yabai VS lsof

Compare yabai VS lsof and see what are their differences

Rating: 0 reviews

Rating: 0 reviews

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Accounting and invoicing software for small businesses. Manage invoices, bills, expenses, payroll and reports, with plain-language tools and proper double-entry bookkeeping underneath. 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, yabai seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 138 times since March 2021.

social mentions: 138 vs 0
Window Manager popularity: 100% vs 0%
alternatives listed: 220 vs 22

Base details

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

	yabai	l lsof
Website	github.com	people.freebsd.org
Listed in	Window Manager OSX Tools Mac Tools OSX Window Manager +1	Monitoring Tools Command Line Tools Performance Monitoring Accounting +1

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

yabai 5 features

lsof 0 features

Efficient Window Management
Yabai provides advanced tiling window management for macOS, greatly increasing productivity by allowing users to manage windows through keyboard shortcuts and layouts, minimizing the need for mouse interactions.
Highly Customizable
The software offers extensive configuration options, enabling users to personalize their window management experience according to their specific workflow and preferences.
Open Source
Being open source, Yabai is free to use and modify, allowing the community to contribute to its development and enhancement. This fosters a collaborative environment for improving the software.
Supports Scripting
Yabai supports scripting through AppleScript or shell commands, enabling users to automate complex workflows and integrate Yabai with other tools and applications seamlessly.
Lightweight
Yabai is designed to be a lightweight window manager, which means it consumes minimal system resources, ensuring that your Mac continues to run smoothly even with numerous active windows.

Possible disadvantages

Steep Learning Curve
For beginners, the configuration and use of Yabai can be daunting, requiring a significant amount of time and effort to fully understand and utilize its capabilities effectively.
Requires SIP Disablement
To utilize some of Yabai's more advanced features, users need to partially disable System Integrity Protection (SIP), which can reduce the overall security of the macOS system.
Potential Compatibility Issues
As macOS updates and changes, compatibility issues may arise, potentially breaking functionality. Users may need to wait for updates from the developer community to resolve these issues.
Limited Official Support
As an open-source project, Yabai does not come with official support channels. Users must rely on community forums and documentation, which may not always provide immediate or comprehensive assistance.
Complex Configurations
Setting up Yabai to fit specific needs can be complex and time-consuming, especially for users who are not familiar with scripting or advanced configuration files.

No features have been listed yet.

Analysis

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

yabai

lsof

Overall verdict

Yabai is highly regarded among users who seek advanced customization and control over their macOS window management. However, it may have a steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with tiling window managers or command-line tools.

Why this product is good

Yabai is a popular tiling window manager for macOS, designed to streamline and enhance window management through robust keyboard shortcuts and automation features. It is particularly appreciated for its flexibility and efficiency in organizing a large number of open applications, contributing to a more productive workflow.

Recommended for

Developers who need efficient multitasking tools.
Users comfortable with the command line who enjoy customizing their environment.
Power users looking to optimize their macOS user experience.

Overall verdict

lsof (List Open Files) is a mature, battle-tested Unix/Linux utility that reliably reveals which files, sockets, and resources are opened by processes, making it an indispensable diagnostic tool for system administrators and developers.

Why this product is good

Provides comprehensive visibility into open files, network sockets, pipes, and devices tied to running processes
Extremely useful for troubleshooting 'device busy' errors, port conflicts, and locating processes holding onto deleted files
Highly portable across many Unix-like systems including FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, and Solaris
Long history of stable, well-maintained releases with extensive documentation and community support
Powerful filtering options let you query by user, process, port, file, or network connection

Recommended for

System administrators diagnosing resource and file-locking issues
Developers debugging network connections and socket usage
Security professionals investigating suspicious process activity and open network ports
Anyone needing to identify which process is using a specific file, directory, or port before unmounting or killing

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

yabai 2 videos + Add

lsof 2 videos + Add

Yabai Demonstration

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

yabai

lsof

100% 100%

0% 0%

100% 100%

0% 0%

100% 100%

User comments

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

Social recommendations and mentions

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

yabai 138 mentions

lsof 0 mentions

Supercharge your macOS workspace management with Aerospace - A guide for busy people
Aerospace does not rely on the native spaces feature. Instead, it has the concept of virtual workspaces, all of which live in a single native macOS space. Switching between these virtual workspaces essentially means hiding all other... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
Jeff Geerling: The Framework 12 is dead. Apple killed it [video]
Interesting. I used to daily drive for almost a year until a major macOS update broke it and I just didn't have it in me to diagnose the issue. I'll bookmark this for future adventures, thanks! - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
Show HN: Liquid Radius – Unifies macOS Tahoe's inconsistent window corners
> Liquid Radius doesn't touch /System or modify the SSV I'm not doubting you, but by requiring users to disable SIP you are effectively opening their entire system to SSV attacks. 99% of "regular" users won't understand that tradeoff.... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago

Tracking lsof since Mar 2021.

Alternatives to yabai and lsof

When comparing yabai and lsof, you can also consider the following products.

Rectangle
Window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.

Compare Rectangle to yabai or lsof:

Rectangle vs yabai Rectangle vs lsof
htop
htop - an interactive process viewer for Unix. This is htop, an interactive process viewer for Unix systems. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses. Latest release: htop 2.

Compare htop to yabai or lsof:

htop vs yabai htop vs lsof
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).

Compare Moom to yabai or lsof:

Moom vs yabai Moom vs lsof
Sysdig
Sysdig is an open source, system-level exploration that capture system state and activity from a running Linux instance, then save, filter and analyze.

Compare Sysdig to yabai or lsof:

Sysdig vs yabai Sysdig vs lsof
BTT

BTT Remote
A remote control for you Mac, using your iPhone or iPad

Compare BTT Remote to yabai or lsof:

BTT Remote vs yabai BTT Remote vs lsof
v

vtop
vtop is a graphical command-line tool that uses unicode braille to chart CPU and memory usage.

Compare vtop to yabai or lsof:

vtop vs yabai vtop vs lsof