Our take
Pick Bartender if mac users who will pay $24.99 once for Bartender 7 while they Activate a first Work preset — not Pro $19.99/yr first unless they want future majors + Top Shelf, and not Raycast’s Free launcher unless they only need a command palette. Pick Karabiner-Elements if mac users who will stay on Free / Unlicense while they remap a first right_command → button3 — then keep it at $0, not Raycast Pro $10 first
Best for
Bartender A menu-bar layout you start at a public $
Karabiner-Elements A remap you start at a public $
Free plan
Bartender No free plan
Karabiner-Elements No free plan
Lowest paid
Bartender Bartender Pro $19.99
Karabiner-Elements Not published by the vendor
Next step up
Bartender Bartender 7 $24.99
Karabiner-Elements
Watch out
Bartender One-time v7 excludes future majors
Karabiner-Elements macOS only
Last checked
Bartender 2026-10-23 · macbartender.com/Bartender7/Blog/meet-bartender-7
Karabiner-Elements 2026-10-23 · karabiner-elements.pqrs.org
mac users who will pay $24.99 once for Bartender 7 while they Activate a first Work preset — not Pro $19.99/yr first unless they want future majors + Top Shelf, and not Raycast’s Free launcher unless they only need a command palette.
Read the Bartender pagemac users who will stay on Free / Unlicense while they remap a first right_command → button3 — then keep it at $0, not Raycast Pro $10 first unless they want a launcher, and not if they refuse Input Monitoring / DriverKit.
Read the Karabiner-Elements page
