Your hosts file,
one click away.
HostsBar isn't another config tool with tabs and profiles. It's your real /etc/hosts, living in your menu bar. Every entry becomes a switch you can flip. Point a domain at staging, hit Apply, done.
Go ahead, click the rows above.
Everything between you and DNS.
Built for web developers who point domains at staging servers all day and are tired of doing it in vim with sudo.
Flip entries like switches
Every entry in your hosts file becomes a toggle. Commented-out lines show up as switched off. One click brings them back.
Staged changes, one prompt
Toggle five things, then hit Apply once. One password dialog writes everything. Nothing touches disk before that.
DNS cache flushed for you
Every Apply runs dscacheutil and restarts mDNSResponder, so changes take effect immediately.
Automatic backups
Before every write, your current hosts file is backed up. The last 20 versions are always one click away.
Byte-for-byte faithful
Lines you don't touch round-trip exactly as they were: comments, spacing, that header from 2009. Your file stays yours.
Quick add with live preview
Type myapp.test and it becomes 127.0.0.1 myapp.test. Chips preview exactly what will be added before you press return.
System entries stay safe
localhost and broadcasthost are locked away in their own section. You can't break them, even at 2am.
Native and tiny
Pure SwiftUI, ~1 MB, no Electron, no daemon, no analytics. It reads one file and writes it back.
Three clicks from staging to live.
Click the menu bar icon
HostsBar reads your hosts file and shows every entry, active ones on top, sorted from A to Z.
Toggle or add entries
Flip a switch to route a domain elsewhere, or type a new mapping in the quick-add field.
Hit Apply
One admin prompt, an automatic backup, a DNS flush. Your browser sees the new address right away.
Fair questions.
Is it safe to let an app edit my hosts file?
Safer than editing it by hand. HostsBar backs up your hosts file before every single write (keeping the last 20 copies in ~/Library/Application Support/HostsBar/Backups), never rewrites lines you didn't touch, and locks the system entries so localhost always resolves.
Why does it ask for my password?
/etc/hosts is owned by root. That's a macOS rule, not ours. HostsBar stages all your changes and asks exactly once per Apply, using the standard macOS authorization dialog. It never stores your password and has no privileged helper running in the background.
Will macOS warn me about the app?
No. HostsBar is signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, so it installs and opens without any Gatekeeper warnings.
What does it need to run?
macOS 14 Sonoma or later. The universal binary runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel. No account, no analytics. The app's only network request is validating your license key.
What does it cost?
€7.50, once. That includes a license for 3 Macs and free updates. Try it free for 7 days first, no account needed. Payments and licensing are handled by Polar.
Get HostsBar
Stop sudo-ing into vim. Your hosts file deserves a nicer home.