Cinch is a Mac utility from Irradiated Software that lets you snap windows to the left half, right half, or full screen by dragging them to the corresponding screen edge — no keyboard shortcuts, no menu clicks, just your mouse.
What is Cinch?
Cinch is a lightweight window-snapping tool for macOS that mirrors the drag-to-edge behaviour Windows users have enjoyed for years, bringing it natively to your Mac. Drag a window to the left edge and it fills the left half of your display. Drag it to the right and it takes the right half. Drag it to the top and it goes full screen. It's that simple — and sometimes simple is exactly what you need.
The app lives quietly in the menu bar and does precisely one thing: it watches where you drag windows and snaps them when you hit a screen edge. There is no configuration wizard to wade through, no YAML file to edit, no list of ninety shortcut combinations to memorise. You install it, you forget it's there, and your windows suddenly behave.
What does Cinch do best?
Cinch excels at frictionless two-column workflows — the kind where you want a browser on the left and a document on the right, and you want that arrangement to take under two seconds. Because the interaction is purely gestural, it fits naturally into a mouse-heavy workflow without asking you to stop and remember a key chord.
I've found it particularly useful on a single external display where I don't need sophisticated grid layouts, just a quick left-right split. The snap zones activate with a satisfying predictability: hold the window over the edge for a beat and a translucent preview overlay confirms where it will land before you let go. No surprises.
It also handles multiple monitors gracefully. Drag a window past the edge of one screen toward a second monitor and Cinch doesn't misfire — it distinguishes between "moving to the next display" and "snapping to this display's edge" reliably.
How much does Cinch cost?
Cinch is a paid app available directly from Irradiated Software's website at a modest one-time price — there's no subscription, no annual renewal, and no tiered plan to decode. You pay once and own it outright. Compared to the recurring costs of many macOS utilities, that model feels refreshingly honest for something you'll run every day.
A free trial is available so you can drag windows around for a while before committing. Given how immediately intuitive the app is, most people know within ten minutes whether it belongs on their machine.
Who should use Cinch?
Cinch is the right tool for Mac users who spend most of their day reaching for the mouse rather than the keyboard, and who don't need the full power of something like Moom, Magnet, or Rectangle. If you've ever watched a Windows colleague snap two windows side by side in a single drag and felt a quiet envy, Cinch is the antidote.
It's also a strong recommendation for anyone onboarding a less technical family member or colleague to macOS. There's nothing to teach — drag to edge, window snaps. Done. For power users who want grid-based layouts, 24-zone arrangements, or keyboard-driven everything, Rectangle Pro or Moom will serve better. But for the overwhelming majority of people who just need halves and full screen, Cinch is perfectly sized for the job.
- Mouse-first workers who rarely touch keyboard shortcuts
- People coming from Windows who miss snap-to-edge
- Minimal-tool philosophists who distrust bloated Swiss-army utilities
- Anyone managing a single large external display with two-column needs
What are the best Cinch alternatives?
The honest answer is that the macOS window management space is crowded and each tool has a distinct philosophy. Rectangle (free) and Rectangle Pro (paid) are the keyboard-shortcut kings — if you prefer Ctrl+Option+Left over dragging, Rectangle is the stronger pick. Magnet (Mac App Store, paid) covers similar drag-to-edge snapping with a broader set of snap zones and is arguably Cinch's closest competitor in terms of philosophy. Moom goes much further — custom layouts, save/restore, per-app rules — and is the tool I'd reach for on an ultra-wide with complex multi-window setups. Mosaic adds drag-and-drop layout templates. Apple's own Stage Manager in macOS Ventura and later offers a different paradigm entirely, but it divides opinion sharply.
Cinch wins when you value zero cognitive overhead over feature depth. It does less than all of the above and that is, for the right person, its greatest virtue.
How does Cinch compare to Magnet?
Both Cinch and Magnet snap windows by dragging to screen edges, but Magnet extends that with keyboard shortcuts, a menu-bar grid picker, and more snap zones (quarters, two-thirds, top/bottom halves). Cinch strips all of that away and keeps only the drag gesture. If you've tried Magnet and found yourself ignoring every feature except the edge-drag, Cinch gives you exactly that, with a smaller memory footprint and a lower asking price. If you actually use Magnet's shortcuts and thirds layouts, stay with Magnet.
