MorendoWhich per-app volume mixer should I choose on Mac in 2026?
FineTune if per-app volume is all you need: free, open source, driverless, complete. Morendo if you want buses you set once, an equalizer per bus and a keyboard shortcut per bus, for 19 € once. SoundSource if you work with sound and need Audio Units and AirPlay. Wave Link if you stream with a mic chain and accept a driver. Background Music and eqMac remain free, with a driver to install.
The driverless generation
Since macOS 14.4, an app can adjust another app's sound without installing an audio driver. Four apps do it today, one of them free. For most people the choice is between these four.
| Morendo | FineTune | SoundDial | Submix | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 19 € for life, one Mac | Free, open source (GPL) | $12.99 (14.99 €), one purchase | $7.99 one Mac, $17.99 three |
| Install | Drag the app, done | Drag the app, or Homebrew | Mac App Store | Drag the app |
| Admin password | Never | Never | Never | Never |
| Per-app volume | Yes | Yes, boost up to 4× | Yes, 0 to 200% | Yes, with boost |
| Persistent named buses | Yes, with their color | No | No, but saved profiles | No |
| Equalizer | 10 parametric bands per bus, 21 presets | 10 bands per app, 20 presets, AutoEQ headphone correction | No | No |
| Outputs | One bus to several outputs, a level per output | Several outputs, routing per app | Output picker | Routing per app |
| Global keyboard shortcuts | Per bus, with on-screen confirmation | On the app currently playing | Open the mixer, mute all | Not announced |
| Auto-ducking (lower music during a call) | No | No | Yes | No |
| Latency shown | Measured, visible | No | No | No |
| Interface languages | English and French | English | 33 languages | Not announced |
| Minimum macOS | 15 | 15 | 14.2 | 14.2 |
| Trial | 14 days, every feature, no card | Free | No | 7 days |
| Subscription | Never | Never | Never | Never |
With a driver or an extension
The historical tools, plus a free newcomer. They install an audio driver or a system extension, with your admin password, and some add a virtual device to your Sound settings.
| Wave Link 3 | SoundSource | Background Music | eqMac | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no Elgato hardware needed | $49 | Free, open source | Free; paid Pro tier |
| Install | Wave Link audio driver and a system extension | ACE extension | HAL driver in /Library | Virtual audio driver |
| Admin password | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-app volume | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Groups or buses | Channels, and up to 5 mixes | No | No | No |
| Equalizer | Audio Units, unlimited per input | 10 bands, plus Audio Units | No | Parametric, unlimited bands |
| Outputs | Mixes to outputs | Output per app, AirPlay | No | No |
| Global keyboard shortcuts | Stream Deck, Siri and Shortcuts | Yes | No | Depends on version |
| What it adds | Mic chain and effects for streaming; the window has to stay open | Audio Units, AirPlay, device controls | Auto-pause music, system audio recording | The deepest equalizer |
| Minimum macOS | 15 | 15 | 10.10 | Recent |
| Subscription | Never | No | Never | Optional for Pro |
This table is either honest or useless: where a competitor does better, it says so. Spotted a mistake? Tell us, we fix it.
What each one does best
FineTune is the best free option of the lot, by far: driverless, volume and equalizer per app, boost, routing to several outputs, headphone correction, shortcuts, all open source and regularly updated. If per-app volume is your need, start there.
SoundDial is the simplest: one purchase on the Mac App Store, saved profiles, auto-ducking that lowers music when a call starts. No equalizer, no routing.
Submix is the cheapest of the paid ones, with routing per app and live meters. No equalizer, no announced shortcuts.
Wave Link 3 is a complete, free streaming console: mic chain, Audio Unit effects, five mixes, Stream Deck control. You pay for it differently: an audio driver and a system extension to approve, a window that has to stay open, and CPU usage that users measure in the tens of percent.
SoundSource is the professionals' reference: Audio Units, AirPlay output, device controls. It is the most complete, and the most expensive. If you work with sound, it is probably the one you need.
Background Music did the job for years, for free. It is the only one that pauses music when another app plays, and it records system audio. Its driver is also its limit: a version 0.5.0 shipped in June 2026, but the repository counts more than five hundred open issues, including dropouts on macOS 26.
eqMac has the deepest equalizer, with unlimited bands, and a generous free tier. Its interface is heavier, and it goes through a virtual driver.
Morendo is not trying to do all that. It does one thing: buses you set once, an equalizer per bus, a shortcut per bus that works mid-match, one bus to several outputs, and zero installation. If you game, stream without a mic chain, or spend your days between Discord, Spotify and a browser, this is what was missing. It is also the only one of the driverless generation sold by a publisher who answers, with an interface in English and French.
When is FineTune enough?
When your need fits in one sentence: this app quieter than the others. FineTune is free, open source, driverless, and gives every app its own slider, an equalizer, routing to several outputs and headphone correction. If you do not need buses that keep a setting from one launch to the next, nor a shortcut that targets a group of apps rather than the one currently playing, take FineTune and stop thinking about it.
The feature-by-feature detail is in the guide FineTune vs Morendo.
Why does the driver still matter?
An audio driver or system extension installs with your admin password, adds a virtual device to your Sound settings, can survive uninstalling, and has to be updated with every major macOS release. Since macOS 14.4, Apple's process taps API does the same job without installing anything. Half the market has adopted it; Wave Link, SoundSource, Background Music and eqMac still go through a driver or an extension.
What is a named bus, and how is it different from per-app volume?
Per-app volume is set app by app, and redone when the app changes name or version, or when a new one shows up. A bus is a durable fader, Media, Chat or Game, that you sort apps into: set Chat to 60% once and everything in it follows, with its equalizer and its keyboard shortcut. It is the model of streaming consoles. Wave Link offers it with a driver; Morendo is the only driverless app in this comparison that does.
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Detailed head-to-heads: FineTune vs Morendo · Background Music alternative · SoundSource alternative · Wave Link 3 on Mac · SteelSeries Sonar for Mac