Best Mac Trackpad Gesture Apps (2026)

If you're searching for the "best" Mac trackpad gesture app, the honest answer is that it depends on what you're trying to do — map a few gestures to shortcuts, build elaborate automations, manage windows, or just add gestures for free. So instead of crowning one winner, this guide lines up the real options, tells you what each costs and what it's for, and points you to the right one for your need. Full disclosure: I make one of them (GestureCraft), and I'll tell you plainly when another app is the better fit.

At a glance

Prices are one-time unless noted. BetterTouchTool's Standard license includes two years of updates (Lifetime costs more); the rest are single one-time purchases, and Jitouch is free.

BetterTouchTool — the most powerful, if you'll learn it

Nothing else covers as much ground. BetterTouchTool maps trackpad gestures, mouse buttons, keys, the Touch Bar, and Stream Deck, snaps windows, and runs elaborate scripted automations, with a big community sharing presets. The trade-offs are a real learning curve and a one-time price of about $12 for two years of updates (you keep that version afterward) or about $24 for lifetime updates, on up to two Macs. It runs on macOS 12 and later and has a generous 45-day trial. If you want maximum control and don't mind the depth, this is the one. See the GestureCraft vs BetterTouchTool head-to-head.

Multitouch — the deepest gestures, well-maintained

Multitouch, from Ryan Hanson (the developer of Rectangle), is more than a trackpad mapper: it maps trackpad and Magic Mouse gestures by finger count, also remaps keys and mouse buttons, bundles Rectangle's window management, and runs scripts. It's $15.99 one-time for three devices, actively maintained, with a 30-day trial, and runs on macOS 10.15 and later. If you want the deepest gesture control short of BetterTouchTool, from someone who's clearly still shipping updates, Multitouch is the pick. See the GestureCraft vs Multitouch head-to-head.

Swish — window management by trackpad

Swish is a polished, single-purpose gem: swipe and pinch on a window's title bar to snap, resize, and move it between Spaces and displays. It's a $16 one-time purchase (also on Setapp), runs on macOS 10.13 and later, and advertises macOS 26 readiness. It's not a general gesture-to-action mapper — it does window management, and does it beautifully. If that's all you want, Swish is cleaner than a general tool. See the GestureCraft vs Swish head-to-head.

Jitouch — a free classic, now frozen

Jitouch is a beloved free, open-source app with a feature almost nothing else has: character gestures, where you draw a letter on the trackpad — N for new, S for save — to run a command. It covers the built-in trackpad, an external Magic Trackpad, and the Magic Mouse. The honest catch: its code has been frozen since early 2023, the official build is Intel-only (Apple Silicon via Rosetta), and it's flagged end-of-life with no confirmed macOS 26 support. It still works and it's free — a real option if that's what you want — but nobody's updating it. See the GestureCraft vs Jitouch head-to-head.

Curflow — draw-anywhere gestures, on any mouse or trackpad

Curflow is a newer indie app (by Luis Mesa) built around one idea: draw a gesture and it runs an action. You draw a shape or path on the trackpad — or on any mouse, including the Magic Mouse and third-party mice — and Curflow maps it to navigation, tab control, clipboard actions, app switching, or a keyboard shortcut, per app if you want. That draw-a-path style and its full any-mouse support are things GestureCraft doesn't do. Early-bird pricing is a one-time $9.99 for one Mac (regularly $15.99), or $19.99 for a three-Mac Pro license with lifetime updates (regularly $29.99), with a 14-day trial. It's a universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel and runs on macOS 14 and later, so it also covers Macs older than GestureCraft's macOS 26 requirement. If the draw-your-own-gesture idea appeals and you want it maintained and current, Curflow is the one to look at. See the GestureCraft vs Curflow head-to-head.

GestureCraft — gestures, shortcuts, and mouse buttons, simply

This is the one I make, so here's the honest positioning. GestureCraft sits between BetterTouchTool's everything-platform and the single-purpose tools. A rule reads like a sentence: when I do a trackpad gesture, press a key, or click a mouse button, run a Shortcut, launch an app, snap a window, type a keystroke sequence, or run a script — in every app or just one. It recognizes 2-finger taps and swipes on the Magic Mouse (taps naturally; swipes are opt-in and require you to turn off macOS's native 2-finger swipe in System Settings > Mouse), as well as trackpad gestures. It's native and notarized for macOS 26, event-driven so it sits at near-zero idle CPU, keeps no account, and works on your Mac. It's a one-time $7.99 with free updates on up to three Macs. Straight talk: it doesn't have BetterTouchTool's depth, Multitouch's gesture range, Jitouch's character gestures, Curflow's draw-a-path gestures, or Swish's window polish — and on the Magic Mouse it handles 2-finger taps and swipes but not the pinch and rotate gestures that Multitouch and Curflow do. It's for the person who wants gestures and shortcuts and mouse buttons in one clean app.

How to choose

• You want maximum power and will invest the time → BetterTouchTool.
• You want the deepest gestures from an actively updated app → Multitouch.
• You only want to manage windows by trackpad → Swish.
• You want free, and love character gestures (and don't mind an unmaintained app) → Jitouch.
• You want to draw your own free-form gestures, or add gestures to any mouse including the Magic Mouse → Curflow.
• You want a simple, native, low-CPU app that unifies gestures, shortcuts, and mouse buttons → GestureCraft.

A note on what isn't a trackpad gesture app

A few tools show up in these searches but aren't really trackpad gesture apps, so you don't waste time on them: Karabiner-Elements is a keyboard remapper (free, excellent, but not gestures); Rectangle and Magnet are window managers driven by keyboard shortcuts or edge-dragging, not trackpad gestures; and Mac Mouse Fix adds gestures to a regular mouse, not the trackpad. All are good at their jobs — they're just answering a different question.

Coming from BetterTouchTool specifically? See the full roundup of BetterTouchTool alternatives, which also covers the free single-purpose tools above. Want a walkthrough? Here's how to run an Apple Shortcut from a trackpad gesture. More how-to guides: launch an app from a gesture, map your mouse side buttons, use an external Magic Trackpad, and custom multi-finger gestures on macOS 26.