Crest vs The Boring Notch: free vs free, honestly

Full disclosure: this page is published by the makers of Crest. The Boring Notch is a genuinely good project and we've kept its side fair, including the things it does better.

Side by side

Where The Boring Notch is better

• Everything is free. Every feature, forever, no upsell. That's a real advantage and we won't pretend otherwise.
• Open source. GPL-3.0, auditable code, an active community, and a Homebrew install. If open source matters to you on principle, this is the one.
• The music visualizer. Its live audio visualizer is a signature touch that genuinely delights people.
• A standalone camera mirror. A webcam preview you can pop open anytime. Crest checks your camera and mic from the meeting banner before a call, but doesn't do an always-on mirror.

Where Crest is better

• It installs like a real Mac app. Crest is signed and notarized by Apple. The Boring Notch's own README explains that macOS will flag it as from an unidentified developer, and you have to bypass Gatekeeper (via Terminal or System Settings) to run it. That's fine for tinkerers, offputting for everyone else.
• The core is free here too. Now Playing with lyrics and the queue, the pinned home glance with your pinned modules live, the file Shelf with clipboard history and window snapping cost nothing, forever. For most people that's the same daily ground The Boring Notch covers, without the security dance. And Crest 4.0 arranges the notch into three modes, Home, Work and Code, with an Auto switch that follows what you're doing.
• A much deeper paid tier if you want it. $19.99 once adds the rest, and every module earns its place: the Claude co-pilot (ask it, or just talk; it runs on your own Claude subscription with no API key, it can turn your words into reminders, todos, notes and calendar events that you approve with one tap, and it translates, converts units and does quick math when you ask), Calendar with one-tap meeting join, Todo, Notes, Pomodoro, System stats, Weather, Notifications, Bluetooth devices, an Audio Switcher, Battery Health, Quick Toggles, and the developer pair below.
• Developer modules nobody else has. GitHub pull requests and CI in the notch, plus live Claude Code and Codex session monitoring that pings the notch when an AI agent needs your permission, and a click that jumps you back to the exact terminal.
• Volume and brightness keys that still work on macOS 26. The trick notch apps use to draw their own volume overlay (suppressing the system one) stopped working on macOS 26 Tahoe, where Control Center draws the HUD, so those overlays now do nothing there. Crest intercepts the media keys directly and flashes the level on the notch, so volume, mute and brightness keep working with a clean readout.
• Someone answers your email. Crest is one developer's full-time product with direct support. A volunteer project can be slower on fixes, and bug reports go into a public queue.

What we won't claim: that The Boring Notch is bad software. It's a lively project that keeps improving, and if you never leave its feature set you may never need Crest Pro. The honest pitch is simpler: Crest free matches the daily basics with a cleaner install, and Pro exists when you outgrow them.

The actual decision

Since both are free to run, this costs you nothing to settle: install one, live with it for a few days, then try the other (one at a time, they both own the notch). If you find yourself wanting tasks, meeting join buttons, a co-pilot you can talk to, or your pull requests up there, that's when the $19.99 question even appears. Download Crest free to start the test.

FAQ

More comparisons: Best Mac notch apps in 2026 · vs NotchNook · vs TopNotch · vs Perch · vs Notchmeister · vs Alcove · vs MediaMate · Crest overview