The Best AI Apps for Mac: 21 AI Tools for Productivity and Creativity

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When it comes to boosting your productivity, there’s one (increasingly universal) truth: AI is a powerful ally. Even former skeptics have become converts in recent years. AI’s ability to automate repetitive tasks, deliver solutions to challenges, and offer inspiration has made it an indispensable part of any tool stack. But in the ever-expanding world of AI, what are the best AI apps for Mac?

We’re here to help.

Our list of the top 21 AI apps for Mac is designed to equip you with the apps you need to streamline your workflow and improve how efficiently you work. Looking for quick answers to niche questions? Need writing or coding support? On the hunt for beautiful images? These apps have you covered.

This article is best read in conjunction with our guide on the best Mac apps. Together, they’ll equip you with all the solutions you need to make your systems simple, seamless and intuitive.

Table of Contents

TOC

We’ve divided our list of the best AI for Mac into seven categories:

• AI Chatbot Apps
• AI-powered Writing Assistants
• AI Dictation Apps
• AI-powered Creative Tools
• Built-in AI apps
• AI-powered Time Tracking
• Other AI Apps

AI Chatbot Apps

AI chatbot apps have received widespread attention in recent years. They use AI to simulate conversation through text or voice, providing automated responses no matter what task you’re currently tackling.

Before we dive into this particular section, it’s worth noting that while ChatGPT and Claude are mainstream commercial AI services, the other apps interact with AI in slightly different ways. TypingMind is a third-party interface that connects to commercial AI models, like ChatGPT and Claude. And LM Studio and Ollama + Open WebUI allow you to run AI models locally on your Mac. These latter two solutions require a little more technical expertise to set up and optimize, but give you greater privacy and control.

1. ChatGPT

Image: ChatGPT

ChatGPT for Mac delivers OpenAI’s powerful language model in a sleek, native app that feels right at home on macOS. The dedicated app offers faster access than the web version, with system-wide shortcuts and offline queue functionality (great for when your connection drops!). Fans love its seamless document uploading and continuous conversation history. The free tier’s limitations can be frustrating, however, and GPT-4 capabilities and some advanced features are locked behind the ChatGPT Plus subscription paywall.

Pros:

• Native Mac experience with system-wide shortcuts
• A simple conversational interface that doesn’t require technical expertise to use
• Syncs conversations across devices with your OpenAI account

Cons:

• Most powerful features require ChatGPT Plus subscription
• Can occasionally struggle with very complex or specialized requests
• Higher battery consumption when used over time

Price: ChatGPT has a free plan that provides limited functionality. Its Plus and Pro plans cost $20 and $200 per user per month respectively. Teams and Enterprise plans are also available.

Read more: We’ve analyzed ChatGPT from different perspectives in other articles. Take a look at our reviews of the Best Productivity Apps for Mac, the Best Apps for Mac Power Users, and the Best Freelance Apps for more.

2. Claude

Claude brings Anthropic’s sophisticated AI assistant to Mac users with a clean, thoughtful interface that’s all about in-depth conversations. It’s particularly good at nuanced writing tasks, complex reasoning, and long-form content creation, with impressive context handling that helps it to stay coherent even during extended exchanges. Anthropic has recently made Claude available as a desktop app for Mac and Windows, and is introducing support for dictation on Claude’s iOS and Android apps, too. Claude’s main limitation is its knowledge gaps on very recent events, since it can’t browse the web or access real-time info beyond its cut-off date.

Pros:

• Exceptional at understanding nuance and following complex instructions
• Creates interactive artifacts for code, diagrams and creative content
• Maintains conversational context across long exchanges

Cons:

• Knowledge limited to information available before its training cut-off
• Some advanced features restricted to premium subscription tiers
• Can be slightly slower than its competitors for certain tasks

Price: Claude has a limited free plan, followed by Pro and Team plans that cost $18 and $25 per user per month respectively. Chat to its sales team for the cost of its Enterprise solution.

3. TypingMind

Image: TypingMind

TypingMind is a user-friendly third-party interface that connects to various AI models like ChatGPT and Claude. Its standout features include conversation folders, custom system prompts, and the ability to export your chats. The web-based app works smoothly on Mac, letting you switch between different AI providers quickly and easily. However, TypingMind falls into the pitfall of many tools: while the basic version is free, many of the most useful features require a pro plan. (That said, TypingMind uses a lifetime rather than subscription-based policy, so once you’ve paid for it, it’s yours.)

Pros: 

• Clean, distraction-free interface with dark mode option
• Supports multiple AI models through one consistent interface
• Allows you to save and organize your conversations in folders

Cons:

• Many advanced features locked behind a pro subscription
• No native Mac app — it runs in your browser instead
• Can become slow during very long conversations

Price: TypingMind has a free version, and three Lifetime License plans, which, as the name suggests, are one-off fees. The Standard plan cost $39, the Extended plan $79, and the Premium plan $198. You can compare the plans here.

4. LM Studio

Image: LM Studio

LM Studio is a powerful desktop application that lets you run AI language models locally on your machine. Its intuitive interface makes downloading, managing, and running open-source LLMs pretty straightforward, even for relative beginners. With built-in chat functionality and API server capabilities, it’s perfect for developers and privacy-conscious users who prefer keeping their data offline. The main drawback is its relatively high system requirements. You’ll need a Mac with decent specs to run larger models smoothly.

Pros:

• Runs AI models locally without an internet connection
• User-friendly interface for managing multiple models
• Includes a built-in API server for integration with other apps

Cons:

• Requires significant RAM and storage for larger models
• Some advanced models may run slowly on older Macs
• Limited customization options compared to command-line alternatives

Price: LM Studio is free for personal use. For business use, reach out to LM Studio directly.

5. Ollama + Open WebUI

Image: Open WebUI

This one’s a little on the technical side. Ollama is a very popular back end tool, which essentially downloads the AI and runs it locally. Open WebUI adds a sleek, chat-style interface. Together, they deliver a powerful, fully local AI experience for Mac users who are after strong privacy and customization. This open-source combo lets you run advanced language models like Llama, Mistral and Gemma directly on your machine without sending data to external servers. The main drawback is the steeper learning curve. You’ll need to be pretty comfortable with basic terminal commands and managing your own model downloads.

Pros:

• Almost completely free and open-source
• Runs models locally with full privacy control
• Highly customizable with support for numerous models

Cons:

• Requires more technical knowledge to set up and optimize
• Demands substantial system resources for larger models
• Less polished user experience than more commercial alternatives

Price: Ollama and Open WebUI are totally free.

AI-powered Writing Assistants

Goodbye writer’s block. Hello to your new digital muse. AI writing assistants do far more than spot typos and grammar mistakes. They also familiarise themselves with your unique voice, tell you when your argument strays, and help to spark fresh ideas. By handling the mechanical aspects of writing, these intelligent tools give you the space to focus on what really matters: writing the human content that resonates with your readers.

6. Elephas

Image: Elephas

Elephas seamlessly integrates AI writing support directly into your Mac’s ecosystem, working across virtually any app you use to type. This native app sits quietly in your menu bar, ready to generate text, rewrite paragraphs, or summarize content with little more than a keyboard shortcut. Its contextual awareness is particularly impressive. Elephas understands what you’re working on whether you’re in Mail, Pages, or even dev environments. The downside is that its continuous background operation can noticeably impact your Mac’s battery life, especially when you’re using it intensively.

Pros:

• Works system-wide across all Mac apps
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts for different AI functions
• Preserves formatting when inserting AI-generated text

Cons:

• Significant battery drain when used frequently
• Limited customization options compared to other AI writing assistants
• Occasional lag when processing longer content

Price: Elephas has three pricing plans. The Standard plan costs $8.99 per user per month, the Pro plan costs $14.99 per user per month, and the Pro+ plan costs $18.99 per user per month.

7. Cotypist

Image: Cotypist

This one’s unique on our list of AI writing apps. Rather than replace your writing, Cotypist is an AI-powered auto-completion app. This means that it augments your writing, suggesting words or sentences that you would write anyway — just faster.

Cotypist works in any text field on your Mac, including emails, social media posts, documents, customer support platforms and even other AI tools. By generating copy in real-time as you type, it helps you work faster and more efficiently, while reducing the risk of typos and errors. Most importantly of all, it’s designed to enhance your unique style and tone, amplifying your voice so that you always sound like you, while helping you craft your messaging at superhuman speed.

Cotypist isn’t meant to replace other chatbot or writing AI apps. Instead, it’s designed to continuously save you time by suggesting the words you were just about to type.

Pros: 

• Instant completions that keep pace with your thoughts
• Cuts your typing by up to 50%, saving hours every month
• Intuitively adapts as you write

Cons:

• Limited compatibility with some apps such as Google Docs
• Requires a reasonably fast Mac in order to work smoothly
• Only provides auto-complete suggestions — does not serve as a general-purpose AI tool

Price: Cotypist is currently totally free to use.

8. BoltAI

Image: BoltAI

BoltAI delivers a truly native macOS experience with a great interface that combines OpenAI’s chat format with Apple’s familiar aesthetic. It lives up to its name, offering impressive speed and responsiveness whether you’re scrolling through conversations or navigating between features. It’s also known for its extensive model support, accommodating OpenAI, Google AI, Anthropic, Together, Groq, Mistral and Replicate — plus local model integration through Ollama. The setup process can be a little time and resource intensive, but as BoltAI’s devoted fanbase will tell you, it’s well worth the effort.

Pros:

• Stunning native macOS interface
• Lighting-fast user experience
• Dedicated support and presets for a wide range of AI models

Cons:

• Fairly intensive setup process
• No backup or restore option for model configurations
• Lacks some advanced features found in competitor applications

Price: BoltAI operates on a lifetime access rather than subscription model, so its prices are one-off. The Essential plan costs $69, the Premium plan costs $100, the Premium + (Volume Discount) costs $300 but is discounted to $225, and the Team plan costs $400.

9. Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools

Writing Tools is designed to transform your writing experience across macOS apps. The suite includes rewriting suggestions, tone adjustments, and automatic summarizations that work right where you need them — in Mail, Notes, Pages and more. The proofreading capabilities go beyond simple spell checks to offer meaningful style improvements while keeping your unique voice in mind. Writing Tools’ main limitation is its inconsistent performance across different types of writing. Users find that it sometimes offers brilliant suggestions for business communication but misses the mark for creative or technical content. Apple has a handy user guide if you’re on the hunt for more info.

Pros:

• Seamlessly integrated across native Apple applications
• Context-aware suggestions that adapt to different writing situations
• Respects privacy with on-device processing for most operations

Cons:

• Performance varies notably between different writing styles and contexts
• Limited customization options compared to dedicated writing assistants
• Only available on newer Apple silicon Mac models

Price: Apple Intelligence Writing Tools is free but is only available on selected iPhone, iPad and Mac models.

Read more: Apple Intelligence on Mac: Everything You Need to Know About Apple’s AI Features

AI Dictation Apps

If you’re still typing out every thought manually, it’s time to pay attention to the latest AI dictation apps, which are revolutionizing how Mac users capture ideas and create content. These AI for macOS apps go beyond basic speech-to-text, offering advanced features like predicting punctuation, identifying speakers and summarizing content.

In addition to the list below, you may want to refer back to Cotypist as an excellent alternative way to get text into your Mac quickly.

10. Superwhisper

Image: superwhisper

Superwhisper brings powerful AI transcription to your Mac, transforming audio and video files into accurately formatted text with incredible speed. This lightweight app easily detects multiple speakers, identifies accents, and automatically adds punctuation. Its contextual understanding is also impressive — it correctly interprets industry jargon and technical terms that tend to trip up other transcription tools. However, while the basic version works well, the most accurate transcription engine requires a premium subscription that can be a bit expensive if you only use it occasionally.

Pros:

• Exceptionally accurate even with challenging audio quality
• Supports batch processing of multiple files simultaneously
• Exports in multiple formats, including markdown and subtitles

Cons:

• Highest accuracy tier requires premium subscription
• Limited editing tools for transcript correction
• Requires internet connection for processing — no offline mode

Price: Superwhisper has a free version with some basic features. The Pro version costs $8.49 per user per month, or $84.99 per user per year. There’s also a $249.99 lifetime plan and a discount for students.

11. MacWhisper

Image: MacWhisper

MacWhisper (also sometimes referred to as Whisper Transcription) transforms your Mac into a powerful transcription studio. It leverages OpenAI’s cutting-edge Whisper technology to convert audio into accurate text quickly and easily. This privacy-focused app processes everything locally, making it perfect for sensitive content like interviews or medical dictation. It also supports over 100 languages, and offers customizable playback and seamless video integration. The Pro version adds batch processing, YouTube transcription, and AI model integration for those needing advanced capabilities, but it’s on the pricey side if you require multiple licenses.

Pros:

• Privacy-focused with all transcription done locally on your device
• Supports 100+ languages with impressive transcription speed
• Features seamless video integration with synced subtitles and multiple language subtitle support

Cons:

• Some users find it a little “buggy” at times
• Can be slow to execute
• Most of the app’s most impressive features are only available in the Pro version

Price: MacWhisper has several plans. A free plan, and then several Pro options, including a weekly subscription for $4.99, a pro and assistant weekly subscription for $12.99, a monthly subscription for $8.99, an assistant monthly subscription for $9.99, a yearly subscription for $29.99, and a lifetime subscription for $69.99.

12. Wispr Flow

Image: Wispr Flow

Wispr Flow is a smart and sophisticated voice-powered dictation assistant that helps you write three times faster across your entire app ecosystem. Simply speak in your natural voice, and watch as Wispr Flow instantly converts your speech into flawlessly formatted text, complete with real-time automatic edits and intelligent tone matching. With support for over 100 languages, Wispr Flow removes the need for manual edits and dramatically reduces typing time. Users have expressed some privacy and data concerns, which Wispr Flow has actively been striving to address.

Pros:

• Accelerates writing speed by up to three times
• Features real-time auto-editing and tone matching
• Offers versatile functionality across multiple applications and supports over 100 languages

Cons:

• Some users have raised privacy concerns, though Wispr Flow has responded to these issues
• There can be a steep learning curve for new users who are familiarising themselves with the advanced features and voice commands
• It’s a large and CPU-intensive app

Price: Wispr Flow’s Flow Basic plan is free to use. The Flow Pro version costs $12 per user per month, billed annually, and the Flow Enterprise costs $24 per user per month. A discount is available for students.

13. Aiko

Image: Aiko

Aiko converts speech to text with remarkable accuracy using OpenAI’s Whisper model running directly on your Mac. This totally free, privacy-focused app is great for managing confidential recordings — its on-device approach means your audio never leaves your computer. It supports 100+ languages, and seamlessly integrates with Shortcuts. Although it’s quite a resource and time-intensive app, Aiko’s exceptional features (and the fact that it’s 100% free) have earned it a loyal following.

Pros:

• On-device transcription for complete privacy and data security
• Support for 100+ languages for versatile multilingual use
• Seamless Apple Shortcuts integration for custom workflows

Cons:

• The transcription process tends to be quite time consuming
• Because the app runs completely locally, it’s quite large in size
• You can’t edit text in the app

Price: Aiko offers a free 14-day trial, after which it costs $22.

AI-powered Creative Tools

AI image generators bring professional-grade design capabilities right to your fingertips. Whether you’re an experienced artist or designer looking to expand your creative horizons, or an amateur who needs substantial support, these AI for macOS image tools are here to help.

14. Amazing AI

Image: Amazing AI

Amazing AI uses Stable Diffusion, a deep-learning, text-to-image AI model, to develop images locally on your device. Simply describe the image you’re after, and Amazing AI will generate it for you instantly. This highly optimized app uses the Apple Neural Engine, which means that it doesn’t need an internet connection. Like many other apps by Sindre Sorhus, Amazing AI is totally free, but it does require an Apple silicon Mac, an M1 processor on iPad, or an iPhone 15 Pro at the very least.

Pros:

• Runs entirely on-device for privacy and no internet dependency
• Highly optimized for Apple Neural Engine
• Features intuitive controls including negative prompts for refined results

Cons:

• Performance intensive, tends to be quite slow
• Doesn’t run on Intel Macs
• Takes up a fair amount of space in terms of disk and memory

Price: Amazing AI is totally free to use.

15. Diffusion Bee

Image: Diffusion Bee

Diffusion Bee brings Stable Diffusion’s impressive image generation capabilities to Mac, wrapped up in an easy-to-use package. An open-source app, Diffusion Bee lets you create stunning AI artwork without coding knowledge or cloud subscriptions. Its streamlined interface focuses on simplicity while still offering fine-tuning controls if you’re a more experienced user. What sets it apart is that it runs entirely on your local machine, ensuring complete privacy for your creative prompts. The tradeoff, however, is performance — complex images can take a little longer to generate than they would on cloud-based alternatives.

Pros:

• Completely free and open-source with no usage limits
• Works offline with no data sent to external servers
• Simple enough for beginners while offering advanced options

Cons:

• Significantly slower generation times than cloud services
• Limited model selection compared to online platforms
• High memory and processing requirements for detailed images

Price: Diffusion Bee is free to use.

16. Draw Things

Image: Draw Things

Draw Things transforms your creative process by turning simple sketches or text prompts into stunning artwork — once again, through Stable Diffusion technology. Its intuitive interface welcomes artists of all levels, while its offline processing capabilities keep your privacy intact. Once again, it’s worth being aware that generating AI images through Draw Things can take a little longer than they would on cloud-based alternatives.

Pros:

• No subscription costs
• Supports multiple AI models and custom integrations
• Preserves privacy by processing everything on-device

Cons:

• Initial model download and setup can be time-consuming
• Requires a powerful Mac for smooth performance
• Limited editing tools compared to dedicated graphic design apps

Price: Draw Things is free to use, while Draw Things+ costs $8.99.

17. Apple Intelligence’s Image Playground

Image: Apple

Image Playground uses Apple’s characteristically intuitive approach to make it easy to generate images within the macOS ecosystem. It excels at creating images based on simple text prompts, and integrates well with Photos, Messages, and other native apps. This integration also makes sharing and saving generated images effortless. Image Playground’s main weakness lies in its creative flexibility. While the results are polished, artists and designers may find the style options and customization parameters a bit limited compared to specialized third-party options. Apple has a helpful Image Playground user guide.

Pros:

• Deeply integrated with Apple’s native apps and sharing features
• Prioritizes privacy with on-device processing when possible
• No additional cost beyond your Mac purchase

Cons:

• More limited style variety compared to dedicated AI image apps
• Requires newer Apple silicon Macs with sufficient neural engine capacity
• Generation speeds can vary depending on your Mac’s specifications

Price: Apple Intelligence Image Playground is free but is only available on selected iPhone, iPad and Mac models.

Built-in AI App

Of course, your Mac has some built-in AI apps, too. Siri is Apple’s voice assistant, which helps with tasks and answers questions. And your Mac’s Focus modes use machine learning to tailor notifications and alerts depending on your preferences. But when it comes to AI, it’s the latest Apple silicon Macs that really shine through their use of Apple Intelligence (we’ve already covered Writing Tools and Image Playground above). And of course, integrated automatic solutions like Timing also offer enormous productivity and workflow benefits.

18. Apple Intelligence

Image: Apple Intelligence

A suite of artificial intelligence tools developed by Apple, Apple Intelligence is integrated into macOS Sequoia, iPadOS 18 and iOS 18. It seamlessly integrates AI capabilities across the Apple ecosystem with writing tools, image generation, and advanced search features that work harmoniously with existing Apple apps. Apple Intelligence feels like a natural part of your workflow, and its privacy-first approach keeps your data on-device whenever possible. Its main drawback is that it’s exclusively available to newer Mac models. Intel Mac users aren’t able to access these innovative features.

Pros:

• Deep system-level integration with macOS and Apple apps
• Strong privacy protections with on-device processing when possible
• No additional subscription required beyond your Mac purchase

Cons:

• Only available on Apple silicon Macs (M1 and newer)
• Features roll out gradually rather than all at once
• Less customizable than some third-party AI solutions

Price: Apple Intelligence is free but is only available on selected iPhone, iPad and Mac models.

Automatic Time Tracking with AI-Powered Summaries

19. Timing

A native Mac app, Timing is an automatic time tracking solution that runs in the background while you work. It carefully tracks every app, document and website you open, without you having to lift a finger, providing critical insights into how you spend your time. Analyze these results and you can boost your productivity, hone your focus, and improve the accuracy of your billing processes.

Timing’s rules functionality automatically assigns tasks to your clients and projects. And it detects idle time, too, so you don’t accidentally record time you spend away from your machine. Other handy features include call tracking and a calendar integration, as well as automated AI summaries of your day.

The AI summaries augment Timing’s existing time entry suggestions in the vertical timeline with a summary of what you’ve been doing during that time. When you create a time entry, you can click the new AI Summary button to have Timing automatically summarize your app usage in the new entry’s time range. Timing will automatically generate AI summaries when you click and drag on the timeline to select a range of time.

Timing is smart, easy to use, thoughtfully designed, and, most importantly of all, it’s sure to have a meaningful impact on the way you work. Download the 30-day free trial to try it out for yourself today.

A Few Final Mac AI Apps

Haven’t found the perfect AI app for your needs yet? Here’s two more options. Both follow a similar concept to Elephas, but prioritize slightly different focus areas.

20. Plus AI

Image: Plus AI

Plus AI is an AI-powered writing assistant for macOS that integrates system-wide, allowing you to highlight text and invoke AI help via a simple keyboard shortcut. It offers features such as rewriting, grammar correction, summarization, translation and custom prompts, making it a versatile tool for improving your writing across a number of different apps. Available as a standalone purchase or through Setapp, Plus AI leverages OpenAI’s GPT models to enhance productivity without requiring users to switch between apps. Although its functionality is similar to Elephas, Plus AI’s user interface isn’t quite as friendly.

21. Inbox AI

Image: Inbox AI

A native MacOS app, Inbox AI is a productivity and automation app, specifically focussed on voice input. It’s primarily designed to manage your email and automate everyday tasks with custom AI-powered workflows. With both cloud and privacy-first on-device AI options, Inbox AI connects natively with Apple Reminders, and integrates with any app you want through API or file-based commands.

Read more: The Best Email Apps for Mac: Top 10 Mail Clients Reviewed

In Summary: The 21 Mac AI Apps to Boost Your Productivity and Creativity

If you’re not getting AI to work for you, you’re missing out on one of the greatest productivity, efficiency and workflow hacks available today. As we’ve explored in these 21 AI apps for Mac, there are countless ways to get your machine to work for you. All it takes is a little curiosity and experimentation.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at how you spend your time. If your Timing Activities page suggests that you’re spending too much time writing emails for clients, refer to our list of AI writing apps. If you spend ages developing images that could be AI-generated, turn to our creative tools. You’ll only know where the hours and minutes are going if you have reliable, real-time data on your hand.

Get started by downloading Timing’s 30-day free trial. With Timing in your tool stack, you’re well on your way to living a more productive and efficient AI-powered life.

Frequently Asked Questions: Best AI Apps for Mac

What is the Best AI App for Mac?

There are many excellent AI apps for Mac, and which one you choose to use will depend on your unique needs. You may require a chatbot app like ChatGPT or Claude to provide automated answers to a variety of questions. Or you may wish to use a writing or auto-completion app like Elephas or Cotypist to help you with your content. Amazing AI and Diffusion Bee can create images in seconds, and Timing automatically tracks your time while you work and provides handy AI summaries.

Does Mac Have an AI Tool?

Yes, Mac has native AI tools through Apple Intelligence, which includes writing assistance, image generation, system-wide search, and more. This integrated AI system functions across Apple’s native apps, though it only works on Apple silicon Macs.