Side by side
Crowny’s column is ours. Boring Notch’s column comes from its own pages (sources below), checked on 1 October 2026. A dash means the source does not mention it, not that the app lacks it.
| Feature | Crowny | Boring Notch |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5 one-time (list $15) | Free |
| How you pay | Pay once, 14-day refund, every version 1 update | Free, donations welcome |
| Open source | No | Yes, GPL-3.0 |
| macOS | 15+, Apple Silicon | 14+, Apple Silicon or Intel |
| Latest version | 0.1.0 | v2.7.3 (24 Nov 2025); v2.8 release candidates in Sep 2026 |
| AI coding agent sessions | YesClaude Code, Codex, Grok | — (not listed) |
| Approve agent prompts in the notch | YesClaude Code; Codex shows when it waits | — (not listed) |
| AI plan usage limits | YesClaude 5-hour and weekly | — (not listed) |
| Music / now playing | YesSpotify, Apple Music, YouTube | YesWith a visualiser |
| Calendar | YesGoogle, iCloud, Outlook | Yes |
| Meetings | YesOne-tap Join | — (not listed) |
| File shelf | Yes | YesWith AirDrop |
| Clipboard history | Yes | — (not listed) |
| Timers / focus | YesFocus, timer, stopwatch, alarms | — (not listed) |
| Games | YesSnake, Tetris, 2048, Flappy | — (not listed) |
| Weather | Yes | PlannedOn the roadmap |
| Volume / brightness HUD | No | YesVolume, brightness, backlight |
| Works without a notch | YesA pill under the menu bar | — (not listed) |
| Also | Reminders, notes, GitHub graph, Gmail and Apple Mail, pinned sites; Water, stand and eye-break nudges, held during focus; AirPods and Mac battery; Always on or Minimal mode; Colourful or Black & white; About 0.1% CPU at rest | Mirror; Reminders; Charging indicator; Customizable gestures |
| Privacy | No account, no analytics; your data stays on the Mac | — |
Who should pick which
Pick Boring Notch if
- You want it free, and open source under GPL-3.0.
- You want the volume, brightness and keyboard backlight HUD replaced. Crowny does not do that.
- You use the mirror or the gesture controls.
- You are on an Intel Mac or macOS 14.
Pick Crowny if
- You run Claude Code, Codex or Grok and want to see each session, and answer Claude Code’s prompts, without finding the terminal.
- You want your next meeting with a Join button, and focus sessions that hold nudges until you are done.
- Clipboard history, timers, weather and games in the same panel. Boring Notch’s README does not list them as shipped (weather is on its roadmap).
- You would rather not run a Terminal command to open an unsigned app.
Why people switch to Crowny
Boring Notch is good at what it set out to do: a music control centre with a visualiser, calendar, a shelf with AirDrop, and replacements for the macOS HUDs. If that is all you want from the notch, there is little reason to pay for anything else.
People move to Crowny when the notch is meant to save them trips during work. A coding agent waiting for approval is the clearest case: Crowny shows every Claude Code, Codex and Grok session with a face for what it is doing, drops Claude Code’s question into the notch, and tells you when a session finishes. It also shows your Claude 5-hour and weekly limits.
The rest of the day is there too: the next meeting with Join, focus sessions, timers, a stopwatch and alarms, clipboard history on Option-Shift-V, weather, and Snake, Tetris, 2048 and Flappy for the minute a build takes. All of it stays on your Mac, with no account.
Pricing
Boring Notch is free (the team takes donations on Ko-fi). Crowny is $5 once for one Mac, with every version 1 update and a 14-day refund. Neither is a subscription.
Crowny’s licence and what it includes are on the pricing page. Already have it? Download Crowny.
Questions
Is Boring Notch free?
Yes. Boring Notch is free and open source under GPL-3.0, from TheBoredTeam on GitHub.
Does Crowny replace the volume and brightness HUD like Boring Notch?
No. Crowny leaves the macOS volume and brightness indicators alone. If you want those redesigned, Boring Notch does it.
Can I run Boring Notch and Crowny together?
Both draw in the same spot around the notch, so running two notch apps at once tends to clash. Pick one for the notch.
Why pay for Crowny when Boring Notch is free?
Only if you need what it adds: coding agent sessions and approvals, Claude usage limits, meetings with Join, focus timers, clipboard history, weather and games. If you do not, Boring Notch is the better deal.
Sources
Checked on 1 October 2026. Apps change; if something here is out of date, write to us and we will fix it.
NotchNook, Boring Notch, Alcove, DynamicLake, MediaMate, Atoll, Droppy, AgentNotch, TopNotch and the other names here belong to their owners. Crowny is not affiliated with any of them.