Rambox, Wavebox, Franz, or Overlay
I make Overlay. These get lumped together because they all stick web apps in a sidebar. The job isn't the same. Pick the job first. People who start from the price subscribe to a workspace and still switch to Chrome every time they fullscreen something.
Which tool is for which job?
Rambox, Wavebox, Franz, and Shift keep accounts signed in inside an app you leave open. Overlay is a Mac panel that shows up over the fullscreen app you're already in.
| Tool | Use it for | Don't use it for | Price checked 25 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rambox | Many accounts, including on Windows and Linux | A panel over a fullscreen Mac app | Free, or Pro at $70/year |
| Wavebox | A work browser with Chrome extensions | A small panel over Xcode or Figma | Free plan is very small. Pro about $100/year |
| Franz | WhatsApp, Slack, mail, in one resident window | A general browser, or a fullscreen overlay | Free plan is 3 services. Pro $60/year |
| Shift | A customizable work browser | Anything that has to sit on top of a fullscreen app | Free, or $199.99/year |
| Ferdium | The same kind of messaging workspace, without a subscription | A Mac panel, or a vendor who answers the phone | Free |
| Overlay | Web pages over a fullscreen Mac app | Windows, Linux, or a dozen resident Slacks | $12 once |
Say the week out loud and the row picks itself.
Three clients. Each has a Slack you must not mix up, a Gmail, and whatever tracker they standardized on. Tuesday is a Windows box at the office. Rambox, and Pro, because workspaces and the extra logins aren't free. Franz if the work is almost only chat and you like their reply tools. Wavebox or Shift if you've decided the browser should be the workspace.
You code or push pixels fullscreen on a Mac. The interruptions are a doc, a pull request, ChatGPT, a dashboard. You still want Chrome for everything else. Overlay. A second monitor, if you've got one and the page has to stay up for hours, is simpler.
You want the messengers in one place and you don't want a bill. Ferdium is the free open-source version of that workspace. It won't float over a fullscreen app either. Project's at ferdium.org. No long page from me.
Shift's number is shift.com/pricing the same day. Free is 5 Spaces, 10 apps in each. Advanced is $199.99 a year. I didn't read that page as a promise of Linux.
What do they cost?
Overlay is $12 once. Rambox Pro is $70 a year, Wavebox Pro is $99.96 a year, Franz Pro is $60 a year, Shift Advanced is $199.99 a year. Ferdium doesn't charge.
List prices from each pricing page on 25 October 2026. Rambox had a cheaper yearly promo up that day. Don't budget the promo.
The free tiers are where the pitch and the product split. Rambox Basic has notifications, focus mode, and hibernation, then stops. Two instances of each app, no workspaces, one computer signed in. Wavebox Basic is two groups of two apps and one extension, after a seven-day Pro trial. Franz's free plan is three services and one workspace. Shift's free plan is actually usable for a small set, then you're capped. Overlay's free stretch is 30 days of the whole app, and then you pay once. There's no forever-free Overlay with the useful parts removed. There's also no Overlay on Windows.
Is Overlay a Rambox alternative?
On a Mac, if you want a web page over a fullscreen app, yes. If you want Slack, WhatsApp, and Gmail to stay open on Windows or Linux, no.
It's a bad Wavebox alternative too. Wavebox is a browser. Overlay isn't trying to be one. It's a bad Franz alternative if the requirement is answering five networks from one window you leave open. Longer versions: Rambox, Wavebox, Franz.
If you already know the Mac task, skip the product names and start from the task. Use cases.