What's the lightest browser for 8GB Mac?

Safari, by a wide margin. On identical browsing sessions, Safari uses 30-50% less RAM than Chrome. It's also the only browser built specifically for Apple Silicon, so it's faster and uses less battery too. If you're on an 8GB Mac and currently using Chrome, switching to Safari is the single highest-impact change you can make. No setup required - it's already installed.

Should I use Apple's apps over third-party on 8GB Mac?

For most everyday jobs, yes. Apple's first-party apps (Safari, Mail, Notes, Pages, Keynote, Numbers) are native to macOS, written to use Apple Silicon efficiently, and have no Electron overhead. They won't win every feature comparison, but on an 8GB Mac the memory savings are meaningful. The exceptions are when you genuinely need a third-party app's specific features - just be aware of the memory cost and close apps you're not actively using.

Can I run Photoshop on 8GB Mac?

Yes, but it's tight. Photoshop is a native app so it's reasonably efficient, and Adobe has improved memory management on Apple Silicon. Small-to-medium files are fine. Where you'll feel the squeeze is running Photoshop alongside a browser, Slack, and a few other apps simultaneously - that's when 8GB runs out of headroom. If you use Photoshop regularly, keep other apps closed while you work. For lighter photo editing, Apple's built-in Photos app handles most casual edits without any RAM overhead.

What chat apps work well on 8GB Mac?

The lightest approach is to run Slack, Discord, and Teams in browser tabs rather than installing the desktop apps. All three desktop apps are Electron-based and each can use 300-500 MB sitting idle. In a browser tab you share that tab's process with your other browsing. If you must use the desktop app, quit it when you're done rather than leaving it running in the background. Apple Messages is native and very lightweight if iMessage covers your needs.

Is Pages better than Word on 8GB Mac?

For everyday documents, Pages is lighter and faster on an 8GB Mac. It's native, free, and integrates with iCloud. Word on Mac has improved, but it's still heavier than Pages and carries Office suite overhead even if you only open Word. If you're sharing documents with Windows users or working in a corporate environment that requires .docx compatibility, Word may be unavoidable - but for personal writing, Pages is the better choice on a low-memory machine.

Best Mac apps for 8GB RAM (2026)

The M1 Air, M2 Air, and older Intel MacBooks with 8GB are still very capable machines. The apps you choose make the difference between a Mac that hums along and one that grinds to a halt. This is a category-by-category guide to the lightest options, written plainly, with no affiliate links and no hidden agenda.

I make Shiny, a menu-bar app for Mac memory, so I spend a lot of time thinking about what uses RAM and what doesn't. The advice here is the same I'd give a friend who asked which apps to put on their 8GB MacBook Air.

Why some apps eat 8GB Macs alive

The big divide is between native apps and Electron apps.

Native apps are written for macOS specifically. They use Apple's own frameworks, share system resources efficiently, and are optimised for Apple Silicon. Safari, Mail, Notes, and Pages all fall into this category.

Electron apps wrap a full web browser inside a desktop shell. Slack, Discord, Notion, and Teams are all Electron. Each ships its own copy of Chromium, using 200-600 MB of RAM before you've done anything in it. On an 8GB Mac, running three Electron apps at once is like having three invisible Chrome windows open.

For most jobs these apps do, there's a lighter alternative. Sometimes a native app, sometimes just a browser tab. The RAM savings are real.

For more on how memory works on Mac, see 8GB vs 16GB Mac: does it matter in 2026.

The six-category starter kit

I've picked one winner per job. Not the fanciest option, not the most popular one. The one that does the job with the least memory overhead on an 8GB Mac.

Browser: Safari (not Chrome)

Free, built in

What it does: Everything Chrome does, but built specifically for macOS and Apple Silicon. Syncs tabs, passwords, and history via iCloud. Handles almost every website Chrome handles.

Why it wins: Safari uses 30-50% less RAM than Chrome on identical browsing sessions. On an 8GB Mac with 15 tabs open, that can mean 500 MB to 1 GB of headroom back. It also uses meaningfully less battery, which matters on an Air. See why Chrome uses so much memory on Mac for the full breakdown.

The honest tradeoff: A small number of sites still have Chrome-specific quirks, and some web apps behave slightly differently. In practice, 95% of people who switch notice nothing missing. Extensions are fewer than Chrome's, but the core ones (1Password, ad blockers, reading tools) are all there.

Best for: anyone currently using Chrome as their default on an 8GB Mac. Switching takes two minutes and the memory difference is immediate.

Email: Apple Mail (not Gmail in browser)

Free, built in

What it does: Full-featured email client. Handles Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, and most IMAP accounts. Integrates with Contacts, Calendar, and Notification Centre natively.

Why it wins: Using Gmail inside Chrome means your email client is a browser tab inside a browser. Apple Mail is a lean native app that shares system resources and doesn't hold its own browser engine in memory. It also surfaces email in Spotlight search, which Gmail in Chrome can't do.

The honest tradeoff: Gmail's web interface has some features Mail doesn't (smart labels, bundled promotions view, some filters). If you live inside Google Workspace and rely on those features, Mail may feel like a downgrade. For most personal email users it covers everything needed.

Best for: personal email on an 8GB Mac. Add your Gmail account in Mail's settings in under a minute.

Notes: Apple Notes or Bear (not Notion)

Free / Bear from $1.49/month

What it does: Notion is a powerful all-in-one workspace. Apple Notes is a lightweight native notes app. Bear is a polished indie notes app with Markdown support, native on macOS and iOS.

Why the alternatives win: Notion is an Electron app. It can use 300-500 MB sitting idle on your Mac. For most people using Notion to take notes, plan projects, and keep lists, Apple Notes or Bear does the same job at a fraction of the memory cost. If you use Notion for a team database or complex linked pages, that's harder to replace. But if you're the only user, the move is worth it.

Apple Notes vs Bear: Apple Notes is free, syncs with iCloud, and requires zero setup. Bear adds Markdown, better organisation with tags, and a nicer writing experience. Both are native. Pick Bear if you write a lot; pick Apple Notes if you just want somewhere to put things.

Best for: anyone using Notion solo. The switch takes an afternoon of export and import; the RAM saving is permanent.

Chat: browser tabs (not desktop apps)

Free

What it does: Slack, Discord, and Microsoft Teams all have full-featured browser versions at slack.com, discord.com, and teams.microsoft.com. They work for everything except screen sharing in some cases.

Why it wins: Each desktop Electron app for these services idles at 200-500 MB. That's per app. If you have Slack and Discord both open in the background, you've already spent 500-1000 MB on apps you're not actively using. In Safari browser tabs, they share the browser's existing process and cost a fraction of that. The feature difference for most users is minimal.

The honest tradeoff: Browser tabs don't send desktop notifications as reliably as the native apps, and screen sharing works better from the desktop apps. If you're on calls frequently, keep the desktop app for the duration and quit it after. If you're mainly reading messages, browser tabs are fine.

Best for: people who leave Slack or Discord running all day but aren't actively in calls. Quit the desktop app; use the website instead.

Writing: iA Writer or Bear (not Google Docs)

iA Writer $49.99 once / Bear from $1.49/month

What it does: iA Writer is a focused, distraction-free writing app. Bear doubles as both a notes app and a writing environment. Both are native macOS apps with Markdown support and excellent typography.

Why it wins: Google Docs in a browser tab is a surprisingly heavy experience. The real-time collaboration features load a lot of JavaScript. For writing that only you are editing, iA Writer uses a tiny fraction of the memory. iA Writer is famously minimal: it does one thing and does it beautifully. The memory footprint is almost invisible.

The honest tradeoff: If you need real-time collaboration with others, Google Docs is hard to replace. For solo writing, essays, articles, or journalling, iA Writer or Bear is a significantly better experience on an 8GB Mac and on the keyboard.

Best for: anyone who writes solo. iA Writer is the choice for serious writers; Bear is a good middle ground if you're already using it for notes.

Design: Figma in browser or native Pages

Free (Figma browser) / Free (Pages)

What it does: Figma's desktop app is an Electron wrapper around the web app. Figma in a browser tab does the same work. For simple layout tasks, Apple's Pages and Freeform are native and surprisingly capable.

Why it wins: If you're already running Safari, opening Figma at figma.com costs no additional memory beyond a browser tab. The desktop Figma app adds Electron overhead for no functional benefit. Apple Freeform is worth knowing about for quick visual brainstorming: it's native, free, syncs with iCloud, and handles diagrams, images, and sticky notes well.

The honest tradeoff: Font rendering and some keyboard shortcuts differ slightly in the browser vs the desktop app. For most design work the difference is imperceptible. If you do heavy Figma work involving local fonts, the desktop app handles those better.

Best for: designers using Figma on an 8GB Mac. Check figma.com first; only install the desktop app if you hit a specific limitation.

"The single highest-impact change on an 8GB Mac costs nothing and takes two minutes: switch Safari to your default browser, and quit apps you're not actively using."

What to avoid on 8GB

A few categories where the default choice is almost always the wrong one for an 8GB Mac:

Electron productivity apps. Notion, Linear, Obsidian's desktop app, and most tools built on web tech carry heavy memory overhead. Use the website or find a native alternative before installing.

Multiple browsers. Each browser you keep open brings its own memory footprint. Pick one and stick to it. On 8GB, Safari is the right choice. If you need Chrome for one site, open it, do the task, close it.

Background apps you forget about. Dropbox, Google Drive, Creative Cloud, and similar utilities can each use 100-300 MB sitting idle. Check your Login Items (System Settings, General, Login Items) and remove anything you don't need running all the time.

For more on whether to upgrade, see MacBook Air M1 8GB in 2026: is it still good?

The honest tradeoffs

I'm not going to pretend these switches are always painless. Some require learning a new app or moving your data. Some mean giving up features you actually use.

The question is whether the features you'd lose are worth the headroom you'd gain. On an 8GB Mac that regularly feels slow, the answer is usually yes. Running three or four Electron apps simultaneously is like cooking on a two-burner stove with four pots. Something always suffers.

The apps above are the same ones I'd recommend regardless of how much RAM you have. They're just also lighter, which matters more when memory is constrained.