Compare
A spiral at the pointer, not another Cmd-Tab.
Window switchers for Mac are a crowded shelf. Almost all of them replace Cmd-Tab, and most of them are for everyone. VortexFlow is not. It is a spiral around the pointer for people who already have too many windows.
Summary
| Feature | VortexFlow | AltTab | DockDoor | Contexts / Witch | Cmd-Tab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (Pro paid) | Free | Paid | Built in |
| Open source | Yes · MIT | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Switches windows, not apps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Apps only |
| Opens at the pointer, from a mouse button | Yes · any button | Keyboard | Dock hover | Keyboard | Keyboard |
| Browser tabs as cards, searchable | Yes · host and path | No | No | Witch, some apps | No |
| Same-app windows told apart by site icon | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Also works from a shortcut | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Based on each product's public documentation in September 2026. Things change; check the vendor's site before deciding, and tell us if a cell is wrong.
Cmd-Tab, Cmd-`, Mission Control
Cmd-Tab switches applications, not windows. Five Chrome windows are still one Chrome. Cmd-` cycles windows of the current app in the current Space, and skips fullscreen. Mission Control shows everything as stamps. None of them start from the pointer.
Dory
Dory is the closest feel on the mouse: a button overlay, radial layouts, a letter to jump. A CNET review put the limit in the cons: it does not handle individual windows or browser tabs. VortexFlow is the spiral of windows that question was asking for.
AltTab
The default keyboard window switcher. Live thumbnails, Option-Tab. Search is a Pro feature. It is not a spiral at the cursor, and not extra-button detection. If you want Windows Alt-Tab on a Mac, use AltTab.
BetterCmdTab
A complete Cmd-Tab replacement: search, launch, tab drill-in, tiling. Still a Cmd-Tab replacement. It is not a spiral at the pointer. No Detect Button, no site-favicon compositing, no web/assistant fallback in the same overlay.
DockDoor
Live previews when you hover the Dock. Excellent at "which of the ten Safari windows." The overlay lives on the Dock. You still travel to the Dock.
Witch, Contexts, Hop, Raycast, WOS
Witch is explicit: "⌘-Tab Everything." Contexts collects usage metrics. Hop is a visual Alt-Tab. Raycast's window switcher is a text list. WOS reinvents Cmd-Tab for tabs-as-first-class. All keyboard-first. None of them are a spiral of every window and tab at the cursor that also works from a shortcut.
Price, and who can read the code
Most of the shelf above is paid, closed, or both, and a window switcher is exactly the kind of tool that sees everything on your screen. AltTab and DockDoor are open source. So is VortexFlow: MIT-licensed, no paid tier, no account, and the whole source on GitHub. If the comparison you actually care about is "what does this thing do with my windows," that is the one you can settle yourself.
What VortexFlow will not claim
We are not the only window switcher, the only search, the only private one, or the only open one. We are the spiral at the cursor, for any mouse and any keyboard, with extra-button detection, favicon compositing so same-app windows don't look the same, tab search by host and path including other Spaces, and a web/assistant fallback when nothing local matches.