One of the areas where Google Chrome has always been head and shoulders above Safari is its collection of extensions. It’s indeed hard to look beyond Google’s offering if you prefer to have the luxury of a variety of Chrome extensions for full-on customization. Without undermining the plethora of Chrome extensions, I would like to put it straight that Safari has slowly but steadily built a decent library of extensions that can go a long way in enhancing your web browsing experience. If you are more than willing to try out some super handy Safari extensions, I have got you covered with the 20 best Safari extensions for Mac.

If you are already familiar with how the extension works with Safari on Mac, jump straight to the following roundup. However, if you are new to macOS or haven’t tried out extensions as yet, get the basics out of the way – first up.

  • What is Extension?
  • How to Use Safari Extension on Mac
  • So, What Sort of Safari Extensions Should You Use?
  • PiPer: Picture-in-Picture All the Way
  • 1Password – Take Control of Your Passwords
  • TranslateMe for Safari – Translate Web Pages on the Fly
  • Save to Pocket – Save Your Favorite Stories for Later
  • Ghostery Lite – Keep Ads and Cookies at Bay
  • Popcorn for Safari – Get Netflix Ratings
  • StopTheMadness
  • HoverSee for Safari – Enlarge Photos and Links
  • Dark Mode
  • Speed Player for Safari – Adjust Playback Speed
  • Honey for Safari – Keep Track of Hot Deals
  • Turn Off the Lights
  • Don’t Waste My Time! – Get Rid of Time Eaters
  • Short Menu – Pretty Easy URL Shortener
  • Tailwind Publisher
  • RSS Button for Safari
  • Evernote Web Clippe
  • DuckDuckGo
  • Day One
  • Grammarly for Safari

What is an Extension?

In terms of functionality, an extension is quite similar to a plugin for your browser designed to add certain functions and features to it. For instance, they can let you customize the user interface of the browser, enhance the functionality of the already added features, or add a completely new dimension to it for a fully personalized experience.

If you have tried out the Chrome extension, using the Safari extension would be a straightforward affair. There are several popular apps that come bundled with extensions, while others are designed to work as a standalone tool.

As mentioned above, Safari has got a fairly solid collection of extensions. From letting you watch flicks while browsing the web to keeping a tab on hot deals to managing all of your bookmarks, extensions can do a lot more than what meets the eyes. As to which extension should you try, it all comes down to your preference.

1. PiPer: Picture-in-Picture All the Way

Playing a funny video while browsing the web is something that I mostly do to keep boredom at bay. Even though my eyes seem to glance at the PiP video more than the web pages, I love this mode of multitasking as it sort of charges me up – especially after the post-lunch session. Refreshment aside, it also comes to my rescue when I’m working in tandem with tutorials.

Password management doesn’t have to be a hassle when you have a smart password manager always ready to get the job done for you. Widely considered as one of the best password managers across platforms, 1Password is what you should pick to take control of your secret codes. You can use it to create strong passwords that are a hard nut to crack, access your information securely, and share them with the needed safeguard.

The built-in Safari Translation is one of the highlights of macOS Big Sur along with the iOS-style control center, iMessage effects, and the smart battery settings that allow you to keep track of the battery consumption. While I have found the built-in translation quite efficient, it is nowhere near as versatile as that of Google Translation. That aside, it is currently available only in a few countries and supports just a handful of languages.

Imagine a situation where you are running behind the clock due to a rather hectic schedule. Suddenly your eyes fall on an interesting article which you don’t want to miss out on. Wouldn’t you appreciate having an option to save the article for later so that you can catch up with it at your own pace? Most probably, yes! That’s what makes “Save to Pocket” so helpful for the folks who prefer to have a neat tool to capture everything from articles to videos and read/watch them later.

Pocket offers you the freedom to keep your saved stories perfectly organized using tags. And with a clutter-free interface, it lets you read your favorite stories with complete peace of mind. That’s not all, it also supports offline functionality so that you can catch up with your stuff without any interruption.

If you no longer want ads to distract you while browsing the web or wish to prevent trackers from keeping a track of your browsing activity, Ghostery Lite is the one I would recommend you to try out. With the help of Safari’s Content Blocker API, the extension blocks ads and cookies efficiently.

Install Ghostery Lite: (free)

Did you ever wish to quickly figure out how much a Netflix movie/show scored on the rating chart while exploring the massive library so that you could get started with streaming right away? If the answer is in the affirmative, chances are pretty high that Popcorn for Safari could easily fit into your needs.

7. StopTheMadness – Force Websites to Enable certain user-interface features

StopTheMadness does exactly what it implies. There are quite a few websites that disable certain user-interface features that need to be enabled by default in Safari. With this Safari extension installed, you will be able to force such websites to enable the user-interface feature. Simply, command-click and middle-click to open the link in a new tab where you will get access to all the features that have been disabled.

HoverSee for Safari is the sort of extension that can play a vital role in speeding up your browsing experience on Mac. Yeah, you got that right! With this extension, you can enlarge photos and links by just hovering your mouse over images/links. What’s more, it also shows a brief description (subject to availability)

Not for nothing “Dark Mode” has long been one of the most wanted features across platforms. Aside from safeguarding your eyes from straining, it also plays a good part in improving the battery life of the device.

Though Apple introduced Dark Mode more than two years with macOS Mojave, there are still quite a few sites that don’t support it. And that’s what creates the need to have a tool that can force websites to embrace the dark theme. With Dark Mode extension, you will get a unified dark theme that makes content appear soothing to the eyes, thereby helping you read web pages comfortably at night or in low-lit environments.

For the folks who love to play videos in Safari while surfing the web and prefer to control it right from the browser, “Speed Player for Safari” could be the right answer. If you are one of them, it won’t take much time to win you over.

It offers a pretty straightforward way to change the playback speed for any video on the web. Based on your needs, you can set a default playback speed for all the videos. And with the handy keyboard shortcuts, you will also be able to increase/decrease the playback rate with ease.

This one looks primed for the full-time shoppers or the folks who like to keep a tab on exclusive deals offering massive discounts. If that’s you, Honey for Safari should be a permanent extension in your roster. What makes it stand out is the ability to automatically search for and apply coupons on more than 30, 000 sites to help you track down the hottest deals in the town.

Install Honey for Safari: (free)

Times when I’m deep into an exciting binge-watching spree, I want to keep all the distractions at bay to relish the video streaming to the fullest. And I guess if you are also in the same terrain, your story may not be too different from mine. As you may have already sensed, “Turn Off the Lights” lets you fade the entire web page to the dark with cinema-style lighting effects so that you can watch your favorite flick without any distraction.

13. Don’t Waste My Time! – Get Rid of Time Eaters

Time management is probably the most pivotal aspect of enhanced productivity. So, if you have found out that there are too many time eaters that are proving to be bottlenecks in your efforts to double down on productivity, Don’t Waste My Time! could make a great difference for you.

Whenever I come across something really interesting, I like to share it with friends and loved ones. That’s the time when I need to shorten the URL to make the sharing look neat. While there are so many sites like Bitly and URL Shortener that allow you to shorten URLs easily, having a handy tool always ready to get the job done faster is something I prefer to have. That’s where Short Menu comes into play.

Whether you are a content marketeer or a blogger or an emerging vlogger who has to share a number of stories on Instagram and Pinterest regularly, Tailwind Publisher can prove to be a much-needed shot in the arm for you. Using this Safari extension, you will be able to schedule content to be published on Instagram and Pinterest at your own pace.

By showing all the shareable images on a webpage instantly, Tailwind Publisher enables you to schedule posts at a lightning speed. The ability to repin or regram plays a key role in boosting your productivity. Even better, it also provides in-depth analytics to let you track down the ups and downs so that you can hit the bull’s eyes by getting the most out of your skill.

If you had been looking for a way to discover and subscribe to RSS (Really Simple Syndication), RSS Button for Safari is for you. Do note that it requires either a newsreader having the support for RSS, Atom or JSON feeds or an account with an online news reader like Feed Wrangler, Inoreader, Feedbin, Feedly, The Old Reader, FeedHQ,  NewsBlur, etc.

Install RSS Button for Safari: ($0.99)

While browsing the web, I make sure to save something that is essential to me. Whether it’s important information or an insightful story or a detailed chart, I prefer to save it so that I can access it instantly when I need it. With Evernote Web Clipper being just a click away, I find it pretty straightforward to clip web pages.

18. DuckDuckGo – Privacy at the Forefront

If it’s time to put privacy at the forefront of browsing, look no further than DuckDuckGo to prevent the prying eyes from tracking your activity. For those unfamiliar, DuckDuckGo is well-known for its stance on privacy. So, you can count on it to guard your personal information against tracking.

If you have a passion for journaling your life, chances are you would find “Day One” highly appreciable. The Safari extension features a clutter-free and intuitive interface where you can note down everything that comes to your heart with complete peace of mind.

Last but not least, Grammarly for Safari is a worthy addition to this roundup of the top Safari extensions for multiple reasons. Whether you are a student who wants to prevent writing errors from destroying your assignments or professional writers who want to have a smart tool to track down blunders/common errors with ease, this one can have a definite role to play in helping you write accurately.

So, that ends our roundup of the best Safari extensions for Mac. With a variety of cool extensions at your beck and call, I guess you have got what you had been looking for. But before you start unraveling your favorite extensions, make sure to spill some beans about them.