DockApp vs Magnet (2026)

The cheapest, simplest window snapper, or an enhanced Dock with previews, switching, and saved layouts? An honest head-to-head. Updated August 2026.

Magnet is one of the most popular window managers on the Mac, and it earns it: it's cheap, dead simple, and great at one thing — snapping windows into place with keyboard shortcuts and drag-to-edge zones. DockApp isn't trying to be a fancier Magnet. It's an enhanced Dock and window manager: live previews, a real switcher, widgets, and snapping with saved layouts. Full disclosure: I make DockApp, so I'll be straight about where Magnet is the better pick — starting with price, because Magnet is half the cost.

At a glance

What Magnet is best at

Magnet ($4.99 on the Mac App Store, macOS 13+) is the app most people install the day they get tired of dragging windows by hand. Snap a window to halves, quarters, thirds, two-thirds, center, or fullscreen with keyboard shortcuts, by dragging to a screen edge or corner, or from the menu bar and the green-button menu. It handles up to six displays and moves windows between them. It's lightweight, one-time $4.99, and has no subscription. If simple, reliable snapping is all you want, Magnet is a bargain and this page won't talk you out of it. Just know its scope: it's snapping only — no saved layouts, no window previews, no switcher, and it doesn't touch the Dock.

What DockApp does differently

DockApp is a Dock enhancement first, and a window manager second. Hover a Dock icon for live window previews. Use a real ⌘Tab switcher that flips through every window, not just apps, and hands ⌘Tab back to macOS when you quit. Snap windows, then save a whole arrangement as a layout and drop every open window back into place in one click. On top of that the Dock itself is reshapeable: transparent or tinted, bordered, custom icons, groups, badges, a shelf, and live widgets, plus focus-follows-mouse and multi-display support. Magnet doesn't do any of the Dock, preview, or switcher parts — it isn't trying to.

It's built entirely on public Apple APIs and notarized, with no SIP disabling and no code injection, and nothing leaves your Mac — no accounts, no tracking. It's a one-time $9.99 (launch price), up to three Macs, 14-day refund, on macOS 26+.

The saved-layouts question

This is the biggest practical gap between the two, so it's worth being precise. Magnet is live snapping only. It does have per-window custom presets — a hotkey that sizes and places one window — but it can't capture a multi-window arrangement and restore it. DockApp can: arrange your editor, browser, and chat once, save it as a layout, and re-apply that whole arrangement to your open windows in a single click. If you juggle the same window setups every day, that's the difference between re-snapping five windows by hand and pressing one button. (See the full guide to saving window layouts on Mac, including a free option.)

Price

Let's be honest: Magnet is $4.99, half of DockApp's $9.99. If all you want is keyboard-and-drag window snapping, Magnet is the better deal and I won't pretend otherwise. DockApp costs twice as much because it does much more than snap windows — previews, a real switcher, saved layouts, widgets, and a customizable Dock, in one app. There's also a distribution difference: Magnet is Mac App Store only (handy for auto-updates and Family Sharing, but no trial), while DockApp is a direct, notarized purchase for up to three Macs with a 14-day refund if it isn't for you. Pay for the one that matches what you actually want.

Which should you pick?

• You just want the cheapest, simplest keyboard and drag window snapping → Magnet ($4.99).
• You want window previews, a real ⌘Tab switcher, snapping with saved layouts, and a better Dock in one app → DockApp ($9.99).

Comparing the wider field? See the full roundup of Mac window managers (Rectangle, Magnet, Moom, and more), the best Mac Dock apps, or the DockApp vs Rectangle, DockApp vs Moom, and DockApp vs uBar head-to-heads.