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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Mac App

Lunar

Control external monitor brightness from your Mac's keyboard.

Visit Lunar4.5

  • Rating

    4.5 / 5

  • Pricing

    Freemium

  • Difficulty

    Intermediate

  • Works on

    macOS

Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com

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What is Lunar?

Lunar lets a Mac control the real brightness of external monitors using DDC, rather than dimming with a black overlay, and gives Apple displays smooth native transitions. Free features include DDC brightness control and Manual Mode, where your brightness and volume keys work on external screens and hotkeys can switch inputs. Lunar Pro, a one-time lifetime licence with a 14-day trial, adds Sync Mode and other extras.

Pros: what Lunar does well

  • Changes real monitor brightness, not an overlay
  • Brightness keys work on external screens
  • Hotkeys to switch monitor inputs

Cons: where it falls short

  • Sync Mode and other extras need Pro
  • Not every monitor supports DDC

Who Lunar is for

Mac users with external monitors who are tired of fiddly monitor buttons.

Who can skip it

Laptop users without an external screen.

Lunar alternatives

Not sold on Lunar? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Personal Productivity resources

CleanShot X

Focus: screenshots, screen recording and annotation. Also in Remote Work and Personal Productivity, like Lunar. Paid but Affordable (Lunar: Freemium). Rated 4.8 (Lunar: 4.5).

Mac AppPaid but AffordablemacOS
4.8Visit

Focusmate

Focus: accountability, body doubling and coworking. Also in Personal Productivity and Remote Work, like Lunar. A website, not a Mac app. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (Lunar: 4.5).

WebsiteFree planWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit

Founder.page

Focus: founders, indie makers and twitter directory. Also in Personal Productivity and Remote Work, like Lunar. A website, not a Mac app. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (Lunar: 4.5).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

OBS Studio

Focus: screen recording, live streaming and open source. Also in Personal Productivity and Remote Work, like Lunar. A desktop app, not a Mac app. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Windows and Linux. Rated 4.7 (Lunar: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.7Visit

Screen Studio

Focus: screen recording, demos and tutorials. Also in Personal Productivity and Remote Work, like Lunar. A desktop app, not a Mac app. Paid but Affordable (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Windows. Rated 4.7 (Lunar: 4.5).

Desktop AppPaid but AffordablemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

Stats

Focus: system monitor, menu bar app and open source. Shares mac utility with Lunar. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (Lunar: 4.5).

Mac AppFreemacOS, Offline
4.7Visit

Free alternatives to Lunar

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

tmux

Focus: terminal, sessions and multiplexer. Also in Personal Productivity and Remote Work, like Lunar. A desktop app, not a Mac app. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Linux. Rated 4.7 (Lunar: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

Deskflow

Focus: keyboard and mouse sharing, software kvm and multi-computer. Also in Remote Work and Personal Productivity, like Lunar. A desktop app, not a Mac app. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Windows and Linux. Rated 4.6 (Lunar: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit

LinearMouse

Focus: mouse settings, scrolling and open source. Shares mac utility with Lunar. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Adds Offline. Rated 4.6 (Lunar: 4.5).

Mac AppFreemacOS, Offline
4.6Visit

Loop

Focus: macos, window manager and productivity. Also in Personal Productivity, like Lunar. Free (Lunar: Freemium). Rated 4.8 (Lunar: 4.5).

Mac AppFreemacOS
4.8Visit
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