The Mac App Store hasn’t taken off quite as much as the corresponding iOS store, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some diamonds in the rough. In addition to great first-party professional apps like Logic and Final Cut Pro, you’ll find all sorts of interesting and helpful third-party apps in the App Store in categories ranging from productivity to security.
We’ve already gone over the best free mac store apps, so the ones below are definitely more on the premium end of the spectrum. However, we feel that these apps are all worth their one-time fee, which each will help your work and play life on your computer be a bit more enjoyable.
1. Paste ($9.99)
The copy and paste function is long overdue for an entire revamp on computers, but the app Paste is a great way to rectify the situation. You can store Internet searches, links, and texts—and gives you unlimited access to your clipboard history. You might not think it’s worth the pricetag, but if you’re a power-user, you’ll come to adore this little app really fast.
2. Fantastical 2 ($39.99)
Fantastical 2 is an extremely popular mobile app that a lot of people might already be familiar with. It’s also a Mac app now though and—though it’s far from free—it’s the best calendar app you’ll find in the Mac App Store. It has a bunch of different helpful views to organize your life, as well as reminders and seamless syncing with the mobile app.
3. Alfred (Free)
If you use Spotlight on your Mac, you’ll understand get the general idea behind Alfred. Essentially, Alfred is a launcher for your Mac, but aside from opening apps, it also performs universal system and web searches, giving you access to everything you could need with just a simple command line. If you really want to get serious, you can even program keystrokes to make things you do every day even faster.
4. Airmail 3 ($9.99)
The Apple Mail app has gotten better over the years, but let’s be honest: it’s not perfect. A good alternative is Airmail 3, which gives you more customization options and helpful capabilities than you could imagine. If you’re a heavy email user, you can set up a bunch of different email accounts and quickly switch between them. The app doesn’t look half-bad either!
5. iA Writer ($9.99)
If you want a distraction-free, simplified writing space, look no further than iA Writer. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles or advanced formatting options that other word processing apps have, but if all you are only concerned with is writing in an app with an inspired clean design, iA Writer is my favorite.
6. 1Password ($64.99)
So many times, we have to compromise either convenience or security when it comes to our digital lives. 1Password is an app that tries to rectify both of those situations, putting all of your usernames, passwords, and even credit card information behind a single, fortified password. The app also has all sorts of interesting features to improve security, such as support for team passwords and time-based, one-time passwords.
7. Magnet ($0.99)
Magnet is a super-simple app that lets you quickly spread windows and lock them to different segments of your screen. Apple is giving us some of this with the upcoming newest version of macOS, but it’s not as full-featured as Magnet.
8. Ulysses ($44.99)
If the aforementioned iA Writer is too simple for you, Ulysses is a good alternative to that. It gives you things like a unified library for your projects, as well as being able to paste in images and links. So if you’re writing a larger project that requires research and images, Ulysses might be your go-to writing app.
9. Unibox ($15.99)
Unibox is an email client that makes your inbox feel a little bit more like your iMessage. Everything is paired down and unified, making it incredibly easy to use and manage. Instead of just having an ever-growing inbox, Unibox categorizes your emails by contacts, meaning you won’t have to use that search box quite as much.
10. Day One ($29.99)
Not everyone has a need for a comprehensive journaling app, if you ever need one, Day One is the one you’ll want to download. It’s fantastic for things like daily writing and journaling, but really comes to life when cataloguing trips and vacations. It’s really the closest thing we have to a modern-day scrapbook, without having to do all that paper clipping and printing or putting your entire life on social media.