# The 9 best Stats alternatives for Mac Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/best-stats-alternatives By Atta Ur Rehman Shah, maker of Vitals. Prices and features checked September 22, 2026. **Short 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, 30 days of history and a notification when an app misbehaves. iStat Menus is the pick if you want more in the menu bar, including fan control. 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. ## At a glance | # | App | Best for | Price | Runs in | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Vitals | Knowing which app is behind the figure, with 30 days of history | $5 during the launch | A window and the menu bar | | 2 | iStat Menus | The most complete menu bar monitor, with fan control | $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 | ## 1. Vitals Maker: Atta Ur Rehman Shah. Best for: Knowing which app is behind the figure, with 30 days of history. Price: $5 during the launch, then $29, once. Runs in: A window and the menu bar. Vitals is the best Activity Monitor alternative for Mac. Activity Monitor shows about 1,000 processes. Vitals shows the 60 apps they belong to, with every helper process counted under the app that launched it, so Chrome is one row with one figure for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network. It keeps 30 days of history for every app, tells you when an app keeps the CPU busy or keeps growing in memory, finds dev servers left running and the ports they hold, and puts every metric in the menu bar. It is the only app on this list built around apps instead of processes, which is the question people open Activity Monitor to answer: which app is doing this? **Good:** One row and one figure per app, helpers included; 30 days 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 too; One payment, every update for life. **Good to know:** Needs macOS 15 or later; Sold direct, not on the Mac App Store, because its sandbox blocks reading other apps' processes. Website: [vitalsmac.com](https://vitalsmac.com/). $5 during the launch, $29 after it, once. ## 2. iStat Menus Maker: Bjango. Best for: The most complete menu bar monitor, with fan control. Price: $11.99 once, $14.99 for a family of 5, 14-day trial, also on Setapp. Runs in: The menu bar. The long-standing menu bar monitor, now at version 7. It puts CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors, battery and weather in the menu bar, each with a dropdown of history graphs and the apps using the most. Its alert rules are the most flexible on this list, and it can control fans. It is not a process manager: there is no full window listing everything, and its site does not say how it counts helper processes. If you want the most detail in the least space, it is the one to beat. **Good:** The deepest menu bar coverage, including weather; Flexible alert rules and fan control; Low one-time price, with a trial. **Not so good:** No full process list or window; History length not stated. Website: https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/. Compared head to head: [Vitals vs iStat Menus](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/istat-menus) ## 3. MacPulse Maker: MacPulse. Best 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. Website: https://www.macpulse.app/. Compared head to head: [Vitals vs MacPulse](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/macpulse) ## 4. iStatistica Pro Maker: Imagetasks. Best 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. Website: https://www.imagetasks.com/istatistica/. Compared head to head: [Vitals vs iStatistica Pro](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/istatistica) ## 5. TK-mac Maker: TK-mac. Best 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. Website: https://www.tk-mac.com/. Compared head to head: [Vitals vs TK-mac](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/tk-mac) ## 6. Sensei Maker: Cindori. Best 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. Website: https://cindori.com/sensei. Compared head to head: [Vitals vs Sensei](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/sensei) ## 7. CleanMyMac Menu Maker: MacPaw. Best 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. Website: https://macpaw.com/cleanmymac. Compared head to head: [Vitals vs CleanMyMac Menu](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/cleanmymac) ## 8. btop Maker: 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. Website: https://github.com/aristocratos/btop ## 9. htop Maker: 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. Website: https://github.com/htop-dev/htop ## 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. - **TG Pro** (Temperatures and fan control, $10 once (on sale from $20)): Per-core temperatures on Apple silicon through M5 Max, fan control with rules, and email alerts. No process list. https://www.tunabellysoftware.com/tgpro/ - **Little Snitch** (Which app talks to which server, From €59 once): 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. https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/ - **App Tamer** (Slowing down CPU hogs automatically, $14.95 once, 15-day trial): Slows or pauses background apps that use too much CPU. Its site lists macOS up to 26.5. https://www.stclairsoft.com/AppTamer/ ## 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 because it is the most complete 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? iStat Menus is the most complete menu bar monitor, with alert rules and fan control. Vitals puts readouts in the menu bar too, and adds a window that names the app behind each figure, with 30 days of history. ### 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. Head-to-head: [Vitals vs Activity Monitor](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/activity-monitor), [Vitals vs iStat Menus](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/istat-menus), [Vitals vs Stats](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/stats), [Vitals vs MacPulse](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/macpulse), [Vitals vs iStatistica Pro](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/istatistica), [Vitals vs ProcXray](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/procxray), [Vitals vs Sensei](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/sensei), [Vitals vs CleanMyMac Menu](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/cleanmymac), [Vitals vs TK-mac](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/tk-mac), [Vitals vs ProcessSpy](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/processspy). More guides: [Activity Monitor alternatives](https://vitalsmac.com/best-activity-monitor-alternatives), [iStat Menus alternatives](https://vitalsmac.com/best-istat-menus-alternatives).