Alternatives
A free Barbee alternative for Mac: Coat Check
Barbee is a Mac App Store menu bar manager with a free tier and paid upgrades. It’s reported broken on macOS 27. Here’s how Coat Check compares.
Updated October 19, 2026
The short version
Barbee hides and shows menu bar icons, with auto-hide, shortcuts, reduced spacing, and custom icons. It’s free to download with in-app purchases, including a $12.99 lifetime unlock. Version 5.0 shipped in September 2026, just before macOS 27, and it’s reported not to work on 27.
Coat Check is free with nothing to unlock. Click the hanger to see every menu bar icon, with the ones the notch hides first, and open any of them, including its own menu. It needs only Accessibility.
Coat Check vs Barbee
| Coat Check | Barbee | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free with in-app purchases; lifetime $12.99 |
| Source code | Open source (MIT) | Closed source |
| Reach icons the notch hides | A list of every icon under the hanger, hidden ones first, each with its own menu | Show hidden icons on click, with auto-hide |
| Hide icons you choose | Optional divider (macOS 14 to 26) | Yes |
| Rearrange icons | No; your layout stays as you set it | Not documented |
| Search | No; the coatcheck command opens icons by name | No |
| Automation | Command line | Shortcuts and auto-hide |
| Screen Recording permission | Not needed | Reviewers report it asks |
| macOS 27 (October 2026) | Being tested | Reported not working |
What works differently
- No upgrades to buy. Every Coat Check feature is free, and the source is MIT licensed.
- No Screen Recording. Reviewers report Barbee asks for it. Coat Check never does.
- Barbee customizes more. Spacing and custom icons have no equivalent in Coat Check.