Variations on a Theme: Five Recent App Switcher Interpretations

Apple's Cmd+Tab has real blind spots. It works on apps, not windows. It doesn't know about Spaces. It has no search, fuzzy or otherwise. Several independent developers have recently taken a crack at fixing it, each with a different idea of what "better" means. I'm not picking a winner here -- just laying out what each one gets right and where it falls short, in case you want to try one yourself. GroupCtrl: Free, Open Source (GPL-3.0) Instead of assigning a different hotkey to each app, GroupCtrl walks you through building app groups that match your actual workflow -- Bloom, BBEdit, and Preview under "Files," say, or BBEdit, Sublime Text, and Visual Studio Code under "Text Editors." What I like: Git-friendly YAML config -- a real advantage for dotfiles fans, since setup is versionable and shareable as plain text. Price: Free and open source (GPL-3.0) -- no subscription, no paid tier. Sources: GroupCtrl on GitHub Switch: Free, Source-Available Switch fixes the "apps not windows" limitation of the native Cmd+Tab switcher. It cycles through every open window -- or just the current app's -- with inline type-to-filter. What I like: Lightweight: 1.7 MB Actively maintained Licensing converts to full MIT in May 2028 Can replace the AltTab + DockDoor combo a lot of people already run Price: Free, source-available (FSL-1.1-MIT, converts to plain MIT in May 2028). No subscription, no paid tier. Sources: Switch on GitHub · switch-dev.sanyamgarg.com Dory: $9.99 Lifetime (App Store) Dory swaps the switcher for a tiny search menu: hold the middle mouse button or the right Command key, then type. It does smart search -- first letter, middle letters, acronyms, even names that just sound similar -- and tracks which apps you switch to most, so your muscle memory builds around how you actually use your Mac instead of a fixed list. What I like: Broader adoption than the other apps in this roundup. The developer is responsive -- after Dory landed on Product Hunt (where it hit #6), he shipped almost every user suggestion in the very next release, v1.3. Cons: No free trial. Price: $9.99 one-time purchase. No subscription. Sources: Dory homepage · App Store · Product Hunt Sxitch: $10 Lifetime (3 Macs) or $2/Month Sxitch is a variation on the Right-Cmd launcher pioneered by the Low-Tech Guys. Right-Cmd opens a popup; type letters and the list narrows -- "tree-based navigation" -- until one app is left, which auto-focuses. No cycling. What I like: The tree-based, letter-narrowing mechanic is the clear differentiator versus Cmd+Tab's unpredictable cycling. The free tier includes tree-based switching and themes; Pro adds window switching, a Hide/Quit mode, overrides, blacklists, and priority support via Discord. The developer is responsive to user feedback and has already shipped a list-view feature based on Reddit requests. Cons: May not be enough of a difference from Raycast or Alfred to justify a separate tool for some users. If you install via Homebrew, double-check the formula -- some users have reported it lagging behind the latest release. Price: $10 for lifetime access on up to 3 Macs, or $2 a month, cancel anytime. Sources: Sxitch homepage · Sxitch vs rcmd vs Dory Scopo: $1.25/Month Subscription I really hope the Scopo developer rethinks the pricing strategy, because there's a lot of resistance to paying a subscription for an app that doesn't carry ongoing costs to maintain. That said, Scopo fills a real niche: it scopes Cmd+Tab to the current Space, so a project's windows don't get buried under Slack, email, and browser tabs from other contexts. What I like: 30-day trial, no card required. Native Swift, not Electron -- and it only needs Accessibility permission. Cons: Subscription only, no lifetime option. Price: $1.25 a month. Source: scopo.app None of these replaces the others outright. Pick based on what's actually broken for you: free and hackable (GroupCtrl, Switch), a fast one-time purchase (Dory), tree-based muscle memory (Sxitch), or Space-scoped (Scopo).