Apps · Choosing which apps to move
Will moving apps to an external drive make my Mac faster?
Short answer: Indirectly: freeing space helps a nearly full Mac that's short of room for temporary files and memory swap. The moved apps themselves don't run faster.
It can help indirectly. A Mac whose built-in drive is nearly full has little room for the temporary files and memory swap macOS relies on, and it can slow down; moving big apps gives that room back. The moved apps themselves won't run faster — they run from the external drive.
If your Mac is slow for other reasons, see performance and battery.