The short answer
Vivid was the first app to unlock the full brightness of the MacBook Pro and Pro Display XDR, and it earned its reputation. MacBrightness does the same job, on the same keys, system-wide, for $5 one time. If you want the original with the longest track record, Vivid is a safe pick. If you want the same result for less, that’s the case for MacBrightness.
Here’s how the two line up.
| MacBrightness | Vivid | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (one-time) | $5 | €10 direct, or $24.99 on the Mac App Store |
| Team / company | $30 for 5, $50 for 10 | €40 for 5, €60 for 10 |
| Subscription | No | No |
| Free trial | Splitscreen Mode | Splitscreen Mode |
| Brightness | Up to about 1,600 nits, system-wide | Up to about 1,600 nits, system-wide |
| Uses your existing brightness keys | Yes | Yes |
| Supported Macs | MacBook Pro 14″/16″ (M-series Pro/Max), Pro Display XDR | Same |
| macOS | 13 or later | 13.5 or later |
| How it works | Opens the HDR brightness range, no low-level hacks | Opens the HDR brightness range, no low-level hacks |
What Vivid gets right
Credit where it’s due. Vivid shipped this idea back in 2022, refined it for years, and got the reviews to match: Ars Technica, 9to5Mac, iMore, TechRadar, and Digital Trends all covered it. It’s built by Jordi Bruin, a well-known indie Mac developer. If you’ve read about “the app that doubles MacBook Pro brightness,” you were probably reading about Vivid. For plenty of people that track record is worth the price on its own.
Where MacBrightness comes in
Both apps do the same core thing: they open the brightness range Apple reserves for HDR so it applies to every app, on the brightness keys you already use. The clearest difference is what you pay. MacBrightness costs $5 once. Vivid costs €10 from its site, or $24.99 on the Mac App Store. For a feature you set once and forget, that gap is the whole decision for a lot of buyers.
You get the same safety story, too. Like Vivid, MacBrightness only uses the HDR range Apple already sustains, with no low-level hacks, and macOS still pulls back the peak if the panel runs warm. And you get the same kind of free trial, so you can prove it works on your Mac before paying anything.
Which one should you buy?
- Choose Vivid if you want the original and the longest public track record, and the higher price doesn’t bother you.
- Choose MacBrightness if you want the same brightness, the same keys, and the same free trial for $5.
Either way you end up with the full brightness your MacBook Pro has been holding back. The question is how much you want to pay to get there.