Software Alternatives & Reviews

PowerToys VS Rectangle

Compare PowerToys VS Rectangle and see what are their differences

PowerToys logo PowerToys

Windows system utilities to maximize productivity. Contribute to microsoft/PowerToys development by creating an account on GitHub.

Rectangle logo Rectangle

Window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.
  • PowerToys Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27
  • Rectangle Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-20

PowerToys videos

Hands-on with PowerToys for Windows 10 – Windows Enhanced!

More videos:

  • Review - Windows 10 PowerToys (Beginners Guide)
  • Demo - Microsoft PowerToys for Windows 10 - Overview & Demo

Rectangle videos

SKYWALKER RECTANGLE TRAMPOLINE REVIEW!!!

More videos:

  • Review - Skywalker Rectangle Trampoline Review #1
  • Review - Marvin Malton 160 Rectangle Flying Hour Watch Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PowerToys and Rectangle)
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Mac Tools
0 0%
100% 100
App Launcher
100 100%
0% 0
Window Manager
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using PowerToys and Rectangle. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

PowerToys Reviews

15 Best AutoHotkey Alternatives 2022
If you are looking for an AutoHotkey alternative that can help you customize Windows operating system functions and make customizations, Microsoft’s official PowerToys tool is great.
6 Best Alfred App Alternatives for Windows to Be More Productive
PowerToys has been brought back from the dead and turned into an open-source project that you can download and use for free. It comes with a growing number of utility tools like Color Picker to help find hash codes of any color in an image, Awake to keep the screen awake without having to mess with power settings, Keyboard Manager to remap keys, Run that mimics macOS’s...
Source: techwiser.com

Rectangle Reviews

Best 6 Mac Window Managers
Rectangle shows that you don’t need to dip into your bank account to get window resizer tools. This free Mac window manager lets you manage multiple windows using keyboard shortcuts, menu options, or by dragging and dropping. Just like Magnet, you can split your screen up into quarters, thirds, or halves.
Source: mackeeper.com
Top 6 Window Manager Apps for Mac
Most window manager apps for Mac support multiple monitors. They can help you move windows between screens and create custom layouts for each monitor. Many window manager apps – such as BetterSnapTool, Magnet, and Rectangle – offer this functionality.
The 6 Best Mac Window Management Tools
However, it might take some time for you to get used to the shortcuts in the Rectangle app since there are many. Furthermore, you can also add some of your apps to exceptions if you want to keep them away from Rectangle's shortcuts.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Rectangle seems to be a lot more popular than PowerToys. While we know about 447 links to Rectangle, we've tracked only 6 mentions of PowerToys. 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.

PowerToys mentions (6)

  • Keypirinha: A fast launcher for keyboard ninjas on Windows
    Powertoys Run (https://github.com/microsoft/powertoys) can do this. There are not that many plugins as Alfred but Window Switcher is built-in. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • The surprisingly subtle ways Microsoft Word has changed how we use language
    But most of the people that make this error are non-tachsavy Windows users. And while there is Microsoft's PowerToys[0] with the Quick Accent tool that does the same thing, I doubt many people know about it. > on iOS I think this works for any mobile keyboard (for example, AOSP's default keyboard supports that). In my language at least, the use of a capital letter with an accent is pretty rare, especially when... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Microsoft Powertoys - How to auto enable powertoys run (spotlight search) everytime you start your pc
    We'd love to deep dive into the issue but best spot for this would be the powertoys GitHub. https://github.com/microsoft/powertoys. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Tried to reinstall it, but the MS Store says it's installed but it's not anywhere ona computer
    Download it from the official github Https://github.com/microsoft/powertoys. Source: about 1 year ago
  • This shows how to preview SVG files directly in your Windows files explorer (link in the comment)
    Not sure if it's the same codebase, but SVG preview is included in Microsoft's PowerToys (open source), along with a ton of other quality-of-life improvements for Windows. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

Rectangle mentions (447)

  • Updating My Mac Window Shortcuts Strategy for Optimal Workflow
    Rectangle’s installation is incredibly straightforward. Its immediate out-of-the-box functionality was a pleasant surprise. For anyone seeking to reduce the friction of window management on their Mac, Rectangle is a solution I wholeheartedly recommend. - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
  • How I stay (more) focused with ADHD
    Tip: I use Rectangle app to set up keyboard shortcuts to resize windows (I only have three shortcuts there: left/right half of the screen and full screen). - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best Hacks for a Ultrawide Monitor?
    If you are using MacOS, I recommend these 2 apps 1. "Rectangle" for window management https://rectangleapp.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Working in the Vision Pro [video]
    Use tiling window manager + one large or ultrawidescreen monitor. If you have Mac, rectangle is good free software (https://rectangleapp.com/). - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers
    But Raycast also has some functionality in that direction. [1] - https://rectangleapp.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PowerToys and Rectangle, you can also consider the following products

DisplayFusion - DisplayFusion will make your multi-monitor life much easier.

Magnet Window Manager - Magnet Developers

Listary - Listary is a revolutionary search utility for Windows

yabai - A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning

AquaSnap - Too many windows on your screen? Stop wasting your productivity.

Moom - Move your mouse over the green zoom button in any window, and Moom's mouse control overlay will appear (as seen in the above animation).