Comparison

Mirage vs Bars

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mirage

Stream your Mac's desktop or individual app windows to your other devices with minimal delay. Offers features like Apple Pencil support and encrypted media, with advanced options available through a Pro subscription.

Highlights
  • Stream individual app windows
  • Full desktop streaming
  • Apple Pencil support
  • Encrypted media streaming
  • Ultra-low latency
  • iCloud host sync
Features
Read full description

Bring Mac apps to iPhone and iPad with Mirage. APP STREAMING Open individual Mac apps without bringing over the entire desktop. On iPad, each stream can open in its own window, so Mac apps can sit alongside iPad apps with Stage Manager. Mirage Pro supports up to eight app streams at once. Use touch, Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, a trackpad, or a mouse. Keyboard shortcuts, scrolling, audio, and clipboard sharing keep the experience familiar. UNIFIED STREAMING When you need the complete Mac, open its desktop as one unified stream. Work with the Mac’s existing display, use a headless Mac, or add a secondary display when needed. FAST, DIRECT CONNECTIONS Connect nearby over Wi-Fi or USB-C. Mirage Pro can also reach saved Macs through an address or VPN you control. Streams connect directly between your devices and are never relayed through Mirage servers. Mirage supports Retina quality, dynamic ProMotion frame rates, stereo, lossless and 5.1 audio, and encrypted media where available. REQUIRES A MAC Install the free Mirage Beacon companion on the Mac you want to stream from. Same-network streaming is free; Mirage Pro unlocks multiple app streams, saved Macs, remote connections, Retina streaming, premium audio, and more. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Bars

Features
Read full description

Bars puts every limit you pay for on one screen: your AI plans, your API and cloud bills, your phone's data plan and your proxy's monthly bandwidth. One bar each, filling left to right, so the one closest to its limit is obvious at a glance. AI, CLOUD, CELLULAR AND PROXIES IN ONE PLACE Claude's five-hour session and its weeklies. Codex's windows. Notion AI. The Claude API, Vertex AI, AWS, Google Cloud and Cloudflare against a budget you set. Your carrier's cellular data plan. Proxy subscription links and VPS bandwidth. Add as many accounts as you have. A PACE MARK ON EVERY BAR A percentage tells you where you are. It does not tell you whether that is fine. Every bar carries a mark showing where you would be if you spent evenly across the window. A bar 78% full with three days left reads instantly as trouble; the same bar with three hours left reads as a job well paced. BUILT LIKE PART OF iOS A Live Activity counts down to the reset on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Home Screen widgets come in small and medium, including one for this month's spend. Notifications arrive at the thresholds you choose, and when you start spending faster than the window allows. INSIGHTS AND RECEIPTS See what each day took from each limit and the pace of the window you are in, then print your month on a receipt you can share. YOUR CREDENTIALS STAY ON YOUR PHONE Bars signs you in the way the official tools do: the provider's own sign-in page, never a password box of ours. Tokens go into the iOS Keychain. There is no account to create, and your history syncs through your own private iCloud. FREE AND PRO Bars Free reads one account in full, with its pace mark and its notifications. Bars Pro reads every account and every limit, and adds the Live Activity, widgets, Insights and receipts. Pro is monthly, yearly with a free week to start, or once for life. Bars is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, Notion, Google, Amazon or Cloudflare. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Bars reads the same endpoints those services' own tools read, using credentials you provide, and any sample figures shown before you connect an account are clearly labelled as demo data. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://noahgeneralgroup.com/bars/privacy

Screenshots

Mirage4 screens
Bars4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mirage at every 6 days against Bars's monthly. Mirage also leads on device support (4 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Mirage sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Bars sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mirage ships an update every 6 days, Bars monthly. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Mirage versus Bars: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMirageBars
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (8 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings8 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size83 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFaux Fox, Inc.Noah General Group Inc.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Mirage

Subscriptions2
  • Mirage Pro Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Mirage Pro Yearly7 Days trial$59.001 Year
One-time1
  • Mirage Pro Lifetime$199.00
1 purchases

Bars

One-time1
  • Bars Pro$8.99

Questions

Is Mirage free?
Mirage is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bars free?
Bars is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Mirage or Bars have ads?
Neither Mirage nor Bars shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mirage or Bars?
Mirage ships an update every 6 days, and Bars monthly. Most recently, Mirage was updated on October 23, 2026 and Bars on October 23, 2026.

Other comparisons