Source: https://mactoolbox.app/vs/toolbox-vs-permute

# Toolbox vs Permute

By Nikhil Barik · Published November 3, 2026 · Prices and features checked November 5, 2026

## Quick answer

Permute is a focused converter for many media formats. Toolbox has conversion tools too, but also compresses, trims, merges and edits files, including PDFs. Pick Permute for broad format support, and Toolbox for a wider set of everyday file jobs.

## What each one is

Toolbox is a set of 96 small Mac tools for video, audio, images, PDFs, text and Mac housekeeping. It runs on your Mac, needs no account and costs from $19 once.

Permute is a Mac app by Charlie Monroe Software that converts media files.

## Feature by feature

Only the areas where the two overlap are compared here.

| Feature | Toolbox | Permute |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Video and audio conversion | Convert Video, Convert Audio | Over 100 formats across video, audio, images, PDFs and text |
| Image conversion | Convert Images tool | Images including HEIC, AVIF and WebP |
| Transcription | Transcribe tool | Transcribes audio to text or SRT subtitles |
| Text to speech | Text to Speech tool | Text-to-audio narration |
| OCR | Extract Text tool | Image to text |
| Requirements | See the Toolbox site | Permute 4 needs macOS 26 and Apple Silicon; Permute 3 supports macOS 11 to 15 or Intel |
| Price | From $19 one-time, no subscription | $14.99 one-time license direct from the developer (excluding tax) |

## When Permute is the better choice

Choose Permute if you mostly convert files and want the widest range of formats in a single drag-and-drop app. It is also available on the Mac App Store and Setapp.

Toolbox does not try to match its format list.

## When Toolbox is the better choice

Choose Toolbox if you also need to compress, trim, merge, redact or sign files, not only convert them.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is Permute a one-time purchase?**

The developer's site lists Permute 4 at $14.99 as a permanent license, excluding tax.

**Does Toolbox convert as many formats as Permute?**

Permute lists over 100 formats. Toolbox has convert tools for video, audio, images and documents, but Permute's range is broader.

## Tools mentioned

- [**Convert Video**: Change videos to MP4, MOV, WebM or M4V.](https://mactoolbox.app/convert-video-to-mp4-mac)
- [**Convert Audio**: Change audio files to MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC or AIFF.](https://mactoolbox.app/convert-audio-to-mp3-mac)
- [**Convert Images**: Save photos as JPEG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF or WebP.](https://mactoolbox.app/heic-to-jpg-mac)
- [**Transcribe**: Turn speech in audio and video into a timestamped transcript.](https://mactoolbox.app/transcribe-audio-mac)

## Keep reading

- [All guides](https://mactoolbox.app/guides)