Background Music vs SoundDial: Mac Volume Mixer

macOS has no built-in per-app volume mixer. The system volume moves every app at once, and the only other built-in control, the alert volume in System Settings > Sound, only affects system alert sounds. So if you want Spotify quieter than your call, you need a third-party app.

Two names come up a lot: Background Music, a free, open-source app, and SoundDial, our menu-bar app on the Mac App Store. Here is a fair way to choose.

Try the built-in options first

Before installing anything, check whether the apps themselves can solve it:

• Music players (Spotify, Apple Music, VLC) have their own volume slider
• Call apps (Zoom, Teams, Discord) have an output volume in their audio settings
• System alert sounds have their own slider in System Settings > Sound

If two apps with their own sliders are all you need to adjust, that may be enough. It gets tedious when you change levels often, or when an app (like a browser) has no slider of its own.

Background Music: free and open source

Background Music is a free, open-source app that adds per-app volume control to macOS. It costs nothing and its source code is public, which matters to people who like to read and build what they run.

Before installing it, check the project page for its current features, the macOS versions it supports and its install instructions. We don't repeat feature or compatibility claims about other apps that we can't keep up to date.

SoundDial: a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store

SoundDial does one job from the menu bar:

• A volume slider for each app you have open
• Per-app volume from 0% to 200%: lower one app, or boost a quiet one above 100%
• Per-app mute with one click, while everything else keeps playing
• Works per app, not per browser tab (all tabs of a browser share one slider)
• Does not record anything
• Needs macOS 14.2 or later, €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription

How to decide

The two apps aim at the same core problem. The practical differences are about how you get them and what you pay:

• Cost. Background Music is free. SoundDial is €14.99 one-time purchase, paid once.
• Where it comes from. Background Music is installed from its open-source project. SoundDial is bought and updated through the Mac App Store like any other store app.
• Source code. If open source is important to you, Background Music is the one that offers it.
• Features you need. Make a short list (lower one app, mute one app, push a quiet app above 100%) and check each app against it: Background Music on its project page, SoundDial in the list above.

Background Music is a good fit if

• You want per-app volume and don't want to spend anything
• You prefer open-source software
• You're comfortable installing and maintaining it yourself, and checking the project page after macOS updates

SoundDial is a good fit if

• You'd rather buy once from the Mac App Store and get updates there
• You want per-app volume, mute and boost up to 200% in one menu-bar panel

There's no wrong answer. If free works for you, use it. A broader comparison is in the cheapest volume mixer for Mac, and a side-by-side is on our Background Music alternative page.

The short version

macOS won't give you per-app volume on its own. Background Music is the free, open-source route. SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac, is the one-time Mac App Store route. See how per-app volume control on Mac works, or get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.