Guides/Process Explorer for Mac
Process Explorer for Mac: the built‑in tools, and the 5 best apps
Quick answer
Process Explorer is a Windows tool, and Microsoft does not make it for the Mac. The closest built-in is Activity Monitor: choose View → All Processes, Hierarchically for the tree, and double-click a process for its open files and ports. Among apps, ProcessSpy is the closest to Process Explorer itself, with the command line, environment and code signature of every process. Vitals, a system monitor for the Mac, answers the question that usually comes first, which app does this process belong to: it shows about 60 apps in place of 1,000 processes, each opening into its own processes, with dev servers and their ports listed by project.
How to see what Process Explorer shows, on a Mac
- 01 Open Activity Monitor: press ⌘Space, type Activity Monitor and press Return.
- 02 For the process tree, choose View → All Processes, Hierarchically. Each process sits under the one that started it.
- 03 Double-click a process. The window shows its parent process and user, and the Open Files and Ports tab lists every file and connection it holds.
- 04 To find which process has a file open, run
lsof /path/to/filein Terminal. For a port, runlsof -i :3000, with your port number.
The same window has a Sample button, which records what the process is doing for a few seconds.
Process Explorer does two things Windows Task Manager does not: it shows processes as a tree, and it shows what each one has open. On a Mac, Activity Monitor does both, but out of sight, behind a View menu and a double-click, and it still lists about 1,000 processes with no word on which app each belongs to. The apps below fill the gaps from different sides. They are ranked for someone coming from Process Explorer, and each is labeled with the job it does best.
| # | App | Best for | Price | Runs in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vitals Best overall | Which app a process belongs to, with ports and history | $9 during the launch | A window and the menu bar |
| 2 | ProcessSpy | The closest to Process Explorer itself | Free version; $34.99 once for everything | A window and the menu bar |
| 3 | ProcXray | Taking one process apart: files, ports, environment | Free basic tier | A window |
| 4 | htop | The process tree, in the terminal | Free (GPLv2) | The terminal |
| 5 | btop | A tree with graphs, in the terminal | Free (Apache 2.0) | The terminal |
- 01
Vitals
Best for: Which app a process belongs to, with ports and history
- Price
- $9 during the launch, then $39, once
- Runs in
- A window and the menu bar
Process Explorer starts from the process. Vitals starts from the app, which is the question most people have first: what is this process part of, and is that app the problem? It adds every helper to the app that launched it, so about 1,000 processes become about 60 apps. Open an app and it splits into its processes, each with its PID, CPU and memory; a browser splits into tabs, extensions, graphics and the browser itself. Dev servers are listed by project with the ports they hold, and a process on a port can be stopped from there. It keeps 30 days of history for every app, or up to a year. It does not show a command line, open files or a code signature: for those, ProcessSpy and ProcXray are the tools, and the entries below say so.
Good
- One row per app, opening into its processes
- Browsers split into tabs, extensions and graphics
- Dev servers and listening ports, by project
- History for every app: 30 days, or up to a year
- An MCP server: an assistant can find a process by name, PID or port
Good to know
- No command line, open files, environment or code signature per process
- No parent and child process tree
- Does not keep a record of processes that have ended
- 02
ProcessSpy
by Robert (@rob3rth)Best for: The closest to Process Explorer itself
- Price
- Free version; $34.99 once for everything, unlimited Macs; also on Setapp (checked September 27, 2026)
- Runs in
- A window and the menu bar
The Mac answer to Windows Process Explorer, built by a developer who could not tell his Java processes apart in Activity Monitor. It shows the full command line, path, version, environment and code signature of every process, tells same-named processes apart, and remembers processes after they finish. Its tree view groups helpers under the process that launched them, with rolled-up totals for CPU, memory and threads. Filters take regular expressions and JavaScript. The paid version adds CPU and memory history with timelines and CSV export, a menu bar dashboard, and Shortcuts that run on process events. Version 1.15.2, macOS 14 or later.
Good
- Full command line, path, environment and signature per process
- Remembers finished processes
- Regular-expression and JavaScript filters
- A free version, and unlimited Macs on the paid one
Not so good
- A tree of processes, not a list of apps
- History, the menu bar and process recall are paid features
- No temperatures or fans
- 03
ProcXray
by ProcXrayBest for: Taking one process apart: files, ports, environment
- Price
- Free basic tier, $15 once for everything, 3 Macs
- Runs in
- A window
A process explorer for developers: a process tree with each process's open ports, connections, files, environment variables and code signature, the ability to suspend, terminate or signal a process, and capture of processes that only live for a moment. It answers "what exactly is this process doing" better than anything else here.
Good
- Open ports, files and environment per process
- Catches short-lived processes
Not so good
- A tree of processes, not a list of apps
- No temperatures or fans
- 04
htop
by htop-dev (open source)Best for: The process tree, in the terminal
- 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
- 05
btop
by aristocratos (open source)Best for: A tree with graphs, 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
Tools that do one job well
These are not process explorers, 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 Activity Monitor is enough
For one stuck process, Activity Monitor has what Process Explorer has: the tree under the View menu, open files and ports behind a double-click, and a sample or spindump of what the process is doing. It is free and already installed, and lsof in Terminal finds the process holding a file.
It falls short in three places: it does not say which app a helper process belongs to, it forgets a process the moment it ends, and it keeps no history. Those are the gaps the apps above fill. What its columns and process names mean is in the Activity Monitor glossary.
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.
ProcessSpy was checked on September 27, 2026. Vitals is first because it answers the question that comes before any inspection, which app is this process part of, and keeps 30 days of history or more. ProcessSpy is second because it is the closest to Process Explorer itself, and for inspecting a single process it is the better pick; the entries say so. Every other tool is ranked for how well it stands in for Process Explorer, and if something here is out of date, email us and we will fix it.
Questions people ask
Is there a Process Explorer for Mac?
Not from Microsoft: Process Explorer runs on Windows only. On a Mac, Activity Monitor shows the process tree (View → All Processes, Hierarchically) and each process's open files and ports. ProcessSpy is the app closest to Process Explorer.
How do I see the process tree on a Mac?
In Activity Monitor, choose View → All Processes, Hierarchically. In Terminal, htop shows a tree when you press F5.
How do I find which process has a file open on a Mac?
Run lsof /path/to/file in Terminal. In Activity Monitor, double-click a process and open the Open Files and Ports tab to see everything it holds.
What is the Mac equivalent of Process Monitor?
fs_usage in Terminal. Run sudo fs_usage to watch file activity as it happens, and add a process name to follow one process.
Is there an app that shows which app a process belongs to?
Vitals. It adds every helper process to the app that launched it, so Google Chrome Helper is counted under Chrome. Open the app to see each of its processes with its PID, CPU and memory.