Dockish vs uBar: A uBar Alternative for Mac
uBar can turn the Mac's dock into a taskbar with a button for every window. Dockish replaces it with a dock on every monitor, app folders and profiles. Prices, trials and features side by side.
Pick uBar if you want a taskbar, with a button for every open window, or if your Mac runs a macOS older than Sonoma. Pick Dockish if you want a dock, with app folders like your iPhone and profiles that follow your displays, for $6.99 once instead of $30.
Both replace the macOS Dock, and both work on more than one display. Dockish is ours. Every fact about uBar here comes from its maker's own site, ubarapp.com.
Dockish and uBar side by side
| Dockish | uBar | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A dock | A taskbar or a dock, as you set it up |
| Price | $6.99 once | $30 once; $50 per employee for business use |
| One licence covers | Up to 3 of your own Macs | Up to two Macs you use |
| Updates | No paid upgrades so far: every update has been free | The licence covers the major version you bought; uBar 3 owners upgrade for $15 |
| Free trial | 7 days, every feature, no card | 14 days |
| macOS | 14 (Sonoma) or later | 10.13 (High Sierra) or later, Tahoe included |
| Apple silicon and Intel | Both | Both (a Universal app) |
| A button for every open window | No: one icon for each app | Yes, with grouping turned off |
| On more than one display | A dock on every display, the same on each or different | A bar on each screen with only its own apps and windows, or the same bar everywhere |
| Window previews | Yes, once you turn them on | Yes |
| A clock and a launcher menu | No | Yes |
| Permissions | Device Control and Data Access (Accessibility before macOS 27); Screen & System Audio Recording for previews | Accessibility; Screen Recording for previews |
Checked on 13 October 2026, on uBar's own site: ubarapp.com, its licence and its documentation.
Where uBar is the better pick
- A taskbar. Turn uBar's grouping off and every open window gets its own button in the bar. Dockish shows one icon for each app, and lists an app's windows when you hover or right-click it.
- Older Macs. uBar runs on macOS 10.13 or later. Dockish needs macOS 14.
- Extras in the bar. uBar has a clock with the day and date, and the uBar Menu, which lists your applications, System Settings, and apps and folders you add to it.
- A longer trial. uBar's lasts 14 days; Dockish's lasts 7.
Where Dockish is the better pick
- The price. Dockish is $6.99 once. uBar is $30.
- More Macs. A Dockish licence covers up to 3 of your own Macs. uBar's covers two.
- Upgrades. Every Dockish update so far has been free, with no paid upgrade tiers. A uBar licence covers the major version you bought.
What Dockish does
- A dock on every monitor. All Monitors shows the same dock on each display. Independent gives each display its own apps, folders and order. Each display can have its own icon size. Unplug a display and its dock goes; plug it back in and the dock returns with its own layout.
- App folders, like your iPhone. Drag one pinned app onto another and hold it there. They become a folder, named after the apps' shared category or New Folder. Open All and Quit All work on the whole folder.
- Finder folders as stacks. Pin Downloads or any folder, and open it as a strip, a fan, a grid or a list.
- Profiles that follow your displays. Save a dock layout as a profile, and Dockish switches to it by itself when that set of displays connects.
- Window previews. Hover a running app to see its windows, minimised ones included, and close one from its picture. Previews are off until you turn them on.
- Looks. Five themes (Glass, Dark, Light, Tinted and Custom, with your own colour, gradient or image), icon sizes from 24 to 96, and the dock at the bottom, left or right.
- Only what's open. Running Apps Only hides the pinned apps, for a dock of just the apps that are running.
How to try them
uBar's trial lasts 14 days. Dockish's lasts 7 days with every feature, and asks for no card: start it here. Dockish starts with the apps pinned in your macOS Dock. Hide macOS Dock, in its settings, tucks Apple's dock away, and quitting Dockish brings it back as you had it.
Want more than one of our apps? The Appish Suite has all four for $26.99.
Common questions
Is Dockish a uBar alternative?
For a dock, yes: it replaces the macOS Dock and puts a dock on every display. It isn't a taskbar. If a button for each open window is what you want, stay with uBar.
Is there a free uBar alternative?
DockDoor is free. It adds window previews and a window switcher to the macOS Dock, without replacing it. See Dockish vs DockDoor for what it covers, and what its paid DockDoor Pro adds.
Can I have a dock on every monitor without either app?
No. macOS shows its Dock on one display at a time. With Displays have separate Spaces on, it follows the pointer to the bottom edge of any screen; with it off, it stays on the main display.
Does uBar run on my Mac?
uBar's site says it needs macOS 10.13 or later, and that it supports macOS Tahoe. Dockish needs macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.
Which other dock apps are worth a look?
The roundup of dock apps for Mac puts every option side by side, and the dock replacements compared goes feature by feature.