# SideNotes alternative for Mac: Stickies by Coduo

> **TL;DR** SideNotes is a $19.99 Mac app, a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store as read on 2026-09-25, that keeps your notes in one panel at the side of the screen, always on top, shown by a shortcut or by moving the pointer to the screen edge. It has folders, tasks, images, Markdown, iCloud sync and a separate iPhone and iPad app. Stickies by Coduo, a Mac app that is not released yet, also lives at the screen edge, but each note is its own card: an unpinned sticky rests as a 12-point colored sliver at the right edge, hovering one peeks that card alone, and a pinned sticky becomes its own floating window. Pick SideNotes for an organised notes library at the edge; look at Stickies by Coduo if you want separate notes you can pull out onto the desktop.

SideNotes and Stickies by Coduo both keep notes at the edge of a Mac screen, and the difference is the unit. SideNotes is one panel that holds all your notes. Stickies by Coduo treats each note as its own card: a colored sliver at the edge that you can peek at, open, or pull out onto the desktop as a floating window.

Facts about SideNotes below come from its maker's site and its Mac App Store listing, read on 2026-09-25. Facts about Stickies by Coduo, a Mac app that is not released yet, come from its source code.

## What is SideNotes, and what does it cost?

SideNotes is a Mac app that shows your notes in a panel at the side of the screen, on top of every other app. Its App Store listing calls it "SideNotes – Screen Edge Notes", and on 2026-09-25 it cost $19.99 on the US Mac App Store. Its maker describes it as a one-time payment covering SideNotes 1.x, with SideNotes 2 to be a paid upgrade. It needs macOS 13 or newer.

The panel is always on top: its maker says it stays above other apps in full-screen mode, in regular windows and in Stage Manager. You show or hide it with a keyboard shortcut, by clicking its Open Bar, or by moving the pointer to the screen edge, which SideNotes calls Hot Side mode.

Inside the panel you get folders, note colors, tasks, images, file shortcuts, Markdown formatting with the markup hidden, and notes you can fold or pin to the top of the list. Notes are stored on your Mac and, if you turn it on, synced through your private iCloud account. SideNotes Mobile for iPhone and iPad is a separate purchase.

## What does SideNotes do better?

SideNotes is a fuller notes app, and it is shipping today. If you keep dozens of notes, its folders, reordering and pin-to-top keep them in order. Stickies by Coduo has no folders; its edge column is simply ordered with the most recently edited sticky first.

SideNotes holds more kinds of things. Tasks, screenshots, file shortcuts and Markdown all live in one note. A sticky in Stickies by Coduo holds a title and text formatted bold, italic or strikethrough, and nothing else.

It reaches more places. SideNotes Mobile runs on iPhone and iPad; Stickies by Coduo is Mac only. SideNotes also plugs into automation, with Apple Shortcuts, an AppleScript API and a URL API, plus ready integrations with Alfred, Raycast, PopClip, Hookmark and Dropzone. Stickies by Coduo has none of these.

Finally, safety: SideNotes makes automatic backups. Stickies by Coduo deletes a sticky the moment you choose Delete, with no confirmation and no trash.

## How does Stickies by Coduo's edge stash work differently?

[Stickies by Coduo stashes each note](https://www.coduo.co/stickies/features/stash-to-screen-edge) separately. Every unpinned sticky is its own sliver at the right edge of the screen, 12 points wide and 84 points tall, or 42 for an empty one, 4 points from its neighbour, colored so you can tell one from another. The slivers stack in a column centred on the edge, the most recently edited at the top.

Here is what happens when you reach for one:

1. Move the pointer into the 20-point strip along the right edge, over a sliver.
2. Rest there for a tenth of a second. A card for that sticky fades in at 264 × 176 points, showing its title and first lines, while its neighbours stay slivers.
3. Click the card to open it as a window, or move away; the card retracts 0.20 seconds after the pointer leaves.

The short pause before a peek means brushing past the edge does not throw cards at you. The edge strip is a panel that never takes keyboard focus, so peeking does not pull focus from the app you are typing in. There is one strip on each display, and when nothing is stashed the strip is gone.

SideNotes shows you the panel of notes; Stickies by Coduo shows you one card at a time. Which is better depends on whether you usually want to scan many notes or grab one.

Two limits on this. Stickies by Coduo stashes on the right edge only; there is no left-edge or top-edge option. And past seven stashed stickies the column scrolls instead, and that scrolling column has no hover peek yet.

## Can a note float on the desktop instead of in the panel?

Yes, in Stickies by Coduo: pin it. A pinned sticky leaves the edge and becomes its own borderless window at the floating window level, so it stays above other apps, on every Space and over full-screen apps. Move and resize it, and it remembers where you left it. Several pinned stickies can float at once, anywhere on the screen.

Unpin it and the window closes; the sticky goes back to the top of the edge column. Open a stashed sticky without pinning it, click elsewhere, and it returns to the edge by itself. [⌘⇧N creates a new sticky already pinned](https://www.coduo.co/stickies/features/quick-panel-and-new-sticky-shortcut), from any app.

SideNotes' maker describes its notes living in the panel, which is always on top as a whole; its site does not describe pulling a single note out as a separate floating window.

## How do SideNotes and Stickies by Coduo compare?

| | SideNotes | Stickies by Coduo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $19.99 one-time, Mac App Store (2026-09-25) | Not released yet; see [plans](https://www.coduo.co/stickies#pricing) |
| Requires | macOS 13 or newer | macOS 15 or later |
| Unit at the edge | One panel of many notes | One sliver per note |
| Reveal | Shortcut, Open Bar, or pointer at the edge | Pointer rests 0.10 s on a sliver; one card peeks |
| Which edge | Screen edge (Hot Side mode) | Right edge only |
| Notes floating on the desktop | Not described | Pinned stickies, each its own window |
| Above full-screen apps | Yes, per its maker | Pinned stickies, yes |
| Keyboard shortcut | Shows or hides the panel | ⌘⇧N makes a new pinned sticky |
| Organising | Folders, colors, pin to top, fold | None; newest edit first |
| Content | Markdown, tasks, images, file shortcuts | Title and text: bold, italic, strikethrough |
| Sync | Private iCloud | Private iCloud database, built, not yet checked on two Macs |
| iPhone and iPad | SideNotes Mobile, sold separately | No |
| Automation | Shortcuts, AppleScript, URL API | None |
| Backups | Automatic | None; delete is immediate |

## Which should you pick?

Pick SideNotes if the side of your screen is where your notes library lives: many notes, sorted into folders, with tasks and images, and a phone app to match. It is shipping, it costs a one-time $19.99 on the Mac App Store, and on organisation it does more than Stickies by Coduo.

Look at Stickies by Coduo if you think of notes as separate stickies rather than a list: a handful of cards resting at the right edge, one peeked at a time, any of which you can pin out onto the desktop as its own floating window. It gives up folders, tasks and images for that. It is not released yet; the [plans page](https://www.coduo.co/stickies#pricing) has the details.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a good SideNotes alternative for Mac?

It depends on what you use SideNotes for. If you want an organised notes library in a side panel, SideNotes is hard to beat. If you want separate notes that rest at the screen edge and can float on the desktop one by one, Stickies by Coduo is built around that, though it is not released yet. Apple's Stickies is the free built-in option, without any edge panel.

### How much does SideNotes cost?

SideNotes – Screen Edge Notes was $19.99 on the US Mac App Store on 2026-09-25. Its maker describes it as a one-time payment covering SideNotes 1.x, with SideNotes Mobile for iPhone and iPad sold separately.

### Can Stickies by Coduo stash notes on the left edge of the screen?

No. Stickies by Coduo stashes unpinned stickies at the right screen edge only, with one edge strip on each display.

### Does Stickies by Coduo have folders or tasks like SideNotes?

No. A sticky in Stickies by Coduo holds a title and text formatted bold, italic or strikethrough. There are no folders, checklists, images or file shortcuts.

### Can I import my SideNotes notes into Stickies by Coduo?

No. Stickies by Coduo has no importer. You can copy a note's text from SideNotes and paste it into a new sticky.