Guides/Best system monitors for Mac
The 10 best system monitors for Mac
Quick answer
Vitals is the best system monitor for Mac if you want to know which app is behind a figure: it lists every app with its helper processes counted in, keeps 30 days of history, alerts you when an app misbehaves, and puts each readout in the menu bar as its own item. iStat Menus puts the most figures in the menu bar and controls fans. Stats is the best free one.
A system monitor answers two questions: how busy the Mac is, and why. Most monitors answer the first, in the menu bar. Fewer answer the second, which app is responsible, and fewer still remember what happened while you were not looking. The apps below are ranked on both, and each is labeled with the job it does best. Tools that do one neighboring job, such as temperatures and fans or network connections, are listed apart.
| # | App | Best for | Price | Runs in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vitals Best overall | Knowing which app is behind every figure, over 30 days | $9 during the launch | A window and the menu bar |
| 2 | iStat Menus | The most in the menu bar, with fan control | $11.99 once | The menu bar |
| 3 | Stats | Free menu bar figures, open source | Free (MIT license) | The menu bar |
| 4 | MacPulse | History explained in plain English | €14.99 once | A window and the menu bar |
| 5 | iStatistica Pro | Widgets, a web dashboard and a REST API | $5.99 on the Mac App Store | A window, widgets and the menu bar |
| 6 | Sensei | Monitoring inside a maintenance suite | $29 a year or $59 lifetime | A window and the menu bar |
| 7 | TK-mac | A Windows-style Task Manager | $7.99 once during its launch offer | A window and the menu bar |
| 8 | CleanMyMac Menu | People who already have CleanMyMac | Part of CleanMyMac | The menu bar |
| 9 | btop | A monitor in the terminal, with graphs | Free (Apache 2.0) | The terminal |
| 10 | htop | The terminal, on every machine you log into | Free (GPLv2) | The terminal |
- 01
Vitals
Best for: Knowing which app is behind every figure, over 30 days
- Price
- $9 during the launch, then $29, once
- Runs in
- A window and the menu bar
Vitals answers both questions a system monitor is for. How busy: every readout, CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, temperature and battery, can sit in the menu bar as its own item. Which app: the window lists the 60 apps behind about 1,000 processes, each with its helpers counted in, with 30 days of history for every app and a notification when one misbehaves. It also shows CPU and GPU temperatures and fan speed, and finds dev servers left running and the ports they hold.
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, one item each, arranged as you like
- 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
- 03
Stats
by exelban (open source)Best for: Free menu bar figures, open source
- Price
- Free (MIT license), also
brew install stats - Runs in
- The menu bar
The most popular free option, with over 42,000 stars on GitHub and releases most weeks (the latest on September 20, 2026). It adds menu bar modules for CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery, sensors (temperature, voltage, power), Bluetooth devices and a clock. Its README does not describe a process list, history length or alerts, and its fan control is marked as legacy and unmaintained. If you want menu bar figures and do not want to pay, start here.
Good
- Free and open source
- Very actively maintained
- Broad sensor coverage
Not so good
- Fan control no longer maintained
- Open source, but not open to contributions
- 04
MacPulse
by MacPulseBest for: History explained in plain English
- 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
- 05
iStatistica Pro
by ImagetasksBest for: Widgets, a web dashboard and a REST API
- 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
- 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
TK-mac
by TK-macBest for: A Windows-style Task Manager
- 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
- 08
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
- 09
btop
by aristocratos (open source)Best for: A monitor in the terminal, with graphs
- 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
- 10
htop
by htop-dev (open source)Best for: The terminal, on every machine you log into
- 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 each do one neighboring job, 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 the built-in Activity Monitor is enough
Activity Monitor comes with every Mac and is fine for a quick look at what is using the CPU this second. It is also the tool to sample a process or take a spindump, which no app above copies.
It falls short when you want a figure in the menu bar, one row per app instead of about 1,000 processes, or anything about the past. That is the gap the list above fills.
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 both questions a system monitor is for, how busy and which app, now and over the last 30 days. iStat Menus is second because nothing puts more in the menu bar. Every other tool is ranked for how well it does the whole job, and where one does a part of it better, the entry says so. If something here is out of date, email us and we will fix it.
Questions people ask
What is the best system monitor for Mac?
Vitals, if you want to know which app is behind a figure: one row per app with its helpers counted in, 30 days of history and alerts, with each readout in the menu bar as its own item. iStat Menus if you want the most figures in the menu bar and fan control.
What is the best free system monitor for Mac?
Stats, free and open source, for figures in the menu bar. For a window, Activity Monitor comes with macOS. In the terminal, btop.
Which Mac system monitor shows temperatures?
Vitals, iStat Menus, Stats, MacPulse and Sensei show CPU temperatures, and iStatistica does with its Sensors plug-in. TG Pro is the specialist, with fan control.
Which system monitor for Mac keeps history?
Vitals and MacPulse keep 30 days. iStat Menus keeps graphs in its dropdowns, and its site does not say how far back. Activity Monitor keeps 12 hours of energy on a laptop; the rest is live.
Does a system monitor slow the Mac down?
A good one barely registers. Vitals samples every five seconds with no window open and uses about a tenth of a percent of one core. You can check any monitor by finding it in its own list.