AJGrooveVirtual Drum MachineFreewareAudio
AudacityWave/Audio editor. Will export to mp3 using Lame and takes vst plugins, plus other effects plugins. Highly recommended.GPLAudio
SonasphereA kinetically driven interactive music environment.FreewareAudio
DarwinPortsInstall Linux applications on OS X. Similar to Fink. Highly recommended!GPLUtility
SimpleSynthA simple synth for your Mac.GPLAudio
FlacLossless audio compression tool. Rips tracks without the quality loss like you find in mp3 format.GPLAudio
MacKeySynthVery cool synth with 128 sounds + drums, octave changes and it can be played directly from your computer keys. OS X version soon to come.FreewareAudio
MidiKeysKeybord to midi virtual midi board.FreewareAudio
XOWaveA virtual digital audio workstation for musicians.Freeware/OtherAudio
LameBrainMP3 ripper, very nice ripper.FreewareAudio
MixxDj software.GPLAudio
FluidsynthFluidSynth is a real-time software synthesizer based on the SoundFont 2 specifications. FluidSynth can read MIDI events from a MIDI input device and render them to an audio device using SoundFont instruments.GPLAudio
IVideoDigital video editing and processing.GPLVideo
JahshakaNice video editor. Really worth the download.GPLVideo
VideoLanMovie player, plays most everything including AVI and DVD.GPLVideo
CinepaintImage editor geared for video production.GPL2D Graphics
EOS Image ManagerReally kick ass image manager and viewer. Highly recommended.GPL2D Graphics
QuickviewImage viewer for Finder.Freeware2D Graphics
Pixen2This is a pixel artist's wet dream. Nice for icon creation too. Highly recommended.MIT2D Graphics
XaosFractal generator.GPL2D Graphics
Fractal TreesFractal tree generator.GPL2D Graphics
The GimpImage editor much like Photoshop packaged for OS X. Highly recommended.GPL2D Graphics
GimpshopGimp organized more like Photoshop.GPL2D Graphics
SeashoreImage editor for OS X. Similar to Photoshop.GPL2D Graphics
Mac PovRayOpen 3-D design for OS X.GPL3D Graphics
Blender 3-D3-D design, animation, game development for OS X. Highly recommended.GPL3D Graphics
DustyDusty is a nice realtime 3D Smoke Simulator. It allowes to simulate smoke and fire in realtime.Freeware3D Graphics
ArbaroMake 3-D trees.GPL3D Graphics
Daz Studio3-D app for Poser type figures - very nice!Freeware3D Graphics
Wings3dWings 3D is a 3-D subdivision modeler inspired by Nendo and Mirai from Izware.GPL3D Graphics
Sharp3dSharpConstruct is a 3D modeling program designed to let sculpt models in real-time. This reminds me of ZBrush. Currently only available for x11.GPL3D Graphics
UVMapperMap textures to 3-D objects.Freeware/Other3D Graphics
White_DuneWhite_dune is a low level VRML97 tool.GPLProgramming
Hugin - Panorama ToolsMake panoramic photos out of normal images.GPL2D Graphics
X-ColorZHelps web designers to obtain hexadecimal color codes.FreewareWeb
YuBurnercd/dvd burner.GPLUtility
OSExDVD Backup/ripping. Encrypted=yes.FreewareVideo
MacTheRipperDVD Backup/ripping. Encrypted=yes.FreewareVideo
JBidWatcherTrack eBay bidding/selling.GPLMisc
AMuleThe best damned peer2peer file sharing app, now on MAC!GPLPeer2Peer
DarWINEWine is not an emulator. Run Windows apps on Mac without emulation or OS install.GPLUtility
Chicken Of the VNCRemote Desktop tool for MAC.GPLUtility
OSX2xosx2x is like dual monitors, a kvm switch, and vnc on speed! If you want to operate multiple machines with one keyboard and mouse, move files between them, and have both screens at your disposal this is for you. Works between platforms also! See Synergy, more mature project.BSDUtility
Synergyosx2x is like dual monitors, a kvm switch, and vnc on speed! If you want to operate multiple machines with one keyboard and mouse, move files between them, and have both screens at your disposal this is for you. Works between platforms also!GPLUtility
Books2burnConverts text into voice audio.GPLUtility
ReadItToMeHave your Mac read the news to you. Uses RSS feeds.GPLWeb
AdiumChat client. Supported protocols AOL (Including ICQ and .Mac), Jabber (Including Google Talk), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! (Including Yahoo! Japan), etc. Also has file transfer and encryption.GPLWeb
WSManagerMultiple desktops in OS X.GPLUtility
XShelfXShelf enhances drag and drop in MacOS X by letting you "pause" drag and drop operations, as well as have multiple drag and drop operations in flight at once.FreewareUtility
DiskInventoryXFile/Disk management.GPLUtility
Tinker ToolGet more tweeking in the Sys Pref.FreewareUtility
Nice iPhoto pluginAdd more functionality to iPhoto.FreewareUtility
Plugin for SafariAdds shortcuts to the menu bar.FreewareWeb
YemuzipNice zip utility for MAC. Free for non-commercial use.Freeware/OtherUtility
Bzip2Open source zip utility for mac.GPLUtility
MenuMetersA majorly awesome sys metering app! Highly recommended.GPLUtility
GauchosoftXRG is a majorly awesome sys metering app!GPLUtility
MacTelnetTelnet utilityLGPLUtility
MeteorologistDisplays the weather in the menu bar.FreewareUtility
AqualessView terminal output in a separate window.GPLUtility
AbiwordWord processor, with spell check, formatting, translation, etc. Highly recommended.GPLOffice
Open OfficeOffice suite, like Microsoft Office and compatable with MS Office formats. Word processor, Spreadsheets, Publisher, Presentation, HTML, and Powerful database (like Access) products. Impress (Like Powerpoint) exports to many formats including SWF (Flash). All can be exported as PDF.GPL/LGPL/SISSLOffice
NeoOfficePort for Open Office to run native on OS X! This is easier to deal with than Open Office at the moment. A must have if you need Office products on your Mac.GPLOffice
QuasarNice replacement for Quickbooks.Freeware/OtherFinance
QCadAutocad application.Freeware/Other3D Graphics
UEditText and code editor.FreewareUtility
IJournalThe Official LiveJournal Client for Mac OS X.BSDWeb
PhoenixUpdate your LiveJournal with ease. Highly recommended.GPLWeb
Chronicle LiteBlog client that works with xmlrpc - works with Blogger and any other blogapi supporting blog.CPLWeb
Mozilla Web applications like Thunderbird mail client, Camino web browser, and Sunbird Calendar. Highly recommended.MPLWeb
RadRailsRuby On Rails IDE.CCWeb
EclipseEclipse java IDE for OS X.GPLProgramming
OpenLaszloEasy, Powerful and Free Flash creation, plus much more. For everything you need for this visit my Laszlo article. This isn't a OS X article, but it has links to other things you need to get the full power of Laszlo.CPLProgramming
NVUHTML wysiwyg editor, supports CSS, Javascript, etc. Highly recommended.MPL/LGPL/GPLProgramming
TacoSWHTML editor for Mac! Been looking for one of these and it has php syntax highlighting to boot! Highly recommended.FreewareProgramming
SimpleCSSCSS Editor.FreewareProgramming
SPEIf your a Python programmer working on Mac or Windows and your looking for a kick ass IDE Spe is for you! Highly recommended.GPLProgramming
FScriptIDE for the lightweight object-oriented interactive and scripting layer specifically designed for the Mac OS X object system (i.e. Cocoa).GPLProgramming
DotGNUFree .Net for Linux/Mac; C#, web services, and all that jazz...GPLProgramming
XFree86Get the latest xFree, needed for x11.GPLUtility
XonXDarwin.GPLUtility
OpenDarwinMore x11 stuff you may need.APSL/GPL/BSDUtility
OroborOSXThe best x11 imo! Here is a screenshot of Linux apps running through OroborOSX and getting packages via command line with apt-get.GPLUtility
FinkGet the Linux software easily, lists, downloads, and installs or compiles it!GPLUtility
Fink CommanderScrew using the command line! Graphical frontend for Fink.GPLUtility
WDFinkAnother gui frontend for Fink.GPLUtility
XlaunchEver wanted to be able to open a document in an X11 application by simply double-clicking it from the MacOS Finder? Well now you can! GPLUtility
HydrogenDrum and synth application like Fruityloops. If you have a Linux box try LMMS. Hell, LMMS might build on OS X.GPLAudio
Konfabulator IIDesktop widgets and toys. Now owned by Yahoo.FreewareUtility
QuicksilverLauncher and much more, too much to list here...FreewareUtility
KhronosKhronos keeps track of the time you spend on your projects, prints invoices, and exports to spreadsheet applications.FreewareUtility
JackosxAudio server. If you plan to make music you will want this eventually.GPLAudio
ArdourArdour is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. Produce your own CD's. Mix video soundtracks.GPLAudio
CyberduckCyberduck is a open source FTP and SFTP (SSH Secure File Transfer) browser licenced under the GPL with an easy to use interface, integration with external editors and support for many Mac OS X system technologies such as Spotlight, Bonjour, the Keychain and AppleScript. Highly recommended.GPLWeb
JEditJedit is a mature and well-designed programmer's text editor with a big focus on Java. Has nice Jython support!BSD/GPLProgramming
SepyFlash Actionscript IDE. This is really nice! Has class list, auto complete, and compiler. Highly recommended.GPLProgramming
HandbrakeDVD Ripper.GPLVideo
InkscapeIllustration (vector) application, similar to Illustrator. The interface may be more friendly to an Adobe person than Sodipodi. Highly recommended.GPL2D Graphics
SodipodiIllustration (vector) application, similar to Illustrator. Available via Fink, you will not find an installer at Sodipodi website. Requires x11.GPL2D Graphics
CashboxPersonal finance application.FreewareFinance
ShiiraWeb browser - VERY COOL AND FAST. Highly recommended.BSDWeb
XFactorMutliple server peer to peer file sharing client. Access 4 major p2p networks (Kazaa, Gnutella, OpenFT and Ares) seamlessly using giFT.GPLPeer2Peer
TransmissionBitorrent client.GPLPeer2Peer
IPodDiskIPodDisk is designed to make it easy and intuitive to copy music off iPod; it enables you to do so within the Finder, or whatever application that can read files.GPLAudio
MPlayerVideo player.GPLVideo
Vienna2RSS news reader.GPLWeb
RSS OwlRSS news reader.CPLWeb
MLDonkeyMulti-platform, multi-network peer-to-peer client. It supports several large networks such as eDonkey, Overnet, Bittorrent, Gnutella (Bearshare, Limewire, etc.), Gnutella2 (Shareaza), Fasttrack (Kazaa, Imesh, Grobster), Soulseek, Direct-Connect, and Opennap.GPLPeer2Peer
OpenTaxSolverFree program for calculating Tax Form entries and tax-owed or refund-due, such as Federal or State personal income taxes. Optional OTS_GUIGPLFinance
FlameFractal Flames are algorithmically generated images and animations.GPL2D Graphics
SFLphoneThe SFLphone project aims to provide a multi-platform, multi-protocol (SIP/IAX2), and multi-GUI desktop VoIP phone.GPLWeb
IStumblerIStumbler is a small utility for finding local wireless networks and services. iStumbler combines a compact Aqua user interface with advanced wireless scanning and reporting.BSDUtility
CALAMARCalamar is a multiple client general ledger accounting program for small companies.GPLFinance
PlanetGenesisPlanetGenesis is a tool that generates 16-bit PNG height fields, Wavefront OBJ files, and POV-RAY mesh2 files for use as landscapes and planets.BSD3D Graphics
MegaTrackMegaTrack is an application that tracks Atlantic and eastern Pacific tropical storms. It uses the HSQLDB engine and is updated from the tropical storm data repository from the Unisys weather center.GPLUtility
OSXNewsOSXnews is a small, fast Cocoa news reader.BSDWeb
Pegasus MailEmail client, very mature and feature rich.FreewareWeb
GrisbiPersonnal accounting application.GPLFinance
Dr DivxOfficially the unofficial DivX encoding tool to create DivX media files for playback on DivX hardware and software players.LGPLVideo
MacamWeb cam drivers/software.GPLVideo
BlitzMax IDEBasic programming IDE for use with the Blitz game development environment.Public DomainProgramming
FreeWRLVRML web browser.GPLWeb
ColloquyIRC Client. Traditionally, chat clients on the Mac have been anything but glamorous. Colloquy is an advanced IRC & SILC client which aims to fill this void.GPLWeb
HasteHaskell TurboEdit - is an IDE for the functional programming language Haskell, written in Haskell.GPL/OtherProgramming
JousteditHTML editor with really nice features.GPLProgramming
ApplejackTroubleshooting assistant for Mac OS X. With AppleJack you can troubleshoot a computer even if you can't load the GUI, or don't have a startup CD handy.GPLUtility
Center StageMedia center and media organisation tool (backstage) application that allows you to watch movies, view photos and listen to music etc.GPLMultimedia
Ex-cinderHex Editor.FreewareUtility
Simply BurnsReally nice cd/dvd burner for OS X 10.9+GPLUtility
SterMachineSystem utility keeping your Mac OS X 10.3.9 running nice and smooth. Run cron jobs and perform routine maintenance. OS X 10.4 users see RootMachineFreewareUtility
RootMachineSystem utility keeping your Mac OS X 10.4 running nice and smooth. Run cron jobs and perform routine maintenance.FreewareUtility
Flash 4 LinuxYou will most likely need to compile this. There may be a Fink package, but I haven't looked.GPLProgramming
FuguSecure FTP frontend.GPLWeb
GoliathGoliath is an application that creates and edits websites. It uses a technology called WebDAV (frequently called Web Folders) to make changes to the files stored on web servers.GPLProgramming
ProFTPdFTP Server.GPLWeb
PureFTPdFTP Server where the focus is on simplicity. Manager Software HereGPLWeb
Onebutton FTPFTP Client, very simple.GPLWeb
AvidemuxVideo editor.GPLVideo
Cache Out XSystem Cleaner. By using COX, you can get your computer feeling like it did the first time you bought it. The application deletes virtual memory swap files, system and user cache files, purges system logs, as well as removing cookies and other Internet related navigation and download cache files.DonationwareUtility
FontforgeFont creation application.GPLFont
DoubletypeFont creation application.GPLFont
ScribusDesktop publishing application similar to Pagemaker. Look here if you have trouble finding the OS X binary.GPLOffice
Ogg VorbisOgg is like an open source version of mp3. They list many ripping, playing, and utilities on their site also for use with this format. I like it better than mp3.GPLAudio
OggdropOgg Ripper. Encodes audio tracks and CD's into .oggs and includes a CDDB lookup of the FreeDB music database. Stick an audio CD into Ogg Drop, and it should be able to identify the songs automatically, and tag the songs for you.FreewareAudio
MucommanderFile Explorer replacement. If you liked Norton Commander you will love this.FreewareUtility
LocomotiveInstant Rails is a one-stop Rails runtime solution containing Ruby, Rails, Apache, and MySQL.GPLWeb
Apache TomcatApache Tomcat is the servlet container that is used in the official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (jsp) technologies.ASF/GPL/OtherWeb
Apache Web ServerWeb Server, the best imo. Acache is most likely already installed on OS X.ASF/GPL/OtherWeb
MySQLSQL Database.GPL/OtherDatabase
PostgresqlSQL database. Heavy duty relational database.BSDDatabase
PHPWeb programming language used to make PHP server pages.PHPProgramming
ZoomifyFlash image gallery creation.FreewareWeb
GaimChat client. It is compatible with AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, and Zephyr networks.GPLWeb
SkypeInternet phone. Skype is a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. Its free and easy to download and use, and works with most computers so your not limited to call friends using the same operating system. Skype also has other services that allow the calling of actual phone number and cells, plus video options for a small price.FreewareWeb
LimewirePeer2peer software.Freeware/OtherPeer2Peer
SynfigCartoon animation - industrial-strength vector-based 2D animation software package, designed from the ground-up for producing feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources. Highly Recommended.GPL2D Graphics
PGPA free encryption software program that is the de-facto global standard for E-mail and file privacy. Pretty Good Privacy (or PGP) offers full-strength, 128-bit encryption. PGP has constantly been upgraded over the years and now offers loads of useful features, including secure file wiping; advanced keyserver searching; and seamless integration with Qualcomm's popular Eudora E-mail client.Freeware/OtherUtility
SwamiSampled Waveforms And Musical Instruments - is an advanced instrument editor for MIDI music composition and a sampler frontend. Currently SoundFont files can be browsed, edited and saved and new instrument formats are being added (DLS and GigaSampler) in the Swami development version. Requires x11.GPLAudio
ClamAVAnti virus program.GPLUtility
VexVex is an editor for XML documents. The "visual" part comes from the fact that Vex hides the raw XML tags from the user, providing instead a wordprocessor-like interface. Because of this, Vex is best suited for "document-style" XML documents such as XHTML and DocBook rather than "data-style" XML documents.GPLProgramming
CeltxCeltx is a comprehensive software package designed for people who work in the film, TV, theatre, and new media industries. It combines full-feature scriptwriting with media rich pre-production support and enables online collaboration.MPLVideo
JgraphpaperGraph paper creator. My wife actually needed something to do this easily maybe you do too.GPLUtility
XerlinXML editor.GPLProgramming
JuiceIf you want to listen to podcasts, this program is for you.GPLWeb
DelineateRaster to Vector coverter. NiceGPL2D Graphics
Preferential TreatmentPreference file checker/fixer.GPLUtility
Boot CampINstall and Boot Windows XP(tm) on your Mac. Requires an Intel based Mac.OtherUtility
JapAnonymous proxy. JAP makes it possible to surf the internet anonymously and unobservably.GPLWeb
ChimooTimer, can be used to time many things.FreewareUtility
Speak-freelyVoice over ip, Internet phone.GPLWeb
Freeguide-tvFreeGuide is a TV guide. Download TV listings from the Internet, view them offline, create a personalised TV guide and choose favourites. It uses the XMLTV tools to grab listings for lots of different countries.GPLMisc
GizmoprojectInternet Phone. Gizmo Project uses your internet connection (broadband or dial-up) to make calls to other computers.GPLWeb
KtoonCartoon drawing and animation software.GPL2D Graphics
K3D3-D design, illustration, modelling, and animation which can utilize Renderman engine as well as others. Available via Darwine PortsGPL3D Graphics
Sketch It Up3-D design, illustration, and modelling brought to by Google.Freeware/other3D Graphics
SeleniumWeb application test tool. Tests run directly in a browser, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Firefox. Supported platforms Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. Languages include C#, Python, PHP, Ruby, etc.GPLProgramming
Equinox3d3-D illustration, modeling, rendering, and animation application.Shareware3D Graphics
EDOImage compositing application designed for maximum flexibility. Edo lets you combine and manipulate video files, 3D sequences and still images in a non-destructive way using a powerful node graph visual interface..Unknown3D Graphics
LiveQuartzImage editor.Unknown2D Graphics
CrafterMaterial creation. Creates cool materials for 3-D objects, etc.GPL2D Graphics
GardensketchLanscape designer.GPL2D Graphics
JpatchSpline based 3D modeling tool (a patch modeler). It can be used to create 3D models for POV-Ray or RenderMan compatible renderers (e.g. Aqsis).GPL 3D Graphics
JunkmatcherSpam filter for Apple's Mail client.GPLUtility
AptanaDevelopment environment geared towards web development, Ajax style! Autocomplete and assistance for HTML, CSS, Java Script.GPLProgramming
MaxMax is an application for creating high-quality audio files in various formats, from compact discs or files.GPLAudio
MampThe abbreviation MAMP stands for: Macintosh, Apache, Mysql and PHP. With just a few mouse-clicks, you can install Apache, PHP and MySQL for Mac OS X!GPLWeb
ImageplayImage editor to run a series of effects on an image; tweak them, rearrange them, remove them, all without messing up the source image. GPL2D Graphics
ClamXavClamXav is a free virus checker for Mac OS X. It uses the tried, tested and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end.GPLUtility
Democracy PlayerBest damned web video player! Play virtually any video-- Quicktime, WMV, MPEG, AVI, XVID, and more. Video blog, YouTube, hell it does everything including BitTorrent.GPLVideo
BitTyrantBitTorrent protocol compatible client. Faster than traditional BitTorrent.GPLPeer2Peer
HymnThe purpose of the Hymn Project is to allow you to exercise your fair-use rights under copyright law. The various software provided on this web site allows you to free your iTunes Music Store purchases (protected AAC / .m4p) from their DRM restrictions with no loss of sound quality. These songs can then be played outside of the iTunes environment, even on operating systems not supported by iTunes and on hardware not supported by Apple.GPLAudio
EmailXTEmailXT is an open, patent-free protocol that replaces your current email with a more secure, full-featured system. EmailXT is a relationship-based email system where unauthorized bulk emailing is no longer possible. No more spam and mass mailing viruses. You don't need spam filters or service subscriptions any more. COMING SOON.GPLWeb
MonodevelopC# IDE that runs on OS X and Linux.GPLProgramming
XAMPPApache, MySQL, PHP web development environment install. Takes care of most configs and setup issues so you don't have to. Also see MAMP, which maybe a bit more stable at this point.APLWeb
MegaPOVMegaPOV is a custom unofficial version of POV-Ray with a lot of additional features.GPL3D Graphics
BRL-CADThe BRL-CAD package is a powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid modeling system with over 20 years development and production use by the U.S. military. Visit the project page for downloads.GPL3D Graphics
FrostwirePeer2Peer and BitTorrent client.GPLWeb
Desktop ManagerMultiple desktops (virtual desktops) on OS X. OS X Leopard will havea built in desktop manager.GPLUtility
AqsisRenderman (as in Pixar) rendering engine, used in 3D apps like K-3D.GPL3D Graphics
XMMMeD's Movie Manager is a simple to use, yet customizable, movie manager. Info is automatically retrieved from IMDb and tv.com. Technical info can also be retrieved from media files like AVI, OGM, MPEG and DVD (ifo). It's written in Java and should therefore run on most desktop systems supporting Java.GPLVideo
SkimReally cool PDF reader with amazing features. Read and annotate scientific papers in PDF. Stop printing and start skimming.BSDUtility
LazarusDelphi/Kylix like programming environment using Pascal, compiles to exe, gui designer.GPLProgramming
ITermTerminal emulation program written for OS X using Cocoa. Features include tabs, bookmarks, anti-idle,complete VT100 emulation, with additional support for most common xterm and ANSI escape sequences.GPLUtility