Spacetile compared
Most Mac tilers either need System Integrity Protection off or replace Spaces with workspaces of their own. Spacetile does neither: it tiles the Spaces you already have, with SIP on, and keeps full screen, Split View and macOS tiling working.
Your Spaces, tiled
Spacetile tiles inside the Desktops Mission Control shows. It has no workspaces of its own, hides no windows off screen, and leaves Mission Control, the Spaces bar and swipes between Desktops as they were.
SIP stays on
Instant switching, sending windows between Spaces and focusing without raising all work with System Integrity Protection on. Nothing needs a scripting addition or a reboot into Recovery.
Full screen and Split View work
Full-screen apps keep their own Space and number in Mission Control’s order. Leaving full screen puts a window back in its tile, one command makes a Split View pair, and profiles bring both back.
macOS tiling joins in
Use the green button’s Move & Resize or Fill & Arrange, or the fn⌃ arrow keys: Spacetile reads what macOS did as its own command and re-tiles the other windows round it.
YesPartly, or with a catch in the noteNo, or not in its documentationCouldn't confirmDoesn't apply
Checked in October 2026 against each app’s own README, documentation or changelog, at the version under its name. Hover a mark, or follow its number, for the detail. Spotted a mistake? Open an issue.
Tiling window managers
Apps that lay windows out for you. The difference that matters most is where they tile: in the Desktops Mission Control shows, or in workspaces of their own that hide windows to fake switching.
| Feature | Spacetileprototype | yabai7.1.25 | AeroSpace0.21.3 | Amethyst0.24.3 | Glide0.2.16 | rift0.6.4 | BetterStage2.2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native macOS | |||||||
| Tiles inside native Spaces, not virtual workspaces | Yes | Yes | No1 | Yes | Yes2 | Partly3 | No4 |
| Every feature works with SIP on | Yes | Partly5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Instant switching between native Spaces | Yes | Yes6 | Doesn't apply7 | No | No | Doesn't apply8 | Doesn't apply9 |
| Send a window to a native Space by key | Yes | Yes10 | Doesn't apply11 | Partly12 | Couldn't confirm | Doesn't apply13 | Doesn't apply14 |
| “Displays have separate Spaces” on or off | Yes | Partly15 | Partly16 | Couldn't confirm | Partly17 | Partly18 | Couldn't confirm |
| Works with native full-screen apps | Yes19 | Partly20 | Partly21 | Couldn't confirm | Couldn't confirm | Couldn't confirm | Partly22 |
| Split View from a command | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Uses macOS tiling (green-button menu, Fill & Arrange) instead of undoing it | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Couldn't confirm |
| Tiling | |||||||
| Automatic tiling | Yes23 | Yes24 | Yes25 | Yes26 | Yes27 | Yes28 | Partly29 |
| Stack (monocle) layout | Yes | Yes | Yes30 | Yes31 | Yes32 | Yes | Yes33 |
| Float a window | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Halves, thirds and quarters by key, inside the tiling | Yes | Partly34 | No | No | No | No | Yes35 |
| Undo a run of placements | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Preselect where the next window opens | Yes | Yes36 | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mirror, rotate and balance | Yes | Yes | Partly37 | Couldn't confirm | Couldn't confirm | Couldn't confirm | No |
| Stacks windows that can't shrink to fit, and names the one that needs room | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mouse | |||||||
| Focus follows mouse | Yes | Yes | Yes38 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mouse follows focus | Yes | Yes | Partly39 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Drag a window to swap or insert it | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Drag the edge between two tiles to resize both | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Drag to a screen edge to send to the next Space | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Profiles and rules | |||||||
| Save and restore the layout of every Space | Yes | No40 | No | Partly41 | Partly42 | Yes | Yes43 |
| Apply a layout when a set of displays connects | Yes | No | Partly44 | No | No | No | Yes45 |
| Apply a layout when a Focus mode turns on | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Bring back full-screen apps and Split View pairs | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Send an app’s windows to a Space by rule | Yes | Yes | Yes46 | No47 | No | Couldn't confirm | Yes48 |
| Open an app full screen by rule | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Setting it up | |||||||
| Settings window; no config file needed | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Plain-text config that applies on save | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes49 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Keyboard shortcuts built in | Yes | No50 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Start from another tool's shortcuts | Yes51 | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Command line | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Menu-bar map of every Space; drag a window to send it | Yes | No | Partly52 | No | Partly53 | Partly54 | Partly55 |
| Raycast extension | Yes56 | Yes57 | Yes58 | No | No | No | No |
| Accessibility is the only permission it needs | Yes59 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Couldn't confirm | Couldn't confirm | Yes |
| Where others go further | |||||||
| Create, delete or reorder Spaces | No60 | Partly61 | Doesn't apply | No | No | Doesn't apply | Doesn't apply |
| Window opacity, layers and sticky windows | No62 | Partly63 | No | No | No | No | No |
| Scrolling (niri-style) layout | No | No | No | No | Partly64 | Yes | No |
| Window animations | No | Partly65 | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
- 1. AeroSpace: Its own workspaces; hidden windows are parked in a corner of the screen
- 2. Glide: Turned on per Space
- 3. rift: Its own workspaces, inside a native Space
- 4. BetterStage: Stages hide inactive windows in private Spaces
- 5. yabai: Creating, destroying and moving Spaces, opacity, layers and sticky windows need SIP partly off
- 6. yabai: Since 7.1.19, with SIP on
- 7. AeroSpace: Switches its own workspaces instantly
- 8. rift: Switches its own workspaces instantly
- 9. BetterStage: Switches its own stages instantly
- 10. yabai: With SIP on since 7.1.25, on macOS 26.4 or later
- 11. AeroSpace: Moves windows between its own workspaces
- 12. Amethyst: Fakes a title-bar drag and presses Mission Control's Switch to Desktop shortcut
- 13. rift: Moves windows between its own workspaces
- 14. BetterStage: Moves windows between its own stages
- 15. yabai: Needs it on
- 16. AeroSpace: Recommends it off
- 17. Glide: Needs it on
- 18. rift: Needs it on
- 19. Spacetile: Numbered between Desktops as Mission Control shows them; leaving full screen puts the window back in its tile
- 20. yabai: Toggles native full screen and reports which Spaces are full screen
- 21. AeroSpace: Supported, but its docs call it clunky; with spanning Spaces a second display can go black
- 22. BetterStage: Full screen on one display no longer stops it on another
- 23. Spacetile: BSP, with stack and float modes per Space
- 24. yabai: BSP, stack and float
- 25. AeroSpace: i3-style tree
- 26. Amethyst: Tall, wide, columns, BSP and custom layouts
- 27. Glide: Tree with tabbed and stacked groups
- 28. rift: BSP, master-stack and scrolling
- 29. BetterStage: TabStack, in Pro
- 30. AeroSpace: Accordion
- 31. Amethyst: Fullscreen layout
- 32. Glide: Stacked groups
- 33. BetterStage: TabStack
- 34. yabai: Grid placement, for floating windows
- 35. BetterStage: 16 snap zones
- 36. yabai: Insertion point
- 37. AeroSpace: Balance only
- 38. AeroSpace: Since 0.21
- 39. AeroSpace: Through callbacks
- 40. yabai: Scripts only
- 41. Amethyst: Restores layouts on relaunch
- 42. Glide: Within a login session
- 43. BetterStage: Pro
- 44. AeroSpace: Pins workspaces to monitors
- 45. BetterStage: On wake or reconnect
- 46. AeroSpace: To its own workspaces
- 47. Amethyst: Leaves it to the Dock's Assign To
- 48. BetterStage: To stages, in Pro
- 49. Amethyst: YAML overrides the Settings window
- 50. yabai: Uses skhd or another hotkey app
- 51. Spacetile: Rectangle, Spectacle, AeroSpace, Amethyst, BetterStage, ShiftPlus
- 52. AeroSpace: Shows the workspace name
- 53. Glide: Status icon
- 54. rift: Workspace menu, and a separate overview
- 55. BetterStage: Stages Bar
- 56. Spacetile: In the Spacetile repository
- 57. yabai: Community
- 58. AeroSpace: Community
- 59. Spacetile: Screen Recording only if you turn on window previews
- 60. Spacetile: macOS only allows it with SIP off
- 61. yabai: With SIP partly off
- 62. Spacetile: These need SIP off
- 63. yabai: With SIP partly off
- 64. Glide: Experimental
- 65. yabai: With SIP partly off and Screen Recording
Snapping and window-placement tools
Apps that put a window where you tell them and leave the rest alone. Spacetile's place commands do the same job, then re-tile the other windows round the one you placed.
| Feature | Spacetileprototype | Rectangle2.0.2 | Rectangle Pro3.92 | Magnet3.0.7 | Moom4.6 | Loop1.4.2 | BetterTouchTool6.885 | Raycast2.6 | Swish1.13.3 | macOS27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native macOS | ||||||||||
| Move a window to another Space by key | Yes | No | Yes1 | No | No | Yes2 | Yes | Yes3 | Yes | No4 |
| Instant Space switching | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes5 | No | No | No6 |
| Split View from a command | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes7 | No | No | Partly8 |
| Works with macOS tiling instead of competing with it | Yes9 | Partly10 | Partly11 | Couldn't confirm | Partly12 | Partly13 | Yes14 | No | Couldn't confirm | Doesn't apply |
| Placing windows | ||||||||||
| Automatic tiling | Yes | No15 | No16 | No | No | No | No | No17 | No | No18 |
| Halves, thirds and quarters by key | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partly19 |
| Other windows re-tile round the one you placed | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Drag the edge between two windows to resize both | Yes | No | Couldn't confirm | Couldn't confirm | No | No | No | Couldn't confirm | Yes | Couldn't confirm |
| Stack windows in one place and cycle them | Yes | Partly20 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Focus follows mouse | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Couldn't confirm | No | No | No |
| Layouts and rules | ||||||||||
| Save and restore layouts | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Partly21 | No | No |
| One layout covers every Space | Yes | No | Couldn't confirm | No | No | No | Yes22 | No | No | No |
| Apply a layout when displays connect | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Partly23 | No | No | No |
| Send an app’s windows to a Space by rule | Yes | No | Partly24 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Partly25 |
| Setting it up | ||||||||||
| Menu-bar map of every Space | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No26 |
| Command line or scripting | Yes | Partly27 | Partly28 | No | Yes29 | Partly30 | Yes | Partly31 | No | No |
| Raycast extension | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Doesn't apply | No | Doesn't apply |
- 1. Rectangle Pro: Fakes a title-bar drag and a Space shortcut
- 2. Loop: Since 1.4
- 3. Raycast: Next or previous Space
- 4. macOS: Drag it in Mission Control
- 5. BetterTouchTool: Smooth Space Switch
- 6. macOS: Reduce Motion only swaps the slide for a fade
- 7. BetterTouchTool: macOS 15 or later
- 8. macOS: Window ▸ Full Screen Tile, with no default shortcut
- 9. Spacetile: Reads what macOS did as a layout change and re-tiles the rest
- 10. Rectangle: Spots the overlap and offers to turn one off
- 11. Rectangle Pro: Spots the overlap and offers to turn one off
- 12. Moom: Turns off the competing macOS feature
- 13. Loop: Uses macOS's tile spacing
- 14. BetterTouchTool: Can call macOS tiling
- 15. Rectangle: One-shot Tile All
- 16. Rectangle Pro: One-shot tile and tidy
- 17. Raycast: One-shot layouts
- 18. macOS: One-shot Fill & Arrange
- 19. macOS: Halves and quarters, no thirds
- 20. Rectangle: Cycles windows snapped to the same area
- 21. Raycast: Save Current Layout
- 22. BetterTouchTool: Include all Spaces
- 23. BetterTouchTool: With a trigger
- 24. Rectangle Pro: Through layouts and pinning
- 25. macOS: The Dock's Assign To
- 26. macOS: Mission Control shows Spaces
- 27. Rectangle: URL scheme
- 28. Rectangle Pro: URL scheme
- 29. Moom: AppleScript
- 30. Loop: URL scheme and AppleScript
- 31. Raycast: Deeplinks
Workspace and Space managers
Apps that switch between sets of apps, or make Spaces easier to use, without tiling. Spacetile covers the same ground with profiles and its Space commands, on the Desktops Mission Control already has.
| Feature | Spacetileprototype | ShiftPlus2.3.2 | FlashSpace4.18 | Workspaces2.3 | WhichSpace1.4.0 | InstantSpaceSwitcher2.0 | Stage ManagermacOS 27 | Mission ControlmacOS 27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native macOS | ||||||||
| Workspaces are native Spaces | Yes | Yes1 | No2 | Doesn't apply3 | Yes | Yes | No4 | Yes |
| Works with SIP on | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Couldn't confirm | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Switch by key | Yes | Yes5 | Yes | Partly6 | Yes | Yes | No7 | Yes8 |
| Instant switching | Yes | No9 | Yes10 | Doesn't apply | Couldn't confirm | Yes | No | No11 |
| Send a window to another Space by key | Yes | No12 | Partly13 | No | Yes14 | No | No | No15 |
| Works with native full-screen apps | Yes | Partly16 | No | Couldn't confirm | Yes17 | Couldn't confirm | Partly18 | Yes |
| Split View from a command | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Partly19 |
| Tiles windows automatically | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Saving workspaces | ||||||||
| Capture the current setup | Yes | Yes20 | Partly21 | Partly22 | No | No | No | No |
| Restore window positions and sizes | Yes23 | Yes | No | Partly24 | No | No | Partly25 | No |
| Launch apps that aren't running | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Hide or quit the other apps | Yes | Couldn't confirm | Yes26 | Partly27 | No | No | Partly28 | No |
| One workspace covers several Spaces | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Partly29 |
| Bring back full-screen apps and Split View pairs | Yes | No30 | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Apply when a set of displays connects | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Apply when a Focus mode turns on | Yes | No | Partly31 | No | No | No | No | No |
| Open files, links, folders and terminal commands | No32 | Yes33 | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Setting it up | ||||||||
| Menu-bar view of Spaces or workspaces | Yes34 | Partly35 | Partly36 | Partly37 | Yes38 | Couldn't confirm | No39 | No |
| Command line or scripting | Yes | No | Yes | Yes40 | Yes41 | Yes42 | Couldn't confirm | No |
| Raycast extension | Yes | Yes43 | Yes44 | No | Couldn't confirm | No | No | No |
- 1. ShiftPlus: Places apps on native Spaces
- 2. FlashSpace: Its own: shows and hides whole apps on one Space per display
- 3. Workspaces: A list of apps, files and links to open
- 4. Stage Manager: Groups windows within a Space
- 5. ShiftPlus: A shortcut per workspace, ⌘; for the last one
- 6. Workspaces: Opens a workspace; nothing to switch away from
- 7. Stage Manager: Click the strip or ⌘Tab
- 8. Mission Control: Switch to Desktop N is off by default
- 9. ShiftPlus: A restore takes a few seconds
- 10. FlashSpace: Between its own workspaces
- 11. Mission Control: Reduce Motion only swaps the slide for a fade
- 12. ShiftPlus: Edit the workspace instead
- 13. FlashSpace: Whole apps, to its own workspaces
- 14. WhichSpace: Send, or move and follow
- 15. Mission Control: Drag it in Mission Control
- 16. ShiftPlus: Records them, but leaves them windowed on restore
- 17. WhichSpace: Shows them in the menu bar
- 18. Stage Manager: Full-screen apps keep their own Spaces
- 19. Mission Control: Window ▸ Full Screen Tile, with no default shortcut
- 20. ShiftPlus: Menu bar or ⌘⇧C
- 21. FlashSpace: Assigns the visible apps; no layout
- 22. Workspaces: Adds open apps and tabs, with a plugin
- 23. Spacetile: Each Desktop's tiling
- 24. Workspaces: With the WindowArranger plugin
- 25. Stage Manager: Only while the session lasts
- 26. FlashSpace: Hides them
- 27. Workspaces: Quits chosen apps, with a plugin
- 28. Stage Manager: Moves other groups to the strip
- 29. Mission Control: The Dock's Assign To pins an app to a Desktop
- 30. ShiftPlus: On its roadmap
- 31. FlashSpace: Activates when one of its apps is focused
- 32. Spacetile: Apps and windows only
- 33. ShiftPlus: Browser profiles and tabs too
- 34. Spacetile: A map of every Space and its windows
- 35. ShiftPlus: A list of workspaces
- 36. FlashSpace: The current workspace
- 37. Workspaces: A list of workspaces
- 38. WhichSpace: Every display's Spaces
- 39. Stage Manager: An on/off switch
- 40. Workspaces: AppleScript, Shortcuts and a URL scheme
- 41. WhichSpace: Shortcuts, AppleScript and a URL scheme
- 42. InstantSpaceSwitcher: Command line
- 43. ShiftPlus: Official
- 44. FlashSpace: Community
Not in the tables
- OmniWM: scrolling and dwindle layouts in its own workspaces; needs Input Monitoring as well as Accessibility.
- Paneru: a niri-style scrolling strip on each native Space; early.
- Spaceman: a menu-bar Space indicator; no release since 2024, and WhichSpace now covers it.
- Bunch: opens sets of apps from text files; no release since 2021.
- Divvy: grid placement; no update since 2019.
- Spectacle: discontinued; Rectangle carries on its shortcuts.
Coming from one of these? Settings → Keys → Use Shortcuts From starts you on Rectangle’s, Spectacle’s, AeroSpace’s, Amethyst’s, BetterStage’s or ShiftPlus’s keys (see Commands). Everything Spacetile does is listed in Features.