If you want SoundSource-style per-app volume control on your Mac but $39 feels steep, the fastest reliable fix is SoundDial. It's a €14.99 one-time menu-bar mixer from the Mac App Store that gives every app its own volume slider, mute, and boost — plus profiles and auto-ducking — with no download or audio driver to install.
Why people look for a SoundSource alternative
SoundSource by Rogue Amoeba is excellent software. It's genuinely pro-grade: per-app equalizers, audio effects, and output routing that lets you send one app to your headphones and another to your speakers. But that power comes with two friction points. First, the price — around $39. Second, it installs a system-level audio capture driver outside the App Store, which some people are cautious about on a work machine or simply don't want to manage across macOS updates.
For most people, the real need is much simpler: turn Spotify down without touching a Zoom call, mute a noisy browser tab's app, or boost a quiet video player past 100%. If that's you, you're paying pro money for features you'll never open.
What SoundDial does — and what it costs
SoundDial focuses on the per-app volume job and does it cleanly. Open the menu bar and you get a live list of everything making sound, each with its own control:
- Independent volume per app — one slider per application, adjusted in real time.
- Per-app mute — silence one app instantly without pausing anything else.
- Per-app volume boost — push quiet apps above their normal maximum when a video or call is too soft.
- Volume profiles — save a mix (e.g. "Focus," "Gaming," "Meeting") and switch in one click.
- Auto-ducking — automatically dip other apps when something more important starts playing.
- Quick output switching — jump between speakers, headphones, and other devices from the same menu.
The price is €14.99, paid once — no subscription. That's roughly a third of SoundSource's cost, for the volume features most users actually reach for.
The App Store difference
Because SoundDial ships through the Mac App Store, it's Apple-reviewed and sandboxed. There's no DMG to drag, no kernel extension or audio capture driver to approve, and no separate updater. You install it like any other App Store app and it works. When macOS updates, you're not left wondering whether a low-level audio component still functions.
macOS still has no built-in per-app volume mixer. Windows has had one for years, but on a Mac the system volume is all-or-nothing — which is exactly the gap these tools fill.
How it compares to the free options
SoundSource isn't your only alternative. There are free tools, and being honest about them matters:
- Background Music is a free, open-source per-app volume app. It works for many people, but it can break on newer macOS releases, updates are irregular, and it has no boost, no profiles, and no auto-ducking.
- FineTune is a free, open-source menu-bar volume app — lightweight and handy, but again lacks the profile and ducking features.
- eqMac is a free EQ and system booster. It's more of an equalizer/boost tool than a true per-app mixer, and it isn't focused on individual app sliders.
Free is a legitimate choice. The tradeoff is reliability and features: open-source audio tools depend on volunteer maintenance and can lag behind macOS changes, and none of the free options bundle profiles plus auto-ducking the way SoundDial does. If your setup is simple and you don't mind occasional breakage, a free app may be enough. If you want something that's maintained, sandboxed, and just works, the €14.99 is buying you exactly that.
Quick decision guide
- You need per-app EQ, audio effects, and routing one app to a different output device → SoundSource is worth its price. Nothing here fully replaces that.
- You mainly need per-app volume, mute, boost, profiles, and ducking — without drivers → SoundDial at €14.99 is the better-value pick.
- You want free and don't mind maintenance risk → try Background Music, FineTune, or eqMac first.
Setting it up
Getting started takes about a minute:
- Install SoundDial from the Mac App Store — no external download.
- Grant the audio permission macOS prompts for on first launch.
- Play sound in a couple of apps and open the menu-bar icon; you'll see each one with its own slider.
- Drag to set levels, tap to mute, or push past 100% to boost.
- Save your setup as a profile, and turn on auto-ducking if you want other apps to quiet down during calls or media.
That's the whole workflow — no configuration files, no restart, no system extension to bless.
The bottom line
SoundSource is the more powerful tool, but most people looking for it just want per-app volume that behaves. SoundDial delivers that for about a third of the price, ships safely through the App Store, and adds profiles and auto-ducking on top — without a single driver to install.
Ready to control every app's volume independently? Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store for €14.99, one time.