try it, expect to turn that part off in one of them.
Keep reading: Crest vs MediaMate · Crest vs Alcove · Notch app prices · Best Mac notch apps in 2026