Activity Monitor alternatives/Vitals vs Sensei

Vitals vs Sensei

Atta 馃惉

Founder, Vitals

Sensei checked

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Quick answer

Vitals is the better choice if you want to know which app is slowing your Mac down. It lists every app with its helper processes counted in, keeps 30 days of history and alerts you when one misbehaves. Sensei is a maintenance suite with a cleaner, an uninstaller, drive health and a disk benchmark, and a good pick if you want those tools in one app.

VitalsSensei
What it is
VitalsAn Activity Monitor replacement with a menu bar item
SenseiA Mac performance monitor and cleaner
List of what is running
VitalsEvery app, with its helper processes counted in
SenseiNot stated
Helper processes counted under their app
VitalsYes
SenseiNot stated
History
Vitals30 days for every metric, per app
SenseiNot stated
Alerts
VitalsWhen an app keeps the CPU busy, keeps growing in memory, or hammers the disk or network
SenseiNot stated
Temperatures and fans
VitalsTemperatures and fan speed
SenseiTemperature sensors and fan speeds
Dev servers and open ports
VitalsGrouped by project, idle ones pointed out
SenseiNot stated
Quit and force quit
VitalsAn app or a single process, after a confirmation
SenseiNot stated
Maintenance tools
VitalsNone: Vitals only monitors
SenseiCleaner, uninstaller, drive and battery health, disk benchmark
Menu bar
VitalsAn icon, a figure or a graph, and a compact view of every metric
SenseiCPU, GPU, battery and storage
Price
Vitals$5 during the launch, $29 after, once
Sensei$29 a year or $59 once, 3 Macs
Trial
VitalsNone, a 14-day refund
SenseiA free download, trial length not stated
Requirements
VitalsmacOS 15 or later
SenseimacOS 11 or later

Choose Vitals if

  • You want to see which app is using memory, CPU or battery
  • You want 30 days of history and alerts
  • You run dev servers and want to see their ports
  • You want to pay once, for less
Get Vitals for $5

Choose Sensei if

  • You want cleaning, uninstalling and drive health in the same app
  • You want a disk benchmark or SSD TRIM
  • You are on a macOS older than 15
Sensei website

How we compared

The Sensei column comes from its maker's own site on September 22, 2026. Where the site does not say whether it does something, the cell says "Not stated". If a cell is out of date, email us and we will fix it.

More comparisons

Wondering why apps show so many rows in Activity Monitor? Read about helper processes.