The Best Permute Alternative for Windows and Linux

The short version

Pricing checked in August 2026. Charlie Monroe Software runs promotions, so check their page before you buy anything.

Do not read that format row as a score. Every vendor counts differently: some count formats they can open, some count formats they can write, and some count both as one number. Permute's figure is its own claim in its own units. The row worth comparing is the one above it, because a big number of Mac media formats is still Mac media formats, and Permute does not open email or ebook files at any count.

What Permute is

Permute from Charlie Monroe Software handles video, audio, images, PDF and text. It runs on macOS only. It is $14.99 as a one-time purchase, or comes with a Setapp subscription at $14.99 a month. Bought outright it is cheaper than How to Convert, and the honest answer is that it is good value on a Mac.

For format coverage it advertises 100+ formats.

Where Permute is the better buy

Permute is genuinely well made, native to macOS, and cheaper than How to Convert. If you are staying on a Mac forever and its format list covers your work, there is no strong reason to switch.

Why people go looking for something else

The usual reason is that you moved to Windows or Linux, or you work across more than one operating system.

How to Convert (I built this one)

How to Convert does 5,438 conversion pairs across 124 file types, covering audio, video, images, documents, ebooks and email. It costs $29 once. There is no subscription, no renewal, and no separate licence for each operating system. One purchase covers Mac, Windows and Linux on up to 5 devices.

Everything runs on your own machine. Files are never uploaded to a server, which matters more than it used to: in March 2025 the FBI's Denver field office warned that free online converters were being used to deliver malware and to scrape uploaded files for passwords and financial details.

Converting as many files as you like in one go

This is the job most converters make you do one file at a time. Select as many files as you want, drag them in, pick the output format once, and walk away. There is no queue limit and no per-file confirmation, and because it runs on your own machine the speed depends on your CPU rather than someone else's upload queue.

Where it wins against Permute

• It runs on Windows and Linux as well as macOS, from a single purchase.
• Permute advertises 100+ formats. This does 5,438 conversion pairs across 124 file types, which is a different order of coverage rather than a slightly longer list.
• It converts email, ebooks, comic book archives and vector output, none of which Permute handles.
• 5,438 conversion pairs across 124 file types, so whatever you need to convert next is probably already covered.
• Nothing is uploaded, so private documents, client work and personal photos never leave your computer.

What Permute cannot do

Permute handles video, audio, images, PDF and text, and advertises 100+ formats. This does 5,438 conversion pairs across 124 file types, so the gap is not a slightly longer list, it is whole categories of file. All of the below runs in the same app, on the same one-time licence.

Email files, which almost nothing else converts

Outlook .msg and standard .eml files are genuinely awkward. They hold the message, formatting and attachments in one container, so most converters skip them entirely and most people end up forwarding mail to themselves as a workaround. Here they convert like any other file, attachments included, without the contents passing through a server.

Document and ebook formats

CBZ, CBR, EPUB, MOBI and the rest are the formats general-purpose converters tend to ignore. They are archives and layout containers rather than simple media files, so they need handling that understands page order and metadata rather than just repackaging bytes.

Turning a raster image into a real vector

This is not a rename. It traces the image and produces an actual SVG with editable paths, so a logo scraped off an old site can be scaled to any size without going soft. Most converters cannot do this at all, and the ones that can are usually a separate paid purchase.

Where it does not win

It is a converter, the same as Permute is. It does not edit video on a timeline or retouch photos, and it is not as tightly woven into macOS as an app built only for the Mac can be.

Should you switch?

Switch if you convert more than one type of file, work across more than one operating system, or object to paying again for something you use occasionally. Permute is cheaper outright, so this is not an argument about price. It is that this one also runs on Windows and Linux, and converts things Permute does not.

Stay with Permute if the specific thing it does better is the thing you bought it for. Permute is genuinely well made, native to macOS, and cheaper than How to Convert. If you are staying on a Mac forever and its format list covers your work, there is no strong reason to switch.

You can try most conversions in the browser first, free, before buying anything. Drag a file onto the converter on the home page and see whether it handles your files properly.