The Best Desktop Pets in 2026

A desktop pet is a small animal or character that lives on your screen while you work. They vary more than you'd think, so we looked at four things.

• Your pet or a generic one. Is it the same character for everyone, or can it be your own cat or dog?
• 3D or sprite. Pixel sprites are charming and light. 3D looks closer to a real animal.
• Mac fit. Does it run natively on a current Mac, or through Java or a port?
• Price model. Free, one-time, or subscription, as listed by the maker at the time of writing.

Prices and requirements below come from each maker's own page or app store listing at the time of writing. They can change, so check before you buy.

1. staywith.pet: your own pet, in 3D (ours)

The one we make. You add a few photos of your cat or dog in the Mac app, and in about 5 to 8 minutes you see them rebuilt in 3D, free. Keep them for $19 once. They walk the Dock, nap on top of your windows, watch your cursor, come when called, and sleep when you step away. There are 25 animations, and it uses about 2.5% of the CPU while walking on Apple silicon.

Best for: anyone who wants their actual pet on screen. Not for: Windows users, or Intel Macs. It needs an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 14 or newer. More on the desktop pet for Mac page.

2. Shimeji: the classic, with thousands of characters

Shimeji is where many people first met desktop pets. Small sprite characters climb your windows, sit on the taskbar and wander the bottom of the screen. Fans have drawn thousands of characters for it. Shimeji-ee, the best known version, is free and open source, and runs on Windows with Java. On a Mac, Shijima is a free runner with an Apple silicon build at the time of writing.

Best for: free anime and fandom characters, and endless variety. If you're weighing it against a 3D pet, our Shimeji comparison sets out the differences.

3. Pixmeow: a quiet pixel cat for Mac

A pixel-art cat that walks, sleeps and plays on your desktop, with 43 shape and colour combinations. It can also deliver notes you set as small bubbles. At the time of writing it's free on the Mac App Store and runs on macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.

Best for: a calm, free pixel cat on almost any recent Mac.

4. Pets Therapy: lots of pixel pets

More than 75 pixel pets that roam your screen, nap, eat and chat with each other in speech bubbles. It's free on the Mac App Store with in-app purchases, listed at the time of writing as $5.99 a year or $12.99 lifetime, and needs macOS 12 or later.

Best for: variety, and a playful, meme-friendly desktop.

5. Dockitty: a cat that lives in your Dock

A hand-drawn pixel cat that lives in the Dock. You can name it, feed it by dragging files, and let it roam the screen. It's free to download on the Mac App Store, with a $9.99 premium upgrade at the time of writing, and needs macOS 14.6 or later.

Best for: people who like a pet to care for, not just watch.

6. Mac Pet: a pixel pet with a focus timer

A pixel pet that lives in the menu bar or around the MacBook notch, with a built-in Pomodoro timer and an activity history. It's sold directly for $9.99 at the time of writing, and runs on macOS 10.15 or newer.

Best for: people who want a pet and a focus timer in one.

7. Desktop Goose: the mischievous one

Not a pet so much as a guest. The goose steals your cursor, tracks mud across the screen and leaves you notes and memes. It runs on Windows and Mac, and at the time of writing you name your own price on itch.io.

Best for: a laugh, and anyone who enjoys a bit of chaos.