Menu bar clutter is a problem that sneaks up on you. One day you have a clean menu bar, and a few months later you’re playing Tetris trying to fit all your utility icons around the notch on newer MacBook Pros. I’ve been using Bartender for years to manage this, but when I saw BuhoBarX from Dr. Buho, I was curious about a newer alternative built specifically with modern Macs in mind.
BuhoBarX tackles menu bar organization with a straightforward approach. You hide the icons you don’t need constantly visible, and reveal them when necessary by hovering or clicking on the menu bar. What caught my attention was the custom hotkey support—you can pull up your hidden icons without clicking at all, which feels faster once you build the muscle memory.
The app includes some thoughtful features beyond basic hiding. You can adjust spacing between menu bar icons, which is particularly useful if you’ve got items bunching up awkwardly near the notch. The drag-and-drop interface for reordering icons works as you’d expect, and the ability to create custom layout profiles means you can switch between different menu bar configurations based on context—work mode, presentation mode, or whatever setup makes sense for your workflow.
Performance-wise, BuhoBarX is lightweight and works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Dr. Buho positions it as completely free in some materials, though other sources indicate a $20 lifetime license with a 7-day trial period. The pricing situation isn’t entirely clear from the website, so it’s worth checking the current model before committing.
As a Bartender alternative, BuhoBarX covers the basics well. It doesn’t have Bartender’s depth of customization or the years of refinement that come with being the established solution, but it’s also simpler to configure. If you’re looking for straightforward menu bar management without the complexity of Bartender’s advanced features, BuhoBarX is worth evaluating during the trial period.
The biggest competition in this space includes Hidden Bar (free and open source), Bartender (the established premium option at $18), and Ice (another newer alternative). BuhoBarX slots somewhere in the middle—more features than Hidden Bar, less complex than Bartender, and with layout profiles that distinguish it from simpler alternatives.
For users on newer MacBooks dealing with notch-related menu bar challenges, or anyone tired of icon clutter but not quite ready to commit to Bartender’s learning curve, BuhoBarX presents a reasonable middle ground. The custom layouts feature is particularly appealing if you genuinely switch between different working contexts throughout the day.
