Project management apps built for the Mac

By Darko Bačić, founder of App Tube · 9 October 2026 · Facts checked 9 October 2026

Pick devBoard if you are a small dev team and want an app with a real Mac menu bar. Pick Linear if you are a bigger product team and want a well-known tracker with Mac and phone apps. Pick Jira only if your company already runs on it, because Atlassian makes no Mac app for it. We make devBoard, so keep that in mind. It is on the list, and we say where the others are better.

What native means here

A native app is a program built for one system, like macOS. It runs on its own, not inside a browser. There is also a middle kind. Electron is a toolkit that turns web code into a desktop app, with its own copy of a browser engine inside.

Vendors rarely say how their Mac app is built. Desktop Insights, a site that looks inside app downloads, reports Electron for five tools on this list.

Why it matters

You open a tracker many times a day, for a few seconds each time. An app has a Dock icon and opens from Spotlight. A tab has to be found first. In an app, keys like ⌘K belong to the app, not the browser. A Mac app also lists its commands in the menu bar, where you look when you forget a shortcut.

An Electron app gets most of this. The big gap is between any app and a browser tab, not between Electron and a Mac build.

At a glance

Paid prices are for the cheapest paid plan, billed yearly, unless the cell says otherwise. ClickUp's page showed two price lists. This is the one we saw.

devBoard

devBoard is built with Flutter, a toolkit that turns one codebase into a real app for each platform. The Mac app is compiled for the Mac, not web code in a window. It has a real Mac menu bar and remembers your window size and place. The keyboard page lists its ⌘K palette and one-key shortcuts.

To be clear, devBoard does not use Apple's own buttons and lists. Flutter draws its own. So in the strict sense, it is not a native Mac app either.

It opens at once with your workspace outline and My Work list, even with no signal. Boards need a connection to show cards. The apps page lists the iPhone and Android versions.

Pick it if

You are a freelancer or a small dev team. You want epics, releases and a timer in an app, not a tab. An epic is a big piece of work split into smaller tasks. A release is a group of tasks that ship together. The keyboard shortcuts guide walks through the keys.

The catch

There is no web version, and Windows and Linux are not out yet. There are no docs, custom fields or automations. Here is why devBoard has no web version.

Linear

Linear has apps for Mac and Windows, and a web version. Desktop Insights reports that the Mac app uses Electron. Its phone apps are native.

Pick it if

You are a software product team that wants a fast issue tracker with Git links and little setup.

The catch

There is no built-in timer, and the free plan caps the number of issues. Linear lists no Linux app.

ClickUp

ClickUp lists apps for Mac, Windows and Linux. Desktop Insights reports Electron for the Mac app, and ClickUp's own pages do not say. Inside, you get tasks, docs, chat and a timer.

Pick it if

You want all of that in one tool and will spend time on setup. It is the only tool here that lists a Linux app.

The catch

It is a big tool. A 2026 reviewer on Capterra calls the learning curve steep. On the free plan, time tracking is only a trial.

Notion

Notion has apps for Mac and Windows. Desktop Insights reports Electron here too. Tasks live in databases that you can show as a board, a table or a calendar.

Pick it if

Your team wants docs, a wiki and simple task lists in one place.

The catch

There is no built-in timer. A 2026 reviewer on Capterra says large databases respond slowly.

Asana

Asana has apps for Mac and Windows. Desktop Insights reports Electron as well. It is made for planning across a company.

Pick it if

You run projects with people outside engineering, like marketing or design.

The catch

The free plan is for two people. Built-in time tracking starts on the Advanced plan.

Trello

Trello has apps for Mac and Windows. Desktop Insights reports Electron for the Mac app. Trello is a kanban board: a set of columns, one per stage of work, with a card for each task.

Pick it if

You want a simple board and little else.

The catch

Cards have checklists, not subtasks, which are steps inside a task. Time tracking needs a Power-Up, which is an add-on. Our devBoard vs Trello comparison has more.

Jira

Jira has no official desktop app. Atlassian retired its Jira Cloud for Mac app to focus on the web, as it said in a blog post. The Jira apps in desktop app stores come from other companies.

Pick it if

Your company already uses it. Or you are a software team of ten or more with someone to run the setup.

The catch

On a Mac, Jira is a browser tab. A timer usually means a paid add-on such as Tempo.

How we chose

We picked well-known trackers that small dev teams use. We read each vendor's download and pricing pages on 9 October 2026. Where a vendor does not say how its app is built, we name our source. We did not time how fast each app opens. devBoard is first because we make it.

If you work from a phone more, see our list of kanban apps for iPhone and Android. More lists like this are on our blog.