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Rainmeter for Mac? What to use instead
Rainmeter only runs on Windows; there’s no Mac version. The closest thing on a Mac is Übersicht, a free, open-source app that shows widgets you write in code, and if you’d rather not code, widget apps like MacScapes, BetterMacWidgets and WidgetWall put ready-made widgets on the desktop.
By Chris at Neon FrenchieUpdated
Wednesday, October 7
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Kyoto
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Wednesday
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The best Rainmeter alternatives for Mac
- Closest to Rainmeter
- Übersicht
- Free, open source, and every widget is code you can edit.
- Best without code
- MacScapes
- Widgets in the colors of a live wallpaper. Free to start.
- Most widgets
- BetterMacWidgets
- 41 widgets for €12.99 once, 9 of them free for good.
- Most free widgets
- WidgetWall
- 35 widgets, 12 of them free, many you can click and type in.
- Meters on the desktop
- Widgetter
- CPU, fans, RAM, disk and network in themed widgets.
- Meters in the menu bar
- iStat Menus
- CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors and battery.
Rainmeter is Windows only
Rainmeter describes itself as a free, open-source application for Windows PCs, and it runs on Windows 7 through Windows 11. It has been free under the GPL v2 since 2001, and it’s still active: version 4.5.28 and the first release candidate of 5.0 both came out on October 12, 2026. Every download on its website is for Windows.
A Rainmeter skin is built from measures, which gather information from your computer, a website or a file, and meters, which draw text, images, bars and charts. Many people download skins from the community and use them as they are; others edit the code or write their own. That split matters on a Mac, because the closest replacement depends on which kind of Rainmeter user you were.
What replaces each Rainmeter feature
| Rainmeter (Windows) | On a Mac | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware meters | CPU, memory, disk space and network measures | iStat Menus in the menu bar. Widgetter, or BetterMacWidgets with Pro, on the desktop. MacScapes System widget (CPU and memory), Pro |
| Clocks and dates | A Time measure, and a clock in the basic tutorials | The Clock widgets in macOS, free. MacScapes Clock, Date and Day, free |
| Weather and web data | WebParser reads information from websites | The Weather widget in macOS. Übersicht widgets can run any command, so they can fetch from the web. MacScapes Weather, Pro |
| Now playing | A NowPlaying measure; skins can control a media player | BetterMacWidgets Now Playing, with play, pause and skip, Pro. WidgetWall Music, premium. Widgetter music |
| Audio visualizers | Yes, from skins that use the AudioLevel plugin | None of the apps on this page lists one |
| App launchers | A launcher in the basic tutorials | The Dock. WidgetWall app shortcuts, free. BetterMacWidgets launcher grid and Shortcut buttons, Pro |
| Writing your own | Rainmeter's skin language, with Lua scripting for more | Übersicht, in JavaScript and JSX. BetterMacWidgets Bundle, from small files |
| A matching wallpaper | Shared desktops usually link the wallpaper they used | MacScapes widgets take their colors from 42 live scenes. WidgetWall includes 1,000+ wallpapers |
| Price | Free and open source (GPL v2) | Übersicht is free and open source. The others are free to start or have a free trial |
The alternatives side by side
| Pick it if | Price | Requires | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Übersicht | You wrote or edited your own Rainmeter skins | Free | macOS 12 or later |
| 2. MacScapes | You want a finished look, with widgets that match a live wallpaper | Free. Pro is $19.99 once, for up to 3 Macs | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel |
| 3. BetterMacWidgets | You want the most ready-made widgets, for one payment | Free. Pro is €12.99 once, or €19.99 for the Bundle with Lock Screen and custom widgets. Prices are listed in euros | macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon only |
| 4. WidgetWall | You want the most free widgets, many of them interactive | Free. Premium is $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year. The listing also shows two lifetime purchases, $39.99 and $49.99 | macOS 12 or later |
| 5. Widgetter | You want hardware meters on the desktop, in themes | Free. The listing shows upgrades at $4.99 a month, $19.99 or $39.99 a year, and $29.99 or $59.99 once, plus watermark removal for $2.99, or $1.99 for one month | macOS 13 or later |
| 6. iStat Menus | You want detailed system stats, in the menu bar | Paid license, priced at checkout on its website. Also included in Setapp | macOS 13.5 or later |
1. Übersicht: closest to Rainmeter
Übersicht runs system commands and shows their output on the desktop, in widgets written in JavaScript and React’s JSX and styled with CSS. A widget names a command, how often to run it and how to draw the result, so anything a Terminal command can report can become a meter. It’s free and open source under the GPL v3 and needs macOS 12. Its latest release, 1.6.82, dates from December 2023.
To add a widget from its community gallery:
- Download a widget from the Übersicht widgets page. It arrives as a zip file ending in .widget.
- Unzip it, if your browser hasn’t already, to get a folder with the same name.
- Choose Open Widgets Folder from the Übersicht menu in the menu bar.
- Drag the widget folder into the widgets folder.
The gallery warns that a widget can run any code on your Mac, so read a widget’s source before you install it, as you would a Rainmeter skin from a stranger.
2. MacScapes: best without code
We make MacScapes. It’s a live wallpaper app first: 42 scenes your Mac draws as they play, in any of 48 palettes. Its 14 widgets take their ink and accent from the scene behind them, so the widgets and the wallpaper match without any tweaking. Widgets, the wallpaper and ambient sound are saved together as a vibe, and a schedule can switch vibes at set times or at sunrise and sunset.
Where it falls short of Rainmeter: the widgets are for reading, not clicking, and you can’t write your own. The System widget shows CPU and memory only, with no disk, network or fan meters. Clock, Date and Day are free; the other 11 widgets need Pro, at $19.99 once. It needs macOS 14.
3. BetterMacWidgets: most widgets
BetterMacWidgets keeps 9 widgets free for good: two clocks, weather, calendar, reminders, timer, world clock, stopwatch and countdown. Pro, at €12.99 once, unlocks all 41, including gauges for CPU, GPU, memory and disk, a network chart, Now Playing controls and a launcher grid. The €19.99 Bundle adds Lock Screen widgets and widgets you define in small files, the nearest thing here to editing a skin without learning JavaScript. It needs macOS 15 on Apple silicon.
4. WidgetWall: most free widgets
WidgetWall lists 35 widgets, 12 of them free, and many are small tools you use on the desktop, like a calculator, notes and reminders. Premium adds a Stats widget for CPU, RAM and disk, Music, Calendar and Weather, at $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year; the listing also shows lifetime purchases at $39.99 and $49.99. Since version 4.0 it includes more than 1,000 still and animated wallpapers. It’s on the Mac App Store and in Setapp and needs macOS 12.
5. Widgetter: meters on the desktop
Widgetter leans toward hardware meters: CPU, fan speed, RAM, disk, battery and network speed, next to clocks, a calendar, weather and music, in any size and with themes you can apply to each display. It’s a free download with a watermark; the listing shows upgrades from $1.99 to $59.99 once without saying what each unlocks. It needs macOS 13.
6. iStat Menus: meters in the menu bar
iStat Menus isn’t a desktop widget app, but if you mainly ran Rainmeter for hardware meters, it covers them from the menu bar: CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors, fans and battery, each with a detailed menu, and alerts when something crosses a limit. It has a 14-day free trial, is also in Setapp, and needs macOS 13.5.
When to pick something other than MacScapes
- You want to write or edit widgets yourself: Übersicht.
- You want disk, network and fan meters: Widgetter on the desktop, or iStat Menus in the menu bar.
- You want to click and type in your widgets: WidgetWall or BetterMacWidgets.
- You want the most widgets for nothing: WidgetWall, with 12 free. BetterMacWidgets has more in all, 41, for one payment.
- You want widgets that show your own calendar and reminders: the widgets built into macOS, free.
For the full ranking of widget apps, see the best widget apps for Mac, and to set up the ones you choose, how to customize Mac widgets. Coming from Wallpaper Engine or Lively too? See Wallpaper Engine for Mac and Lively Wallpaper for Mac.