AlDente vs BatFi in 2026: Which Mac Battery Manager Fits Your Workflow?

Quick answer

AlDente Pro is the deeper battery-care tool. BatFi is the easier charge manager to automate around your routine.

AlDente Pro has Sailing Mode, Heat Protection, Automatic Discharge, Calibration Mode, charging schedules and support for Intel MacBooks as well as Apple silicon.^1,2

BatFi has a smaller feature set, but since version 3.1 its charge limit can change automatically based on both time and location, and it costs US$15 once.^7,8

If you only need an 80% limit on a recent Apple silicon Mac, macOS Tahoe 26.4 can now do that without either app.¹⁰

MacBookBatteryMonitor is our app, included for reference: it spans the same 50% to 100% charge range with Sailing Mode, without a subscription, and with the live per-app power monitoring neither app includes.

Both apps stop charging at a target you choose. What separates them is everything around that target: AlDente collects battery-care states and protections, while BatFi concentrates on making the limit follow your day.

What changed in 2026

Three changes make most older AlDente vs BatFi threads unreliable as buying advice.

Apple added a native charge limit. macOS Tahoe 26.4 lets an Apple silicon Mac hold a user-selected Charge Limit between 80% and 100%.¹⁰

BatFi 3.1 added Automation rules based on schedules and location, a feature most 2024 and 2025 comparisons predate entirely.⁸

AlDente shipped version 1.38, rebuilding the Power Flow diagram, adding SoC, USB and display power readings on macOS 26, Schedule Templates and new Low and High Power Mode Shortcuts.³

On a supported Mac, the basic 80% job now belongs to macOS itself. The reason to pick AlDente or BatFi in 2026 is what each adds beyond that.

The core job both apps do

Both are menu-bar battery managers that need elevated system access to change charging behaviour. Both let you set a charge ceiling instead of leaving the timing to Apple's Optimized Battery Charging, both can run the MacBook from its battery while the charger stays connected, both can allow a one-off full charge, and both show battery health, cycle count and temperature.^7,1

BatFi defaults to 80%, lets you choose your own limit, and can go down to the 50% minimum introduced in BatFi 2.0. Once the limit is reached, charging stops while the Mac keeps running on adapter power.^7,8

AlDente's Charge Limiter works on the same principle and supports limits below Apple's native 80% floor.¹

Automation: BatFi rules vs AlDente schedules

BatFi rules based on time and location

BatFi 3.1 lets you create multiple charge-limit rules, each with its own limit and an optional schedule, a location, or both.^7,8

Locations can be picked on a map, found by address search, set to your current location, and given an adjustable radius. Schedules can repeat or run once. Rules are ordered, the highest matching rule applies, and the active rule appears in the menu bar.⁷

AlDente schedules with battery-specific actions

AlDente Pro automates battery actions rather than locations. Its Schedule system can run any of the following on a timer:¹

Tasks can repeat daily, on weekdays, weekly, biweekly, monthly or run once.¹

If your charging policy depends on where the MacBook is, BatFi has the clearer implementation. If it depends on specific battery actions at specific times, including calibration and discharge targets, AlDente has more to choose from.

The battery-care controls only AlDente Pro has

Three AlDente Pro features come up in almost every older comparison thread. Here is the current state of each, and what BatFi offers instead.

Sailing Mode

A normal charge limiter maintains one ceiling: when the battery falls, charging eventually brings it back to the target. Sailing Mode instead lets the battery drift inside a configured range before charging resumes, which avoids constant small corrections around a single percentage.¹

BatFi does not list an equivalent configurable band. It holds the chosen limit indefinitely and provides the separate Run on Battery command when you deliberately want to discharge.⁷

Older threads describe BatFi bouncing between readings such as 79% and 81% and call it micro-charging. BatFi's developer explains that macOS reports rounded battery-level updates, so the app can react only to the state it sees, and small overshoots such as stopping at 81% with an 80% setting are expected. That is control resolution, not evidence of harm. If you specifically prefer battery movement inside a band, Sailing Mode is the direct tool for that preference.⁷

Calibration Mode

A battery kept inside a narrow range for a long time can lose accuracy in its state-of-charge estimate. AlDente Pro's Calibration Mode automates the correction:¹

1. Charge to 100%.
2. Discharge to 10%.
3. Charge back to 100%.
4. Hold at 100% for one hour.
5. Return toward the normal configured limit.

Calibration Mode can also run on a schedule. BatFi instead reminds you when the battery has not been discharged for more than a month and leaves the cycle to you through Run on Battery and manual limit changes.^1,8

Heat Protection

Apple links battery ageing to temperature history and charging pattern.¹⁰ AlDente Pro can pause charging automatically when the battery crosses a temperature threshold you set.¹

BatFi displays battery temperature but its current documentation lists no equivalent protection mode.⁷ Seeing the temperature and acting on it are different capabilities, and the gap matters most during sustained CPU or GPU work while plugged in.

Pricing and licensing

BatFi requires a licence and costs US$15 as a one-time payment, about A$21 at the exchange rate checked on 21 August 2026. There is no subscription.⁹

Older comments and directory listings still describe BatFi as free. The official product page now states plainly that a licence is required, so treat those descriptions as outdated.⁷

AlDente has more pricing choices.

Prices checked 21 August 2026. Currency conversions change over time.

The comparison only works after you pick an AlDente edition. AlDente Free includes Charge Limiter and manual Discharge and nothing else on this list; every differentiator above is Pro.²

Against AlDente Free, BatFi can be the more capable app, because its single price includes automation, Run on Battery, power-mode controls, battery statistics, a power graph and significant-energy-app visibility.⁷

Against AlDente Pro, BatFi costs substantially less than the €23.99 lifetime licence, with a different feature set rather than a smaller copy of the same one.

Compatibility and Intel Macs

BatFi requires an Apple silicon Mac running macOS Sonoma or newer.⁷

AlDente supports macOS 12 Monterey through macOS 26 Tahoe, with a compatibility list reaching back to Intel MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models from 2013.²

AlDente also has a separate Intel control pathway that can hold the charge limit while a supported Intel MacBook sleeps or sits powered off, without macOS running.⁴

If your Mac is Intel, the decision is already made: BatFi is not supported. On Apple silicon both remain in play.

Sleep and powered-off behaviour

No third-party battery manager keeps executing normally while a Mac is deeply asleep or shut down. Both developers document what happens instead, and the honest answer includes limitations on both sides.

BatFi during sleep

BatFi does not function normally while the Mac is asleep or turned off. Its workaround, Automatically pause charging when the Mac goes to sleep, stops charging immediately before sleep and resumes normal management after wake.⁷

The trade-off is that the Mac can sleep below your target. A battery at 64% with a 70% target pauses at 64% instead of quietly finishing the job overnight.⁷

AlDente during sleep

On Apple silicon, AlDente's default behaviour during sleep is to keep doing whatever it was doing: paused charging stays paused, but a MacBook that was charging toward the limit keeps charging to 100%.⁵

Two Pro options change that. Stop Charging When Sleeping pauses charging immediately before sleep. Disable Sleep Until Charge Limit prevents sleep, continues charging or discharging until the target is reached, then allows sleep again. That is more control over the outcome, at the cost of deliberately delaying sleep.⁵

Powered off

Apple silicon MacBooks always charge to 100% when powered off, because normal software control is unavailable. AlDente documents this directly and suggests unplugging before shutting down or using sleep instead.⁶ BatFi likewise cannot function while the Mac is off.⁷

Apple's native Charge Limit is part of the operating system's own charging system rather than a separate utility, which is one reason it belongs in this comparison. Even so, Apple says a Mac may occasionally charge to 100% to keep its state-of-charge estimate accurate.¹⁰

Battery information and power modes

Neither app is only a charge slider any more. BatFi shows battery health, cycle count, temperature, time to full, time remaining, a power-usage graph and a list of apps using significant energy.⁷

AlDente has grown in the same direction, with a larger dashboard, battery graphs and the Power Flow diagram that version 1.38 rebuilt with a lower CPU footprint and new SoC, USB and display power readings on macOS 26.³

Power-mode control is close to even. BatFi switches Low Power Mode, High Power Mode and Automatic from its menu, with optional hotkeys and App Intents support.^7,8 AlDente integrates with Apple Shortcuts for charge limits, discharge, Top Up, Calibration Mode and, since 1.38, dedicated SetLowPowerMode and SetHighPowerMode actions.^1,3

If the search that brought you here was really about a battery that drains too fast, a charging manager only addresses part of the problem. How to See What's Draining Your MacBook Battery covers the built-in diagnostic path, and How to Check MacBook Battery Usage by App explains the difference between relative energy scores and direct power measurement.

Where Apple's built-in Charge Limit fits

It now belongs in every AlDente vs BatFi decision. On Apple silicon with macOS Tahoe 26.4 or later, System Settings offers a Charge Limit between 80% and 100%. The Mac charges to within a few percentage points of the limit, resumes charging when the battery falls by more than five points while connected to power, and offers Charge to Full Now when you need a full battery. The details are in Apple's battery charging support document.¹⁰

If your entire requirement is a steady 80% while the Mac is docked, try macOS before buying either app.

The third-party apps earn their price when you want something Apple does not provide. For BatFi, that means location- and schedule-aware limits, lower limits and Run on Battery. For AlDente Pro, it means lower charge ranges, Sailing Mode, Heat Protection, Calibration Mode, advanced discharge, scheduling and wider compatibility.

For a walkthrough of the setting itself, see How to Limit MacBook Charging to 80%.

Which one to choose

Neither app wins outright. Your routine picks the winner.

Choose AlDente Pro when the features you care about are about the battery itself: a sailing band, heat-gated charging, automated calibration, Intel support, Setapp or battery-specific scheduled actions.

Choose BatFi when you want the charge limit to adapt to where and when you actually use the MacBook, prefer one payment of US$15, or are happy with calibration reminders instead of a fully automated cycle.

AlDente exposes more settings, which is useful depth when you need it and more to learn when you do not. BatFi's narrower model is easier to set once and stop thinking about. Neither approach is objectively better; it is a workflow choice.

Final verdict

AlDente and BatFi overlap enough that either can hold a charge ceiling. That stopped being the useful comparison in 2026.

AlDente Pro is the more specialised battery-care tool, with Sailing Mode, Heat Protection, automated Calibration Mode, Automatic Discharge, battery-specific scheduling and far broader hardware support.

BatFi is the more routine-aware charge manager, with time-and-location automation, a one-time US$15 licence, deliberate Run on Battery and enough battery information to stay useful without a large feature vocabulary.

Decide with one question: do you want deeper control over the battery itself, or a charge limit that adapts automatically to where and when you use the MacBook? AlDente answers the first. BatFi answers the second. And if an 80% limit on a recent Apple silicon Mac is all you needed, macOS Tahoe 26.4 may make both unnecessary.

FAQ

Sources

Current as of 21 August 2026.

1. AlDente: features (AppHouseKitchen). Current feature documentation for Charge Limiter, Discharge, Sailing Mode, Heat Protection, Calibration Mode, Schedule, Top Up and the sleep-related controls.
2. AlDente: pricing and compatibility (AppHouseKitchen). AlDente Free and Pro pricing, the €11.49 per year and €23.99 lifetime licences, Setapp availability, and the supported Mac list from 2013 Intel models to current Apple silicon.
3. AlDente: release notes (GitHub). Version 1.38 and 1.38.1 changes, including the rebuilt Power Flow diagram, SoC, USB and display power readings, Schedule Templates and the new power-mode Shortcuts.
4. AlDente behavior on Intel MacBooks (AppHouseKitchen). How AlDente holds the charge limit on Intel MacBooks during sleep and while powered off, without macOS running.
5. AlDente behavior for sleeping MacBooks (AppHouseKitchen). Default sleep charging behaviour on Apple silicon plus the Stop Charging When Sleeping and Disable Sleep Until Charge Limit options.
6. AlDente behavior for powered off MacBooks (AppHouseKitchen). Why Apple silicon MacBooks charge to 100% when powered off, and the suggested workarounds.
7. BatFi product page (Micropixels). Licence requirement, Apple silicon and macOS requirements, charge limits, Automation rules, Run on Battery, battery statistics and the pause-charging-before-sleep option.
8. BatFi changelog (Micropixels). Version history covering the 3.1 automation rules, the 50% minimum limit, clamshell discharge, calibration reminders and macOS 26.4 support.
9. BatFi purchase page (Gumroad). The current US$15 one-time licence price.
10. About Optimized Battery Charging and Charge Limit on Mac (Apple Support). The Tahoe 26.4 and Apple silicon requirements, the 80 to 100% range, the greater-than-5% resume threshold, Charge to Full Now and occasional 100% charges.