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.

About Hangly

Free download • macOS 14+ and Windows 10+ • • Install help

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

Hangly compared with Shimeji, feature by feature
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 needs no account and never reads your screen, your files or the images you turn into charms. It does register each installation with its developer (a random ID, the nickname you choose, your city worked out from your connection, your versions and when it was used) and sends anonymous usage events and crash reports; the privacy page lists all of it.

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.

Every Hangly charm is listed on the charms page, including the twelve cultural luck and protection charms this category competes on. More questions 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 advantages are price and breadth: free, 161 charms across 21 collections, nine rope styles and a native ARM64 build. Lucky Dangle's is its rituals.
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, and your own images welcome in both. Hangly's edge is being free, with five times the charms and a native Windows ARM64 build. DangleJoy's is reach: Android, the Mac App Store and a site in 12 languages.
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, 21 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.
Hangly vs Screen Charms Close in what they do, different in how they charge. Screen Charms gives you one charm free and the rest for $4.99, plus a focus timer. Hangly gives you all 161 charms and custom images free, and runs on Windows too.
Hangly vs Desk Dangle The closest free pair in the category. Both hang a swinging charm on Mac and Windows, both are click-through, and both take your own images. Desk Dangle is smaller and can use the notch; Hangly is the bigger library.
Hangly vs Book My Luck The same idea at different prices. Book My Luck is a one-time licence per computer with seasonal collections; Hangly is free with a far larger catalogue.
Hangly vs Drishti Dangle Both are built around Indian charms. Drishti Dangle adds musical wind chimes and animated 3D models for ₹99, but could not be bought on 9 October 2026. Hangly is free and available now.
Hangly vs DeskCharm DeskCharm is a developer's project; Hangly is a finished app. Both are free, and both have open source on GitHub.
Hangly vs OpenPets Different kinds of thing. OpenPets is an animated pet and, now, an assistant; Hangly is an ornament.
Hangly vs Cat Fidget A pet and a charm. Cat Fidget wins on privacy and on things to do; Hangly wins on platforms and on asking nothing of you.
Hangly vs Dockitty Two small delights in different places: the Dock and the top of the screen.
Hangly vs Googly Eyes Both free, both whimsical, in different places.
Hangly vs Oneko Different eras and different platforms: Oneko for X11, Hangly for Mac and Windows.
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.