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HazeOver VS Essentials

Compare HazeOver VS Essentials and see what are their differences

HazeOver

Focus on one app by dimming all the background windows

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Paid Free trial $4.99 / One-off
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Alternatives Is it good?
Essentials

Essential tools and mods for Android nerds. Contribute to sameerasw/essentials development by creating an account on GitHub.

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Rating
0 reviews
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Alternatives Is it good?
Tempreon
A personal memory layer for your AI tools, connected over MCP. sponsored
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, HazeOver seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 22 times since March 2021.

social mentions
22 vs 0
Productivity popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
230 vs 15

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

HazeOver
Essentials
Website hazeover.com github.com
Pricing
Paid Free trial $4.99 / One-off Official pricing
—
Platforms
Mac MacOS
—
Company Startup from the United States —
Listed in
Window Manager Productivity Crypto Mac Tools +1
Utilities Windows Tools System Utility OS & Utilities +1

About HazeOver and Essentials

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

HazeOver
Essentials

Too many windows to manage? Large display? Or getting lost in multiple monitors? HazeOver is for you! Turn distractions down and focus on your current task. HazeOver automatically highlights the front window by dimming background windows. • Help yourself focus on one thing at a time....

Read more about HazeOver

No description of Essentials yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

HazeOver 5 features
Essentials 5 features
  • Focus Enhancement
    HazeOver dims background windows, allowing you to concentrate better on the task at hand without being distracted by other open applications.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The application is easy to use, with straightforward controls for adjusting the dimming intensity and other settings.
  • Customization Options
    Users can customize the dimming effect to suit their preferences, including choosing the dimness level and applying different settings for different times of day.
  • System Resource Efficiency
    HazeOver runs efficiently in the background without using significant system resources, ensuring it doesn’t slow down your computer.
  • Compatibility
    The app works well with macOS features, supporting multiple monitors and virtual desktops.
  • Clean and Minimal Design
    Essentials provides a clean, minimal browser startpage/new tab experience that focuses on simplicity and aesthetics, reducing visual clutter compared to default browser homepages.
  • Customizable
    The project allows users to customize various aspects of their startpage, including links, bookmarks, and visual elements, making it adaptable to individual workflows and preferences.
  • Open Source
    Being hosted on GitHub and open source, users can freely inspect, modify, and contribute to the codebase, ensuring transparency and community-driven improvements.
  • Lightweight
    The project is built with simple web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), making it fast to load and easy to deploy without heavy dependencies or frameworks.
  • Self-Hosted Friendly
    Users can easily host and run the startpage locally or on their own servers, maintaining full control over their data and not relying on third-party services.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Documentation
    The project has relatively limited documentation, which may make it harder for new users or contributors to understand setup, configuration options, and how to extend the project.
  • Niche Use Case
    As a browser startpage, it serves a very specific niche purpose and may not appeal to users who are satisfied with default browser new tab pages or more feature-rich alternatives like Notion or other dashboard tools.
  • Small Community
    The project has a relatively small user and contributor base, which can mean slower development, fewer feature additions, and limited community support for troubleshooting issues.
  • Manual Configuration
    Customization often requires directly editing code or configuration files rather than offering a user-friendly settings interface, which can be a barrier for less technical users.
  • Limited Feature Set
    Compared to more established startpage projects (like Homer, Heimdall, or Flame), Essentials may lack advanced features such as service health monitoring, integrations, or weather widgets that power users might expect.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

HazeOver
Essentials

Overall verdict

  • Overall, HazeOver receives positive reviews for its simplicity, user-friendly interface, and effectiveness in enhancing focus and productivity. Users appreciate the ability to adjust dimming intensity and customize settings to suit their preferences.

Why this product is good

  • HazeOver is designed to reduce visual clutter on your desktop by dimming background windows, allowing you to focus on the task at hand. It is particularly useful for improving productivity and reducing distractions in a busy digital environment.

Recommended for

  • Individuals who frequently multitask on their computer.
  • Users seeking to minimize distractions for improved concentration.
  • People who work with multiple windows or multiple displays.
  • Those who prefer a minimalist digital workspace.

Overall verdict

  • Essentials is a well-regarded, popular Minecraft server plugin (and its modern fork EssentialsX) that provides a comprehensive suite of core commands and features for server administration, making it a solid foundation for most Bukkit/Spigot/Paper servers.

Why this product is good

  • Offers hundreds of essential commands and features out of the box, covering teleportation, homes, warps, kits, and economy
  • Actively maintained through the EssentialsX fork with regular updates and compatibility for modern Minecraft versions
  • Open source and free, with a large community providing support, documentation, and tutorials
  • Highly configurable with granular permissions integration for fine-tuned server control
  • Widely adopted, so it integrates well with many other popular plugins

Recommended for

  • Minecraft server administrators setting up a new survival or multiplayer server
  • Server owners who need a reliable all-in-one plugin for basic management commands
  • Communities wanting economy, homes, and warp systems without installing many separate plugins
  • Beginners looking for well-documented, beginner-friendly server tooling
  • Developers building on Bukkit, Spigot, or Paper who want a stable core plugin foundation

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

HazeOver 4 videos + Add
Essentials 0 videos + Add

HazeOver: Distraction Dimmer™ for macOS Tahoe

More videos

  • - Review: HazeOver: dim background apps and get rid of distractions
  • - SCOM0922 - Tip - HazeOver - Preview
  • - HazeOver Review

No Essentials videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
HazeOver
Essentials
100% 100%
Productivity
0% 0%
0% 0%
Utilities
100% 100%
100% 100%
Mac
0% 0%
0% 0%
System Utility
100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using HazeOver and Essentials. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

HazeOver no reviews yet
Essentials no reviews yet
  • Best 6 Mac Window Managers
    mackeeper.com · Sep 2023

    Until Apple brings better window management to Macs, these third-party tools are the best way to improve organization and productivity. Most of them let you snap windows into position by dragging them to the edge of...

  • What productivity tools are most useful
    clariti.app · Feb 2021

    If you are multi-tasker and have the habit of toggling between multiple windows to get thingsdone. Thank heavens, HazeOver removes all the distractions by automatically highlighting thewindow that you are currently...

We have no reviews of Essentials yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

HazeOver 22 mentions
Essentials 0 mentions
  • Alan.app – Add a Border to macOS Active Window
    In a similar vein, but different concept - https://hazeover.com/ - dimming inactive windows. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Alan.app – Add a Border to macOS Active Window
    Instead of adding a border to the active window, I use an app that fades out the background windows: https://hazeover.com. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Alan.app – Add a Border to macOS Active Window
    I run a tool that I like much better both in terms of not being distracting on-screen and reducing the light blasting my eyes: https://hazeover.com I'm not affiliated, but I love it and recommended it to friends. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago

View more

Tracking Essentials since Apr 2026.

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