Thoughts for Mac

Name: Thoughts for Mac
Author: Marc Perel

For Mac users: Thoughts captures notes, images and voice from your menubar and transcribes audio so you capture ideas without friction.

Built by Marc Perel · Free

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Product Hunt listing

Listing status

103upvotes

Community score

Marc Perel (Joined Sep 2026)

Founder

Compared against 5 alternatives

Market comparison

Launched on Launch Llama Sep 16, 2026 · #18 of 42 that day

Thoughts for Mac screenshot 1 Thoughts for Mac screenshot 2 Thoughts for Mac screenshot 3 Thoughts for Mac screenshot 4

About

Thoughts is a menubar app for your Mac which helps you keep notes quickly using text, images and voice. Add your favorite agent API key and it'll also help transcribe audio, context images to text and help do simple text-tranforms like capitalization, translations and spelling fixes. Think of it as a fun small multi-tool for your menubar.

Launch Llama's Take

Based on Launch Llama data as of November 2026

Thoughts for Mac has 103 upvotes, including the votes it received on Product Hunt. It has been listed on Launch Llama since September 2026. No Launch Llama members have upvoted it yet and it has no reviews yet.

Thoughts for Mac is a menubar app for quickly capturing notes using text, images and voice. Better Voice focuses on local dictation and meeting summaries stored in Apple Notes, while Thoughts for Mac centers on quick note capture from the menu bar.

Thoughts for Mac vs Better Voice

Thoughts for Mac vs Better Voice: side-by-side comparison
	Thoughts for Mac	Better Voice	Caret	Vocaldi
What it does	For Mac users: Thoughts captures notes, images and voice from your menubar and transcribes audio so you capture ideas without friction.	For Mac users: Better Voice transcribes dictation and summarizes meetings locally without cloud uploads, so your notes stay private and o…	For Mac users: Caret learns your writing style and autocompletes across all apps. Press Tab for AI-powered suggestions that sound like you.	For Mac users: Vocaldi enables writing by speaking and reviewing by listening with on-device speech models so you stay private and work o…
Pricing	Free	Free	Not stated	Paid
Free plan	Yes, free to use	Yes, free to use	Not stated	No free plan listed
Category	Note and writing apps	Productivity	Mac	Artificial Intelligence
Upvotes on Launch Llama	103	2	216	28
Listed on Launch Llama	September 2026	July 2026	April 2026	August 2026

See all Thoughts for Mac alternatives

Key Features

Capture text, voice, screenshots and links from your menu bar
Convert voice recordings and images into searchable text
Write notes with headings, lists, and to-dos
Search across notes, links, screenshots, and images instantly
Pin important notes to the top of your list

Use Cases

Mac users who want to quickly save ideas before they forget them
People who prefer voice notes over typing to capture thoughts
Users who need to extract and search text from screenshots and images

Who it is for

Mac users who want a quick, frictionless place to jot down ideas from the menubar
People who prefer capturing thoughts by voice, image, or screenshot rather than typing
Users who want to bring their own OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini API key for AI note tools

Pricing

Thoughts is free to download and use with all features included. No subscription required.

View Thoughts for Mac pricing →

Thoughts for Mac at a glance

01What it is: Thoughts for Mac: For Mac users: Thoughts captures notes, images and voice from your menubar and transcribes audio so you capture ideas without friction.
02Pricing: Thoughts for Mac pricing: Thoughts is free to download and use with all features included.
03Best for: Thoughts for Mac is best for mac users who want a quick, frictionless place to jot down ideas from the menubar, people who prefer capturing thoughts by voice, image, or screenshot rather than typing and users who want to bring their own OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini API key for AI note tools.
04Alternatives: Top Thoughts for Mac alternatives on Launch Llama: Caret, Better Voice and Vocaldi.

Compare Thoughts for Mac with Caret

FAQ

Is Thoughts really free? No subscription?

Yes. Thoughts is free to download and use, including future updates. You'll use your own OpenAI, Gemini, or Claude API key for features like transcription, OCR, summaries, translations, and rewrites.

Where do my thoughts live?

In the desktop app, notes and settings are saved locally on your Mac and media files are stored in the app's user data folder. No account is required. The browser preview on this page never saves anything — notes live only in that tab's memory, and closing or refreshing the page clears them.

What can I capture?

Thoughts captures structured text notes, checklists, code blocks, standalone links with previews, voice recordings, video notes, images, and text-like files such as TXT and CSV. Desktop builds can also receive shared text, images, and audio from URL schemes, open-with, macOS Services, and native imports.

Do I need an API key for AI features?

Only for AI-powered actions. Connect OpenAI, Gemini, or Claude in Settings to shorten, lengthen, summarize, fix spelling, translate, convert case, transcribe voice notes, and extract text from images. Claude is available for text actions; transcription support depends on the provider.

Can I export everything if I ever leave?

Yes. Export all notes from Settings as JSON, or export individual notes in the best available format: text notes as TXT, image notes as image files, PDF attachments as PDF, and voice notes as MP3 in the desktop app.