Comparison
WheelClick vs Multitouch
Two ways to bring middle click back to macOS — here’s what actually differs.
macOS has never shipped a native way to middle-click, middle-click-drag, or autoscroll the way Windows and Linux users take for granted — anyone who switches platforms and loses that muscle memory ends up searching for a third-party fix. WheelClick and Multitouch are two independent answers to that same gap, built by different developers with different approaches; neither is a copy of the other. Below is an honest, attribute-by-attribute comparison so you can pick the one that fits how you work.
Multitouch is by Ryan Hanson (the developer of Rectangle) — its site is here. Multitouch is a general gesture-to-action engine: bind trackpad and Magic Mouse gestures to almost anything, of which middle click is one option among many. It is the "power user toolbox" answer where WheelClick is the single-purpose one.
Side by side
| Multitouch | WheelClick | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $15.99 one-time | $4.99 one-time Three-finger click & tap free forever |
| License | Closed source | Closed source |
| Free trial | 30 days | 14 days No account needed |
| Free tier | No Paid, after a 30-day trial | Free tier Three-finger click and tap, permanently — no account, no countdown |
| macOS support | macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and later | macOS 13 (Ventura) and later |
| Input method | Private frameworks, by its own account Its terms say it relies on APIs "private and otherwise"; a setting avoids them, at the cost of Magic Mouse support | Public Accessibility API (CGEventTap) One exception: Magic Mouse touches, which no public API exposes. Those come from a separate unsandboxed helper, in the direct build only |
| Trackpad | Yes | Yes |
| Magic Mouse | Yes | Yes Paid — touch gestures in the direct build; fn+click everywhere |
| Middle-click-drag | Middle Click and Pan A built-in action; needs a gesture that leaves a finger resting to drag with | Yes Opt-in Middle-Drag plugin for CAD, plus a configurable modifier-key + click (paid) |
| Autoscroll | Not documented | Yes System-wide, opt-in (paid) |
| Swipe gestures | Yes General gesture bindings | Yes Three-finger swipes (paid) |
| Per-app rules | Yes App-specific gesture settings | Yes Per-app allow and ignore lists (paid) |
| Where bugs go | Public issue tracker rxhanson/Multitouch-Community on GitHub | Public issue tracker WheelClick-Community on GitHub |
| Last release | 1.48, 8 June 2026 The date carried by the app inside the disk image its own site serves | 1.1.4, 26 August 2026 GitHub Releases |
| Distribution | Direct download | Mac App Store, direct download, Homebrew The App Store build has no Magic Mouse gestures — the same sandbox limit every App Store app hits |
| Maintenance | Active | Active Five releases in August 2026 |
Cells marked “Not documented” mean Multitouch’s own materials don’t state it either way — we would rather leave a blank than publish a guess about someone else’s app. Every cell was re-verified against Multitouch’s own current materials on 31 August 2026; if something has gone stale since, tell us and it gets fixed. Comparing more than one alternative? See the full comparison — WheelClick and every middle-click app in one table.
Which one fits you
Pick Multitouch if middle click is only one of many gestures you want to customize — Multitouch is a genuine gesture toolbox, its 30-day trial is generous, and it supports macOS back to 10.15.
Pick WheelClick if middle click is the actual goal. Multitouch has middle-click-and-pan too, but it wants a compound gesture that leaves a finger resting; here it is one switch, autoscroll is another, and the two core gestures cost nothing at all.
Either way you end up with a middle click your Mac should arguably have shipped with — see why macOS never did.
Three-finger click and tap are free forever — no trial needed for those.
More comparisons: vs MiddleDrag · vs Middle · vs MiddleTouch · vs BetterTouchTool · vs MiddleClick · all of them at once