Fluid is one of the originals. Since 2007, this simple Mac app has been turning websites into apps that live in your Dock, long before most of us spent the workday in web apps. WebCatalog Desktop takes the same idea and builds it for how people work now: on more than one kind of computer, in web apps that expect Chrome.
At a glance
| WebCatalog Desktop | Fluid | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS only |
| Engine | Chromium, the engine behind Chrome and Edge | WebKit, the engine behind Safari |
| Creating apps | Pick from a catalog of 65,000+ apps, or enter any URL | Enter a URL, name, and icon |
| Multiple accounts | Every account signed in side by side in one app | One account per app |
| Organizing apps | Spaces that group apps and accounts in one window | One app per website |
| Updates | WebCatalog Desktop and your apps update automatically | The latest version dates from the macOS Mojave era |
| Customization | Menu bar or system tray, custom CSS and JavaScript | Menu bar apps, userscripts and userstyles |
What is WebCatalog Desktop?
WebCatalog Desktop turns websites into desktop apps, all running on Chromium. You install apps from a catalog instead of assembling them by hand, and your setup follows you from one computer to the next.
What is Fluid?
Fluid is a Mac app that creates "Fluid Apps": give it a URL, a name, and an icon, and it builds a standalone app that lives in your Dock. Apps can be pinned to the menu bar, and userscripts and userstyles let you customize the sites you use. Fluid 2 is built on WebKit, the engine behind Safari.
1. Not just for the Mac
Fluid is made for the Mac, and that's fine until your life isn't. A Windows laptop from your employer, or a switch away from the Mac altogether, and your Fluid apps stay behind.
WebCatalog Desktop runs on macOS (one build for Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows, and Linux. Your setup syncs across your computers, so the apps you add on one appear on the others, ready for you to sign in.
2. Chrome's engine, not Safari's
Fluid uses WebKit, which keeps apps light and Mac-like. The trade-off is that sites behave the way they do in Safari, and many web apps, especially busy tools like design editors, project boards, and video calls, are built and tested mainly for Chrome.
WebCatalog Desktop runs every app on Chromium, the engine behind Chrome and Edge, so those apps behave the way their developers intended. It also supports a short list of extensions: 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass, and Dark Reader.
3. Kept up to date
Fluid's latest release, version 2.1.2, followed the version that added support for Dark Mode in macOS Mojave, and its website and changelog haven't shown a new version since. Web apps change quickly, and an app that isn't updated can fall behind the sites it runs.
WebCatalog Desktop is actively developed. It updates itself, and the apps you install update automatically, so there's nothing to reinstall when a site changes.
4. Less setup, more of what you use
With Fluid, every app starts with you finding the right URL and an icon. WebCatalog Desktop's catalog of more than 65,000 apps means most tools are a search away with the right name and icon, and any other site can be added with an icon of your choice.
Once installed, an app does more than show a single site:
- Several accounts in one app. A Fluid app holds one account, so a second one means a second app. In WebCatalog Desktop, an app can keep several accounts signed in, each with its own session and unread badge.
- Spaces. Group the apps and accounts for a client or project into one window with spaces, each with its own Dock icon and keyboard shortcut.
- Familiar customization. Like Fluid, apps can live in the menu bar, and custom CSS and JavaScript take the place of userstyles and userscripts. A built-in ad and tracker blocker comes included.
Which one should you choose?
Fluid can make sense if you specifically need a very simple WebKit-based wrapper for a single site, and you only ever use a Mac.
If your work spans more than that, choose WebCatalog Desktop. It's a better fit if you:
- Use a Windows computer alongside, or instead of, a Mac
- Depend on web apps that work best in Chrome
- Want apps that keep receiving updates
- Would rather pick apps from a catalog than build each one
Fluid helped popularize the idea of web apps as desktop apps. If you want that idea, kept up to date and on every computer you use, try WebCatalog Desktop.
