Guides/Stats alternatives
The 9 best Stats alternatives for Mac
Quick answer
Stats is hard to beat if free menu bar figures are all you want. People move on when they want the figure to say which app is responsible, want history that goes back further than a dropdown, or want alerts. Vitals is the pick for all three: menu bar readouts of its own, and a window that lists every app with its helpers counted in, up to a year of history and a notification when an app misbehaves.
Stats is the free, open-source menu bar monitor, and a good one: CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery and sensors, updated most weeks. Its README describes no list of running apps, no history and no alerts, which is usually why people look further. The apps below are ranked for someone leaving Stats, and each is labeled with the job it does best.
| # | App | Best for | Price | Runs in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vitals Best overall | Knowing which app is behind the figure, with up to a year of history | $29 once | A window, the menu bar and the terminal |
| 2 | iStat Menus | A paid menu bar monitor, with weather and a clock | $11.99 once | The menu bar |
| 3 | MacPulse | History and plain-English insights | €14.99 once | A window and the menu bar |
| 4 | iStatistica Pro | A low-cost menu bar monitor with widgets | $5.99 on the Mac App Store | A window, widgets and the menu bar |
| 5 | TK-mac | A Task Manager window with a menu bar dropdown | $7.99 once during its launch offer | A window and the menu bar |
| 6 | Sensei | Monitoring inside a maintenance suite | $29 a year or $59 lifetime | A window and the menu bar |
| 7 | CleanMyMac Menu | People who already have CleanMyMac | Part of CleanMyMac | The menu bar |
| 8 | btop | Staying free, in the terminal | Free (Apache 2.0) | The terminal |
| 9 | htop | Staying free, with the same tool on Linux | Free (GPLv2) | The terminal |
Which should you choose?
| Your priority | Pick |
|---|---|
| Every figure Stats shows, plus the app behind it | Vitals |
| History, and alerts when an app misbehaves | Vitals |
| Fan control that is still maintained | Vitals |
| Staying free, in the terminal | btop |
- 01
Vitals
Best for: Knowing which app is behind the figure, with up to a year of history
- Price
- $29 once, for life, during the launch; $49 after
- Runs in
- A window, the menu bar and the terminal
Vitals is the best Activity Monitor alternative for Mac: an activity monitor and process inspector for CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, memory, temperatures, fans, disk, network and battery, in the menu bar and in a window with a tab for each, and every figure names the app behind it. Activity Monitor shows about 1,000 processes; Vitals counts each helper process under the app that launched it, so Chrome is one row with one figure for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network, and a click on any process gives its code signature, its parent process and command line, and the CPU time and memory it has used since it started. It keeps up to a year of history for every app, tells you when an app keeps the CPU busy or keeps growing in memory, runs the fans at a speed or on a curve you choose, pauses any app or process until you resume it, finds dev servers left running and the ports they hold, puts every metric in the menu bar, each as its own item if you like, shows your coding agents and what is left of your AI plans, answers Claude, Codex and Cursor over MCP, and gives the same answers in the terminal with its `vitals` command. It is the only app on this list that covers every part of the Mac, says which app is behind each figure, and shows the code signature, parent and command line of any process.
Good
- Every part of the Mac: CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, memory, temperatures, fans, disk, network and battery
- Fans at a speed you choose, or on a curve you draw
- One row and one figure per app, helpers included
- A Process Inspector: code signature, parent process, command line, CPU time and memory peak for any process
- Suspend and resume any app or process, or send it a signal
- Up to a year of history for every metric, per app
- Alerts when an app misbehaves
- Dev servers and open ports, by project
- Every metric in the menu bar, one item each, arranged as you like
- An MCP server for Claude, Codex and Cursor
- A vitals command for the terminal, with JSON for scripts
- An Agents tab: your coding agents, and what is left of your AI plans
- Paid once, no subscription
Good to know
- Needs macOS 15 or later
- Sold direct, not on the Mac App Store, because its sandbox blocks reading other apps' processes
- 03
MacPulse
by MacPulseBest for: History and plain-English insights
- Price
- €14.99 once, €49.99 for 5 Macs, 14-day trial
- Runs in
- A window and the menu bar
The other app here built around history: 30 days of it, downsampled, with plain-English insights about what happened, temperatures and fan curves, menu bar sparklines and CSV export. Its FAQ notes that the Mac App Store version leaves out sensors, fan control and top processes, so buy it direct if you want those.
Good
- 30 days of history
- Session recording and CSV export
Not so good
- The App Store version leaves out sensors, fan control and top processes
- Top processes only, no full list
- 04
iStatistica Pro
by ImagetasksBest for: A low-cost menu bar monitor with widgets
- Price
- $5.99 on the Mac App Store, $9.99 for Pro
- Runs in
- A window, widgets and the menu bar
A system monitor sold on the Mac App Store, with menu bar monitors, widgets and alerts for CPU, memory, disk, network, GPU and sensors. The Pro version adds app activity with CPU history, force quit, a web dashboard, a REST API and CSV export. Temperatures and fans need a separate Sensors plug-in.
Good
- Low price, on the Mac App Store
- Alerts, a REST API and a web dashboard
Not so good
- Temperatures need a separate plug-in
- Force quit needs the plug-in too
- 05
TK-mac
by TK-macBest for: A Task Manager window with a menu bar dropdown
- Price
- $7.99 once during its launch offer, $13.99 after; two Macs $13.99; 7-day trial (checked September 27, 2026)
- Runs in
- A window and the menu bar
A Task Manager for people who came from Windows, laid out the way they remember it. It splits your apps from background tasks, shows live CPU, memory and disk dashboards, tracks upload and download speed per process, and puts the top ten consumers in a menu bar dropdown with pause, restart and force quit, plus a one-click quit-all for a frozen Mac. It also reads system, app and security logs with search, timelines and CSV export, and can sample one app for up to 60 seconds. Its site does not describe counting helper processes under their app, alerts, or any history beyond that sample. Version 1.5; the site counts 100+ downloads.
Good
- The Windows Task Manager layout, on a Mac
- Upload and download speed per process
- A log viewer with search, timelines and CSV export
- Low price, with a 7-day trial
Not so good
- No history beyond a 60-second sample of one app
- Helper processes not counted under their app, as far as its site says
- No alerts stated
- 06
Sensei
by CindoriBest for: Monitoring inside a maintenance suite
- Price
- $29 a year or $59 lifetime, 3 Macs
- Runs in
- A window and the menu bar
A performance suite: a menu bar monitor for CPU, GPU, battery and storage and a thermal dashboard, alongside battery and drive health, a cleaner, an uninstaller and a disk benchmark. Its site does not describe a list of running apps. Monitoring is one part of a larger toolbox, which suits you if you want the toolbox.
Good
- Many tools in one
- A lifetime option
Not so good
- A yearly price, or $59 for lifetime
- Monitoring is not the main job
- 07
CleanMyMac Menu
by MacPawBest for: People who already have CleanMyMac
- Price
- Part of CleanMyMac, from $29.95 a year or $79.95 once
- Runs in
- The menu bar
CleanMyMac's menu shows CPU and memory with the apps using the most, memory pressure and swap, disk, battery and network, with a button to free up memory. It is simple and already there if you pay for CleanMyMac, but on its own it is not a reason to buy.
Good
- Simple
- Included with CleanMyMac
Not so good
- Subscription-first pricing
- Shallow compared with the rest
- 08
btop
by aristocratos (open source)Best for: Staying free, in the terminal
- Price
- Free (Apache 2.0),
brew install btop - Runs in
- The terminal
A full-screen terminal monitor with a process tree, filtering and sorting, kill and renice, network and disk graphs, CPU temperature and battery, and Apple silicon GPU figures since version 1.4.7. If you already live in a terminal, it is the best-looking way to see what is running.
Good
- Free, fast, keyboard-driven
- Kill and renice from the list
Not so good
- No history beyond the session, no alerts
- Processes, not apps
- 09
htop
by htop-dev (open source)Best for: Staying free, with the same tool on Linux
- Price
- Free (GPLv2),
brew install htop - Runs in
- The terminal
The long-running interactive process viewer, still maintained (3.5.3, August 2026). Plainer than btop and available on almost every Unix machine you will ever log into, which is the reason to know it.
Good
- Free, everywhere
- Tree view and kill
Not so good
- No GPU, sensors, history or alerts
- Processes, not apps
Tools that do one job well
These do not replace Stats, so they are not ranked against the list above. Each is the best pick for its one job.
Temperatures and fan control
Per-core temperatures on Apple silicon through M5 Max, fan control with rules, and email alerts. No process list.
Which app talks to which server
Its Network Monitor keeps up to 12 months of per-app traffic, with every connection, port and domain, and blocks with one click. Network only.
Slowing down CPU hogs automatically
Slows or pauses background apps that use too much CPU. Its site lists macOS up to 26.5.
When Stats is enough
Keep Stats if what you want is figures in the menu bar for free. It is actively maintained, covers more sensors than most paid apps, and you can read its code.
It falls short when you want to know which app is behind a figure, look back over the day, or be told when something goes wrong. The paid apps at the top of the list do those; the terminal tools at the bottom stay free but leave the menu bar.
Checked, but not ranked
Still in most roundups, but no longer maintained:
- MenuMeters: last release in November 2021; its own README now points people elsewhere.
- eul: last release in August 2021.
- Hot: last release in July 2024.
- iGlance: last release in October 2020.
- XRG: last release in October 2023.
How we checked
Every price and feature comes from the maker's own site on September 22, 2026: the pricing page, product page or App Store listing, and for open-source tools the README and the release history on GitHub. Where a maker does not say whether their app does something, the entry does not claim it either way. Prices change; check the maker's site before you buy.
Vitals is first because it answers the questions Stats leaves open: which app, and since when. iStat Menus is second, as a paid menu bar monitor. Every other tool is ranked for how well it replaces Stats, and where one does a job better, the entry says so. If something here is out of date, email us and we will fix it.
Questions people ask
Is there a paid app that does what Stats does, but better?
Vitals: every readout Stats has, in the menu bar, plus a window that names the app behind each figure, up to a year of history and alerts. iStat Menus is another paid menu bar monitor, with weather and alert rules.
Does any Stats alternative show which app is using the memory?
Vitals lists every app with its helper processes counted in, so Chrome is one row with one figure. iStat Menus and CleanMyMac Menu show the top apps in a dropdown; iStatistica Pro lists running apps.
Is there a free Stats alternative?
btop and htop, both free terminal monitors you can install with Homebrew. Neither lives in the menu bar. Activity Monitor is free with macOS, if a window is enough.
Can I keep Stats and add Vitals?
Yes. The Vitals menu bar item can be reduced to a single icon, so the Stats modules keep their space, and the Vitals window does the part Stats does not.