TiidyTiidy vs Thaw.
If you want free, open source and every option there is, choose Thaw. If you want your menu bar sorted in a minute and kept tidy on its own, with a named maker to email, Tiidy is built for that. Both are good answers. They're for different people.
You want it looked after.
- You want suggestions to do the sorting for you.
- You want new icons to ask where they go, instead of piling up.
- You'd like one person to email when something's off.
- You're happy to pay US$9, once, for that.
You want the knobs.
- You want free and open source, under the GPL.
- You want profiles, triggers and a section per display.
- You like arranging every item yourself.
- You're comfortable running an alpha on macOS 27.
Side by side.
| Question | Tiidy0.5, public beta | Thaw3.0 alpha for macOS 27 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | US$9, once, for 3 Macs | Free |
| Source code | Closed | Open, GPL-3.0 |
| macOS 27 | Public beta, 0.5 | In the 3.0 alpha. The latest, alpha 7, came out on 25 September 2026. |
| Permissions | Accessibility only | Accessibility. Screen Recording is optional. |
| Setup | One card per app with a suggestion. About a minute. | Drag and drop items where you want them |
| New icons ask first | Yes | |
| Tidy suggestions | Yes, at most once a week | |
| Pop-outs | A tucked icon with news steps out for 10 seconds | |
| Profiles | Yes | |
| Triggers | Yes, like battery, Focus or Wi-Fi network | |
| Per-display layout | Yes, one section per display | |
| Keyboard search | Yes | |
| Support | Email the maker, Petar Ceklic | Through its GitHub project |
A line means the app doesn't offer it, or its own pages don't list it.
Credit where it's due
macOS 27 rebuilt the menu bar, and the old way of hiding icons stopped working for everyone. Thaw's maintainers worked out how the new menu bar can be managed, during the betas. Pelmet credits Thaw for that, and the same macOS mechanism is what Hidden Bar and Tiidy use today.
Thaw is a fork of Ice, the open-source menu bar manager many people used before macOS 27. It's free, it's generous, and it has far more options than Tiidy.
Same limitsBecause every app uses the same macOS mechanism, the limits are shared: Wi-Fi, Sound, Control Center and the clock stay visible, and apps with two icons hide both.
Set up in a minute
Thaw gives you a canvas: drag each item where you want it. Tiidy gives you a short stack of cards instead, one per app, each with a suggestion. Keep it in the bar, Tuck it behind the broom, or Bury it for Option-click. Press ← ↓ →, or accept the rest in one click.
Stays tidy on its own
This is the part you pay for. When you install an app that adds an icon, Tiidy tucks it and asks where it should live. After a few days, icons you haven't clicked are suggested for tucking, at most once a week. When a tucked icon has news, like a finished upload, it steps into the bar for ten seconds, then tucks back.
Tiidy never moves an icon by itself. Nothing changes until you say yes.
Who's behind it
Thaw is a community project on GitHub, and that's a real strength: anyone can read the code. Tiidy is made by one person, Petar Ceklic, a product designer in Perth. The code is closed, but the maker isn't. Email hello@tiidy.app and he'll answer.
Try both. Tiidy's trial is free for a week.7 days, no card, no account. macOS 27 and Apple silicon.
SourcesChecked 27 Sep 2026. Tell me if something has changed: hello@tiidy.app
- github.com/thaw-app/Thaw: GPL-3.0, free, features, permissions
- Thaw releases: 3.0.0 alpha 7, 25 Sep 2026, macOS 27
- Pelmet README: credits Thaw for the macOS 27 approach, Thaw as a fork of Ice
- Hidden Bar pull request 403: the same macOS 27 mechanism