yabai vs AeroSpace (and Amethyst): Mac tiling window managers compared

yabai and AeroSpace are the two tiling window managers Mac power users argue about most, with Amethyst as the long-running third option. All three are free and open source. They differ in how they think about windows and Spaces, how you configure them, and what they ask of your Mac. Here’s a side-by-side from each project’s own docs.

Checked against each project’s GitHub README, the yabai wiki and man page, the AeroSpace Guide and the GitHub API on October 22, 2026. We make Screen Divider, a different kind of window manager, and say so where it comes up.

At a glance

yabai: scriptable, close to macOS

yabai describes itself as “a window management utility that is designed to work as an extension to the built-in window manager of macOS.” Its main job is automatic tiling with a binary space partitioning algorithm: each new window splits the space of an existing one. Everything is driven from a command line (yabai -m …), and your config is just a shell script of those commands, read from ~/.yabairc or ~/.config/yabai/yabairc. Keyboard shortcuts aren’t part of yabai; the README points to skhd “or any other suitable software”.

What you need to know before installing, from its README and wiki:

• It needs Accessibility permission, and “Displays have separate Spaces” turned on in Desktop & Dock.
• System Integrity Protection can be partly disabled so yabai can load a scripting addition into the Dock. Per the README, that “enables control of the window server” and additional yabai features. It’s optional, and the README is clear the risk is yours.
• Native macOS tabs (Terminal, Finder) don’t behave correctly with it; the README suggests floating those windows with rules.

AeroSpace: i3 for the Mac, with its own workspaces

AeroSpace calls itself “an i3-like tiling window manager for macOS”. Windows live in a tree of containers that are either tiles or an “accordion” (stacked windows with a little padding showing the ones behind). Its biggest difference is workspaces: the AeroSpace Guide lists the problems with native Spaces (slow animation you can’t turn off, a 16-Space limit, no public API), so AeroSpace keeps its own workspaces and parks inactive windows off-screen in a corner. Switching is instant, and you don’t disable SIP; the README says AeroSpace “will never require you to disable SIP”.

• Config: one plain-text TOML file, ~/.aerospace.toml (or under ~/.config/aerospace/). The default config binds Option-1 to Option-9 and letters to workspaces, Option-H/J/K/L to focus and Option-Shift-H/J/K/L to move windows, i3-style.
• Multiple monitors: one shared pool of workspaces; each monitor shows its own, and you can assign workspaces to monitors.
• Caveats: it’s a public beta with breaking changes possible before 1.0, there will never be a settings window (it’s config-file only), and the app isn’t notarized by Apple; the Homebrew cask clears the quarantine flag so it opens without the warning.

Amethyst: xmonad-style, least setup

Amethyst is “along the lines of xmonad”. Instead of a tree, you cycle through ready-made layouts: Tall (a main pane on the left, the rest stacked on the right), Tall-Right, Wide (main pane on top), Two Pane, and three-column layouts. Shortcuts use two modifier sets, Option-Shift and Control-Option-Shift: Option-Shift-Space cycles layouts, Option-Shift-H and L shrink and grow the main pane. You can enable or disable layouts so the cycle only has the ones you use. It’s the easiest of the three to try: install it, give it Accessibility permission in Privacy & Security, and start pressing shortcuts.

yabai vs AeroSpace: which one?

• Pick AeroSpace if you know i3 or Sway, want fast workspace switching and a single dotfile, and don’t want to touch SIP. Accept beta status and that it doesn’t cooperate with macOS Spaces.
• Pick yabai if you want automatic bsp tiling that works with the Spaces macOS already has, love scripting, and are fine adding skhd for shortcuts (and, optionally, partly disabling SIP for the extra features).
• Pick Amethyst if you want tiling today with the least configuration and like xmonad’s main-pane layouts.

All three are good software made by people who care about it, and you can try each for free.

If you don’t want automatic tiling

Automatic tiling isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather decide where each window goes, the manual route is simpler: macOS Sequoia and later has built-in tiling for halves and quarters, and keyboard snappers like Rectangle add thirds. Coming from Windows? FancyZones-style zones on a Mac are the closest match to PowerToys.

That’s where our app fits, as a disclosed alternative: Screen Divider lets you draw a grid, merge cells into the zones you want, and drag windows into them to snap. Nothing moves on its own and there’s no config file; each display keeps its own layout. It’s $12 one-time for macOS 13 and later. It has no keyboard shortcuts for snapping, so if you live on the keyboard, one of the three above will suit you better.

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