Written by
Connie YangSummary: This post discusses the 8 top NTFS for Mac free and paid software chosen from the real survey. It compares the NTFS drivers for Mac in highlights, compatibility, pros and cons, and user experience to help you find the one that is right for you.
NTFS is a common Windows file system, while macOS only supports reading NTFS drives by default. To enable full read and write access to NTFS drives on Mac, third-party software is required. Our guide explores the top NTFS for Mac free and paid options, their features, and other key factors to help you choose the best one.
Overview of NTFS for Mac free and paid software
Let's take a quick look at the 8 best Microsoft NTFS for Mac software first. 4 of them are paid, while the remaining are absolutely free NTFS for Mac.
Paid options
Paid software typically offers robust features, better compatibility, security, and support. Here are some top choices:
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac: Famous for automatically enabling the NTFS drives in full read-write mode on macOS Sequoia or earlier and Apple silicon Macs. The yearly price is only $19.95.
Paragon NTFS for Mac: Known for fast performance and compatibility with M1, M2, M3, and M4 Macs. Pricing starts from $29.95 per year.
Tuxera NTFS for Mac: Offers full read/write access to NTFS drive and companion app - Tuxera Disk Manager for drive management. It's a paid license per user.
EaseUS NTFS for Mac: A simple utility for empowering NTFS drives' read-write permission and management on Mac. It costs you $14.95 or higher per month.
Free options
Free NTFS for Mac software is cost-effective but has limitations in different degrees. Consider these:
Mounty for NTFS: Re-mounts NTFS drives for read-write access and is compatible with macOS from 10.9 to 15 Sequoia. Need macFUSE and NTFS-3G for Mac to download and run Mounty 2.
NTFS-3G: An open-source NTFS driver, but not compatible with Apple silicon Macs and the latest macOS.
FUSE for macOS: Works with NTFS-3G, does not contain additional NTFS drive management features.
NTFSTool from GitHub: A free NTFS for Mac tool, but it is incompatible with M4. Need to run commands to let it mount NTFS in read-write mode on Mac.
Our thoughts about these NTFS drivers
From our survey, tests, and analysis, we found:
Paid options generally offer better performance, stability, security, and compatibility, especially for newer macOS versions and hardware like M4 chips. NTFS for Mac free options might work for basic needs but are hard to use and have compatibility issues, particularly with recent macOS updates and Apple silicon chips.
Formatting external hard drives to exFAT is an alternative, as it's natively supported by both Mac and Windows for read and write.
Comprehensive survey & analysis on the NTFS for Mac
This section provides a detailed analysis of the selected 8 NTFS for Mac free and paid software based on tests, expanding on the overview with technical insights, compatibility details, and user considerations.
It covers all aspects discussed, ensuring a thorough understanding for you seeking to manage NTFS drives on macOS as of 2025.
Paid NTFS for Mac software
Paid software is designed for seamless integration, stable and secure performance, advanced features, and better experience. Here's a breakdown of the common highlights and drawbacks of them:
| Pros: | Cons: |
| 😀 Auto-mount NTFS drive in read-write mode 😀 Support the latest macOS 😀 Fully compatible with M1, M2, M3, M4 Macs 😀 Secure, stable, and high performance 😀 Fast data transfer speed | 🙁 Require payment |
Paid software: iBoysoft NTFS for Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac enables seamless write access to NTFS drives on Mac as if they were native macOS file systems. With auto-mounting, NTFS drives are instantly accessible upon connection, eliminating the manual setup. Additionally, it includes disk management tools for formatting drives to NTFS and checking for NTFS disk errors.
Pricing: Starts from $19.95 per year
Size: 18.4MB
Compatibility: Fully supports macOS Sequoia - High Sierra and Intel-based and Apple silicon Macs (including M1, M2, M3, M4).
Our User Experience: The software integrates seamlessly with Finder, allowing you to edit, delete, and transfer files effortlessly. It offers high-speed data transfers, about one time faster than Paragon's, 2 to 3 times faster than other competitors, and 5 to 6 times faster than freeware for our MacBook Air (2020, Sequoia).
Paid software: Paragon NTFS for Mac
Paragon NTFS driver offers read-write access to NTFS drives, allowing you to edit, rename, and delete files on or copy files to the NTFS drives on Mac. Additionally, it enables you to manually mount, unmount, verify, and format NTFS volumes.
Pricing: Starts from $29.95 per license
Size: 221KB
Compatibility: Fully compatible with macOS Sequoia - Sierra, supporting both Intel and Apple silicon-based Macs.
Our User Experience: Micro NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is hard to use. It costs us much time to enable the Paragon NTFS driver and grant it full disk access. Then, we can run it to mount NTFS drives in read-write mode. Notably, Paragon NTFS for Mac is not working on Apple silicon Macs only after reducing security. It has compatibility errors with Apple silicon Macs.
Paid Software: Tuxera NTFS for Mac
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Tuxera supports read and write Windows drives. It is an NTFS driver built on the free source NTFS-3G and bundled with Tuxera Disk Manager, an NTFS disk management tool for formatting, checking, and repairing NTFS drives. This NTFS driver also works with dual-boot setups and virtual machines, offering smart caching for high-performance transfers.
Pricing: $15 for a personal license
Size: 115.7 MB
Compatibility: Supports Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to macOS 15 Sequoia and compatible with PowerPC, Intel, and Apple silicon-based Macs.
User Experience: The application's interface is too simple, making it a bit confusing to use. Anyhow, with background operation, it indeed brings reliable NTFS access. However, compared with iBoysoft and Paragon NTFS for Mac, its transfer speed is slower.
Paid Software: EaseUS NTFS for Mac
EaseUS NTFS for Mac supports reading, copying, moving, editing, and writing to NTFS drives on Mac. It is designed with Open, Mount/Unmount, Eject, and Erase options for easy management on NTFS drives.
Pricing: Starts from $14.95 per month
Size: 3.8 MB
Compatibility: Compatible with macOS 15 Seuqoia - macOS 10.13 High Sierra and Apple silicon M1, M2, M3 Macs.
Our User Experience: Although this software claims to offer a 7-day free trial, when we use any feature, a pop-up shows for purchase. You should manually click the Enable Writable button to grant write access to the NTFS drive whenever you connect it to your Mac.
Free NTFS for Mac software
NTFS for Mac free options are appealing to budget-conscious users, but they often come with compatibility, security, and operation challenges and limitations. Here's a detailed look at their general advantages and disadvantages:
| Pros: | Cons: |
| 😀 Simple UI 😀 100% free | 🙁 Complex to install 🙁 Relying on other third-party tools or technical knowledge 🙁 Slow write speed for NTFS drives 🙁 Less secure and unstable |
Free Software: Mounty for NTFS
Mounty for NTFS is an NTFS for Mac for free. It requires the assistance of macFUSE and NTFS-3G for Mac to re-mount write-protected NTFS volumes in read-write mode on Mac running Ventura or later.
Compatibility: Supports macOS from 10.9 Mavericks to 15 Sequoia and Apple silicon M1, M2, M3 Macs.
Size: 1959 KB
Our User Experience: The installation is complex post-Ventura due to reliance on the open-source kernel driver NTFS-3G together with macFUSE. It acts as a user interface for NTFS-3G and notifies users of connected NTFS volumes ready for re-mounting.
Free Software: NTFS-3G
NTFS-3G is a 100% free NTFS driver for Mac, enabling NTFS partitions write support on macOS, Linux, Android, and other operating systems.
Compatibility: Supports Mac OS X Mavericks to macOS 15 Sequoia and Apple silicon M1, M2, M3 Macs.
Size: 398.2 KB
Our User Experience: This free NTFS for Mac tool allows you to manually mount NTFS drives in read-write mode but does not allow you to format drives to NTFS. Technical knowledge is required to run this utility properly, especially with System Integrity Protection on newer Macs.
Free Software: FUSE for macOS
FUSE for macOS is a part of the open-source ecosystem for macOS and is often used with NTFS-3G to enable NTFS support.
Compatibility: Supports macOS 15 to OS X 10.9 and compatible with Apple silicon M1, M2, M3 Macs.
Size: 6.2MB
Our User Experience: This freeware is not user-friendly for non-technical users. It requires additional setup and additional software: Mounty for NTFS. This tool may cause stability and security issues.
Free Software: NTFSTool from GitHub
NTFSTool is an open-source utility with a simple interface for mounting, unmounting, and managing NTFS drives on Mac. Supports drive mount and unmount, disk capacity viewing, disk fix, disk renaming, and other disk management features.
Compatibility: Supports macOS 10.13 - macOS 15 and Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3) and Intel-based Macs.
Size: 9.28MB
Our User Experience: Aimed at users comfortable with GitHub and a best free alternative for tech-savvy users. It can help you access and write to an NTFS drive with the features listed on the clear user interface.
NTFS for Mac comparative analysis
To aid your decision-making, we offer a table summarizing key aspects of these options based on our tested data:
| Software | Price | Apple silicon Mac supported | Compatible macOS | Key Features | Notable Limitations |
| iBoysoft NTFS | From $19.95 per year | Yes | macOS 15 Sequoia - 10.13 High Sierra | 1. Auto-mount NTFS drives in read-write mode 2. Access BitLocker-encrypted drives 3. NTFS disk check and repair | Not free |
| Paragon NTFS | From $29.95 per license | Yes | macOS 15 Sequoia - 10.12 Sierra | Auto-mount NTFS drives in read-write mode | 1. Cost may be a barrier 2. Require reducing security settings on Apple silicon Macs |
| Tuxera NTFS | $15 personal license | Yes | macOS 15 Sequoia - Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger | 1. Extended attributes 2. Disk management | Paid software |
| EaseUS NTFS | From $14.95 per month | Yes | macOS 15 Seuqoia - 10.13 High Sierra | One-click to make NTFS drive writable | 1. Monthly fees 2. Not auto-mount NTFS drives |
| Mounty for NTFS | Free | Only M1, M2, M3 | macOS 15 Sequoia - OS X 10.9 Mavericks | Re-mounts for read/write using NTFS-3G | 1. Slower write speed 2. No support 3. Less secure 4. No M4 support |
| NTFS-3G | Free | Only M1, M2, M3 | macOS 15 Sequoia - OS X 10.9 Mavericks | Open-source | 1. Haven't updated 2. No M4 support 3. Complex setup |
| FUSE for macOS | Free | Only M1, M2, M3 | macOS 15 Sequoia - OS X 10.9 Mavericks | Userspace file system | 1. Unreliable 2. Not for M4 Mac |
| NTFSTool | Free | No | macOS 15 Sequoia - 10.13 High Sierra | 1. Simple interface 2. Auto-mount NTFS disks in read-write mode | 1. Complex for using 2. Unstable and easy to occur issues |
To sum up, this table highlights the trade-offs, with paid options offering more reliability and security, handy for use, and free options being cost-effective but harder to operate and riskier for modern hardware.
If you dare the potential risks of the NTFS for Mac free tools, try the cost-effective and secure iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
NTFS for Mac user considerations and recommendations
When choosing, consider your macOS version, hardware (especially M3 and M4 compatibility), and technical comfort.
For general users, paid options like iBoysoft and Paragon are recommended for ease of use, high performance, high security, and continuous updates, especially if using recent macOS and Apple silicon Macs.
For budget-conscious users, Mounty for NTFS is a highly-recommended free option, given its Apple silicon support and compatibility up to Sequoia, though be aware of potential security and slow data transfer speed concerns.
For tech-savvy users, NTFSTool from GitHub could be explored, but expect a learning curve. NTFS-3G and FUSE are less viable for modern Macs due to installation and use complexity.
Additionally, formatting NTFS drives to exFAT is a practical and free alternative, as it's natively supported by both macOS and Windows. This way allows you to read and write to NTFS drives on Mac without third-party software altogether. However, it lacks some NTFS features like file compression and large-file support.
Free NTFS for Mac potential risks and controversies
There's a noted risk with free software, especially open-source drivers like NTFS-3G, due to potential data corruption or loss, given NTFS's proprietary nature and lack of official licensing for non-Windows systems like macOS.
Paid software mitigates this by using reverse-engineered solutions with better testing, but costs may deter you. The controversy lies in balancing cost, security, and functionality, with no one-size-fits-all solution.
Conclusion
NTFS for Mac software is essential for writing to NTFS drives on Mac. Paid options offer reliability, while NTFS for Mac free tools provide cost savings at the cost of stability, security, and compatibility. You should assess your needs and consider exFAT for simpler cross-platform use. If you prefer to use an NTFS driver, iBoysoft, Paragon, and Mounty NTFS for Mac stand out among the third-party NTFS drivers from our survey.