BetterTouchTool window layouts vs SnapState.

BetterTouchTool is a big customization app: gestures, mouse buttons, keyboard shortcuts, the menu bar, Stream Deck and window snapping, with 600+ actions you can chain. One of those actions restores a saved window layout. SnapState does only that job, and adds apps, Spaces and browser tabs to it.

How does the BetterTouchTool layout action work?

BetterTouchTool's developer explains on the official BetterTouchTool community forum that you save the window layout while configuring the Restore Window Layout action, and then trigger that action with any BetterTouchTool trigger, such as a shortcut or a Stream Deck button. It can also be triggered from Apple Shortcuts.

Other facts from folivora.ai: window snapping with custom snap areas per display, 600+ actions and triggers, a 45-day free trial, and a Standard license with two years of updates for $15 or a Lifetime license for $25, depending on country and taxes. It is also on Setapp.

Where do people get stuck?

Because the layout is one action inside a large app, you build the trigger yourself, and a forum thread from 2023 shows a user whose saved layout stopped restoring from Shortcuts after an update until the developer looked into it. Folivora's site does not say whether the action reopens browser tabs, puts apps back on their Spaces, or runs automatically on wake, so we do not claim either way.

What does SnapState do differently?

SnapState is a Mac menu bar app that saves a named workspace: every window with its display, position and size, the apps to relaunch, the Space each app was on, full screen windows, and all open tabs in Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc and Chromium. You restore it from the menu bar, with a Control-Command-1 to 6 shortcut, or automatically on wake, when a monitor connects or disconnects, or when a matching display layout appears.

There is nothing to wire up: save a workspace, then pick the restore triggers you want. SnapState has no gestures and does not snap windows. If snapping is what you need, see Rectangle, Magnet and Raycast vs SnapState. If you were scripting layouts, see the Hammerspoon alternative.

SnapState restoring a whole workspace. The 40 second demo shows a workspace saved from the SnapState menu bar and restored with one click: apps relaunch and windows go back to their saved displays, positions and sizes.

How do they compare?

More options: best Mac workspace managers.

What are the practical details?

SnapState 2.7.2 costs $9.99 once, with a license for up to three Macs and a 14-day refund. It needs macOS 15.7 or later and runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel. It needs Accessibility permission to move windows, and Automation permission if you want browser tabs reopened. Workspace data stays on your Mac. Workspaces saved in older versions need one re-save to pick up Spaces and full screen. See SnapState.

What are the honest limits?

SnapState is not a tiling or snapping tool. It does not save browser tab groups, history or form data, Firefox is not supported, and it does not change the display arrangement, main display, menu bar or Dock. It restores app windows.

Frequently asked questions