HONEST COMPARISON · CHECKED 2026-09-24
Hangly vs Shimeji
Both let you put your own artwork on screen, and there the similarity ends. Shimeji characters roam, climb windows and throw them about, and the popular version today is a browser extension. Hangly is a native desktop app with a charm that stays where you hang it.
Free download • macOS 14+ and Windows 10+ •
Quick answer
Shimeji characters roam, climb windows and drag them about, and the popular version today is a browser extension confined to web pages. Hangly is a native app that hangs one charm across every application and never interrupts. Both accept your own artwork; only Hangly needs a single image rather than a sprite sheet.
Key takeaways
- Shimeji roams and manipulates windows; Hangly stays put
- Shimeji's popular form is a browser extension, limited to web pages
- Hangly is a native app visible across every application
- Shimeji has a vast community character library
- Hangly needs one image; Shimeji needs a sprite sheet
What is Shimeji?
Shimeji, in its current popular form, is a browser extension: play with little shimejis while browsing the web, choosing a character that moves around and interacts with elements on the page.
Taken from their own site on 2026-09-24. Products change — check theirs before deciding.
How Hangly differs
Scope and behaviour. Shimeji lives inside the browser and interacts with web page elements; Hangly is a native app visible across every application. Shimeji characters roam and manipulate windows; Hangly's charm hangs from a fixed point and never takes focus or intercepts a click.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Hangly | Shimeji |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Native desktop app | Browser extension (and legacy desktop) |
| Scope | Whole screen, every app | Web pages |
| Behaviour | Hangs and sways | Climbs, roams, drags windows |
| Your own artwork | Yes | Yes, large community library |
| Interrupts your work | Never | By design |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Signed & notarised | Yes on macOS | Extension store review |
Performance
A browser extension animating characters over page content competes with the page's own rendering, and several shimejis at once is measurably heavier than one. Hangly draws one charm outside the browser entirely and idles when it is still.
Customisation
Shimeji wins on breadth of characters — a large community library built over many years. Hangly wins on finished, curated sets and on hanging any single image without preparing a sprite sheet.
Privacy
A browser extension necessarily has access to the pages it runs on; check the permissions any Shimeji extension requests. Hangly is a native app that never reads your screen, requires no account, and documents its collection in full.
Platform support
Hangly: macOS 14+ and Windows 10+ including ARM64, natively. Shimeji: wherever the browser extension runs, plus legacy desktop builds.
Where each one wins
Choose Shimeji if…
- A vast community library of characters
- Animated behaviour — climbing, falling, dragging windows
- Runs in the browser with nothing to install
Choose Hangly if…
- Native app, visible across every application rather than only web pages
- Signed, notarised and self-updating
- Never interferes with what you are doing
- One image becomes a charm without a sprite sheet
Direct answers
Which is better for Mac?
Hangly, if you want something present across your whole desktop rather than only inside the browser, and if you want it signed and notarised. Shimeji, if the roaming character is the point and the browser is where you spend your day.
Which uses fewer resources?
Hangly, in practice. It draws one charm outside the browser and stops animating when it settles. A browser extension animating characters over live page content competes with the page's own rendering, and several at once compounds it.
Which has more customisation?
Shimeji, for sheer number of characters — a community library built over many years. Hangly is simpler to customise: one image becomes a charm with no sprite sheet to prepare.
Which is best for desktop charms specifically?
Hangly. Shimeji is a desktop pet: characters that move about. A charm hangs from a fixed point, which is what Hangly does and Shimeji does not.
Which is best for menu bar customisation?
Hangly runs from the macOS menu bar and the Windows system tray, but it is not a menu bar customisation tool — it hangs a charm below the menu bar rather than changing the bar itself. For rearranging or hiding menu bar items, a dedicated utility such as Bartender or Ice is the right category. Hangly sits alongside those rather than replacing them.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hangly a Shimeji alternative?
Partly. If you want a character that roams and interacts with windows, Shimeji is closer. If you want something present across every app rather than only in the browser, and you want it to stay put, Hangly.
Can I use my own image in Hangly like a Shimeji?
Yes, and more simply — Shimeji characters need a sprite sheet of poses, while a Hangly charm is a single image.
Is there a Shimeji for macOS that is not a browser extension?
Hangly is a native macOS app, though it hangs a charm rather than animating a roaming character.
More questions about Hangly are answered on the FAQ page, and the guides cover the wider category.
Best for
- Someone who lives in the browser
- Shimeji runs there with nothing to install.
- Someone who wants it visible in every app
- Hangly is a native app, not an extension.
- Someone with one image and no patience for sprite sheets
- Hangly takes a single image.
Alternatives
- Hangly vs Lucky Dangle The closest comparison in this list. Both hang a charm on a cord from the top of the screen, on Mac and Windows, and both stay out of every click. Hangly's advantage is breadth: charms made from your own images, eleven themed collections, and adjustable cords and sizing.
- Hangly vs Screen Dangle Both free, both Mac and Windows. The difference is philosophy: Screen Dangle presents itself as a studio for building a charm, Hangly as a library you choose from — with your own images as an option rather than the starting point.
- Hangly vs DangleJoy Very close in intent — animated charms that hang and sway, with cultural and lucky symbols at the centre of both. Hangly's edge is being free, covering Windows ARM64, and accepting your own artwork.
- Hangly vs Charmly Near-identical in concept — a charm on a cord with real pendulum physics that stays out of your clicks. Hangly's difference is reach: Windows including native ARM64, eleven collections, and your own images as charms.
- Hangly vs Desktop Goose These are opposites that appeal to the same instinct. Desktop Goose drags mud across your screen and steals your cursor, deliberately. Hangly hangs one charm that cannot interrupt anything. Choose by whether you want to be interfered with.
- Hangly vs RunCat Not really competitors. RunCat is a system monitor in a cat costume: the animation speed reports your CPU load. Hangly is decoration with no monitoring function. Running both is sensible and common.
- Hangly vs Dockling Dockling is a productivity companion that happens to be charming — Pomodoro, streaks, quick notes, $2.99 once. Hangly is decoration that deliberately adds nothing to your workflow. Choose by whether you want your ornament to also prompt you.
- Every desktop charm app for Mac, compared The whole category in one table, including the ones with no page here.
In short
Different products for different wants. Shimeji for an animated character with a huge library; Hangly for something present everywhere that cannot interrupt and is signed and notarised.