Kitsmith / Utilities / AlDente
AlDente
Free (Pro: $13.99/yr, $24.99 lifetime, or via Setapp)
Price checked at source August 30, 2026.
A free MacBook battery charge-limiter — cap charging between custom bounds — with a Pro upgrade ($13.99/yr, $24.99 lifetime, or via Setapp) adding automatic scheduling and heat protection.
Our take
AppHouseKitchen’s flagship app since 2021: set a charge ceiling (commonly 80%) to slow long-term battery wear, with the free tier covering the core Charge Limiter and manual Discharge. Pro adds automatic discharge scheduling, Heat Protection, “Sailing Mode,” MagSafe LED control, and a Calibration Mode, for $13.99/year, $24.99 lifetime, or bundled into a $9.99/month Setapp subscription alongside 240+ other apps. Built by a small team based in Austria; the company’s own blog has a refreshingly candid post (“We Got Sherlocked — Or Did We?”) about macOS 26.4’s beta adding a native manual Charge Limiter to Optimized Battery Charging, arguing AlDente still earns its keep on the features Apple’s version doesn’t cover.
- Price
- Free (Pro: $13.99/yr, $24.99 lifetime, or via Setapp)
- License
- Proprietary
- Requires
- macOS 12 Monterey through macOS 26 Tahoe, per the developer’s current compatibility list.
- Get it via
- Direct · Setapp
- Developer
- AppHouseKitchen (Austria)
Do you use AlDente?
Who made this
Austria
AppHouseKitchen’s own site names its team directly — David Wernhart (Software Engineer), Matthias Kerbl (Mechanical Engineer), and Daria Lazepko (Software Developer) — describing itself as "a small team from Austria" that started with AlDente in 2021 and now serves "+700,000 happy users."
What it does
Charge Limiter
Cap charging at a custom ceiling to slow long-term battery wear — included free.
Automatic Discharge and Sailing Mode (Pro)
Scheduled discharge cycles and a mode that keeps charge oscillating in a band, rather than sitting pinned at the ceiling.
Heat Protection and Calibration Mode (Pro)
Temperature-aware charging behavior, plus a guided calibration cycle for more accurate battery-health readings.
The deal
- Free tier: Charge Limiter and manual Discharge, full license, no time limit
- Pro: $13.99/year (subscription) or $24.99 (lifetime), or via a $9.99/month Setapp subscription covering 240+ apps
Worth knowing: macOS 26.4’s beta adds a native manual Charge Limiter to Apple’s own Optimized Battery Charging — the developer’s own blog addresses this directly rather than staying quiet about it, arguing Pro’s automatic scheduling, heat protection, and calibration still go beyond what Apple’s built-in version offers.
AlDente — questions people ask
Is AlDente free?
A free tier covers the core Charge Limiter with a full, unlimited license. Pro ($13.99/yr, $24.99 lifetime, or via Setapp) adds automatic scheduling, heat protection, and calibration.
Did Apple make AlDente redundant?
Not entirely, per the developer’s own post on the topic: macOS 26.4’s beta added a native manual Charge Limiter, but AlDente Pro’s automatic discharge, heat protection, and calibration features go beyond what Apple’s built-in version does.
Who makes AlDente?
AppHouseKitchen, a small team based in Austria, building it since 2021.
Is AlDente free?
Yes — AlDente is free.
Does AlDente work alongside a notch app like Alcove?
Yes — AlDente lives in the menu bar, so it runs happily alongside any Dynamic Island hub or notch app.
Where can I download AlDente?
AlDente is available via Direct, Setapp.
Reviews
No public ratings yet. Reader reviews are coming to Kitsmith soon.
Listing hand-verified August 30, 2026 from the developer's site and public sources.
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