# Vitals vs Activity Monitor Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/vs/activity-monitor By Atta Ur Rehman Shah, maker of Vitals. Activity Monitor checked on its maker's site September 22, 2026. **Short answer:** Activity Monitor and Vitals answer different questions. Activity Monitor shows what is happening this second, one row per process, and it is the right tool for sampling a process or taking a spindump. Vitals shows which app is responsible, with every helper process counted under it, keeps 30 days of history for every app, and tells you when one misbehaves. Keep Activity Monitor for diagnostics; use Vitals for the everyday question. | | Vitals | Activity Monitor | |---|---|---| | What it is | An Activity Monitor replacement with a menu bar item | The process monitor that comes with macOS | | List of what is running | Every app, about 60 rows, with its helper processes counted in | Every process, about 1,000 rows | | Helper processes counted under their app | Yes | No: you add up the helpers yourself | | History | 30 days for every metric, per app | Live graphs, and 12 hours for energy | | Alerts | When an app keeps the CPU busy, keeps growing in memory, or hammers the disk or network | None | | Menu bar | An icon, a figure or a graph, and a compact view of every metric | None. Its Dock icon can show CPU use | | Dev servers and open ports | Grouped by project, idle ones pointed out | None | | Temperatures and fans | CPU and GPU temperature, fan speed | None | | Volume per app | A slider for each app playing sound | None | | Sampling and spindumps | No | Yes | | Quit and force quit | An app or a single process, after a confirmation | Yes, per process | | Price | $5 during the launch, $29 after, once | Included with macOS | | Requirements | macOS 15 or later | Every Mac | ## Choose Vitals if - You want to know which app is using memory, CPU or battery, helpers included - You want to look back over 30 days, not just now - You want to be told when an app misbehaves - You run dev servers and lose track of what is holding a port Vitals website: [vitalsmac.com](https://vitalsmac.com/) ## Choose Activity Monitor if - You need to sample a process, take a spindump or run diagnostics - You want a quick look at what is using the CPU this second, for free - You are on a macOS older than 15 Activity Monitor website: https://support.apple.com/guide/activity-monitor/welcome/mac ## Where Vitals pulls ahead **One row per app, not forty.** On a working Mac, Activity Monitor lists about 1,000 processes, dozens of them called Google Chrome Helper. Vitals adds each helper to the app that launched it, so Chrome is one row with one figure for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network. **It remembers.** Activity Monitor shows this second, plus 12 hours of energy on a laptop. Vitals keeps 30 days for every app, so what drained the battery this afternoon still has an answer tomorrow. **It tells you.** Activity Monitor waits to be opened. Vitals sends a notification when an app keeps the CPU busy, keeps growing in memory, or hammers the disk or network, and names the app. ## Everything Vitals does - **Processes grouped by app.** Every helper process is added to the app that launched it, so a working Mac shows about 60 apps instead of about 1,000 processes, each with one figure for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network. - **A tab per subsystem.** Overview, CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, GPU and Battery, each with its live graph and the apps behind the figure. - **30 days of history.** Usage for the last 12 hours, 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days, with the apps that used the most. - **Alerts for misbehaving apps.** A notification when an app keeps the CPU busy, keeps growing in memory, or hammers the disk or network. - **Dev servers and open ports, by project.** Processes grouped by the project folder they run in, with their listening ports, and dev servers left idle for days pointed out and offered to stop. - **Menu bar monitor.** An icon, a figure, a small graph or several figures stacked, for CPU, memory, GPU, network, temperature or battery, with a compact view of every metric behind it. - **Temperatures, fans and batteries.** CPU and GPU temperature, fan speed, and the battery level of AirPods, mice and keyboards. - **Volume per app.** A volume mixer with a slider for each app playing sound. - **Quit and force quit.** Quit an app or a single process, always after a confirmation. - **Export as an image.** Save or copy a snapshot of the Mac as a 1200 × 630 share card or a dashboard image. ## Common questions **Does Vitals replace Activity Monitor completely?** For the everyday question, which app is doing this, yes. For sampling a process, spindumps and system diagnostics, no: Activity Monitor does those and Vitals does not try to. Keep both: Activity Monitor stays in Utilities for the rare day you need it. **Is Activity Monitor free?** Yes. It comes with every Mac, in Applications → Utilities. Vitals costs $5 during the launch and $29 after, once, with a 14-day refund. **Why does Activity Monitor show so many processes?** Modern apps split their work across helper processes: a browser runs one for each tab and extension. Activity Monitor lists each one; Vitals adds them up under the app that launched them. ## How we compared Every cell about Activity Monitor is something you can check by opening it: Applications → Utilities → Activity Monitor. If a cell is out of date, email hi@vitalsmac.com and we will fix it. See [all 12 Activity Monitor alternatives](https://vitalsmac.com/best-activity-monitor-alternatives), [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).