NotchStack vs Boring Notch

The short answer

If you want music controls, a calendar and a file shelf in your MacBook’s notch, and you like open source, Boring Notch is a great free choice.

If you want twenty tools in the notch, works on Macs without a notch, and you’d like developer extras, pick NotchStack. The extras are today’s revenue, Claude Code and Codex limits, and an alert when your agent finishes. NotchStack is a one-time €4.99 for the first 50 buyers, then €9.99.

What Boring Notch does

Boring Notch is open source under GPL-3.0, with optional donations. According to its README, it turns the notch into:

• “a dynamic music control center”
• a calendar
• “a handy file shelf with AirDrop support”

It runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

A recent prerelease adds two things:

• Notification mirroring: “Mirrors visible notification banners in the notch”.
• More accent-colour options under Appearance.

Its README doesn’t say whether it works on Macs without a notch. Its roadmap mentions “finetuning on different display sizes”.

Being open source matters to some people for good reasons. You can read every line, build it yourself and contribute fixes.

What NotchStack adds

More tools. Twenty in total:

• Clipboard history, to-dos and a quick note
• Timers
• Weather and stocks
• A unit converter, emoji and a teleprompter
• A camera mirror and Shortcuts
• A System monitor
• Reminders, along with the music, calendar and file shelf basics

Revenue in the notch. Today’s sales from Stripe or Dodo Payments, with read-only keys kept in your Keychain.

AI limits. Claude Code and Codex session and weekly limits, read on your Mac.

Agent alerts. A card drops from the notch when Claude Code or Codex finishes or needs you. Notification mirroring shows banners that macOS already displays. NotchStack’s alert is built for coding agents: it shows the project, how long the agent worked and its last message.

Any Mac. On a Mac mini, an iMac or an external display, NotchStack draws a floating notch at the top of the screen.

Three looks. Minimal, Playful and Neon.

Price

Detail	NotchStack	Boring Notch
Price	€4.99 for the first 50, then €9.99, one-time	Free (donations welcome)
Source code	Closed	Open source (GPL-3.0)
Macs per licence	3	Not applicable
Requires	macOS 14	macOS 14

Which one should you choose?

Choose Boring Notch if:

• you mainly want music, calendar and a file shelf,
• you prefer open-source software,
• you don’t want to pay.

Choose NotchStack if:

• you want the notch to replace small trips to other apps, like your clipboard, notes, to-dos and timers,
• you build with Claude Code or Codex and want limits and done-alerts in view,
• you sell a product and want today’s revenue beside the notch,
• you use a Mac without a notch.

What the two have in common

Both apps start from the same idea: the notch is dead space, so put something useful in it. Both control the music you’re playing, show your calendar, and give you a shelf to park files on while you work. Both need macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and neither needs an account.

How each one feels day to day

Boring Notch expands into a compact media centre when music plays, and opens to show its calendar and shelf when you hover. It’s deliberately focused, which keeps it light and easy to understand.

NotchStack opens a larger panel with a dock of twenty tools. Home shows six live cards at once (revenue, AI usage, system, now playing, today’s events and weather), and each tool has its own full view. You can open it by hovering (with a delay you choose), by clicking, or with ⌃⌥⌘Space from anywhere. When the panel is closed, the notch keeps a small live readout: music and timers, or your coding agent’s status beside today’s revenue.

Questions people ask

Is NotchStack open source? No. NotchStack is a paid, closed-source app. If open source is a requirement for you, Boring Notch is the better fit.

Can I switch from Boring Notch later? Yes. Both are ordinary Mac apps: quit one, open the other. Since both draw around the notch, run one at a time.

Why pay when there’s a free option? Pay if the extra tools save you time every day: clipboard history, revenue, AI limits, agent alerts, notes and to-dos in one place, on any Mac. If you only need music and a shelf, Boring Notch already does that well for free.

How we compared

We read Boring Notch’s README, its releases and its website on October 9, 2026, and quote them where we can. In the table, a dash means the project doesn’t mention the feature. It doesn’t mean Boring Notch can’t do it. Prerelease features may change before a stable release.

More options: the best Mac notch apps in 2026.