Kitsmith / Compare / Liqoria vs MediaMate
MacLiqoria vs MediaMate
Liqoria vs MediaMate: verdict, pricing, and specs compared, so you can pick the right one for your Mac.
At a glance
Liqoria
$11.90 one-time · lifetimeA music player with an island-style now-playing surface, marketing Liquid Glass design as a headline feature.
MediaMate
€6.99 one-timeClean, responsive media controls at the notch — no kitchen sink attached.
Spec comparison
Liqoria
- Price
- $11.90 one-time · lifetime
- Pricing model
- Paid
- License
- Proprietary
- Placement
- Notch
- Channels
- Direct
- Category
- Music
MediaMate
- Price
- €6.99 one-time
- Pricing model
- Paid
- License
- Proprietary
- Placement
- Notch
- Channels
- Direct · GitHub
- Category
- Music
The verdict
Liqoria is the design-forward full player — floating, menu bar, Dock, and Lock Screen surfaces, Last.fm scrobbling, and Apple’s Liquid Glass look — for $11.90 one-time. MediaMate does one job with restraint: it replaces the stock volume and brightness HUDs and adds now-playing controls at the notch, for €6.99. If you want a music player in its own right, get Liqoria; if all you want from the notch is cleaner media and system HUDs, MediaMate is the smaller, cheaper answer.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Liqoria if…
- Pick Liqoria if you want a full music player experience — floating, menu bar, Dock, and Lock Screen players
- Pick Liqoria if Last.fm scrobbling matters to you
- Pick Liqoria if you want Apple’s Liquid Glass look, with the option to switch it off
- Pick Liqoria if you’re willing to pay a bit more for the broader feature set
Pick MediaMate if…
- Pick MediaMate if all you want is cleaner volume, brightness, and now-playing controls, nothing more
- Pick MediaMate if you want the cheaper of the two, with a pay-what-you-want option
- Pick MediaMate if you don’t want to disable System Integrity Protection for any feature
- Pick MediaMate if you use Lunar or BetterDisplay and want a compatibility mode for external-monitor brightness
Liqoria vs MediaMate — questions people ask
Is Liqoria or MediaMate cheaper?
MediaMate is €6.99 one-time (pay-what-you-want); Liqoria is $11.90 one-time — MediaMate is the cheaper of the two.
Can I run Liqoria and MediaMate at the same time?
No — both are Music apps that draw at the notch and replace a hub’s now-playing surface, so you run one at a time.
Which one controls more music apps?
Both control whatever reports to macOS’s now-playing system — Liqoria explicitly lists Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Cider, and browsers; MediaMate displays whatever app is outputting audio, though album art may not show for every app.