Trill vs BetterTouchTool: which one fits how you work
BetterTouchTool fits you if you want one app to drive every input device you own and to chain actions into automations; it also costs less, and you can try it for longer. Trill fits you if what you want is trackpad gestures, a Hyper Key and window snapping that work within minutes: you switch on a ready-made Gesture Set, record anything else by doing it on the trackpad, and feel a tick under your finger when a gesture works.
Neither is the better app in general. They are built for different amounts of setup, and the useful question is how much of your Mac you actually want to reshape.
Side by side
The BetterTouchTool column comes from folivora.ai’s own pages at the time of writing (October 2026). Prices and versions change, so check there before you buy.
| BetterTouchTool | Trill | |
|---|---|---|
| Inputs | Trackpads, Magic Mouse, mice and Logitech devices, keyboards, Touch Bar, Apple and Siri Remote, Stream Deck, game and MIDI controllers | A trackpad (built-in or Magic Trackpad), mouse buttons 4 and 5, keyboard shortcuts |
| Actions | 600+ built in, chainable into sequences | More than a hundred |
| Where you start | One standard preset, plus ready-to-use presets shared on its community site | Six ready-made Gesture Sets, suggested from the apps on your Mac |
| Haptics | A Haptic Feedback action, with built-in patterns and custom haptic presets | A tap back on every gesture on a Force Touch trackpad, with one Strength setting |
| A gesture macOS already uses | Turn the system version off in System Settings | Kept off with “Blocked by macOS” and a one-click fix |
| Hyper Key | Yes | Yes |
| Window snapping | Yes, with custom snap areas per display | Yes, with zones you draw per display |
| Price | $15 Standard or $25 Lifetime, depending on country and taxes; also on Setapp | $29 once |
| Trial | 45 days | 24 hours |
| Macs per licence | All your personal Macs | Up to 3 |
| macOS | 12 Monterey or later | 14 Sonoma or later |
If your setup reaches past the trackpad
BetterTouchTool is the broader app by a long way, and that is the main reason to pick it. It handles the Magic Mouse, the Touch Bar, Stream Deck and other macro pads, the Apple and Siri Remote, game controllers, MIDI controllers and generic HID devices, and it has a companion app for iPhone and iPad. Its trackpad gestures include corner clicks, edge swipes, slides along the edges and drawing gestures, and the same gestures work on the Magic Mouse.
Beyond input, it brings a clipboard manager, a screenshot tool, a Spotlight-style launcher, custom AI agents and assistants, menu bar customisation, floating menus and widgets, actions on selected text, and scripting and remote control. Its 600+ actions can be chained, so one trigger can run a whole sequence.
If you own a Stream Deck, use a Magic Mouse, or enjoy building a setup piece by piece, that catalogue is a reason to stay. The same goes if you need it on more than three Macs, or on macOS 12 or 13, which Trill does not support.
If you mostly want the trackpad to do more
Trill is built for the person whose list is short and specific. Instead of an empty preset, it opens with six Gesture Sets, each a few gestures for one kind of work, switched on with one click. The welcome suggests the ones that fit the apps already on your Mac.
What that looks like depends on how you spend the day:
- In a browser all day. The Browser set (Safari, Chrome, Arc, Firefox, Edge, Brave and Orion) gives you a 4-finger tap for a new tab, a 4-finger swipe down to close it, a 4-finger swipe up to reopen it, and a TipTap right or left to change tabs.
- Writing. The Writing set, in Pages, Word, Notes, Bear, Obsidian, Ulysses and iA Writer, makes a TipTap left or right undo or redo, and a 4-finger tap start dictation.
- Writing code. The Developer set, in Xcode, VS Code, Cursor, Terminal, iTerm, Ghostty and Warp, uses TipTap for the next or previous tab and a 4-finger tap to show the terminal.
- Music and video. The Media set makes a 5-finger tap play or pause, and turns the right edge of the trackpad into a volume slider and the top edge into a brightness slider.
- Everything else. The Everyday set gives you a middle click on a 3-finger tap, and the Windows set sends windows to halves with a 4-finger swipe.
When a set does not have it, you press New gesture and do the gesture. Trill names what it saw, you choose the action, and the rule reads back as a sentence you can check at a glance (“In Safari, a 5-finger tap plays or pauses music”). A gesture can work everywhere or only in the apps you pick. If that short list sounds like you, a BetterTouchTool alternative for people who just want gestures goes through it one job at a time, starting with what macOS already does.
How each one feels under your finger
Haptics work differently in the two apps. BetterTouchTool offers a Haptic Feedback action with built-in patterns and custom haptic presets, which you can put wherever you want it.
In Trill, feedback is part of every gesture. On a Force Touch trackpad it taps back the moment it knows what you did, before the action runs, and each kind of tap means something:
- Tick: a gesture was recognised, or a window landed.
- Bump: a window you are dragging has its preview move to a new zone.
- Step: each step of a slide along an edge.
- Limit: a slide has reached 0% or 100%.
- Nothing here: the gesture has nothing set for it in the app in front.
One Strength setting covers all of them: Off, Light, Medium or Strong. On a trackpad without Force Touch, Trill shows each gesture on screen instead.
When a gesture is already taken by macOS
macOS keeps some gestures for itself, such as four-finger swipes to switch Spaces, and a three-finger tap for Look Up if you have chosen that in Trackpad settings. Give one of them a second job and both fire.
BetterTouchTool’s position, in its own words, is that it reacts only to the gestures you configure, and if you assign one macOS already uses, you can turn the system version off in System Settings. That is accurate, and it leaves the finding to you.
Trill notices the clash itself. It keeps your gesture off, labels it “Blocked by macOS”, and offers the fix in one click: turn the gesture off in macOS, or pick another one. It changes a macOS setting only when you click, keeps a record of each change, and Put back restores them exactly as they were. The Windows set’s 4-finger swipes left and right are the obvious example, because macOS uses four fingers to switch Spaces.
Where they overlap
Some features exist in both, so they should not decide it for you.
A Hyper Key. BetterTouchTool has an “Act as Hyper Key” action that sends Control, Shift, Option and Command together. In Trill, Caps Lock becomes ✦ (or Right Command, Right Option, or § on UK and German keyboards), and tapped on its own it sends Escape, does nothing, or still toggles Caps Lock. Trill’s Windows set adds 21 Hyper Key shortcuts, such as ✦C to centre a window and ✦D, ✦F and ✦G for thirds.
Window snapping. Both snap a window you drag to an edge or a corner, with a live preview of where it will land, and both let you set up your own areas for each display. In Trill you hold Shift while dragging to see every zone: thirds and sixths to start, or zones you draw. If macOS’s own “Drag windows to screen edges to tile” is on, Trill shows “Blocked by macOS tiling” with a one-click fix.
A cheat sheet. BetterTouchTool has a Show Cheat Sheet action with an overview of your triggers. Trill’s appears when you hold the Hyper Key for a moment, listing every gesture and shortcut that works in the app in front, and is gone when you let go.
What each costs over time
At the time of writing (October 2026), BetterTouchTool sells two licences. Standard is $15 and receives updates for two years, after which you can keep using the last version you received. Lifetime is $25 and receives all updates while BetterTouchTool exists. Both depend on country and taxes, with the exact price shown in the purchase dialog, and one licence covers all your personal Macs. It is also part of Setapp, a subscription service with a monthly fee. The trial is 45 days, with no account.
Trill is $29 once, not a subscription. One licence key works on up to 3 Macs, and “Deactivate this Mac” frees a seat when you replace one. The trial is 24 hours from the first launch, with every feature and no card needed, and there is a 30-day refund for any reason by emailing hey@everydaymactools.com.
So BetterTouchTool is cheaper and easier to try at length. Trill’s 24 hours suits a different test: switch on a set, record one gesture, and see whether you are using it by the afternoon.
Questions
Is Trill a cut-down BetterTouchTool?
No. It is a separate app with a narrower aim: trackpad gestures, a Hyper Key and window snapping, set up from ready-made sets. It does not import BetterTouchTool presets.
Can I use both on the same Mac?
Yes. If both apps answer the same gesture or shortcut, turn it off in one of them. When another app already holds a shortcut, Trill says so and names the running app that may hold it.
Which one is cheaper?
BetterTouchTool, at $15 or $25 against Trill’s $29 at the time of writing. BetterTouchTool also covers all your personal Macs, where a Trill key covers 3.
Does Trill run on macOS 13 Ventura?
No. Trill needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.