Noir alternative for Safari on the Mac: Cameleon compared

A Noir alternative for Safari on the Mac

Noir makes websites dark. Cameleon can also make them light: two warm-paper skins go ahead on a site that only comes dark, which Noir's listing doesn't offer. Noir is the better choice if you want dark pages on your iPhone and iPad too, more than twenty themes, or colours of your own: Cameleon is Safari on a Mac only, with five fixed skins. Prices checked 12 November 2026.

In short

Cameleon works both ways: two light skins for reading a dark site on paper, and three dark ones for a bright site. A skin chosen for a site stays with that site. Every text colour it draws is re-lit to at least 4.5:1, and the result is measured on 15 sites.
Noir makes a dark style for each site from that site's own colours, has over twenty themes and lets you make your own. It is on iPhone and iPad as well as the Mac, as two separate apps, and it adds widgets and iCloud sync.
Both are paid once, with no subscription: Cameleon is $2.99, with seven days free first if you take the download; Noir for Mac is $3.99 in the US. Both set a look per site, follow your Mac's appearance, and work with Shortcuts and Focus.

Feature by feature

Feature	Cameleon	Noir
Price
Price	$2.99, once	Mac: $3.99 in the US App Store, €4.99 in Ireland, £3.99 in the UK, once. iPhone and iPad: a separate app, $2.99 in the US
Try before paying	Seven days with everything on, in the download from caddora.ie; the Mac App Store edition is paid up front
Where you get it	A download from caddora.ie, or the Mac App Store as Cameleon Skins For Safari	The App Store
Where it works
Safari on a Mac	macOS 13 or later	macOS 12 or later
Safari on iPhone and iPad		As a separate purchase
Chrome, Edge, Firefox
Colours
Light themes for a dark site	Two skins: Sunset and Yardage Book
Dark themes	Three skins: Midnight, Dusk and Legacy	A dark style made for each site from its own colours, and over 20 themes
Your own colours	Five fixed skins	Themes of your own
Leaves a site's own dark mode alone	Dark skins do; light skins go ahead
Contrast floor, measured	Text re-lit to at least 4.5:1; measured on 15 sites	Its listing says contrast “is preserved”
Per site and automation
Per site	A different skin for each site, remembered	On, off or customised for each site
Follows the device's light and dark appearance	A default skin for each	Follows Dark Mode by default
Shortcuts actions
Focus filter	Yardage Book while Work is on, say
Widgets
Settings synced through iCloud
Menu bar item	Optional
Privacy and age
Data collected	None. The extension has no networking code	None, its App Store privacy label says, and no ads
On sale since	29 October 2026 as a download; on the Mac App Store since 10 November 2026 (version 1.0)	Mac: 3 November 2021 (now 2026.2.3, updated 6 November 2026)

“Not listed” means Noir's App Store listing doesn't say either way; it is not a guess that it is missing. Noir's prices are from the App Store's public lookup on 12 November 2026, for the US, Irish and UK stores. Prices change; check the store before you buy.

Cameleon's light skins on a site that only comes dark

Its own coloursMidnightDuskLegacySunsetYardage Book

Daring Fireball's page in its own colours — 1 of 336 pieces of text is under WCAG AA contrast. Median contrast 6.84:1.

Daring Fireball's page recoloured by Cameleon's Midnight skin — All 336 pieces of text clear WCAG AA contrast. Median contrast 17.00:1.

Daring Fireball's page recoloured by Cameleon's Dusk skin — All 336 pieces of text clear WCAG AA contrast. Median contrast 18.89:1.

Daring Fireball's page recoloured by Cameleon's Legacy skin — All 336 pieces of text clear WCAG AA contrast. Median contrast 14.84:1.

Daring Fireball's page recoloured by Cameleon's Sunset skin — All 336 pieces of text clear WCAG AA contrast. Median contrast 13.50:1.

Daring Fireball's page recoloured by Cameleon's Yardage Book skin — All 336 pieces of text clear WCAG AA contrast. Median contrast 13.02:1.

Captured and measured 3 November 2026 with Cameleon's own engine, on the real page. How it was measured.

What Noir does that Cameleon doesn't

Safari on iPhone and iPad, as a separate app ($2.99 in the US).
A dark style generated for each site from its own colours, over twenty themes, and themes of your own.
Widgets, and settings synced to your other devices through iCloud.
macOS 12 as well as later versions; Cameleon needs macOS 13.
Five years on sale on the Mac. Cameleon went on sale on 29 October 2026 as a download, and on the Mac App Store on 10 November 2026.

What Cameleon does that Noir's listing doesn't mention

Light skins: Sunset (warm paper, indigo type) and Yardage Book (sage paper, navy), which go ahead on a site that is already dark.
A contrast floor that is published and measured, site by site: the numbers, dated.
An optional menu bar item that can set a skin.
Hovering a skin in the toolbar previews it on the page before you choose it.
Seven days to try it first, in the download from caddora.ie.

Safari's warning, for either

Safari shows the same warning for Cameleon as for Noir or any extension that can work on every site, because it describes what an extension is allowed to do. What Cameleon does with that access, and how to limit it to the sites you choose.

Try it on your own sites

The download runs for seven days with everything switched on. When the trial ends the skins stop applying, and a skin you chose for a site comes back the moment a licence is in. A licence is $2.99 once and covers two Macs.

How we checked

We make Cameleon, so read this with that in mind. Every entry for Noir is from its App Store listings, read through Apple's public lookup on 12 November 2026, or from its developer's own site; nothing is from our own testing of it. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Noir is made by Jeffrey Kuiken, who has nothing to do with Cameleon. See also Cameleon and Dark Reader compared, and how to make websites dark, or light, in Safari.