Some web apps are best kept one click away rather than open all day: a quick look at Slack, a ChatGPT question, a glance at your calendar. MenubarX and WebCatalog Desktop can both put them in your Mac's menu bar, where a window drops down when you need it and disappears when you click away.
MenubarX is built around that one idea: it's a menu bar browser for the Mac. WebCatalog Desktop turns websites into full desktop apps, and any of them can live in the menu bar too. It's turned off by default, so many people never discover it, but it's one switch away. And it adds things a menu bar browser doesn't have: a separate menu bar icon for each account, whole spaces in the menu bar, and the same quick access from the system tray on Windows.
At a glance
| WebCatalog Desktop | MenubarX | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Web apps as desktop apps, with an optional menu bar mode | A menu bar browser for the Mac |
| Menu bar window | Drops down from the icon and hides when you click away, or stays on top | Pinned, detached, or resizable windows |
| Multiple accounts | Every account signed in side by side, each with its own session and its own menu bar icon if you like | Not mentioned |
| Groups of apps | A whole space, with several apps and accounts, can live in the menu bar | One page per tab |
| Keyboard shortcut | A global shortcut for each app or space | Shortcuts and a boss key |
| Catalog | 65,000+ apps, plus any website | Built-in web apps, plus any website |
| Engine | Chromium, the engine behind Chrome and Edge | Not stated |
| Platforms | macOS menu bar and the Windows system tray; apps also run on Linux | macOS 14 or later |
What is WebCatalog Desktop?
WebCatalog Desktop turns the websites you use every day into desktop apps with their own windows and their own logins. Each one can stay in the Dock like a regular app, or move up to the menu bar, so the same Slack or Gmail you'd normally keep open all day can wait quietly behind an icon instead.
What is MenubarX?
MenubarX calls itself "a powerful menu bar browser." You open web pages in small windows that drop down from the menu bar, with tabs, bookmarks, pinned and detached windows, an ad blocker, custom scripts and styles, auto refresh, and iCloud sync. It's available for macOS 14 and later, from its website and the Mac App Store.
1. Menu bar mode, one switch away
WebCatalog Desktop apps open as regular windows by default. To move one to the menu bar, open the app, go to Settings › Window, and turn on Attach window to menu bar. After a quick restart, the app's icon sits in the menu bar and its Dock icon goes away. Click the icon and the window drops down right beneath it; click anywhere else and it tucks itself away.
A few settings make it feel at home there:
- Keep window always on top keeps it open while you work in another app, like pinning a note to your screen.
- A global keyboard shortcut shows and hides the window from anywhere.
- Resize it once and it remembers the size you chose.
If you'd rather keep the regular window and add a menu bar icon for quick access, turn on Show icon on menu bar instead.
2. An icon for each account
This is where WebCatalog Desktop goes beyond a menu bar browser. Every app can hold several accounts, each with its own isolated session, all signed in at once. Turn on Show profile shortcuts on menubar, and each account gets its own menu bar icon, with its own picture.
So your work Slack and your personal Slack can sit side by side in the menu bar. Click one to open that account; click it again to tuck it away. No signing out, no mixed-up sessions.
3. A whole space in the menu bar
Some jobs need a few apps at once. In WebCatalog Desktop, spaces gather the apps and accounts for one client or project into a single window with a sidebar, and a space can attach to the menu bar just like an app.
Picture a "Client" icon in your menu bar that drops down their Slack, their Gmail, and their project board, switchable with Cmd plus a number, then disappears when you're done. It's a small command center that never takes up room on your screen.
4. Quick access on Windows too
MenubarX is a Mac app. WebCatalog Desktop runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. On Windows, the same option is called Pin window to system tray, and the window pops up from the notification area instead. Your apps and accounts sync across your computers, so the setup you build on your Mac follows you to your PC, and your apps are there on Linux too.
5. Full apps behind every icon
Each WebCatalog Desktop app runs on Chromium, so web apps behave the way they do in Chrome. Behind the menu bar icon is a complete app: tabs, bookmarks, downloads, notifications, a built-in ad and tracker blocker, custom CSS and JavaScript, and a proxy for each app or account. Adding a new one is a search away in a catalog of more than 65,000 apps.
Which one should you choose?
MenubarX can make sense if you specifically need a lightweight menu bar browser for quickly opening many different pages, and you only use a Mac.
For everything you open again and again, WebCatalog Desktop is the better fit. Choose it if you:
- Want a separate menu bar icon for each account, like work and personal Slack
- Want a whole client or project, several apps at once, behind one icon
- Want the same quick access from the Windows system tray
- Want web apps to behave the way they do in Chrome
- Want apps that can move between the Dock and the menu bar whenever you like
The menu bar is the perfect home for the apps you check all day. To keep yours there, every account included, try WebCatalog Desktop.
