Overlay vs Franz
I make Overlay. Franz is where the chats live. Overlay is a panel for whatever page you need while a Mac app is fullscreen. They overlap at "I'm in Slack a lot," and then they don't.
Franz has been around since 2016, same year as Rambox. Franz 6 puts mail up front, and help writing the reply. I don't have an opinion about your reply. I show the site you already use.
At a glance
| Overlay | Franz | |
|---|---|---|
| Job | Web pages over a fullscreen Mac app | Messengers, mail, a resident window |
| Free | 30-day trial, then $12 once | 3 services, 1 workspace |
| Pro | No subscription | $60/year |
| Above that | none | Max $120/year, plus a lifetime option |
| Systems | macOS 14 or later | macOS and Windows are what the pricing page describes |
| Signal | A web page, if the service has one | A native client |
| One inbox for every network | No | Closer to what Franz is for |
| Over fullscreen apps | Yes | No |
Pricing page, 25 October 2026: dictation is listed as macOS, 1Password autofill as macOS and Windows. I'm not adding a Linux build they didn't spell out. Their service count is on the order of 75, not hundreds. The long catalog is Rambox. Different page.
Does Overlay replace Franz?
Not if your day is answering WhatsApp, Slack, and mail from one window. Franz doesn't replace Overlay if the chat has to show up over a fullscreen editor and then get out of the way.
"One window for messages" still usually means each service keeps its own list, unless you're in the bit of Franz that's actually trying to be an inbox. Overlay will not merge WhatsApp and Slack into one thread list. If that merge is why you showed up, look at Franz, or Beeper, and judge them on which networks actually connect. I don't ship it. I'm the wrong person to grade it.
What does Franz Free actually include?
Three services and one workspace. Enough to see the app. Not enough for the pitch. WhatsApp, Slack, and Gmail already fill it. Telegram means you drop one, or you pay.
Pro is $60 a year. Unlimited services and workspaces, snippets you paste again, translate, a privacy shield, an app lock, and AI that calls a model you set up. Your provider bills you for the model, not Franz. Max is $120 a year. What they push as the difference: snippets that fill in the person and the date from the open chat, plus Franz-hosted AI with a monthly token cap, so you don't bring a key. Dictation and 1Password are on those paid plans, on the platforms in the table.
There's a lifetime licence. The page says the price goes back to $239 when the launch period ends. I'm not inventing a discount number I couldn't see. Hosted AI on that licence is extra, $4 a month on the page I read, not part of the one-time payment.
Stop paying and you drop to the free limits. 3 services, 1 workspace. They say you keep the account, the local data, and the saved snippets, and that you can still read them. Their policy. I haven't cancelled a Franz plan to watch it.
Can you keep a chat over a fullscreen app?
Overlay can, because the chat is just a page in the panel. Franz is its own window. Fullscreen the editor and Franz is on another Space, unless you never fullscreen anything.
Sounds small until the chat is how you ask about the thing on the screen. You want the error and the reply in one look. A messenger on another Space means you leave, answer, and lose the place. Overlay is worse than Franz at being where you answer from all day. It's better for the four minutes the question takes.
If you only want ChatGPT or Claude, the official desktop app is usually less to own. Overlay earns the install when that chat has to sit next to a doc, a dashboard, or a second account. More here: ChatGPT while something else is fullscreen.
Franz's paid AI is aimed at the conversation you're already in. A draft, a translation, a summary. Overlay will not read your WhatsApp and propose a reply. Open Claude in the panel and you're still the one looking at the page, or you've got the page open beside the chat so you can point at it. Different chore.
What does each one cost?
Franz Pro is $60 a year. Overlay is $12 once, then it stops billing.
Franz is the better buy if what you wanted was the messengers, plus help writing the reply, and you'll still be there next year. Three free services is a demo. Overlay is the better buy if messengers are occasional, the main app is something else, you're on a Mac, and you don't want a second subscription just to keep a shortcut.
A general work browser is Wavebox. Lots of client accounts across operating systems, catalog in the hundreds, Rambox. Mac tasks that are about fullscreen rather than inboxes start at use cases.