AeroSpace is a great i3-like tiler, and most of what people leave it over are deliberate design choices. If one of those choices doesn't suit you, here's what else is out there and who each tool is for.
The best AeroSpace alternative depends on why you're leaving. For a scrolling layout with a GUI, animations and a notarized app on macOS 13 or later, use ChainYourMac. For a free scrolling or dwindle tiler on macOS 26 Tahoe, use OmniWM. For scriptable BSP tiling, use yabai. If you only snap windows occasionally, Rectangle or Loop is enough. If what you love is i3-style trees, AeroSpace is still the one to beat.
Try it right here — this is a working model of ChainYourMac, not a video.
A working model of ChainYourMac, not a video. Drag a title bar to reorder, click a Dock icon to open an app, close a window with its red button. In the real app every key here is ⌥ plus the key.
AeroSpace is an "i3-like", tree-based tiling window manager: free, MIT-licensed, with about 23.1k GitHub stars as of September 2026. It never needs SIP disabled. Most complaints about it are really its deliberate choices, so let's be fair about what they are:
brew install --cask nikitabobko/tap/aerospace) removes the quarantine flag for you.~/.aerospace.toml, and the README says there "will never" be a GUI.tiles and accordion layouts. Every new window splits space with the others, and there's no scrolling layout.If none of these bother you, stay. If one does, here are the options.
| Model | GUI settings | macOS | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChainYourMac | Scrolling strip | Yes | 13+, Apple silicon | $9.99 one time |
| OmniWM | Scrolling or Dwindle | Yes + TOML | 26+, Apple silicon | Free, GPL-2.0 |
| yabai | BSP / stack / float | Config file (~/.yabairc) | See README | Free, MIT |
| GlazeWM | i3-inspired tiling | See README | Mac support since March 2026 | Free, GPL-3.0 |
| Amethyst | Automatic layouts | See README | See README | See README |
| komorebi for Mac | Tiling, incl. scrolling | See README | See README | Free for personal use |
| Rectangle / Loop | Manual snapping (not tiling) | n/a | Loop: 13+ | Loop: free, GPL-3.0 |
ChainYourMac takes a different approach from AeroSpace's tree. Windows sit side by side on an endless horizontal strip, and opening a window never resizes the others. You scroll the strip with the keyboard or a 3- or 4-finger trackpad swipe. It's the Niri/PaperWM model, built as a native SwiftUI app with a Rust engine.
It covers several of AeroSpace's deliberate gaps: it's notarized by Apple, every setting lives in a GUI and applies instantly, and animation is synced to your display's refresh rate (up to 120 Hz on ProMotion). It has stacks and tabbed columns, which play a similar role to AeroSpace's accordion. It works with macOS Spaces instead of emulating them, and gives each display its own strip. It needs only the Accessibility permission and no SIP changes. The trade-offs: it's paid ($9.99 one time for a lifetime license), not open source, and Apple silicon only. Like any Mac window manager, it can't push a window fully off screen, so a small tab of a hidden window can show in a bottom corner. Full head-to-head: ChainYourMac vs AeroSpace.
OmniWM lets you pick Niri-style scrolling or Hyprland-style Dwindle for each workspace. It's free and open source (GPL-2.0), notarized, needs no SIP changes, and is very actively developed (v0.7.0 as of September 2026). It has a settings GUI plus settings.toml, and adds extras like a quake terminal, scratchpads, an overview, a command palette and the omniwmctl CLI. The requirement to know about: macOS 26 Tahoe or later on Apple silicon. If you're on Tahoe and want free, it's a strong pick. Compared in detail: ChainYourMac vs OmniWM.
yabai is the veteran BSP tiler (MIT, about 29.6k stars, v7.1.25 as of September 2026), with bsp, stack and float layouts, configured from ~/.yabairc. Hotkeys come from skhd or any similar tool. Tiling works with SIP on. Space management, animations and a few other extras need SIP partially disabled. See yabai without SIP for the exact list, and ChainYourMac vs yabai.
GlazeWM is "inspired by i3wm" and went cross-platform with v3.10.0 in March 2026 (brew install --cask glzr-io/tap/glazewm, GPL-3.0). If you liked AeroSpace's i3 flavour, it's worth a look. We couldn't verify how complete the Mac version is yet, so treat it as new.
Amethyst arranges windows into automatic layouts in the style of xmonad. Consider it if you want tiling that happens without you managing a tree. Our comparison: ChainYourMac vs Amethyst.
komorebi for Mac is the macOS version of the Windows tiler, at v0.1.1 as of September 2026. Its CLI docs list a scrolling layout. Licensing matters here: it's free for personal use, but using it at work needs a paid commercial licence, and it isn't OSI open source. Install with brew install lgug2z/tap/komorebi-for-mac. More in komorebi for Mac.
Some people leave AeroSpace because they don't want a tiler at all. Rectangle and Loop move and resize a window when you ask, and nothing more. Loop does it with a radial menu (free, GPL-3.0, macOS 13+). See ChainYourMac vs Rectangle and ChainYourMac vs Loop.
It depends on why you're leaving. For scrolling tiling with a GUI and animations on macOS 13 or later, ChainYourMac. For a free scrolling or dwindle tiler on macOS 26 Tahoe, OmniWM. For scriptable BSP tiling, yabai. If you only want to snap windows now and then, Rectangle or Loop.
AeroSpace doesn't use macOS Spaces. It emulates its own workspaces, and windows on inactive workspaces are moved off to the bottom-right or bottom-left corner. That's a deliberate design choice, and AeroSpace never needs SIP disabled.
No. AeroSpace's README says it "will never have a configuration GUI". Configuration lives in ~/.aerospace.toml. If you want a GUI, ChainYourMac and OmniWM both have one.
Yes. AeroSpace lists animations as a non-goal. ChainYourMac animates windows in sync with your display's refresh rate (up to 120 Hz on ProMotion), and OmniWM also has refresh-rate-synced animations. yabai can animate windows only with SIP partially disabled.
Yes. ChainYourMac and OmniWM need no SIP changes. yabai tiles with SIP on, but some features need it partially off (see yabai without SIP).