Comparison
The best way to control Mac brightness
Several apps can boost supported Mac displays, and LUMEL, Vivid, and Lunar also dim below the minimum. Here's the honest, sourced comparison — so you can pick the right tool, even if it isn't ours.
Verified July 2026 · Prices change — check each store
How LUMEL compares.
A focused, private brightness utility at a small price. Here is the honest picture against the apps people ask about - including where we trade a feature away.
| Capability | LUMEL | Vivid | BrightIntosh | LumiMax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direction | Both — boost + dim | Both — boost + Eclipse dim | Brighten only | Brighten only |
| Price | Free; Pro unlock $2.99 | €10 direct; $24.99 on the App Store | $1.99 in-app | $16.35 + 10% fee direct |
| Brightness claim | Uses available EDR headroom; hardware-dependent | 1000 nits sustained; App Store references XDR up to 1600 | Up to 1000 nits | Up to 1600 nits |
| Below-minimum dimming | Yes — Eclipse | Yes — Eclipse mode (since 2.0) | No — brighten only | No — brighten only |
| Battery automation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Configurable auto-off timer | Yes | No public evidence | Yes | No public evidence |
| Free tier / trial | Free tier: Compare boost + full Eclipse | Unlimited split-screen trial | 3-day trial | 3-day trial |
| Native brightness keys | No (sandbox tradeoff) | Yes | Yes, after activation | Yes, Pro |
| Privacy | Sandboxed, no network entitlement | App Store: data not collected | App Store: data not collected | States: no data collected |
"No public evidence" means we could not confirm the capability from public sources at the time of writing, not that it is necessarily absent.
Last verified: July 3, 2026.
The honest rundown
Each of these is a real, working option. We'd rather point you to the right one than pretend we're the only choice.
Vivid
The best-known name, and it hooks into your native brightness keys. Markets a 1000-nit boost and has its own Eclipse dim mode. €10 direct, $24.99 on the App Store. A solid pick if native-key control is your must-have and price isn't.
BrightIntosh
Open-source and the cheapest at $1.99. Brighten-only, with a short trial. Great if you want open source and only ever need to go brighter.
LumiMax
Brighten-only, around $16 plus a fee on the direct version, with a 3-day trial. Its site advertises up to 1600 nits on supported displays.
Manual tricks
HDR-video workarounds and command-line experiments exist, but they are less convenient than a dedicated app and can change across macOS releases.
Where LUMEL fits
If you want both directions — brighter for sunlight on supported XDR displays, darker than the minimumfor night — in one private, free-to-download app, that's LUMEL. If you only ever brighten and you love native-key control, Vivid or BrightIntosh may suit you better, and that's fine.
Quick answers
What's the best app to control Mac brightness?
It depends what you need. For boosting an XDR display, Vivid, BrightIntosh, LumiMax, Lunar, and LUMEL all work. To also dim below the minimum, LUMEL, Vivid, and Lunar go both ways — LUMEL is the simplest and lowest-priced at $2.99 one-time; Vivid costs $24.99 on the App Store; Lunar is a heavier $23 power-user tool sold outside the App Store. BrightIntosh and LumiMax only brighten.
Which Mac brightness app is free?
BrightIntosh is open-source with a small one-time fee; the others sell paid licenses or trials. LUMEL is free to download and its free tier never expires — Compare boost on the left half of the screen plus unlimited Eclipse dimming — with a one-time $2.99 unlock for full-screen boost.
Is there a Mac brightness app that both brightens and dims?
Yes. LUMEL, Vivid, and Lunar are three examples that can both boost and dim; other broader display utilities may also cover both jobs. BrightIntosh and LumiMax focus on brightening. Compare price, native-key support, monitor control, privacy, and distribution before choosing.
Can't I just change brightness in macOS settings?
Only within the range macOS exposes for your model and conditions. That SDR range varies across MacBook Pro generations. Boost apps use Apple's Extended Dynamic Range path, while dimmers apply a darkening layer below the normal minimum.
Try the two-way one. It's free.
Download LUMEL free, then unlock full-screen boost for a one-time $2.99.