Here Are My Favourite 21 Best Setapp Apps to Supercharge Your Mac Workflow in 2025

My Mac has been the center of my digital life for years, especially when it comes to working on TechLila. But having a Mac isn’t enough; using it to its fullest potential completely changes the way you work. Setapp, a subscription service, has completely changed the way I go about my everyday tasks, specifically introducing me to these 21 best Setapp apps that are indispensable for any Mac user aiming for peak productivity in 2025.

For a single, fixed price, Setapp essentially gives you access to a carefully selected library of more than 250 high-quality macOS and iOS apps. Imagine it as Netflix for software, offering a ready-made toolkit to boost output, simplify chores, and unleash creativity without having to worry about individual app purchases or additional fees. For me, it has changed everything.

21 Best Setapp Apps to Increase Productivity and Your Mac Workflow in 2025

This isn’t just another list of excellent Mac apps. This is a personal documentary of how I incorporate Setapp apps into my daily life as a tech blogger who is always balancing writing, research, development, and system maintenance in order to remain productive, imaginative, and organized. My objective is to provide insights that go beyond feature lists and show how an app affects a real-world workflow.

For Crucial Workflow & Productivity

These apps are the foundation of my Mac experience; they welcome me each morning and remain open all day.

1. CleanMyMac X

A system cleaner may seem simple to you, but CleanMyMac X is anything but. It functions as a digital spring cleaner for me. Maintaining optimal performance is more important than simply freeing up disk space. A quick Smart Scan makes sure my Mac is clear of clutter, the RAM is optimized, and any possible junk files are removed before I start writing or editing videos. For my Mac, it’s similar to having a personal IT helper.

2. Ulysses

Ulysses is my haven, and as a writer, words are my tool. This writing environment helps me concentrate solely on the text; it’s more than just a word processor. The ability to arrange all of my articles, notes, and ideas within its simple interface is unmatched, and the Markdown support is simple to use. And publishing straight from Ulysses to WordPress? That saves a ton of time. Every one of my TechLila posts starts to take shape there.

3. Paste

To be honest, I have no idea how I managed before Paste. A productivity hero is this clipboard history manager. Paste remembers everything you copy, including text, pictures, and links. Do you need the link you copied an hour ago? A quick keyboard shortcut brings up Paste’s visual history, letting me instantly retrieve any clipped item. It eradicates the frustrating “copy-one-thing-then-lose-the-previous” and keeps my flow uninterrupted.

4. BetterTouchTool

BetterTouchTool is the best power tool if you want to customize and enhance your Mac’s input devices. Everything is available here, including complex keyboard shortcuts, touch bar customizations, and unique trackpad gestures for particular apps. I’ve set up gestures to control media with a custom touch bar button, launch apps with a three-finger swipe, and instantly open frequently used folders. The goal is to drastically reduce the number of repetitive clicks and movements by programming your Mac to react exactly as you think.

5. Bartender

In the past, my menu bar was a disorganized jumble of icons competing for users’ attention. Bartender skillfully handles this by enabling me to precisely arrange, conceal, and retrieve my menu bar icons. While less-used icons are hidden away and only require a single click to access, essential icons are always visible. It’s a tiny tool that helps me stay focused on my main task by decluttering my visual environment and facilitating quick access.

Code & Data Apps: The Developer’s Toolbox

Even as a blogger, I frequently work with databases, debug websites, and explore code snippets. For those times, these Setapp apps are priceless.

6. CodeRunner

CodeRunner is invaluable for testing scripts quickly or experimenting with small bits of code without having to launch a full-fledged IDE. It can run code instantly and supports almost any programming language. For quick syntax checks, quick prototyping, or executing a small Python script to automate a simple task, it’s my go-to tool.

7. SQLPro Studio

Although database management may seem like a niche for a blogger, SQLPro Studio is my go-to tool when working with WordPress or web development. It provides a simple, native Mac interface for connecting to different kinds of databases, including SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. It is essential for database-related content or troubleshooting because it is both intuitive enough for fast data checks and robust enough for serious queries.

8. DevUtils

For developers, DevUtils is an offline Swiss Army knife. Do you need to check regex, convert timestamps, decode Base64, or format JSON? DevUtils completes everything instantly and locally. It keeps my sensitive data off the internet and my workflow unhindered, especially when I’m disconnected, saving me numerous trips to online converters and validators.

9. Dash

It can be tedious to constantly search for documentation when you’re deep in technical writing or coding. Dash offers immediate offline access to more than 200 sets of API documentation. Whether or not I have an internet connection, it is always accessible, searchable, and lightning fast. It’s similar to having an extensive library of documentation for all programming languages and frameworks on my Mac.

Apps for Creative and Content Production

Just as important to TechLila as writing is the creation, editing, and capture of images. I can accomplish that with the aid of these apps.

10. CleanShot X

The built-in screenshot tool in macOS is enhanced to a professional level by CleanShot X. For taking screenshots, recording screens (with sound!), and even making GIFs, it’s my all-time favorite. The annotation tools are excellent, and I save a ton of time because I can record scrolling content or have it upload to the cloud automatically. This is probably where TechLila’s polished screenshots all began.

11. Capto

It takes over when a straightforward screenshot is insufficient. I can make in-depth video tutorials or presentations with this robust screen recording and editing tool. In the app, I can record my screen, annotate while it’s happening, add webcam overlays, and then edit and cut the video. It simplifies and expedites the process of creating captivating video content for my blog.

12. Gifox

A brief, looping GIF can sometimes convey a process much more effectively than a still image or an entire video. Gifox is ideal for this since it enables me to capture particular regions of my screen and convert them into crisp GIFs. It’s very helpful for sharing brief visual snippets on social media or for providing brief explanations in articles without requiring video files.

13. Luminar Neo

Setapp’s AI+ apps include Luminar Neo, which offers amazing AI-powered photo editing but isn’t exactly “Pixelmator Pro.” It’s incredibly powerful for fast touch-ups, color grading, and adding beautiful effects to photos for my articles. With its clever sky replacement and portrait enhancements, it strikes a balance between professional results and an easy-to-use interface, making intricate edits surprisingly straightforward.

Maintaining Organization: Astute File Administration

I can easily get overwhelmed by my digital files. These applications guarantee that everything remains accessible and well-organized.

14. ForkLift

ForkLift is a true dual-pane file manager that provides much more than the macOS Finder. I use it to manage files across multiple servers and cloud services because it has features like FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, and more. It is essential for managing website assets or sizable content libraries due to its capacity to compare folders, rename files in bulk, and navigate with remarkable efficiency.

15. CloudMounter

This app is a work of pure magic. With CloudMounter, you can mount a variety of cloud storage services as local drives directly in your Finder, including Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon S3, WebDAV, FTP, and more. Without syncing everything, I can now view, modify, and save files to the cloud just like I could on my local drive. On my MacBook, it saves a ton of space and maintains my cloud files’ smooth integration with my desktop productivity.

16. ChronoSync Express

For a tech blogger, backups are a must. I can make automated, scheduled backups of important folders to external drives or network locations using ChronoSync Express, a powerful backup and synchronization tool. It gives me fine-grained control over sync rules, giving me great peace of mind that my work is always safe and recoverable.

17. Archiver

It can occasionally be difficult to deal with zipped files, particularly when they come from different sources. Compressing and decompressing files is a breeze with Archiver. It supports a large number of file types, including ZIP, RAR, 7z, Tar, Gzip, and others, and provides features for password protection and archive splitting. It’s just a more powerful and intuitive substitute for macOS’s built-in utility.

Daily Utilities & System Insights

These are the tools that give important information and ease the pain of those minor, everyday chores.

18. iStat

Because I’m a bit of a data nerd, iStat Menus is the ideal tool for me. This all-in-one system monitor, which is located in my menu bar, provides me with up-to-date information on my CPU, GPU, RAM, disk usage, network activity, temperatures, and fan speeds. It enables me to promptly spot apps that use a lot of resources or exhibit strange activity, guaranteeing that my Mac operates at peak efficiency and enabling me to identify problems before they become serious ones.

19. NetSpot

NetSpot becomes my go-to troubleshooting tool when my Wi-Fi acts up, which occurs more frequently in India than I’d like. I can see my network coverage, locate dead zones, and identify interference sources with the aid of this expert Wi-Fi analyzer and site survey tool. More times than I can remember, it has assisted me in streamlining my home office network, guaranteeing dependable internet for all of my online endeavors.

20. ClearVPN

Online security and privacy are critical in today’s digital world. ClearVPN offers a user-friendly solution for safe browsing. I can secure my online activities and encrypt my connection with a single click, particularly when I’m using public Wi-Fi or need to access geo-restricted content for research. It’s a straightforward and dependable layer of internet security.

21. Numi

Don’t use the typical calculator. Numi is an intelligent calculator with natural language comprehension. I can directly type “150 USD to EUR” or “25% of $500 in INR,” and it will provide me with the answer right away. It seamlessly integrates computation with text and is very helpful for quick calculations, currency conversions, and even unit conversions in my writing workflow.

My Experience Picking the Product

I was hesitant to try Setapp at first. Another subscription? My wallet was already stretched. But I’d been eyeing CleanShot X for months, along with Ulysses, Bartender, and a few other pricey apps. When I needed a strong screen recording tool for a new tutorial series, CleanShot X was the clear winner, but the cost felt too steep.

That’s when a friend suggested, “Just try Setapp’s trial, CleanShot X is included.” I did. Almost every premium Mac app I’d ever wanted was right there. I got a writing suite, system tools, a clipboard manager, and more for less than the price of buying two apps.

Wrapping It Up

I strongly suggest giving Setapp a try if my everyday routine sounds like yours or if you just want to browse through a huge selection of robust Mac apps without going over budget. You may discover a new method of working that you love.

Have you developed a special workflow using these tools, or do you have any Setapp favorites that I missed? Please share your thoughts about them in the comments section!