# Vitals vs eqMac Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/vs/eqmac By Atta Ur Rehman Shah, maker of Vitals. eqMac checked on its maker's site September 30, 2026. **Short answer:** Vitals includes per-app volume in one price, $9 during the launch and $29 after: a slider and a mute for every app, next to CPU, memory, battery and temperature in the menu bar. eqMac is an equalizer first; its free version has no per-app volume, which is part of Pro at $3 a month, $30 a year or $40 once. Choose Vitals if the mixer is what you are after; choose eqMac for an equalizer. | | Vitals | eqMac | |---|---|---| | What it is | A system monitor with a volume mixer in its menu bar | A system-wide equalizer, with a per-app mixer in Pro | | Volume for each app | Yes, included | In Pro only, as the App Mixer | | Mute for each app | Yes | Not stated | | Equalizer | No | Free basic and 10-band EQ, more in Pro | | Apps using the microphone | Listed under the input level | Not stated | | CPU, memory, battery and temperature | Yes, in the same menu bar item, with the apps behind each | No, it is audio only | | Price | $9 during the launch, $29 after, once | Free EQ; Pro is $3 a month, $30 a year or $40 once | | Requirements | macOS 15 or later | macOS 10.13 or later, Intel and Apple silicon | ## Choose Vitals if - You want per-app volume without a subscription - You want the mixer next to CPU, memory and battery - You want to see which apps are using the microphone - You do not need an equalizer Vitals website: [vitalsmac.com](https://vitalsmac.com/) ## Choose eqMac if - You want a system-wide equalizer - You want the equalizer free, and the mixer later - You are on a macOS older than 15 eqMac website: https://eqmac.app/ ## Where Vitals pulls ahead **The mixer is included, with no subscription.** In eqMac, per-app volume is a Pro feature, $30 a year or $40 once. In Vitals it is part of the one price, $9 during the launch and $29 after, with every update for life. **One app for the Mac and its sound.** The Sound section sits in the same dropdown as CPU, memory, battery and temperature, with the apps behind each. eqMac is audio only. **Nothing touched at 100%.** Vitals takes an app's sound only while it is turned down or muted. At 100% the app plays exactly as it would without Vitals, and if Vitals quits, every app sounds as it did before. ## 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, Battery, Sound, Bluetooth and Projects, plus Containers while Docker runs, each with its live figures and the apps behind them. - **Inside your browser.** Click Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Arc or Dia to see its memory and CPU split into tabs, extensions, graphics and the browser itself. Slack, VS Code and similar apps are split by window. - **30 days of history.** CPU, memory, energy, disk and network for the last hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days, with the apps that used the most, ranked hour by hour for the last two days. - **What keeps the Mac awake, and the fans on.** The Battery tab lists the apps holding sleep off, what each said it is doing and for how long. When the Mac runs hot, Vitals names the apps behind it, with Quit beside each. - **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. - **A menu bar you arrange.** Every readout can be its own menu bar item: CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, temperature or battery, as a value, a graph or both, ⌘-dragged into any order. Behind it, a dropdown with every metric, the busiest apps, and a tab for each metric. - **Arrange the window and the dropdown.** Choose the window’s tabs and their order, and show, hide or reorder the sections, cards and lists on every tab. The dropdown has its own tiles and a List layout with one line per metric. Reset puts everything back. - **Docker containers.** A Containers tab with every Docker container’s memory, CPU, network and ports, in the window and the dropdown, and Stop on each, after a confirmation. - **Sound and Bluetooth tabs.** The Mac’s output device and level with a slider for every app playing sound, the microphone and the apps using it, and every connected Bluetooth device with its battery, lowest first. - **Units you choose.** Celsius or Fahrenheit, bytes or bits for network speed, and CPU per core or per Mac, each with a live example in Settings. - **Temperatures and fans.** CPU and GPU temperature on Intel and Apple silicon, M5 included, and fan speed. Hold any fan at a speed you choose, and hand it back to the Mac in one click. The menu bar temperature can follow the CPU, the GPU or the hottest sensor. - **Quit and force quit.** Quit an app or a single process, always after a confirmation. - **Keyboard shortcuts and Shortcuts actions.** Open the dropdown or the window from any app, and get a reading or the busiest app from the Shortcuts app. - **Export as an image.** Save or copy a snapshot of the Mac as a 1200 × 630 share card or a dashboard image. - **In the Dock, if you like.** Show in Dock keeps Vitals in the Dock like Activity Monitor. Opened by hand it shows its window; at login it stays in the menu bar. ## Common questions **Is Vitals an eqMac alternative?** For per-app volume, yes: a slider and a mute for every app, included in one price, with a system monitor around it. For an equalizer, no; eqMac's free equalizer is the better pick. **Does Vitals have an equalizer?** No. Vitals sets each app's level and mutes it; it does not change how anything sounds. **Is there a trial?** No. Vitals has a 14-day refund instead: buy it, and if it is not for you, email and the money comes back. ## How we compared The eqMac column comes from its maker's own site on September 30, 2026. Where the site does not say whether it does something, the cell says "Not stated". If a cell is out of date, email hi@vitalsmac.com and we will fix it. See [all 7 volume mixers for Mac](https://vitalsmac.com/best-volume-mixer-for-mac), [Vitals vs SoundSource](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/soundsource), [Vitals vs SoundDial](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/sounddial).