Choose AltTab when its free core and maturity matter most
AltTab is the stronger default for users who want a widely adopted Windows-style switcher, a free open-source core, high-quality thumbnails, and an optional paid power-user tier.
CmdTab
macOS window switching
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Focused comparison
CmdTab versus AltTab: choose the window-switching model first
AltTab is the mature, broadly adopted choice with a free core. CmdTab is an active beta built around exact-window global recency and three presentation modes. The right answer depends on which workflow you value.
Last reviewed:
This comparison uses AltTab’s official product, pricing, and terms pages plus CmdTab’s canonical product and evidence pages. Feature tiers, prices, download counts, and compatibility can change after the review date.
AltTab’s official pricing page displayed 8.2 million downloads and 16,000 GitHub stars on the review date. Those are adoption signals, not a controlled reliability benchmark.
| Decision factor | AltTab | CmdTab |
|---|---|---|
| Primary switching unit | Window-oriented switcher with high-quality thumbnails in the free core. | Each eligible top-level window is a separate exact target in one global recent-use sequence. |
| Search | Typing to search windows is listed as an AltTab Pro feature. | Command Palette searches application and window text, supports acronym-style matching, and can remember repeated selections. |
| Presentation | The free core includes thumbnails and live preview. Additional appearance styles are listed in Pro. | Classic Grid, Command Palette, and Radial Menu are three separate presentation modes over the same eligible-window set. |
| Window controls | The official pricing page lists window controls among free features. | Quick Actions can hide an app, minimize or close an exact window, or quit an app when the target exposes the required control. |
| Shortcut breadth | AltTab Pro lists up to nine keyboard shortcuts. | CmdTab supports Cmd+Tab and Option+Tab plus optional right-side modifier tap or double-tap triggers. |
| Commercial model | Free open-source core. Pro is US$9.99 once; Pro Lifetime is US$24.99 once; new users receive a 14-day Pro trial. | 14-day trial followed by a one-time purchase. The current founder offer displayed by CmdTab is US$12. |
| Public evidence | The official site publishes large adoption figures and product documentation. This page does not convert adoption into a reliability score. | CmdTab publishes its exact-window regression model, 136-case matrix, implementation review, and explicit real-macOS manual-test boundary. |
| Current product stage | Mature, broadly adopted product with a free core and optional paid tier. | CmdTab is an active beta with a smaller adoption base, a public implementation contract, and an evidence-led validation plan. |
Decision guide
Neither product wins every workflow
A fair comparison identifies the conditions under which each option is the more sensible choice.
Choose CmdTab when its exact-window workflow matches you
CmdTab is the more specific fit when you want one global exact-window MRU sequence, three presentation modes, remembered Command Palette choices, and the current Quick Actions and Space/display controls.
Keep the built-in switcher when simplicity wins
Neither third-party app is automatically the right answer. Apple’s built-in switcher requires no installation or additional permissions and remains appropriate for app-level switching.
Sources
Every changing external claim is linked to AltTab’s own pages
Re-check the current pages before relying on prices, feature tiers, compatibility, download counts, or GitHub-star totals after the displayed review date.