Every way to keep a Mac awake,
compared honestly.
Six ways people do this, what each does well, and where it stops. Sometimes the other tool is the right one; we say so.
| You want… | Use |
|---|---|
| One click, lid open, nothing else | Caffeine or KeepingYouAwake |
| A command in a script or CI job | caffeinate |
| Slack or Teams to show you as active | A mouse jiggler (and maybe a rethink) |
| Fifteen kinds of triggers and AppleScript, on an old macOS | Amphetamine, as long as it still runs |
| Awake 9 to 5 on weekdays, only while plugged in | Midnight Oil |
| An overnight agent run, the lid closed, sleep restored when it's done | Midnight Oil |
How we compare
Every page here was researched from the competitor's own App Store listing, GitHub repository, release history, and user reviews as of September 2026, and each states plainly what the other tool does better. If you spot something out of date, open an issue and we'll fix it.
The short version of the category: Amphetamine has the most features and hasn't shipped since 2023. KeepingYouAwake is maintained and minimal, and won't keep a closed lid awake on principle. Caffeine is the 2006 original, a cup you click. caffeinate is built in and lives in the terminal. Mouse jigglers solve a different problem than most people think. InsomniaX, the old closed-lid favorite, hasn't run on a current Mac in years. Midnight Oil is free, with its source on GitHub like the best of them, and built for the way Macs get kept awake now: overnight, unattended, sometimes closed.
Give your agents the night shift.
Free. No account, no subscription.
macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel · brew install --cask coreyhaines31/tap/midnightoil