Soundary vs SoundSource: which do you need?

People keep putting Soundary and SoundSource in the same sentence, and I understand why. Both live in the menu bar, both are about Mac audio, both have a tidy little icon you end up clicking a lot. But they solve almost opposite halves of the problem, and choosing between them on vibes alone is how you end up with the wrong one.

So let me lay them out honestly, bias first: I make Soundary. SoundSource is made by Rogue Amoeba, who have been doing serious Mac audio since before I knew what a sample rate was, and it is a genuinely great app. This is not a takedown. It is a map of where the line between them falls.

What each one is actually for

SoundSource is a mixing desk. Its core trick is per-app control: this app at 40 percent, that one muted, this one on your headphones while everything else stays on the speakers. Add an equalizer or an effect per app, adjust any device without diving into System Settings, and you have a precise, hands-on console for everything your Mac is playing.

Soundary is an autopilot. Its core trick is switching the system default for you, based on the situation: which app is in front, whether the mic is live, what just connected or disconnected, what time it is. You set the rules once and stop thinking about it.

One is about control in the moment. The other is about not having to be in the moment at all.

Routing versus switching

This is the distinction that matters most, so it is worth being precise.

SoundSource changes where a given app's audio goes. Spotify to the speakers, Zoom to the headset, both at once, all by your hand. It does have a "Preferred Device Order" that picks a default when devices connect, so it is not blind to switching, but that ordering is a priority list, not a set of situations.

Soundary changes the system output and input, and it does that from the context you describe. It does not split audio per app at all. When your call starts, the whole Mac moves to your headset. When you unplug, it falls back to the speaker you actually wanted, instead of whatever macOS grabs first.

If you want different apps on different devices at the same time, that is SoundSource, full stop. If you want the right single device at the right moment without touching anything, that is Soundary.

Automation and rules

SoundSource's automation is really that preferred-device ordering plus Shortcuts support. Useful, but it is a priority list, applied when things connect.

Soundary's whole product is the rules engine. App focus, mic in use, connect and disconnect, time of day, each with a priority, a cooldown after you override it by hand, and a guard against switching loops. Scenes bundle an output, an input, and volumes into one named mode like "Meeting" or "Movie." To be fair, SoundSource is not trying to be a rules engine, so this is not a knock. It is just a different center of gravity.

Price, distribution, and scope

SoundSource is $49 as a one-time purchase, sold directly by Rogue Amoeba, because its per-app routing needs system-audio access that the App Store sandbox does not allow. Soundary is $4.99 one-time and coming to the Mac App Store, which is possible precisely because it stays inside the public, sandbox-safe APIs and never touches per-app routing.

That price gap is really a scope gap. SoundSource does much more to your audio, so it costs more and lives outside the store. Soundary does one narrow thing on purpose, which keeps it small, cheap, and private: nothing it sees ever leaves your Mac.

The honest table

So which one do you need?

Ask yourself one question: do you want to control your audio, or stop having to?

If you want a console, per-app volumes, routing, EQ, the works, buy SoundSource. It is the best in its class, and nothing I make competes with it on that ground.

If your actual problem is the dozen little switches a day, the headset that does not take over for calls, the speakers that do not come back when you unplug, that is the exact itch Soundary scratches, for a fraction of the price.

And the quietly correct answer for a lot of people is both. Let SoundSource decide how loud each app is, and let Soundary decide which device they all land on. They are not rivals. They are two halves of a Mac that finally handles its own sound.