4 Must-Have Menu Bar Manager Apps for Mac Users 2025

The Mac computer is regarded as one of the most popular devices for many workers and tech enthusiasts. However, with the increasing number of applications, Mac’s menu bar has become increasingly messy and disorganized, affecting users’ experience and work efficiency.

Luckily, Mac menu bar managers can help you easily manage the menu bar and simplify the Mac interface. If you want to hide unwanted icons or rearrange them, Mac menu bar managers will help you. In this article, we will introduce the top 4 menu bar manager software. We will summarize each manager's main features and competitive advantages. By referring to our editor’s review, you’ll see which one is best for your needs.

How Do I Manage the Menu Bar on My Mac?

You can visit System Settings > Control Center and set what icons to display on the menu bar. For example, you’re suggested to hide system applications that are not frequently used, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or volume icons.

Alternatively, many menu bar manager software programs offer menu bar icon management functionality. You can utilize these to reorder menu bar layout, group icons, hide or reorder icons, and even show specific icons or hide them in specific positions.

Moreover, it’s also crucial to clean the menu bar regularly. As time passes, you may add more icons to the menu bar while installing new software programs. In this case, you can go to the app’s preferences, choose to hide its menu bar icons, or use the menu bar management tools to remove unwanted ones in batches. This will prevent the menu bar from getting too cluttered.

4 Best Menu Bar Manager Apps for Mac in 2025

In this part, we’ll recommend the top 4 Mac menu bar management apps. These apps offer a wide range of features, including hiding and organizing icons, as well as quickly accessing frequently used folders and tools. Check each app’s features and review, and try it on your Mac.

Bartender 5

Bartender 5 is a powerful menu bar management tool that allows you to hide, rearrange, and modify menu bar icons. It supports quick access to hidden menu bar items by sliding, scrolling, clicking, or hovering. Also, it can combine multiple menu bar icons into a group to better organize the desktop.

Key Features:

• Decide which icons to display in or hide from the menu bar.
• Set different layouts as a preset for your menu bar. For example, you can set a preset to show only audio tools when recording a podcast.
• Put multiple menu bar items into a single group.
• Quickly find and activate hidden menu bar items via the Search feature.
• It offers various styling options, including colors, borders, and shapes, allowing you to customize your menu bar.

Editor’s Review:

The interface is intuitive, and it’s simple to operate. It supports customizing the color, gradient, rounded corners, border, and shadow of the menu bar, etc. However, Bartender 5 is only compatible with macOS Sequoia and Sonoma and does not support earlier versions. Besides, you can only use the free trial version for 4 weeks. After that, you need to make a payment.

Ice - Menu Bar Manager

Ice has similar functions to Bartender, but it’s a completely free and open-source software. It’s frequently updated and can be used as an alternative to Bartender. You can use Ice to hide the menu bar icons and display and rearrange the hidden icons by hovering, clicking, scrolling, or sliding. Also, Ice supports customizing the appearance of the menu bar, such as adding borders, setting rounded corners, and adjusting colors.

Key Features:

• Show, hide, and manage menu bar items with ease.
• Customize the appearance of the menu bar, like tinting and shadowing.
• Quickly access the hidden items by clicking the Ice icon or using hotkeys.
• Adjust the spacing between menu bar items.
• Unlike some paid menu bar managers, Ice doesn’t require a subscription.

Editor’s Review

This is a completely free Mac menu bar manager. It can be used as an alternative to Bartender. However, as a comprehensive tool, Ice may consume more system resources than other lightweight alternatives to Bartender. Besides, it may encounter display issues when connecting an external monitor. For example, the menu bar can become too short or too tall on different displays.

Hidden Bar

Hidden Bar is an open-source, lightweight menu bar management tool. It is completely free, and it allows you to divide the hidden and displayed parts by dragging the divider. Besides, it also supports automatic operation at startup and global shortcut keys.

Key Features:

• Simply drag its divider among your menu bar apps, and everything to the left of the divider will be hidden by default.
• Add a second divider in your menu bar with the “always hidden” section.
• Set auto-hide durations from 5 to 60 seconds, for how long icons remain visible.
• Use a global shortcut to quickly toggle menu bar items.
• Hidden Bar operates offline, so it doesn’t collect any user data.

Editor’s Review:

macOS doesn’t support hiding menu bar icons by default, but Hidden Bar provides this feature. However, Hidden Bar’s automation capabilities are relatively limited. For instance, it cannot automatically display relevant icons based on system status (such as low battery or disconnected network) like Bartender does.

Barbee

Barbee offers an interface and functions similar to Bartender. Users can set icons in three conditions: display, hide, and always hide. It also supports customizing the appearance of the menu bar, including rounded corners, shadows, and even the style of the Apple logo. Besides, it develops some automation functions, such as setting up automation rules to automatically control the display of apps.

Key Features:

• Hide and show menu bar items with a single click.
• Customize the appearance of the menu bar, such as changing the shape, adding rounded corners, and even customizing the Apple logo.
• Set up automation rules to automatically hide or show icons based on specific conditions. For example, you can set the battery icon to only show when the battery is low.
• Create different focus modes for your menu bar when implementing tasks.
• The app is lightweight and efficient, so it has minimal impact on your computer performance.

Editor’s Review:

The price is relatively low. The lifetime version is only $3.99. It offers rich customization options and automation functions, which can meet the basic requirements of menu bar management. The drawback is that the search function is not convenient enough.

Bonus Tip: How to Monitor and Manage Mac System Performance

When your Mac is running multiple programs in the background, it can consume a lot of CPU and internal space. To help your Mac run smoothly, you can monitor your Mac's performance and make adjustments. The BuhoCleaner’s Menu feature is designed to help Mac users monitor and optimize the performance of the Mac system.

It excels in monitoring several parameters in real-time. You can view critical system statistics such as CPU usage, temperature, RAM usage, network transfer rate, and free disk space from the menu bar in an instant. Despite monitoring Mac’s performance, BuhoCleaner can also clean junk files, delete unwanted apps, and remove large and duplicate files. Click the button below to try it out yourself.

Conclusion

In summary, these 4 top-rated menu bar manager tools can improve the overall user experience on a Mac computer. From showing and hiding menu bar items to customizing the appearance and display of the menu bar, you can make your Mac menu bar a more productive and beautiful workspace.