Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Plotter VS GrandPerspective

Compare Plotter VS GrandPerspective and see what are their differences

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.

Plotter logo Plotter

Create, Share, and Discover maps of all kinds.

GrandPerspective logo GrandPerspective

GrandPerspective is a small utility application for Mac that graphically shows the disk usage...
  • Plotter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-14
  • GrandPerspective Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-28

Plotter features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Plotter offers a clean and intuitive user interface, making it easier for users to focus on writing and plotting without getting lost in complex menus or features.
  • Story Planning Tools
    Plotter provides robust story planning features, such as timeline, outlining, and character development tools, which help writers organize and structure their stories effectively.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Plotter is available on multiple platforms such as Windows, macOS, and mobile devices, allowing users to access their projects across different devices with ease.
  • Collaboration Features
    The app supports collaborative features, enabling writers to share projects and work together in real-time, which is beneficial for team projects or writing partners.

Possible disadvantages of Plotter

  • Limited Customization Options
    While Plotter offers excellent structure and planning tools, it may lack customization options for users who have specific needs or prefer more flexibility in their workflows.
  • Subscription Cost
    Plotter operates on a subscription model, which may be a drawback for some users who prefer a one-time purchase or are looking for free alternatives.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might experience a learning curve as they get accustomed to Plotterโ€™s features and functionalities, especially if they are used to more traditional writing tools.
  • Offline Availability
    Some users might find the offline capabilities limited, as the app may require internet access for certain features or for syncing across devices.

GrandPerspective features and specs

  • Visualization
    GrandPerspective provides a visual representation of disk usage, allowing users to easily identify large files and folders at a glance through a treemap display.
  • Open Source
    The software is open source, meaning it is free to use and its source code is accessible for modification and improvement by the community.
  • User-Friendly
    The interface is simple and intuitive, making it easy for users of all levels of technical expertise to navigate and understand their disk usage.
  • Customizable
    Users can customize the treemap view, including color schemes and block sizes, to better suit their preferences and needs.

Possible disadvantages of GrandPerspective

  • Mac-Only
    GrandPerspective is available only for macOS, limiting its usage to Apple users and excluding those on Windows or Linux platforms.
  • Basic Features
    While it provides excellent visualization, GrandPerspective lacks advanced features that are available in some paid disk usage analyzers.
  • Performance Issues
    The application can struggle with performance when scanning particularly large disks or volumes, leading to longer loading times and potential crashes.
  • Occasional Bugs
    As with many open-source projects, users may encounter occasional bugs or glitches that can impact the user experience.

Analysis of Plotter

Overall verdict

  • Plotter is a well-designed, flexible visual planning and note-taking app that combines infinite canvas boards with structured organization, making it a solid choice for those who think spatially and want to connect ideas freely.

Why this product is good

  • Infinite canvas boards let you arrange notes, images, and ideas spatially rather than in rigid linear formats
  • Clean, intuitive interface that balances free-form creativity with organizational structure
  • Great for visual thinkers who want to map out projects, brainstorm, and connect concepts
  • Supports a variety of content types including text, images, links, and files on a single board
  • Useful for both personal knowledge management and collaborative or project-based planning

Recommended for

  • Visual thinkers who prefer spatial layouts over linear notes
  • Creatives, designers, and brainstormers mapping out ideas
  • Students and researchers organizing complex information
  • Project planners who want a flexible, canvas-based workspace
  • Anyone building a personal knowledge management system

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Plotter and GrandPerspective)
Tech
100 100%
0% 0
Disk Analyzer
0 0%
100% 100
Maps
100 100%
0% 0
Hard Disk Usage
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Plotter and GrandPerspective

Plotter Reviews

We have no reviews of Plotter yet.
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GrandPerspective Reviews

DaisyDisk Alternatives: Free Disk Analyzers We've Actually Tested
If you've been on Mac for 10+ years, you probably know GrandPerspective. It was the original treemap visualizer, and it's completely free under GPL.
Source: dissectmac.com
What is Disk Inventory X and Its Top Alternatives
The main drawback of this tool is that it presents a lot of information which can be quite overwhelming to the user. It will not display an overview of your disks which contradicts its name. In summary, GrandPerspective can be an acceptable option for average users who are searching for a straightforward but simple tool. It can free up space on your drive quite quickly.
Source: www.imymac.com
What Is WinDirStat and Its Top Mac Alternatives
GrandPerspectiveโ€™s menu/toolbar contains all of the options the app offers. You can configure its settings easily even if you are a newbie Mac user. You just need to choose a folder you want to analyze. The app will immediately give you reports needed.
Source: www.imymac.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GrandPerspective seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 122 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Plotter mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Plotter yet. Tracking of Plotter recommendations started around Mar 2022.

GrandPerspective mentions (122)

  • Don't let your Mac's storage fill up
    Don't pay $10 for what you can get for free: https://github.com/RobinNaumann/disko, https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/, https://www.derlien.com/, etcโ€ฆ Otherwise, this is good advice. My cousin, who isn't particularly computer savvy thought that buying an Apple computer meant he wouldn't need computer expertise, but it stopped booting after running out of disk space during an update, and he didn't have the... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Anthropic Cowork feature creates 10GB VM bundle on macOS without warning
    I simply run GrandPerspective (GUI app, https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/), or dust (terminal app, https://github.com/bootandy/dust), to give me an idea of what is going on with disk usage. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Anthropic Cowork feature creates 10GB VM bundle on macOS without warning
    Iโ€™d recommend GrandPerspective:[1] itโ€™s really good at displaying this sort of thing, has been around for over two decades, and the developer has managed to keep it to <5MB which is perfect when youโ€™re running very low on space. [1] https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Scan Your Linux Disk and Visualize It on Mac with GrandPerspective
    GrandPerspective is a useful disk space visualization tool for Mac. Have you ever wanted to scan files on Linux and visualize their disk usage with GrandPerspective? I created a Rust-based command-line tool called gpscan that scans directories on Linux and generates GrandPerspective-compatible files. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • WinDirStat โ€“ Windows Directory Statistics
    For my MacOS friends, it might be a little outdated but I prefer GrandPerspective: https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Plotter and GrandPerspective, you can also consider the following products

OpenStreetMap - OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.

DaisyDisk - DaisyDisk is a disk analyzer tool for OS X that visualizes hard disk usage and allows to free up hard disk space.

Atlas.co - Your all-in-one map builder

WinDirStat - WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool, inspired by KDirStat.

PlotterChat - All your best thinking, lost in a flat list of chats. Plotter Chat turns your AI chats into a tree nested, organized, yours to share.

WizTree - WizTree quickly finds the files and folders using the most space on your hard drive. It scans the MFT (Master File Table) instead of crawling the entire disk which makes it very fast.