FineTune vs SoundDial: Per-App Volume on Mac

If you're choosing between FineTune and SoundDial, you want the same thing: a separate volume for each app on your Mac. Here's what the choice comes down to.

The problem both apps solve

macOS has no built-in per-app volume mixer. Windows has a Volume Mixer where every app gets its own slider. On a Mac, the volume keys and the menu-bar slider move one output volume for everything: music, a video call, YouTube, notification sounds and games.

The closest native controls are:

• Each app's own volume slider, if it has one (Music, Spotify, most video players and call apps)
• The alert volume in System Settings > Sound, which only affects system alert sounds

If a call is too quiet and Spotify is too loud, you're left juggling those controls. Per-app volume apps exist to fill that gap. More background: why doesn't Mac have a volume mixer?

FineTune

FineTune is a per-app audio project many people find through GitHub. For its current features, status, supported macOS versions and how to install it, check its project page. We don't repeat claims about other apps that we can't keep up to date.

SoundDial

SoundDial is a menu-bar app. Every running app gets its own volume slider.

• Per-app volume from 0% to 200%: turn Spotify down and keep your call where it is
• Per-app boost: push a quiet app above 100% (up to 200%) without raising everything else
• Per-app mute: silence one app with a click while the others keep playing
• Works per app, not per browser tab (all tabs of a browser share one slider)
• Does not record anything
• macOS 14.2 or later, €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription

You set the sliders from the menu bar. SoundDial can also lower other apps during calls (auto-ducking, on by default, adjustable or off) and save your per-app levels as profiles you apply with a click.

How to decide

• Look at FineTune if you prefer to get your tools from GitHub and are comfortable installing and updating them yourself from the project page.
• Choose SoundDial if you'd rather buy once on the Mac App Store, get updates through the App Store, and per-app volume, mute and boost cover what you need.

Ask yourself what you actually do day to day. If it's 'this app quieter, that one louder, this one muted', check that whichever tool you pick does exactly that on your macOS version.

Don't run both at once

Two per-app volume tools adjusting the same apps can get confusing. Pick one, quit the other, then check that your usual apps show up in its list.

A shorter side-by-side is on our FineTune alternative page. If you're comparing more than two apps, see the roundup of volume mixer apps for Mac, or read about per-app volume control on Mac.

To try the App Store option, get SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac.