CheatSheet is a free Mac utility that reveals every keyboard shortcut available in the currently active application by holding down the ⌘ (Command) key for about two seconds — no setup, no configuration, no learning curve required.
What is CheatSheet?
CheatSheet is a zero-friction shortcut-discovery overlay for macOS. Hold ⌘ long enough and a translucent HUD materialises over your current window, listing every menu-bound keyboard shortcut the frontmost app exposes. Release the key and it vanishes. That's the entire product — and it's completely free.
I first installed it years ago when I switched from a Windows background and kept reaching for shortcuts that didn't exist in my muscle memory. Within a week I'd absorbed the Keynote ribbon I'd been mouse-clicking for months. It now lives permanently in my Login Items.
What does CheatSheet do best?
CheatSheet's superpower is contextual shortcut lookup with literally zero cognitive overhead. Unlike a PDF cheat sheet or a browser tab, CheatSheet reads the current app's actual menu structure in real time, so what you see is always accurate for the version you're running — not a generic list that may be two major releases out of date.
- Hold-to-show, release-to-dismiss: the interaction is so natural it disappears into your workflow. You never feel like you left the app.
- Searchable overlay: when a shortcut is buried in a long list, the built-in search field narrows results instantly — handy in Logic Pro or Final Cut where shortcut counts run into the hundreds.
- Print & export: you can print the current list or copy it to the clipboard — useful when onboarding a colleague or building a custom reference card.
- Works across virtually every app: because it hooks into the macOS menu system, it works with any app that uses standard menus — system apps, Adobe CC, JetBrains IDEs, the lot.
Is CheatSheet free?
Yes — CheatSheet is completely free to download and use with no feature restrictions, no trial period, and no in-app purchases. It is distributed directly from Media Atelier's site and via Homebrew Cask (brew install --cask cheatsheet). The developer has kept it free for over a decade, which speaks well of their commitment to the Mac community.
Who should use CheatSheet?
CheatSheet earns a permanent spot on the machines of anyone who regularly learns new software or who works across a wide roster of applications. Designers alternating between Figma, Pixelmator Pro, and Affinity Publisher; developers context-switching between Xcode, VS Code, and Terminal; writers who live in Ulysses one day and Final Draft the next — all will recoup the 10-second install time on the first day.
It is equally valuable for power users who think they know an app cold. I have been using BBEdit for years and CheatSheet still surfaces shortcuts I have never once used. There is almost always a faster path than the one I've habituated to.
That said, if you exclusively live in one application and already have its shortcut map memorised, CheatSheet will sit idle. It is a discovery tool, not a productivity system.
What are the best CheatSheet alternatives?
CheatSheet occupies a fairly specific niche, but there are adjacent tools worth knowing. Raycast and Alfred both offer shortcut-awareness features inside their broader launcher ecosystems, but neither matches CheatSheet's dedicated, always-on overlay experience — and both require subscriptions or purchases for their full feature sets. KeyCombiner goes deeper with spaced-repetition training for shortcuts, making it the better pick if you want to actively drill muscle memory rather than passively look up. Karabiner-Elements is a different beast altogether — a keyboard remapper, not a reference tool.
For pure shortcut discovery with minimal overhead, nothing on macOS matches CheatSheet's simplicity. It does one thing and does it elegantly.
How does CheatSheet compare to Raycast's shortcut features?
Raycast can surface shortcuts through extensions and its command palette, but it requires deliberate invocation — you open Raycast, search, act. CheatSheet requires nothing beyond holding one key. If your goal is to glance at available shortcuts without breaking your current focus, CheatSheet wins on friction alone. Raycast is a platform; CheatSheet is a scalpel. The two coexist happily on my machine.
