At a glance
Both tools live in the menu bar and let you snap windows into halves, thirds, quarters, and corners with keyboard shortcuts. The gap is price and a handful of premium extras Magnet layers on top.
Where they differ
The core snapping behaviour is nearly identical. You press a shortcut — say ⌃⌥→ — and the active window fills the right half of the screen. Rectangle covers every zone Magnet does and adds a "Pro" upgrade for more exotic layouts like sixths and custom fractions.
Magnet's advantage is its drag-to-snap zones, which feel intuitive for new Mac users. It also has display presets you can save and recall. Rectangle skips drag zones in the free version but compensates with a richer shortcut list and direct access to the source code for anyone who wants to inspect or fork it.
Rectangle — strengths
- Completely free and open source
- Rich keyboard shortcut set, fully customisable
- Actively developed, fast macOS support
- Rectangle Pro for advanced layouts
✕ Rectangle — trade-offs
- No drag-to-snap zones in the free tier
- Mac-only, no cross-platform sync
Our take
Rectangle for most, Magnet if you love drag-to-snap
If you live by the keyboard, Rectangle App matches Magnet feature-for-feature at zero cost. Open source, actively maintained, and customisable down to the last shortcut.
If you prefer dragging windows to screen edges and want a visual preset gallery, Magnet's $2 is easy to justify — but Rectangle Pro covers most of the same ground.
Get Rectangle freeFrequently asked questions
Is Rectangle really free?
Yes — Rectangle is free and open source under the MIT licence. A paid Rectangle Pro tier adds extra layout zones, but the free version covers everything most users need.
Does Rectangle have drag-to-snap?
Rectangle Pro adds drag-to-snap edge zones. The free version focuses on keyboard shortcuts, which are faster once you learn them.
Is Magnet still worth buying?
Magnet is polished and cheap, but given that Rectangle App is free and covers virtually the same feature set, it's hard to recommend paying unless you specifically want display presets or drag zones.