When Overlay is the tool, and when it isn't
I make Overlay. Most people who find this page don't need it. Four setups do. The ways to skip it are in the next section, because the expensive mistake is installing a panel when you wanted a browser or a second monitor.
When is Overlay the right tool?
When a Mac app is already fullscreen and you still need a web page. A chat model, a doc, a dashboard, a second login of a site you've got open somewhere else.
The panel is a shortcut. Option-Space unless you change it. It shows on the screen where the pointer is, fullscreen Spaces included, and the same key puts it away. You can dock it to an edge and have it hide when you're back in the main app. Pages are tabs. Drag one onto any edge of another and they split. The layout is there next time you open it.
- Docs and ChatGPT over a fullscreen editor. The editor stays fullscreen. Docs, the issue, and the chat are the panel.
- A spec beside Figma. One screen. Figma fullscreen. The note and the live page only when you ask.
- Claude or ChatGPT over the current app. Worth it when the chat sits next to the page you're asking about. Not worth it if the official desktop app is the whole list.
- Two logins of one site, without a second browser profile. The cookie jars are separate. The reason to use Overlay is those jars have to show up without leaving the fullscreen app.
macOS 14 or later. Thirty days, then $12 once. Two Macs on a code. No Windows or Linux. No account to run it.
When should you use something else?
Skip Overlay when a browser profile, a second display, or Rambox already covers it. A profile is enough if you only switch accounts a few times a day. A second display is enough when the page has to stay visible for hours. Rambox, Wavebox, and Franz are for when the web apps are the work and they have to stay open on more than a Mac.
Rambox is the window you leave running. Lots of accounts, Windows and Linux too, workspaces on the paid plan. Wavebox is a browser you might use instead of Chrome. Franz is messengers and mail in one window, and the free plan only holds three services. Ferdium is the free version of that idea. Shift is another work browser, priced higher. None of them sits on top of a fullscreen Mac app. Fullscreen the editor and they go to another Space, same as Chrome.
Overlay won't pin Zoom, Preview, or a terminal window. Those are native windows. A pinning utility does that. Overlay loads web pages, plus local PDFs, images, and video. If the thing you need on top is the Zoom window, wrong download.
It also won't be your only browser. Long research, a dozen idle tabs, a password that only exists in a Chrome profile: leave those in Chrome. The panel is the short list that belongs to the task you're already in.