The best NotchNook alternatives for Mac in 2026
By the makers of Crest · updated 9 October 2026 · full disclosure
macOS 14 or later. Open Crest for 7 free days, no account or card.
| Price | Free option | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crest | Pro $14.99 once | 7-day trial, no card | The all-in-one: passwords, two-factor codes, Claude Code approvals, Drop and 22 widgets |
| NotchNook | $15 once or $2 a month | 48-hour trial only | Notch utilities only ($15, no passwords or agent approvals) |
| The Boring Notch | Free | Free and open source | Free, not notarized (no password manager or agent approvals) |
| Alcove | $13.99 once | No free tier | A Dynamic Island look (no password manager, two-factor codes or code tools) |
| SuperIsland | Free | Free and open source | A do-it-yourself kit (you write the modules; no passwords built in) |
| Notchy | Free | Free, donations welcome | Free basics for macOS 13 (no password manager or agent approvals) |
| MediaMate | About $8 once | No | A volume and brightness HUD, and little else |
Why Crest is better
- A week to try all of it. Every Crest feature is yours for 7 days from first open, no account or card. NotchNook has a 48-hour trial.
- It answers your coding agents. Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI ask on the notch, and you press Allow or Deny there.
- Your two-factor codes too. Pro adds the Authenticator, which types your codes in for you, and Passwords with Touch ID.
- It works without a notch. On an external display or an older Mac, Crest sits in a small pill in the same place.
Full comparison and details
Here is the short answer, checked on 9 October 2026: NotchNook is on sale again, from a new site, getnotchnook.com, for $15 once or $2 a month, with a 48-hour trial and no card. If its weeks off sale left you looking around anyway, or 48 hours felt too short to decide, here are six alternatives, and where each NotchNook feature lives in Crest.
Last updated: 9 October 2026
Full disclosure: this page is published by the makers of Crest, one of the six. Prices were read off each app's own site on 3 October 2026, and NotchNook's again on 9 October 2026. We think Crest is the best of them, and we say why. Every other app here is described by what it really does and where it stops.
What happened to NotchNook in 2026?
Update, 9 October 2026: NotchNook is on sale again from a new site, getnotchnook.com, now at version 1.6.14 (read 27 October 2026): each licence covers two Macs, on macOS 14.6 or later, Apple silicon or Intel, with or without a notch. Its old page, lo.cafe/notchnook, still answers “not found”, Setapp’s NotchNook address still opens its general catalog, and Homebrew’s NotchNook cask has been disabled since 19 September 2026. lo.cafe’s home page shows a statement from NotchNook’s co-founders about a dispute over control of the company behind the app. We are not taking sides. How Crest and NotchNook compare, feature by feature: Crest vs NotchNook.
Already own NotchNook? The new site’s licence help says keys bought before 24 September 2026 do not activate automatically: it offers a manual review for lifetime licences, or a new licence, and an old monthly subscription does not carry over. NotchNook still has a trial and no free tier, so when the 48 hours end you pay or you stop. Two days is not much time to learn whether a notch app fits your work week, and that is the main reason people look for alternatives.
Coming from NotchNook
Nothing imports from NotchNook, so here is where each thing you used lives in Crest, and whether it comes with Crest alone or needs Crest Pro.
| NotchNook had | In Crest | Included |
|---|---|---|
| File tray | The Shelf: drop files on the notch, then compress them or convert images right there | Yes |
| AirDrop drop zone | AirDrop straight from the file shelf | Yes |
| Media controls | Now Playing, on the closed notch and as a widget | Yes |
| Clipboard | The Clipboard widget | Yes |
| Volume and brightness | Shown on the notch when you press the keys | Yes |
| Calendar | The Calendar widget, with a Join button when a call is about to start | Yes |
| Battery info | The Batteries widget: your Mac and connected devices such as AirPods | Yes |
| Mirror | Camera check: see yourself and your mic level before a call | Yes |
| Colours, layouts, haptics | Four pages of widgets you arrange and stretch. Fewer looks to tweak than NotchNook had | Yes |
Download Crest free7-day trial, no card · macOS 14 or later
In the official Homebrew cask
If you are switching anyway, here is why we think Crest is the better place to land. It is $14.99 once, against NotchNook’s $15 once or $2 a month. Passwords fills your logins in Safari after Touch ID, the Authenticator types your two-factor codes in for you, Drop sends files as encrypted links anyone can open, and when Claude Code, Codex or Copilot CLI asks for permission you press Allow or Deny right on the notch. You also get 7 days to try all of it, not 48 hours.
What NotchNook still lacks
NotchNook spends its effort on colours, layouts and haptics, plus a file tray and an AirDrop drop zone. It has no password manager, no two-factor codes, no developer tools and no agent approvals, and its trial lasts 48 hours. If you want the notch to do more of your actual work, read on.
The comparison table is at the top of this page.
Crest Our pickPro $14.99 one-time · 7-day trial, then Pro is paid
In one sentence: Crest is a notch app for the Mac, on macOS 14 or later, that turns the MacBook notch into pages of widgets: music, a file shelf, a clipboard, window snapping, Passwords with Touch ID, the Authenticator (your two-factor codes, typed in for you), Drop and Crest Cloud for encrypted files, and the allow and deny prompts of Claude Code, Codex and Copilot CLI.
Most notch apps stop at music and a file tray. We built Crest because we wanted the notch to handle the small checks that pull you out of your work all day. It opens into a row of pages full of widgets: your music with synced lyrics, the next meeting with a Join button, your to-dos, system stats, saved SSH hosts, the Authenticator (your two-factor codes, typed in for you), and Claude, which turns a sentence into a reminder or a calendar event once you approve it. Now, Home, Work and Code each keep their own layout, and you swipe between them with two fingers.
If you run Claude Code, Codex or Copilot CLI, you know the routine of checking back on a terminal tab to find it stuck on a permission prompt. Crest answers those prompts from the notch with Allow or Deny in one click, even over fullscreen apps. NotchNook has nothing like it, and Crest is a native Mac app built to stay light on battery.
Crest starts with a 7-day trial of everything with no card, and then the Pro features pause until you buy Crest, so you get a full week to decide instead of two days.
Strengths: a 7-day trial of everything with no card, signed and notarized, developer tools NotchNook does not have, and a small pill at the top of the screen on a Mac without a notch.
Best for: one app in place of several: Passwords with Touch ID, your two-factor codes typed in for you, Claude Code approvals, Drop for encrypted files and 22 widgets, for $14.99 once. Compared in depth: Crest vs NotchNook
Download Crest free7-day trial, no card · macOS 14 or later
In the official Homebrew cask
The Boring Notch Free · open source
The Boring Notch is the free alternative most people try first. It is open source under GPL-3.0 with around 10,700 stars on GitHub, runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and covers music with a live visualizer, a file shelf with AirDrop, calendar, and replacement HUDs for volume, brightness and the keyboard backlight.
The catch is installing it. Its README says the team does not have an Apple Developer account yet, so macOS warns you that the app comes from an unidentified developer. You clear that once, with the Terminal command in the README or from Privacy & Security. It is a volunteer project, so check its issue tracker for how it behaves on your version of macOS.
Best for: a free notch hub, with no password manager, two-factor codes or agent approvals, and a Gatekeeper warning to click past. github.com/TheBoredTeam/boring.notch · Compared in depth: Crest vs The Boring Notch
Alcove $13.99 one-time
Alcove is about the look. It brings the iPhone's Dynamic Island to the notch with fluid transitions, notifications, live activities, swipe gestures, custom HUDs and Lock Screen widgets. Its site lists it at $13.99.
It stays close to that one idea and does not try to be a productivity hub, so it does less than NotchNook or Crest, on purpose.
Best for: a Dynamic Island look, and not much more: no passwords, two-factor codes or code tools. tryalcove.com · Compared in depth: Crest vs Alcove
SuperIsland Free · open source
SuperIsland is free and open source, and its site says it works on any Mac. It covers Now Playing, battery status, the next meeting with a join link, weather, file drops, notifications and volume and brightness HUDs, and it has a JavaScript SDK for writing your own modules.
Anything beyond that list is a module you write yourself.
Best for: people happy to build their own modules, since nothing like passwords comes built in. dynamicisland.app
Notchy Free · donations
Notchy is free with no paid tier, with an optional Buy me a coffee link, and it runs on macOS 13 Ventura, older than most notch apps support. Its site lists music with lyrics, clipboard history, timers, AI usage and HUDs.
It stops there, with no password manager, two-factor codes or agent approvals.
Best for: the basics on macOS 13, with no password manager or agent approvals. notchy.dev
MediaMate About $8 one-time
MediaMate does one job. It replaces the macOS volume, brightness and keyboard backlight HUDs with cleaner ones and tucks Now Playing into the notch. It runs on any Mac on macOS 13 or later and sells on Gumroad for about $8.
If what bothered you about NotchNook was paying for a lot you never open, this is the opposite: no shelf, no calendar, no clipboard.
Best for: a volume and brightness HUD, and nothing else. MediaMate · Compared in depth: Crest vs MediaMate
FAQ
Is NotchNook free?
No. It has a 48-hour trial with every feature and no card, then costs $15 once or $2 a month (checked 24 October 2026). The free alternatives are The Boring Notch, SuperIsland and Notchy, and Crest has a 7-day trial with no card.
What happened to NotchNook?
It is on sale again. In September 2026 its old site, lo.cafe, stopped selling it, Setapp stopped listing it and Homebrew disabled its cask. On 9 October 2026 a new site, getnotchnook.com, sells it for $15 once or $2 a month (checked 24 October 2026), each licence on two Macs, with a 48-hour trial and no card. The old page, lo.cafe/notchnook, still answers “not found”, and lo.cafe’s home page shows a statement from NotchNook’s co-founders about a dispute over control of the company behind the app. We are not taking sides.
What is the best free NotchNook alternative?
The free ones are The Boring Notch, SuperIsland and Notchy, and each stops short. The Boring Notch covers music, a file shelf, calendar and HUDs, but it is not notarized, so macOS warns you when you install it. Notchy runs on macOS 13. None of them has a password manager, two-factor codes or agent approvals. Crest's Pro features are not free, but its 7-day trial with no card covers all of that, and Now Playing, the file shelf and the Clipboard stay free after it.
Is NotchNook worth $15?
It depends on what you need: NotchNook has no password manager, no two-factor codes and no Claude Code approvals. Crest does all of that for $14.99 once, and you can try every feature for 7 days first, with no card.
What is cheaper than NotchNook?
Compared with NotchNook’s $15 once, The Boring Notch, SuperIsland and Notchy are free, MediaMate is about $8 and Alcove is $13.99, each paid once. Crest Pro is $14.99 once and covers 2 Macs.
Can I run two notch apps at the same time?
Not well, because they all draw in the same spot. Quit one before you try the next.
Why is my NotchNook licence not working?
NotchNook moved to a new site, getnotchnook.com, and its licence help says keys bought before 24 September 2026 do not activate automatically. It offers a manual review for lifetime licences, or a new licence, and an old monthly subscription does not carry over. If you would rather switch than wait, Crest gives you 7 days of every feature with no card.
How do I update NotchNook?
Download it again from getnotchnook.com, which offered version 1.6.14 on 27 October 2026. Homebrew’s NotchNook cask has been disabled since 19 September 2026, so brew will not update it. Crest updates itself from inside the app, and it is also in Homebrew’s official casks.
Read more about the MacBook notch and the apps for it in these guides:
Try Crest free
Download it free, and the 7-day trial starts the first time you open it, with no account and no card. Crest Pro is then $14.99 once, on 2 Macs.
Download Crest for macOS Buy Crest, $14.99macOS 14 Sonoma or later · signed and notarized by Apple · 7-day refund
Keep reading: Best Mac notch apps in 2026 · vs NotchNook · vs The Boring Notch · vs Alcove · vs MediaMate · Dynamic Island for Mac · Codex approvals in the notch · Facts and prices · Crest overview