Lyrimuse
GPL-3.0 · v1.11.0 · macOS 14+
Eleven players, Chinese apps among them, and YouTube Music or Spotify in a browser. Fourteen lyric sources scored together. Lyrics in five places on screen, the Touch Bar included, and on a phone or tablet too.
Compare
Lyrimuse, LyricsX and Lyric Fever, side by side.
Three open-source lyrics apps for the Mac, compared on what each project's own repository, README and release notes say it does.
LyricsX
MPL-2.0 · v1.6.3 · macOS 10.11+
The long-standing Mac lyrics app, for Apple Music, Spotify and a few local players. Its last release came out in April 2022.
Lyric Fever
MIT · v3.3 · macOS 15+
Built around Spotify and Apple Music, with a fullscreen view and a karaoke popup. Its lyrics come mainly from Spotify.
Disclosure: this page is kept by the author of Lyrimuse. Every cell comes from that project's own repository, README or release notes. A dash means its public material doesn't mention the capability, not that it can't do it. Spotted a mistake? Open an issue.
Row by row
| Feature | Lyrimuse | LyricsX | Lyric Fever |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | GPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Latest release | v1.11.0 (October 2026) | v1.6.3 (April 2022) | v3.3 (November 2025) |
| Requires | macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel | macOS 10.11 or later | macOS 15 or later |
| Install | Homebrew (the author's own tap) or a DMG. It isn't notarized by Apple, so the first launch from the DMG needs System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway; Homebrew takes care of this | Homebrew's main cask repository, or a download from GitHub | Homebrew's main cask repository, or a DMG |
| Players | Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, KKBOX, QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou, Soda Music, LX Music, reAMP and the YouTube Music app Kaset. Pick several, or let it follow whichever is playing | Apple Music, Spotify, Vox, Audirvana, Swinsian | Spotify, Apple Music |
| Web players | YouTube Music and the Spotify web player, following the page's real position | — | — |
| Lyric sources | Fourteen: NetEase, QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, Migu, Soda Music, Musixmatch, LRCLIB, LyricFind, Deezer, AMLL, VIBE, Genie, and Apple Music once you connect an account | Several, through its LyricsKit component | Spotify, LRCLIB, NetEase |
| Choosing the lyrics | Every candidate from every source scored on one scale (title, artist, album, duration, word timing and more). Each track's scores can be opened, and lyrics you pick by hand stay picked | — | Spotify first, then LRCLIB, then NetEase |
| Word-by-word sync | Yes, across sources, including Apple Music's own word timing and the hand-made AMLL library | Yes, when the source has it | — |
| Translation | The source's own translation first, otherwise Apple's on-device translation into 17 languages, with an optional online fallback | Shows the source's own translation | Apple's on-device translation, with a per-song source language |
| Readings | Romaji for Japanese, romanisation for Korean, pinyin for Mandarin and Jyutping for Cantonese. Decided line by line, each language switched separately | — | Romanisation for Japanese |
| Simplified and Traditional Chinese | Converts either way, separately from the interface language | Yes | Yes, including the Hong Kong and Taiwan variants |
| Duets | Lines split by singer when the source marks who sings | — | — |
| Listening history | Last.fm and ListenBrainz scrobbling, local listening history, charts and a year-long heatmap | — | — |
| Where the lyrics show | Floating on the desktop, under the notch, in the menu bar, on the Touch Bar and in a lyrics window that shrinks to a mini player. The lyrics window also opens in a browser on a phone or tablet, and OBS can show the lyrics as a browser source | On the desktop, in the menu bar and on the Touch Bar | In the menu bar, fullscreen and in a karaoke popup |
| Discord status | The song, artist, album, cover and progress on your Discord profile, and the line being sung if you like. Off by default, and it only talks to the Discord app on your Mac | — | — |
| Interface languages | English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese | Many, translated by the community on Crowdin | English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese |
A dash means the project's public material doesn't mention it.
How Lyrimuse picks lyrics
Every candidate, scored together.
For each track it asks all its sources, scores every candidate on the same scale and keeps the decision. Open it to see each source's score and why the winner won.
5 sources returned identical lyricsScore gap: only 26 (2.0%).
AppliedSep 30, 2026 at 11:14 PM
-
MusixmatchWinnerWord-timed1,288
Word timing +400 · Duration match +274 · Content corroborated +250 · Album match +150 · Title match +120 · Lines +94
-
NetEase Cloud MusicWord-timed1,262-26
Duration match -68 · Has translation +50 · Lines -8
-
QQ MusicWord-timed1,170-118
Album match -150 · Duration match +40 · Lines -8
-
Kugou MusicWord-timed1,150-138
Duration match -130 · Lines -8
-
LRCLIB903-385
Word timing -400 · Duration match +20 · Lines -5
All 5 candidates scored identically on: Title match +120 · Content corroborated +250
5 of 12 sources answered
Is LyricsX still maintained?
Its last release is v1.6.3, published on 29 April 2022. The main branch was last changed in May 2022; since then only the branch that syncs community translations has moved. It still installs, and it's the only one of the three that runs on macOS 13 or earlier.
Which one fits you?
- You mainly listen in Spotify or Apple Music, your Mac runs macOS 15 or later, and you like lyrics in the menu bar or a fullscreen view: Lyric Fever fits, and Homebrew installs it in one command.
- You play music in QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou, Soda Music, KKBOX, Amazon Music or Kaset, or listen to YouTube Music in a browser: Lyrimuse is the only one of the three that works with them.
- You want word-by-word highlighting, pinyin or Jyutping, lyrics next to the notch, or Last.fm scrobbling on the side: pick Lyrimuse.
- Your Mac runs macOS 14: Lyric Fever needs macOS 15 or later, so Lyrimuse is the one that runs.
- Your Mac runs macOS 13 or earlier: LyricsX still installs there, though it hasn't had a release since 2022.
Let the next song light up.
macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel · Open source, GPL-3.0