Short answer. Choose Bartender if you run a macOS version older than 26. Choose Tuck if you want free GPL-3.0 software, where anyone who receives Tuck is entitled to its source.

The facts, side by side

Dated snapshot of public pages, 4 October 2026. “Not confirmed” means we could not find it on a public page. Prices and support change.
Topic	Tuck	Bartender
Price	Free core. Tuck Pro is planned, one-time, and not on sale	Paid. One-time, yearly Pro and lifetime options; checkout amounts not confirmed
Licence	GPL-3.0	Proprietary
Source for users	Yes: GPL-3.0 entitles everyone who receives Tuck to its source	No
macOS support	macOS 26. macOS 27 support is in development	The vendor lists Bartender 6 for macOS 26 and Bartender 7 for macOS 27. Tuck support for macOS 27 is still in development.
Permissions	Accessibility required. Screen Recording optional	The vendor says Screen Recording is optional; app icons replace live previews when it is off.

Where Bartender is strong

The vendor documents search, triggers and a separate Bartender Bar.
Offers one-time, yearly Pro and lifetime licence options.
Screen Recording is optional in the current version, as it is in Tuck.

How Tuck differs

Tuck is free to use and licensed under GPL-3.0.
Screen Recording is optional in Tuck. Hiding, revealing and rearranging work without it.
Tuck has no importer for Bartender layouts, so switching is manual.
Tuck requires macOS 26. It does not run on macOS 14 or 15.

Choose Bartender if

You run a macOS version older than 26.
You want a paid product with vendor support and have already confirmed it works on your Mac.
Your current setup works and you have no reason to change it.

Choose Tuck if

You want free GPL-3.0 software, where anyone who receives Tuck is entitled to its source.
You want to decide for yourself whether to grant Screen Recording.
You are on macOS 26 and want keyboard search and a separate Tuck Bar.

Limits of this comparison. If Bartender already works for your Mac and workflow, there may be no reason to switch. We have not run benchmarks, so we make no speed, memory or battery claims about either app. Tuck’s first build is not released yet.

Tuck vs Bartender