Ribbon vs Amethyst: automatic layouts or a strip that never resizes

The core difference

Amethyst is an automatic tiler. You choose a layout, such as Tall, and it decides where every window goes. In Tall, one main window takes a large pane and the rest share the remaining space. Open another window and Amethyst recalculates: the shared panes get smaller so everything still fits. Close one and the others grow back. You rarely place a window by hand.

Ribbon is a scrolling window manager. Every window is a column on a strip that is wider than the screen. A new window is added as a new column at a preset width, and the existing columns keep exactly the size they had. When the strip gets longer than the display, part of it sits off-screen and you scroll to it with ⌃⌥← and ⌃⌥→ or a trackpad swipe. More on the idea in what a scrolling window manager is.

In practice: Amethyst always shows you everything, at whatever size fits. Ribbon always shows you windows at a size you picked, and lets the rest wait off to the side.

Amethyst in brief

Amethyst has been around a long time and it shows in a good way. It is free and MIT-licensed, and its README promises it will stay free.

• Many layouts. Tall, Tall-Right, Wide, Two Pane, three-column variants, Widescreen-Tall, Fullscreen, Column, Row, Floating and BSP, plus custom layouts written in JavaScript (still in beta). Only a few are switched on by default; you enable the rest in preferences.
• GUI first, file optional. A preferences window covers the settings. If you want config in your dotfiles, an optional YAML file overrides the GUI.
• Native Spaces. It works with macOS Spaces and can throw windows to a numbered Space or another screen.
• Mouse options. Focus follows mouse, mouse follows focus, and swapping or resizing windows with the mouse. No trackpad gestures are documented.
• Accessibility only. No SIP changes.
• Old Macs welcome. It supports macOS 10.15 Catalina and later.

Install it with brew install --cask amethyst or from its website.

Ribbon in brief

Ribbon does one layout, the scrolling strip, with a native settings window for everything. Columns can hold several stacked windows, or show them as tabs (⌃⌥⇧T). ⌃⌥R cycles a column through preset widths, ⌃⌥F makes it full width and ⌃⌥C centres it. A three- or four-finger swipe moves the strip with your fingers. Each display and each Space has its own strip.

Ribbon runs on macOS 13 Ventura and later on Apple silicon (M1 or later), needs only Accessibility, and is built on the open-source Paneru engine (MIT). It costs $9.99 once for one Mac.

Side by side

Where Amethyst shines

• It's free and mature. Years of development, a large user base and a clear promise to stay free.
• Layout variety. If you want a main-and-stack layout on one Space and three columns on another, Amethyst has it. Ribbon has a single model.
• Everything visible. If windows living off-screen sounds stressful, an automatic layout that fits the display is the better match.
• Older macOS. Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey are supported. Ribbon needs Ventura or later.
• Little to learn. Turn it on, pick a layout, and it mostly takes care of itself.

Where Ribbon is the better choice

• Your windows keep getting too small. On a laptop, the fourth or fifth window in an automatic layout is often too narrow to use. On a strip, each window keeps its width. That's why scrolling managers are popular on a MacBook.
• You want windows to stay where you put them. Some people find it unsettling when every window shifts each time something opens. On a strip, opening a window only adds a column.
• You use the trackpad a lot. Swiping through the strip with your fingers is built in.
• You want a few precise widths. Width presets, from a quarter to the full screen, and a centring mode for the focused column give you control without fiddling.

Switching from Amethyst

Quit Amethyst and turn off its launch at login before starting Ribbon, because two tilers moving the same windows will fight. Amethyst recommends turning off "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use", and Ribbon's Mac Setup page checks for the same thing, so you're probably set already. The setup guide covers the trackpad settings the swipe needs.

If you're weighing other tilers too, Ribbon vs yabai covers BSP scripting and AeroSpace alternatives covers the wider field. To see the strip before you decide, watch the live demo. Ribbon is $9.99 once, and all sales are final: no refunds (see the terms), so the demo is the best way to check it suits you.