Plush vs. Safari picture-in-picture
One floating video or a split-screen grid on your Mac or MacBook? An honest comparison for 2026.
Last updated:
The short answer: Safari’s built-in picture-in-picture is free and perfect for floating a single video over your work — if that’s all you need, keep using it. Plush Media Player (free; Plush Pro is a one-time $2.99 upgrade; macOS 14 or later) is for watching several videos at once: up to eight tiles (three free, eight with Plush Pro) from the web, local files, and Apple Music, side by side in one window.
Head-to-head: Plush vs. Safari PiP
Safari picture-in-picture and Plush solve different problems. Safari PiP detaches the video from your current tab into one floating window; Plush is a standalone multi-video player that composes many sources into a single grid. Here is how they compare feature by feature.
| Feature | Plush Media Player | Safari Picture-in-Picture |
|---|---|---|
| Videos at once | Up to 8 tiles in one window | 1 floating video at a time |
| Sources | Web (supported streaming sites plus sites you add), local files, and Apple Music — web tiles are WebKit views that load sites the way Safari does; the service decides what plays | The video playing in the current Safari tab |
| Layouts | Grid or Split (free), or Hero (one featured tile, Plush Pro); resizable tiles (drag the seams between tiles, double-click to reset); drag a tile onto another to swap them | Single floating window you can move and resize |
| Audio control | Focus (only the chosen tile plays sound; free), adaptive, and chaos modes (Plush Pro) | PiP audio plays alongside whatever else the tab is doing |
| Shuffle | Yes — random videos from the site you’re on, with continuous playback (site and folder shuffle are Plush Pro) | None |
| Saved layouts | Yes — restore your last session; named sessions are Plush Pro | No |
| Keyboard + VoiceOver | Yes — full keyboard control and VoiceOver accessibility | Safari-level keyboard and VoiceOver support |
| Price | Free; Plush Pro $2.99 one-time (no subscription) | Free — built into macOS |
When Safari PiP is all you need
Much of the time, yes. If you want one video floating over your work — a talk playing while you write, a match in the corner during email — Safari’s built-in picture-in-picture costs nothing, requires no install, and is one click away in the browser you already use. There is no reason to pay for an app to do that.
- One video at a time is all you ever watch.
- Zero cost matters more than layout control.
- No install — it’s already on your Mac.
When you need Plush
Up to three tiles, the grid layout and Focus sound are free. The eight-tile wall, hero layout, Adaptive and Chaos sound, time sync, folder shuffle and saved sessions in this comparison are part of Plush Pro, a one-time $2.99 upgrade.
Plush is free for up to three tiles, and Plush Pro’s one-time $2.99 pays for itself the moment you want more than that on screen. It was built for the situations Safari PiP structurally can’t handle:
- Multiview streams — several live channels in one grid, with focus mode so only the tile you choose plays sound.
- Sports — multiple games at once, or a hero layout (Plush Pro) with the main game featured and the others small.
- Side-by-side comparisons — two takes, two tutorials, two products, playing together.
- Local files + the web together — a video file next to a website next to an Apple Music playlist, in the same window.
- Continuous shuffle playback — with Plush Pro, shuffle mode plays a random video from the site you’re on (or from a local folder), and keeps going.
For a deeper look at the multi-tile workflow, see how to watch multiple videos at once on a Mac.
Plush vs. free Mac players: IINA, VLC, and browser windows
IINA and VLC are excellent free players — if you just need to play a single local file or stream, use them and save your money. The gap appears when you want several sources in one composed window: neither plays websites in a grid, and arranging four browser windows by hand gives you no shared audio control and nothing to restore tomorrow.
| Feature | Plush | IINA | VLC | Browser windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-video in one window | Yes — up to 8 tiles | No | No | No — separate windows arranged by hand |
| Plays websites directly | Yes — supported streaming sites, in WebKit views that load sites the way Safari does | No — direct stream URLs only | No — direct stream URLs only | Yes |
| Apple Music | Yes — native MusicKit tile | No | No | Web player only |
| Shuffle from a site or folder | Yes — continuous playback (site and folder shuffle are Plush Pro) | Playlist shuffle only | Playlist shuffle only | No |
| Saved multi-tile layouts | Yes | No | No | No |
| Price | Free; Pro $2.99 once | Free | Free | Free |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a better picture-in-picture app for Mac?
It depends on what you mean by better: for floating a single video over your work, Safari’s built-in picture-in-picture is free and hard to beat, while Plush Media Player (free, with Plush Pro as a one-time $2.99 upgrade; macOS 14 or later) is the stronger choice when you want several videos on screen at once. Plush plays up to 3 tiles free, or 8 with Plush Pro, in one window — web, local files, and Apple Music — with grid or hero layouts, per-tile audio control, and saved layouts, which Safari’s single floating window can’t do.
Can Safari picture-in-picture play more than one video?
No — Safari’s picture-in-picture on Mac floats one video at a time, and starting picture-in-picture on a second video replaces the first. To watch multiple videos simultaneously you need multiple browser windows arranged by hand, or a multi-screen video player like Plush Media Player, which splits one window into up to 8 video tiles.
Does Plush replace Safari picture-in-picture?
Not one-for-one: Plush has no floating picture-in-picture window of its own. Its job is the multi-tile view Safari doesn’t have, and the whole window can be pinned above your other apps with Pin on Top (Shift-Cmd-P). You can keep using Safari PiP for quick one-off videos and open Plush when you want a grid of up to 8 sources playing together.
Is Safari picture-in-picture the same as split-screen video on a Mac?
No. Picture-in-picture floats one video above your other windows; split-screen video means two or more videos playing side by side on one screen. macOS Split View can tile two app windows (both play audio, nothing is saved), and Plush is a split-screen video player that arranges up to 8 tiles in one window on a Mac or MacBook, with focus audio and saved layouts.
Is Plush a subscription?
No — Plush Media Player is free on the Mac App Store with up to 3 tiles. Plush Pro is a one-time $2.99 in-app purchase, not a subscription, and it unlocks up to 8 tiles, the hero layout, Adaptive and Chaos sound, time sync, folder shuffle and saved sessions. Anyone who downloaded Plush before version 1.5.0 has Plush Pro for free.
Guides from the blog
Ready for more than one video?
Plush Media Player is free on the Mac App Store; Plush Pro is a one-time $2.99 upgrade — no subscription. Requires macOS 14 or later.
Built for Apple Silicon
Learn more about Plush, the multi-screen video player for Mac, read how to watch multiple videos at once on a Mac or MacBook, or see what multi-screen video on a Mac really means.