Maybe you will think that Mac applications are more expensive compared to those on Windows. However, it won't be the case if you really know where to download those free applications for your Mac. They're all around the web, the free applications.
Below, you will see 22 sources that will help you find applications that are essential for you.
Most Popular Apple Download
[20 Apps]
You can always check inside Apple official website under Downloads section to see what most of the people download from there.
Top OS X Apps on IUseThis
[First 100 Apps]
A site that list down 7400+ free applications for OS X. Survey on the popularity of the applications are done by all the readers to this site with voting system.
Chris Pirillo - Top 100 Mac Apps
[100 Apps]
One of the nice articles written by Chris Pirillo. In this article, he compiled a simple list of Mac apps with their icon arranged neatly next to the apps' name.
MacTricksAndTips - Top 100 Essential Mac Applications
[100 Apps]
MacSpecialist - Essential Mac OS X Applications
[72 Apps]
List of 72 essential Mac OS X applications which distinguishes between the free applications and applications that are not free by putting dollar sign in front of applications' name.
Freelance Switch - 35 Absolutely Essential Mac Apps
[35 Apps]
A small list of applications that freelancers using Mac can use.
Cool Mac Apps - Top 20 Mac Applications
[20 Apps]
List of cool Mac apps, sorted by voting points of the apps. I rarely heard some of the apps that are inside top 20.
Lifehacker - Top 10 Free Mac Downloads
[10 Apps]
Folks at Lifehacker will teach you where to find free Mac apps.
10 Necessary Mac Apps for the College Student
[10 Apps]
Small list of Mac applications compiled to be especially useful for college students.
The Best Unknown Mac Apps 1, 2, 3
[28 Apps]
List of Mac applications that are rarely seen on the discussion and become quite hidden beneath the world of web.
BestMacSoftware
[40 Apps]
VersionTracker
You can check top applications for your Mac OS X based on how many download actions done on the application.
[First 80 Apps]
OS X Portable Apps
[26 Apps]
List of 26 Mac applications that are made to become portable. This means that these applications are packaged to be easily carried around with any portable device.
Top 40 Most Useful Free Mac OS X Softwares
[40 Apps]
Chip.Cuccio - Must Have Mac Software
[33 Apps]
List of Mac OS X Applications that the author claimed to be used frequently by him.
100 Portable Apps for your USB Stick (Both for Mac and Win)
[27 Apps]
List of Mac and Windows applications that can be stored inside USB stick and installed on other computer. It's a nice list even though you can only few Mac applications from this 100 list.
Paul Stamatiou - 10 Apps Every New Mac User Should Download
[10 Apps]
Best of the Web - 15 Best Freeware Apps for Mac Users
[15 Apps]
MacApper - Mac OS X Freeware List
[57 Apps]
This site compiled an article discussing freeware for Mac OS X. What makes it different is the fact that they have written reviews for some of the applications.
Apple Gazette - 10 Apps to Increase Productivity on Your Mac
[10 Apps]
Simple list of 10 applications to help you increase your Mac productivity.
10 Essential Mac Apps to Install After Reformat
[10 Apps]
Brilliant Ignorance - Essential Freeware for the Mac User
[51 Apps]
Most Favorite Mac Apps
The list of most favorite Mac apps that I will mention below isn't based on my personal preference. It's based on how many times the apps are featured from those sources I mentioned above.
- Adium (Chat Client) [15/22]
- VLC (Video Player) [14/22]
- Cyberduck (FTP Client) and Quicksilver (Application Launcher) [13/22]
- Mozilla Firefox (Web Browser) [12/22]
- Skype (Internet Call) [10/22]
- NeoOffice (Open Office for Mac), TextWrangler (Text Editor) and Transmission (Bittorrent Application) [9/22]
- Camino (Web Browser), Carbon Copy Cloner (Backup Utility), Handbrake (DVD to MP4 Converter) and StuffItExpander (Archive Manager) [8/22]
- Colloquy (IRC Network Client), MenuMeters (Computer Monitoring Tools) and OnyX (OS X Tweaker) [7/22]
Extra: Pie Chart
66% of all the applications combined from these 22 sources are only mentioned once. Others are including five times up to fifteen times mentioned.
6 COMMENTS (RSS)
ocho
August 2nd, 2008 Time: 01:12 AM
If you think you're using the best software out there, when you see your programs on such lists, then you're probably wrong. These lists have in many cases nothing to do with an objective overview of different software, often it only suggests you to use shareware and other crap, buggy and totally senseless software you never came across with. best example is onyx, most users know nothing about their macs and the os itself, the best they can do is open iapp's, finder and playing with senseless utilities like this stat-widget which everyone needs - ya, but they probably let you know that you can control your machine, good for the psyche.
a
August 8th, 2008 Time: 12:05 AM
as i agree, there are plenty of free apps for the mac that are buggy, i couldn't imagine living without apps like Quicksilver & Smultron & VLC. There are others I use, but those 3 i use multiple times daily. and face it, the free apps you get for your mac are better than ANY free app you would get for windows.
史颂华
August 9th, 2008 Time: 11:19 AM
thanks for the list opening 22+ tabs in background now...
Terry
August 10th, 2008 Time: 10:25 PM
Perfect post. Thanks for sharing the lists. I spent 3 hours to consolidate my Mac apps. Wow~
Miguel Machado
August 12th, 2008 Time: 10:05 AM
Great job!!! Thanks
carlco
August 15th, 2008 Time: 05:47 PM
great list, i thought i was on top of whats hot with version tracker and sourceforge, but theres a few appz here i hadnt heard of / tried. keep up the great work
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