---
title: Looking for a Tangerine alternative on Mac? An honest comparison
source: https://arazioformac.com/notes/tangerine-alternative-for-mac
---

# Looking for a Tangerine alternative on Mac? An honest comparison

I build Arazio, so read this knowing who is writing it. I have tried to make
it the comparison I would want if I were choosing — which means saying where
the other app is better.

**The one-gesture way**

1. Pick the file up in Finder, as if you were moving it.
2. Hold `⇧`. A ring of formats appears around the cursor.
3. Let go toward **the format you want**. The new file lands beside the original.

HEIC converts to eight formats — hold ⇧ and they appear around the cursor:
AVIF, BMP, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, TIFF, WebP.

Six actions work on any file at all — hold ⌃, including on files Arazio cannot
convert: AirDrop, Shelf, Copy, Move, Copy Path, Terminal.

That is the whole thing. It works on one file or four hundred, and
nothing is uploaded — everything happens on your Mac.

[Arazio](https://arazioformac.com) is $9.99 once, with regional pricing in 217
countries. Tangerine is also a one-off purchase, and more than that.

## They work the same way, and Tangerine did it first

Tangerine, from Leap Studio, converts files from the drag itself: you hold a
modifier, a radial menu of formats appears at the pointer, and you release
toward the one you want. It runs locally on an Apple silicon Mac.

Arazio works the same way. I am not going to pretend that is a coincidence or
that I arrived at a radial menu over a dragged file by accident — it is a good
idea, and Tangerine shipped it before I did. If you are already happy with
Tangerine, there is nothing in this page that should change your mind.

What follows is for someone deciding, or someone who has run out of the free
trial and is weighing the price.

## Where Tangerine is the better buy

**It has a free trial. Arazio does not.** Tangerine is free to download from
the Mac App Store and gives you a number of free actions before asking for
money. You can find out whether you like the whole idea before paying
anything. Arazio asks you to pay first, and that is the single biggest reason
to pick Tangerine over it.

**It is on the Mac App Store.** Apple handles the payment, the refund, and
the install. If you prefer buying software that way — and plenty of people
sensibly do — Arazio cannot offer it. Arazio is a direct download, notarized
by Apple but not sold through the store, because the App Store sandbox will
not let an app write to the folder a file came from, which is the entire
product.

**It has been around longer**, which means more people have used it and more
bugs have been found by someone other than you.

## Where Arazio is different

**It costs less.** Arazio is $9.99 at the time of writing, with regional
pricing in 217 countries, so the figure at checkout depends on where you are.
Tangerine is a one-off purchase too, and more than that; the exact number
varies by region and has changed, so check the App Store rather than trusting
either of us.

**There is a third ring for doing things with a file.** Hold ⇧ for formats and
⌥ for tools, as you would expect. Hold **⌃** and you get six actions that do
not convert anything: AirDrop it, put it on a floating Shelf to drag into
another app later, copy it, copy its path, move it to a folder you pick, or
open its folder in Terminal. These work on any file, including ones Arazio
cannot convert at all.

**Compressing a PDF does not turn the text into a picture.** Most PDF
compressors rasterise — every page becomes a photograph of itself, the file
shrinks impressively, and you can no longer select, search or copy a word.
Arazio subsets the embedded fonts instead, then renders the result and
compares it against the original pixel by pixel, and throws its own work away
if anything moved.

I do not know how Tangerine compresses PDFs, so I am not going to claim
anything about it. You can find out in ten seconds with either app: compress a
text PDF, open the result, and try to select a line. If the whole page
highlights as one block, it was rasterised.

**283 conversions across 43 formats**, every one exercised by the test suite
before a release ships. Tangerine advertises a similar order of magnitude.
Neither number means much on its own — what matters is whether the specific
conversion you need is there, so check both lists against the files you
actually have.

## What is the same

Both run entirely on your Mac. Neither uploads your files. Both need Apple
silicon and macOS 13 or later. Both are a one-time purchase with no
subscription. Both put the menu under your cursor instead of making you open
a window.

If privacy is your reason for wanting a desktop converter rather than a
website, either app answers it.

## How I would choose

The real question is whether a radial menu over a dragged file suits how you
work, and that answer is the same for both apps. If it does, these are the
things that actually separate them:

- **Price.** Arazio is less, and prices by region.
- **The ⌃ ring.** AirDrop, Shelf, Copy, Copy Path, Move and open in Terminal.
  Tangerine does not have an equivalent as far as I can tell.
- **PDFs with text in them.** If you compress reports and invoices rather than
  scans, what happens to the words is the whole question. Arazio's answer is
  above, and it is testable in ten seconds on either app.
- **How you like to buy.** Tangerine through the App Store with a trial;
  Arazio a direct notarized download, paid up front.

If you have already bought Tangerine and it does what you need, keep it. I
would rather write this honestly than sell you a second app you do not need.

## If you would rather not buy anything

Your Mac can already do some of this: **Preview** exports images and has a
Reduce File Size filter for PDFs, and **right-click → Quick Actions → Convert
Image** handles JPEG, PNG and HEIF. They are free and fine for occasional use.

What neither app is competing with is "convert two files a year". They earn
their money by turning it into a gesture, which matters if you do it weekly.

---

*Written by the developer of Arazio. Details about Tangerine come from its own
listing and from press coverage at the time of writing; prices and features
change, so check the source before relying on either.*