When comparing Divvy vs Slate, the Slant community recommends Divvy for most people. In the question“What are the best power user tools for macOS?” Divvy is ranked 17th while Slate is ranked 21st. The most important reason people chose Divvy is:
Although it's not in the same level as something like bug.n, Divvy does support the use of keyboard shortcuts to move windows about. You can even create custom shortcuts.
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Pros
Pro Has keyboard shortcuts
Although it's not in the same level as something like bug.n, Divvy does support the use of keyboard shortcuts to move windows about. You can even create custom shortcuts.
Pro Requires virtually no configuration & is very easy to use
Divvy uses a drop and drag style UI that's simple to use and doesn't require any setup or configuration to get started.
Pro Reasonably configurable
You can change the grid dimensions and a very other visual settings to suit your needs.
Pro Super-fast access by defining your own hot key (mine Win+S)
Pro Extremely configurable
Slate is similar to Linux WMs like Xmonad in that it is nearly infinitely configurable. You can either use the default configuration file or just Javascript for very complex/dynamic settings. Slate also offers editing a ".js" or a ".slate" file for configuration.
Pro Based on hotkeys
Hotkeys can be set to re-size and focus windows, as well as activate layout presets.
Pro It's free
Slate is completely free to download and use, which is a great option in a field of Mac WMs that often costs money to use.
Pro Allows for tiling
Slate allows for customizing the config file in order to emulate tiling windows.
Pro Lets you set default layouts
By using a feature called "snapshots", users can set up different default window layouts in Slate that they can switch to and from on the fly.
Pro Window hints
Slate offers window hints which are an intuitive way to change window focus.
Cons
Con Quite inconvenient to assign windows
You always have to use the mouse instead of having proper keyboard shortcuts.
Con No longer updated
While this may work for current machines, the last beta version (to be found on the site) is from January 2016.
Developer's twitter account has stopped being active as well, on November '16.
Con Windows 10 buggy
Not all keyboard shortcuts work. Support is non existent.
Con Installer requires admin rights, installs itself to AppData of the used account
Something to consider if would be used in a restricted environment.
Con Not free
Costs $14.
Con Project is no longer in development
Development is no longer active on this project as of 2017.
Con Hard to configure
There's no graphical user interface for configuring Slate, meaning it has to be done from the command line interface or by editing a config file. This makes it somewhat difficult and time-consuming.
Con Missing features
Unable to perform all tasks of software it was meant to replace.
Can not move windows between 'Spaces' (virtual desktops).
Con Video fail
Demonstration video failed to highlight any of the advantages of the windowing system. Or at least, the advantages were so subtly intrinsic that no-one who didn't already use the system could appreciate them.