The cheapest way to get per-app volume on a Mac

The cheapest way to get per-app volume on a Mac that costs you nothing is Background Music — a free, open-source utility that gives each app its own slider. It works, but "free" buys you a virtual audio driver, a dated interface, and no support. If you want something that's cheap and actually pleasant to use every day, the lowest-priced paid mixer is Fader at $19.99 one-time. Here's the honest cost ladder for 2026, and what each rung really costs you.

macOS still ships no per-app volume mixer. Turn the system volume down for a call and your music ducks with it, because Apple only exposes one master output level. Getting a slider per app always means adding software — the only question is how little you can spend. "Cheapest" is a fair thing to optimize for, as long as you count the hidden costs: a free tool that you fight every day isn't actually cheap.

The free floor: each app's own volume slider

Before any download, you already have the truly free option: the volume controls inside apps themselves. Spotify, VLC, most browsers and web players, and conferencing apps all carry their own level. You can mix by hand — drop Spotify to 30%, keep the call at 100%, mute a tab. Cost: zero.

The catch is that it's manual and scattered. Every app hides its slider somewhere different, system sounds and many games have no slider at all, and you re-hunt every time the mix changes. For one or two apps it's fine. Across a day of calls, music, and alerts it's exactly the friction a mixer exists to remove — which is why most people eventually want a single place to set everything.

Free and open source: Background Music

The cheapest tool that gives you a real, system-wide per-app mixer is Background Music — free and open source under the GPL. It lives in the menu bar, lists your running apps, and lets you set a volume for each, including apps that have no slider of their own. For $0, that's a lot.

What "free" costs you here is real but worth stating plainly. Background Music installs a virtual audio driver to intercept system audio, so it changes how your Mac routes sound. The interface is functional but dated, it's community-maintained with no official support line, and compatibility with each new macOS release depends on volunteer time. If you're comfortable with open-source software and want to spend nothing, it's the honest answer to "cheapest." It is a menu-bar tool, though — there's no keyboard-driven mixing — so it's free in dollars, not always in time.

Watch the "free" that isn't: eqMac

eqMac is often listed as a free per-app volume app, and that's worth a caution. The app is free to download and its equalizer features are free, but per-app volume is a paid Pro feature — from about $3 per month or roughly $40 for a lifetime licence. If per-app volume is your actual goal, eqMac isn't a free way to get it. It's a fine EQ-first tool; just don't assume the volume mixing comes at no cost.

The cheapest paid mixer: Fader at $19.99 one-time

Among paid apps, the lowest price is Fader at $19.99 one-time, with a 3-day free trial and no account or subscription. That's the whole cost, forever, on the same Apple ID — there's no renewal to cancel later. It gives every running app its own level, works with apps that have no slider, and adds the one thing the free tools don't: you drive the mixer from your keyboard. Hit a toggle hotkey and the Q/A/Z column rides one app, W/S/X the next, without leaving what you're doing.

If you want a feel for how it stacks up against the free route specifically, the Background Music vs Fader comparison walks through where each one wins.

The premium end: SoundSource at $49

For completeness, the deepest paid option is SoundSource by Rogue Amoeba, $49 one-time. It's excellent and does far more than volume — per-app EQ, audio effects, output routing, and a polished menu-bar panel. It's not the cheap option, and it isn't trying to be; you're paying for breadth. If you only need per-app volume you'd be buying a lot you won't touch. If you want the full picture across every paid and free tool, see the best per-app volume apps for Mac in 2026.

The cost ladder, side by side

One-time vs subscription: the part people miss

"Cheapest" depends on how long you keep using the thing. A one-time purchase has a fixed lifetime cost: Fader is $19.99 and never bills you again; SoundSource is $49 and done. A subscription keeps charging — eqMac Pro at $3 a month is $36 in a year and $72 in two. For a tool you'll use for years, a modest one-time price is usually the cheaper path, even when the monthly number looks small. Free tools win on pure dollars; one-time paid tools win on cost-per-year-of-use once you factor in the time you save.

Bottom line

If you want to spend nothing and don't mind open-source rough edges, Background Music is the cheapest real per-app volume mixer on a Mac. If you want cheap and fast — a mixer you actually reach without hunting through menus, bought once with no subscription — Fader is the lowest-priced paid option at $19.99 one-time, and the free 3-day trial lets you confirm it fits before you pay a cent. Either way, be wary of apps advertised as "free" when the volume control is the part behind the paywall.