My ‘Best Free Mac Applications’ List

On the Mac, there are some fantastic applications that are completely free. Here is a list of what I believe to be some of the best I’ve found so far.

• Adium – The all in one, completely customizable instant messaging program. It absolutely rocks!
• AOL Radio – I love this because I can get nearly commercial free streaming music from all genres.
• AppFresh* – Only free while in development, AppFresh keeps me up-to-date on what installed programs are not up-to-date.
• Butler – Applications & Folders in the menu bar are so handy. Plus it can do so much more.
• ByteController – I just found this sweet menubar iTunes controller.
• Chicken of the VNC – Connecting to a PC across the room has never been so easy.
• CleanArchiver - Because Windows users get confused with .ds_store files.
• CocoaMySQL – It’s nice to be able to connect & manage MySQL databases from the desktop.
• Correo – Up and coming email application. I can’t wait to see where it goes.
• Cyberduck – Excellent FTP program. Not sure why I purchased FTP programs in the past.
• Fish – Virtual fish tank!
• Firefox – My browser of choice. I can’t live without all the extensions.
• Flip4Mac – Yes, .wma and .wmv can work on a Mac.
• Gizmo Project – When Skype’s success when to their head, Gizmo reminded me how great VoIP can be.
• Growl – Customizable system notifications without system interference.
• Journler – Great scrapbook/junk drawer/whatever application.
• iTunes – My digital jukebox. It’s probably one of my most used apps.
• Licensed – Great app for keeping serial numbers of those programs I do buy.
• Mailplane* – Free for now.  This is a great desktop Gmail application.
• OnyX – System maintenance made easy.
• Quicksilver – Well designed and presented system search.
• TextWrangler – The best do it all text application around. From HTML to pretty much any text format.
• Thunderbird – Not used as much at home, but the only email application I use at work.
• VirtueDesktops or Desktop Manager – Sometimes one desktop just isn’t enough.
• WeatherDock – I love the weather so having it in the menubar is a must.

All applications can be found on MacUpdate or are just a Google (or Yahoo or Ask) search away.

If you have any you’d like to add, post them in the comments below or on your site and link back here as a reference point.