Command Reopen vs Contexts: Which Should You Use on Mac?

Choose Contexts if you want to find windows by typing their name, from a sidebar or with a gesture, and don't mind that it hasn't been updated since 2022. Choose Command Reopen if you just want Cmd+Tab to bring back minimized windows, or open a new one when an app has none, with no permissions.

How they differ day to day

I make Command Reopen, so keep that in mind. Everything here was checked against Contexts’ website, release notes and update feed on September 25, 2026.

Contexts is built for people with lots of windows. Press Control + Space, type a few letters of a window’s title and you’re there. It also offers a sidebar listing your windows, trackpad gestures and its own Command-Tab switcher that lists windows separately. Users often say it feels more native than other switchers.

Command Reopen solves a narrower problem. It keeps the Mac’s Cmd + Tab, and when the app you switch to has no visible window, it sends the same reopen request as a Dock click, so the app brings back its minimized window or opens a new one. It needs no permissions.

Is Contexts still maintained?

Its own release notes and update feed list version 3.9, released in August 2022, as the latest. That release added native Apple Silicon support; nothing has shipped since. Its website says it works on macOS Ventura, Sonoma and Sequoia, so it may still work for you, but newer macOS versions haven’t had a Contexts update. AlternativeTo now lists it as possibly discontinued.

Command Reopen is actively updated; version 1.5.0 came out in August 2026.

The short version

If you rely on typing to find windows and Contexts still works on your Mac, there’s no pressing reason to switch. If what bothers you is Command-Tab leaving windows minimized, Command Reopen fixes exactly that without any permission. You can also restore minimized windows without installing anything.