1MachineTool vs Bartender
The best-known menu bar organiser, or a simpler one that ships inside an app that replaces several of those icons.
Checked against Bartender’s own site, 18 October 2026
Short answer
Bartender is more powerful. 1MachineTool covers the 80% most people use, and removes the reason you had twenty icons.
- Both hide icons into rows you reveal on hover, click or hotkey, and both handle the notch.
- Bartender adds triggers, profiles, styling and automation with Shortcuts and AppleScript. 1MachineTool deliberately leaves those out.
- 1MachineTool replaces the cleaner, monitor, battery and keep-awake apps that put many of those icons there in the first place.
Two ways to do the job.
1MachineTool
Menu bar & Dock is a Pro module: three rows (always, hover, hidden), real icons read over Accessibility, show on hover, chevron or ⌃⌥M, notch awareness, per-display layouts and Dock presets with undo.
Bartender
Applause Group's menu bar organiser, now Bartender 7 for macOS 27 (Bartender 6 for Tahoe): hide and reveal items, the Bartender Bar, search, triggers, profiles, styling and automation. Sold as a one-time licence or a yearly Pro subscription; macOS only, not on the Mac App Store.
www.macbartender.comSide by side.
| Feature | 1MachineTool | Bartender |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Price | Free, or Pro $29 once (one year of updates) | One-time licence, or Bartender Pro yearly (prices not shown on the vendor page when checked) |
| Runs on | macOS now; Windows (v1.1) and Linux (v1.3) on the same licence | macOS |
| What it covers | Eleven tools: launcher, clipboard, windows, monitor, clean, power, battery, menu bar, network, security, VMs (when shipped) | Menu bar items |
| Tells you why the machine is slow, hot, full or draining | Yes: one sentence, the evidence, the fix and an undo | No |
| Menu bar | ||
| Hide and reveal icons | Three rows: always, hover, hidden | Yes |
| Show on hover or hotkey | Yes | Yes |
| Notch awareness | Yes | Yes |
| Triggers and profiles | No | Yes |
| Scripting (Shortcuts, AppleScript) | No | Yes |
| Dock presets | With undo | No |
| Everything else | ||
| Replaces the apps behind the icons | Cleaner, monitor, battery, keep-awake, clipboard, windows | No |
| Clipboard history | Free 7 days, unlimited in Pro | In Bartender Pro (Top Shelf) |
| Ownership | Made by StoicSoft | Sold to new owners in 2024 |
| Windows and Linux | Windows in v1.1, Linux in v1.3; your Pro licence covers them | No |
Scroll the table sideways.
Which one is for you.
Choose 1MachineTool if
- You want a tidy menu bar without configuring triggers.
- You'd rather have fewer menu bar apps than better-hidden ones.
- You want a menu bar organiser bundled with a cleaner, monitor and battery limiter.
Choose Bartender if
- You rely on triggers, profiles or AppleScript.
- You style and space your menu bar exactly.
- Menu bar organising is the only job you need done.
Questions.
What happened with Bartender's ownership?
In 2024 the original developer sold Bartender to a new company without announcing it. MacRumors and others reported it in June 2024 after users noticed a changed signing certificate. Bartender is now published by Applause Group, Inc.
Does 1MachineTool need Accessibility permission for the menu bar?
Yes, to read and move icons. It asks once, when you turn the module on. macOS keeps Control Centre, Clock and Siri where they are.
Can 1MachineTool hide its own icon?
It only adds one tray icon, which shows CPU % or an attention mark. You can keep it in any row.
Bartender’s column comes from its own site on 18 October 2026. Prices and plans change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
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