Hosts for Mac

Hosts is a free and open-source tool for Mac OS X that makes managing your /etc/hosts file a breeze. If you've ever found yourself lost in the maze of your hosts file, this app will help you keep everything neat and tidy.

Keep Your Hosts File Organized

With Hosts.prefpane, you can easily manage which entries are active. When you switch off an entry, it doesn't just get commented out—it's stored in the app's preferences instead. So, if you want to use those entries again later, you'll need to uncomment them and toggle them back on manually.

Edit Tracking Made Easy

No worries if you've made direct edits to your /etc/hosts file; Hosts.prefpane detects those changes automatically! It pulls in any edits you've made and merges them into its list.

Your Safety Net: Backups!

This handy app also backs up your hosts file. You can find these backups saved in ~Library/Application Support/Hosts. The backup from before you started using the app is named hosts.orig, and every session has its own backup called hosts.session. So, rest easy knowing your data is safe!

No Touching Default Entries

The default host entries needed by OS X are hidden from view in Hosts.prefpane, so don't worry about accidentally messing those up. They're protected to keep things running smoothly.

If you're ready to get started with download Hosts now!