Open ContextsFeature and price comparison
On a small screen, scroll the table horizontally to compare both products.
| Category | Open Contexts | AltTab |
|---|---|---|
| Window selection | Title list in most-recently-used order | Live thumbnails; Pro also offers titles and app icons |
| Search | App-name and window-title search; ASCII input | Pro: filter by app name or window title |
| Task organization | Saved named custom groups; pin and order windows | App, Space and screen filters; use Open Contexts for saved custom groups |
| Gestures | Not currently available | Available in the free version |
| Price | Free, Apache 2.0 | Free core; Pro $9.99; Pro Lifetime $24.99, one-time |
| Compatibility | macOS 13+; Intel and Apple silicon | macOS 12+; Intel and Apple silicon |
Recognizing a window versus organizing a task
Suppose you have three reference windows with similar titles. Their visible contents may make an AltTab preview the easiest way to tell them apart. If you already know the titles and want your editor, terminal and references kept together, an Open Contexts group addresses a different need.
AltTab Pro also offers title and icon styles. Open Contexts is not the only way to get a text-based switcher; the useful distinction is its saved custom-group and app-bar workflow. In a coding session with an editor, two browser windows, a terminal and chat, you can create a “Research” group and a “Build” group on the left, right, or bottom edge of the screen and keep them across restarts.
Shortcuts and search have different scopes
Open Contexts has customizable all-window and same-app shortcuts, defaulting to Command-Tab and Command-backtick. Shift is used to reverse direction. AltTab offers shortcut filters by app, Space and screen, and Pro supports up to nine independent shortcuts.
Both AltTab Pro and Open Contexts can find windows by app name or title. Open Contexts uses case-insensitive contiguous matching, accepts printable ASCII input and highlights matches in yellow; it has no gesture switching. Compare the actual shortcuts you use rather than counting how many settings each app has.
What paying changes
AltTab’s core thumbnail switching is free. Pro costs $9.99 once with current-major-version updates; Pro Lifetime costs $24.99 once with future updates. Pro features can be tried for 14 days, and the free features remain available afterward. Prices may vary by regional checkout.
Open Contexts includes its current features—including app-name and window-title search and saved groups—for free under Apache 2.0. Evaluate AltTab Pro if you want live thumbnail search, extra visual styles, or up to nine independent shortcut filters.
Which one fits your Mac
- Choose AltTab for preview-led selection, trackpad gestures or a Mac still running macOS 12.
- Choose AltTab Pro if its search behavior, alternative styles or several independent shortcut configurations matter.
- Choose Open Contexts on macOS 13+ if you want a compact list, free keyboard search, named saved task groups, and a screen-edge app bar.
To test Open Contexts alongside AltTab without losing your existing setup, quit AltTab before testing shared global shortcuts, grant Accessibility access to Open Contexts, and test same-app windows plus a saved task group.