Cooked vs AlDente
These two do the same job: they stop your Mac at a number instead of parking it at 100%. The choice isn’t really about the limit. It’s about what the free app does before you pay, and about what a license costs once you decide it’s worth paying for.
Cooked
Native macOS charge limiter
- 20–100%
- Limit range
- 3
- Macs per license
- Free, €9.99/yr or €24.99 once
- Price
AlDente
Native macOS charge limiter
- 20–100%
- Limit range
- Up to 3
- Macs per license
- Free, €11.49/yr or €23.99 once
- Price
Feature by feature
| Feature | Cooked | AlDente |
|---|---|---|
| Charge limit range | 20–100% | 20–100% |
| Holds the limit with no license | included | included |
| Holds a limit on macOS 27 | included | included |
| Discharges down to your target on its own | included | paid |
| Menu bar icon shows what it’s doing | included | paid |
| Live health and temperature | included | paid |
| MagSafe light follows your limit | paid | paid |
| One-tap 100%, then back to your limit | paid | paid |
| Pauses charging when hot | paid | paid |
| Calibrates the battery gauge | paid | paid |
| Battery history, from today back to months ago | paid | no |
| 12-month health projection | paid | no |
| Charging on a schedule | no | paid |
| Apple Shortcuts automation | no | paid |
| Macs covered by one license | 3 | Up to 3 |
| Price | Free, €9.99/yr or €24.99 once | Free, €11.49/yr or €23.99 once |
- included
- no
“Paid” marks what needs a license, in both columns. AlDente’s free app limits charging and discharges on demand; everything else on their list is Pro, including automatic discharge, status icons, heat protection and top-up. Both apps run on Apple Silicon. On macOS 27, both hold a limit: AlDente since its version 1.39 (below 80% once you turn on a setting), Cooked since its version 0.9.5 (below 80% on Macs that accept it).
Checked on September 24, 2026 against AppHouseKitchen’s own pricing page, feature list and release notes. The Cooked column is what you can use today, not what’s planned.
Where they actually differ
On macOS 27, they got there first
macOS 27 came out on September 14, 2026, and it changed how apps control charging. AlDente shipped a rebuilt charge control for it on September 8, and limits below 80% work there once you turn on a setting. Cooked followed with version 0.9.5: it sets Apple’s own limit, and goes below 80% on Macs that accept it. On a Mac that won’t, Cooked holds 80% and tells you so.
Compare the free apps first
Most people never pay either of us, so this is the row that decides it. AlDente free holds your limit and discharges when you ask it to. Cooked free holds the limit, walks back down to your target on its own, says what it’s doing in the menu bar, and shows live health and temperature. Those four are Pro features on the other side.
They’re cheaper once, we’re cheaper by the year
Their lifetime license is €23.99, ours is €24.99. A euro apart, and if paying once is what you want, that one is theirs. By the year it turns around: €11.49 for them, €9.99 for us. Three Macs on both sides, either way. So price alone won’t settle this. What we’d put next to it: a free tier that does more than theirs and that you can stay on forever, and fourteen days to change your mind after you buy.
Automation is theirs
AlDente Pro charges on a schedule and plugs into Apple Shortcuts. Cooked does neither, and there’s nothing in progress. If your Mac is already wired into Shortcuts, that’s a real reason to go the other way.
So which one?
Choose Cooked if
- You want the limit, the automatic discharge and the live readout without paying anything.
- You want to see what the battery has been doing, today and months back.
- You want fourteen days to change your mind after you buy.
Choose AlDente if
- You’d rather pay once than yearly: their one-off is a euro below ours.
- You want charging on a schedule, or Apple Shortcuts in your automations.
- You already run it and it has never got in your way. Switching costs more than it returns.
Where these facts come from
Every box above comes from a public page we read ourselves, not from memory. Here’s the trail, so you can disagree with us.
Compare Cooked with something else
Set your limit once. That’s the whole job.
Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · macOS 13 to 27 · 8.5 MB