Free vs Pro — what's in each tier
Most apps with a Pro tier are vague about where the line falls. This page is a direct, audited comparison of what every published Swik feature does in the free tier vs the Pro tier. There is no time-limited trial, no nag wall, and no feature that suddenly becomes Pro after you've grown to depend on it — the boundary below is what's checked into the app code today.
Free
Five wedges in one ring, every interaction model, everything that makes a radial menu a radial menu. If you only launch apps, this is enough.
Pro
Sub-menus, mouse triggers, themes, action wedges (Shortcuts / clipboard / emoji), strict mode, multiple profiles. Bought once, no subscription.
Core menu & layout
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Wedges per ring — apps and actions on the visible ring | 5 | Up to 12 |
| Additional rings — multi-ring layouts beyond the first | — | Yes (multiple rings) |
| Sub-menus — nest a wedge into another ring | — | Yes |
| Drag-to-slot — drop a file onto a wedge to open with that app | Yes | Yes |
Triggers & interaction
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboard hotkey — F19, Right Option, Caps Lock, etc. | Yes | Yes |
| Hold & Toggle modes | Both | Both |
| Mouse-button trigger — middle click, scroll wheel, macro buttons | — | Yes |
| Strict wedge selection — ignore clicks outside visible wedge | — | Yes |
| Keyboard navigation — arrow keys, WASD, HJKL, 1–8, Enter, Esc | Yes | Yes |
| Force Touch instant commit — bypass dwell on deep press | Yes | Yes |
Wedge action types
| Wedge type | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Launch app — the standard wedge | Yes | Yes |
| Custom action — open URL, paste text, run AppleScript | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Shortcut wedge — runs any macOS Shortcut by name | — | Yes |
| Clipboard history wedge — last 8 clips, fan out to paste | — | Yes |
| Emoji picker wedge — six categories, recent ring | — | Yes |
| Multi-action mode — close / quit / hide an app instead of launch | — | Yes |
| Browser tab actions — Chromium tab management, Slack workspace switching | — | Yes |
Window expansion & previews
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Window Expansion (icon + title pills) — multi-window arc fan-out | Yes | Yes |
| Live window previews — thumbnails replace title pills (requires Screen Recording) | Yes | Yes |
| Window Expansion layout — Fan-out / Auto / Grid | Yes | Yes |
Appearance & accessibility
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in themes — Glass, Dark, Light, High Contrast, Neon | All five | All five |
| Theme customization — opacity, border width, blur, icon grayscale, hide labels | — | Yes |
| Custom accent / per-channel color pickers | — | Yes |
| Menu Scale (1.0× to 2.0×) | Yes | Yes |
| Color-Blind Safe Mode | Yes | Yes |
| Haptic feedback / sound effects | Yes | Yes |
Profiles & adaptive menu
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Frecency auto-sort | Yes | Yes |
| Profiles — multiple menus that swap on context | 1 profile | Multiple |
| Context triggers — Wi-Fi, display, time-of-day | — | Yes (with Pro profiles) |
| App-Specific Overrides | — | Yes |
Updates & channels
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Stable channel — auto-updates via Sparkle | Yes | Yes |
| Beta channel — opt into pre-release builds | — | Yes |
Why these are the lines
Wedge count. Five wedges + sub-menu lock means free covers the canonical "I want to launch my five most-used apps" use case; everything fancier (categories, twenty actions, multi-ring) is the polish tier.
Action wedges. Apple Shortcuts, clipboard, and emoji wedges turn the radial menu from a launcher into a control surface. They're meaningful work to maintain (especially clipboard, which polls the system pasteboard every second) and they're features power users specifically come for.
Mouse triggers and Strict mode. Mouse-button triggers and Strict wedge selection are the polish layer that matters most to users deep enough into their setup to have noticed friction. Free users discover the menu via keyboard hotkey first.
Themes. All five built-in themes (Glass, Dark, Light, High Contrast, Neon) are free — picking the look that fits your wallpaper isn't a Pro gate. What Pro unlocks is the customization layer: per-channel color pickers, opacity / blur / border-width sliders, and the icon grayscale and hide-labels toggles. The defaults are tasteful; tuning them is the polish tier.
Profiles. One profile covers "my menu" — what most users need. Multi-profile is for users who genuinely have distinct contexts (home / office / docked / undocked / writing / meetings) and want the menu to swap on its own.
Upgrading and downgrading
Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. There's no recurring billing, no nag, no expiration. If you stop paying for things in general, your Pro stays Pro forever — Swik checks the receipt locally; nothing renews.
If you downgrade (e.g. you bought Pro on one Mac and you're using Swik on another that hasn't yet validated), the Pro-only features stop working but your existing wedge layout is preserved. Sub-menus you'd configured become locked (they show a small lock icon) but they don't disappear. Restoring Pro on the second Mac unlocks them again.
To restore a previous Pro purchase on a new Mac: Settings → About → Restore Purchases.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free trial of Pro?
Not in the App Store sense. The free tier is itself the trial — it's not time-limited and it covers the canonical workflow. If you find yourself wanting sub-menus, mouse triggers, or action wedges, that's the signal Pro is worth $9 to you. If you don't, the free tier is genuinely usable forever.
Will the price stay $9?
The plan is to keep Pro a one-time $9 purchase indefinitely. If we ever change pricing for new buyers, existing Pro buyers' license stays valid forever — that's the contract of "one-time purchase."
If I buy Pro, do I get every future feature too?
Every Pro feature shipped during the lifetime of Swik 1.x is yours. If we ever make a major (paid) version 2 — which is not currently planned — you'd be offered an upgrade discount, never forced.
What about teams or multi-Mac licensing?
One license covers all Macs signed into the same Apple ID. There's no enterprise / team tier today; if you're deploying Swik to a fleet, contact support and we'll work something out.
How is Pro verified?
Receipt validation runs locally against StoreKit on first launch, and re-validates periodically. The app does not send your menu config, usage, or anything else to a server during this check — only the receipt itself.
Swik — a radial menu for macOS
Launch anything. One gesture. Free for five wedges, $9 one-time for unlimited. Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
Download for macOS