What’s the Best Twitter Client for Mac?

Tagged Articles, Reviews by Brent on May 6th, 2008

This is a question that I get asked (as well as ask myself) all the time. What is the best Twitter App? I don’t claim to be an expert in this field at all nor do I expect you to share my opinions but I will do my best to bring some of the top Twitter apps that I have used to the table with my honest thoughts on them. Once my views have been expressed, I invite you to join in the conversation as we all quest to find the best Twitter App on the planet for OS X. Here’s my list:

Twitterrific

For me, this app is the number one! I have used it forever and have consistently grown to love every advancement along the way. The release of Leopard caused a bit of a hiccup and gave me my doubts but that has been “mostly” fixed this app has proven to be my personal favorite time and time again. Currently, I am back on track with this one and loving it! It features an über clean interface, has very easy access to all of Twitter’s main features (delete, star, view, etc…), drag & drop functions and much more. All in all, for me, this little app takes the cake!

Snitter

As stated above, when Leopard landed on my MacBook Pro, Twitterrific started acting up and I had to broaden my horizons a bit. I soon discovered Snitter. Jonathan Snook’s beautiful Adobe Air Twitter App. I really loved the interface and ease of use. Deep compliments to him for a really great app. As this app is still considered “alpha”, I expect to see a lot more enhancements in the future. Definitely an app that I will keep my eye on.

Twhirl

I’m fairly new to this app, but I am hearing quite a bit about it from my friends. Having the ability to search via TweetScan, post images via TwitPic and cross post on Pownce and Jaiku make this app quite a nifty little sucker. Additionally, I like the ability to have multiple accounts open on the screen at once. FriendFeed was just added recently too. Twhirl, you’re winning me over!

So, which one is the best?

Honestly, I don’t know. These are the three I have used, abused, deleted, reinstalled and reused. I find myself bouncing between them from day to day depending on the need I have. Twitterrific is what I am usually running, but sometimes it conflicts with other software and I have to shut it off. In that event, out comes Snitter or Twhirl to keep me connected with my Twitterverse. How do I pick one? Well… I can’t really. With the somewhat recent price tag being added to ad-free version of Twitterrific, it has made a lot of users look elsewhere for their Twitter client, but for me, the $15 was well worth it. I do admit though that these other apps are making some really cool enhancements and giving Twitterrific a run for the money. All in all though, we all love our Twitter and the “best” app that suits you is yours to choose. As for me, these are my three. What’s your pick?

brentspore

pprove

J Doss

Agreed, Twhirl is the best client on the PC

Derek Davis

Started using Twitter for Mac / Hahlo for iPhone.. never looked back. But I must say, I'm tempted to use Snitter in the near future.

ukmac

Only really used Twitterific here at Ukmac.net

Spencer

I think Twhirl is the best out of the 3 listed, but I think Twhirl is getting too cluttered.

Clintus

I love Twhirl. Tried the others and liked this one the best.

preshit

You _do_ know that Twitterrific has those shortcuts too, right ? Even better, Cmd + 2 and Cmd + D is what I prefer.

Paul

twhirl is superior, but is crash prone (for me anyway). Most of the time I stick with the Twitter/Facebook integration, but that has been buggy for the past week too.

hackerhaus

I was using Twitterific when I brought my MacBook in from home to work on, but now that I'm working on a Dell and leaving my lappy at home, I've decided to switch to something that works predictably similarly on both platforms: i.e., twhirl. I think there may be a bit of a memory leak (whose fault? twhirl? AIR?), but that's fixable.

All-in-all, twhirl is my Twiss Army Knife.

MrWaffles

Twitterrific is definitely the prettiest app and the face that it runs in the background and sits in the menu bar is awesome but Twhirl just has so many superior features; ability to add @ and dm messages with the ease of a click and other various assorted goodies. Only if it ran on the menu bar would it be perfect.

twofivethreetwo

My first app that I used was Snitter (used IM before mostly) and loved it. It had a few bugs as it was still alpha but worked great. Of course I was on Windows at the time. I switched to a mac this past February and one of the first things that everybody said to try was Twitterrific. I have used it since and love it. I tested Twhirl and although it has some great features I just don't care much for the look. So, for me the best app is Twitterrific for Mac and Snitter for Windows.

preshit

Nothing different with me either. Using twitterrific all along. I'm on the free version and loving it. I use Twhirl on my PC and Twitterrific on my Mac.

Btw, you might want to add Hahlo3 ( via Fluid app ) to the list.

Timo Zimmermann

I currently use no Mac but Windows and Linux, so I have not seen all clients, but Twhirl is the best client I've seen so far.

Ryan Townsend

I use Twitterific also, however I am not inclined to pay for the ad-free version because I actually like the ads. I find "The Deck" serve ads that suit me, and I often check them out.

memske

Using Twitterrific here. :) Suits all my needs and it sits nicely in the top right bar in OS X which is always nice :D.

Using the free version. :)

fluffypig

I have only ever used Twitterific but I have no reason to change, I love it and can't see why I would even try anything else.