DeployBar vs Deplog vs MakerNotch: watch Vercel and GitHub Actions on Mac
Several Mac apps watch your deployments so you don't have to keep a Vercel tab open. They differ in scope: some only track builds, MakerNotch adds the rest of each project. Here is how they compare.
Last updated:
THE SCOPE, AT A GLANCE
How much of your project each app sees
- DEPLOYBAR
Builds
Vercel and GitHub Actions, with alerts for each event. Free.
- Vercel
- Actions
- DEPLOG
Builds + explanation
The same builds, with an AI summary of failed logs.
- Vercel
- Actions
- AI
- MAKERNOTCH
The whole project
Builds next to pull requests, revenue, errors and issues, per project.
- Vercel
- Cloudflare
- Actions
- GitLab
- Stripe
- Sentry
- +5
Based on what each publisher lists, checked on 5 October 2026 · We make MakerNotch
The short answer
- You only want to know when a build finishes or fails, for free: DeployBar (open source).
- You want build notifications plus an AI explanation of failed logs: Deplog.
- You want deployments next to CI, revenue and issues, organised per project: MakerNotch.
We make MakerNotch. Details about other apps come from their publishers’ pages, checked on 5 October 2026, not from hands-on testing.
Comparison table
| DeployBar | Deplog | MakerNotch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Menu bar | Menu bar | Notch (or top of the screen on Macs without one) |
| Deployments | Vercel | Vercel | Vercel, Cloudflare Pages |
| CI | GitHub Actions | GitHub Actions | GitHub Actions, GitLab pipelines |
| Beyond builds | — | AI root-cause summary of failed logs (macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence) | Pull requests, Stripe and Polar revenue, Linear, Sentry, Supabase, DataFast, Resend |
| Several accounts | Scope switcher across accounts, organisations and teams | Not advertised | One project per product, each with its own keys |
| Notifications | macOS notifications for failure, success, start and cancel | Instant notifications on build completion or failure | Optional macOS notifications for build failures, with quiet hours; status dot and headline in the collapsed notch |
| macOS | 14 or later | 15 or later | 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Price | Free, MIT licence | US$6.99 one-time, Family Sharing | US$9 one-time, 1 Mac at a time |
There are other projects with similar names. The DeployBar at deploybar.app is a different app: it covers GitHub Actions, GitLab, Depot CI, Gitea Actions and Vercel, with a free tier and a paid plan at US$4.99/month.
When a deploy monitor is enough
If your question is only “did the build pass?”, a menu bar monitor answers it with less setup. DeployBar is free and handles several accounts; Deplog adds a log explanation when something breaks. Neither needs you to think in projects.
When MakerNotch fits better
A green deployment is one signal. When you maintain several products, the next questions are usually: are there pull requests waiting, did the last release hurt sign-ups or revenue, are there new errors in Sentry? MakerNotch puts those answers in the same panel for each project:
- Select a project in the notch.
- Read its deployments (production and preview, branch and status) and its CI.
- In the same panel, check its open pull requests, revenue, errors and assigned issues.
- Switch to the next project. Its own keys and accounts come with it.
Setup and permissions for each provider are covered in Vercel deployments on Mac, Cloudflare Pages on Mac and GitHub pull requests and CI on Mac.
Limits to know
MakerNotch is a status panel, not an alerting service. Its optional macOS notifications cover build failures, not every success, start or cancel; turn them on in Settings. Refresh is manual unless you enable automatic updates, and nothing is checked while your Mac is asleep. If you need guaranteed alerts, keep provider emails or an external monitor.
Try it
MakerNotch needs macOS 14 or later. Watch the app tour with sample projects, or compare it with other notch apps in the best Mac notch apps for developers.