Guides/Vitals vs SoundSource
Vitals vs SoundSource
Quick answer
Vitals gives every app its own volume slider and mute in the menu bar, inside an activity monitor and process inspector for Mac: CPU, GPU, memory, temperatures, battery and the apps using the microphone in the same menu bar item, every app with its helpers counted in, a Process Inspector, up to a year of history and alerts, for $19 during the launch and $49 after, paid once. SoundSource is $49 and handles sound only: an output device, effects and a boost per app.
VitalsSoundSource Choose Vitals if
- You want a volume and a mute for each app, from the menu bar
- You would rather run one app than a mixer and a system monitor
- You want to see which apps are using the microphone
- You want it for less than $49
Choose SoundSource if
- You want an app on its own speakers or headphones
- You want an equalizer or Audio Unit effects per app
- You want to boost a quiet app past 100%
- You want to try it before you pay
Where Vitals pulls ahead
One menu bar item instead of two
Vitals puts the Sound section in the same dropdown as CPU, memory, battery and temperature, with the apps behind each. SoundSource is audio only, so you would still run a system monitor next to it.
A lower price, with a system monitor included
Vitals is $19 for life during the launch and $49 after, paid once; or $12 for a year of updates. SoundSource is $49, for an app that handles sound only.
Nothing touched at 100%
Vitals takes an app's sound only while it is turned down or muted, with no driver or virtual device. At 100% the app plays exactly as it would without Vitals, and if Vitals quits, every app sounds as it did before.
See it for yourself
The Sound tab with a call and music going: a slider for every app with sound open. Drag one to turn that app down.
Music Playing 100% 
Zoom Playing 80% 
Google Chrome Playing 35% 
Slack Silent Muted 
Safari Silent 100% 
Figma Silent 100% 
Notion Silent 100% 
Mail Silent 100% Everything Vitals does
One app, paid once, no subscription.
- A tab per subsystem. Overview, CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, GPU, Neural Engine, Battery, Fans, Sound, Bluetooth, Developer and Agents, each with its live figures and the apps behind them.
- Temperatures and fans. CPU and GPU temperature on Intel and Apple silicon, M5 included, and fan speed. Run the fans on automatic, at a speed you choose, along a curve you draw, or at full speed for a while. The menu bar temperature can follow the CPU, the GPU or the hottest sensor.
- A menu bar you arrange. Every readout can be its own menu bar item: CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, temperature, fan speed 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.
- 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.
- The Process Inspector. Click any process for the app it belongs to, its code signature, Team ID and entitlements, its parent process and launch agent, its full command line, the processes it started, and the CPU time, memory, open files and listening ports it has used since it started. An app’s version, bundle ID and Info.plist too. Copy it as text, save it as CSV, or get the same from vitals process in Terminal and over MCP.
- Up to a year of history. CPU, memory, energy, disk and network from the last hour to the last year, with the apps that used the most, ranked hour by hour for the last two days. Keep 30 days, 90 days, 6 months or a year.
- Alerts for misbehaving apps. An alert in the notch when an app keeps the CPU busy, keeps growing in memory, or hammers the disk or network, with Quit beside it.
- Your coding agents, and what is left of your plans. An Agents tab with every running coding agent, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and the rest: its project, what it is doing right now, and everything it started, with Quit for the session and all of it together. For Claude, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Grok, Ollama and OpenCode, how much of each plan is left, when it resets and whether you are on pace, for every account signed in on the Mac, and the tokens Claude Code and Codex used today and this week.
- An MCP server for Claude, Codex and Cursor. Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any assistant that speaks MCP can ask what is running, which app is behind a number, what is on a port, and what the last 30 days looked like. It cannot quit anything by itself: Vitals asks you first. Off until you turn it on.
- The vitals command. A command for the terminal that answers from the running app: the apps using the most, ports and dev servers by project, coding agents, what is left of each AI plan and up to a year of history, as a table or as JSON. Quitting and stopping ask first. It comes with the app, or with Homebrew.
- A Neural Engine tab. How hard the Neural Engine is working, which apps are using it, and a chart of the last minutes, in the window, the menu bar and on the Overview. On Macs with Apple silicon.
- 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 the same way.
- 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.
- Dev servers and open ports, by project. A Developer tab: 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.
- Every port in use, and who can reach it. Every listening port on the Mac with the process, project, container or Homebrew service behind it, and whether only this Mac or your whole network can connect.
- What keeps a disk from ejecting. Open Files lists every disk with the apps holding files on it, and Quit Them and Eject quits them and ejects the disk, after a confirmation. Type a file name to see which app has it open.
- Homebrew packages and services. Every formula and cask with its size, the update waiting and when it last ran, the ones never seen running, brew services with Start, Stop and Restart, and what a cleanup would free.
- Make it yours. Vitals’ own colors, Monochrome, or a set made for color blindness. The numbers in Rounded, San Francisco, SF Mono, New York or any font on the Mac, light to bold. Comfortable or compact spacing, charts of the last 5, 15 or 30 minutes, light or dark, and exported pictures in the same look.
- 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. Every Docker container’s memory, CPU, network and ports in the Developer tab, 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.
- 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, or any tab of the window as an 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.
What Mac users say
…it doesn't feel overwhelming or bloated in the slightest. It feels native. Lightweight. It's an absolutely vital app.
Merlin ★★★★★ Verified owner Now I find myself stealing quick glances at the menu bar, instead of taking another sip of coffee.
Ed Wiseman Emmy-winning director and producer I’ve tried many monitoring tools in the past, and Vitals just shows me exactly the information i need to see.
Tobias Strebitzer ★★★★★ CTO · Verified owner Common questions
Is Vitals a SoundSource alternative?
Yes, for per-app volume: a slider and a mute for every app with sound open, in the menu bar, for less than SoundSource costs, with a system monitor included. It does not send apps to other outputs or add effects; for those, SoundSource is the better pick.
Can Vitals send one app to different speakers?
No. Every app plays through the output chosen in System Settings → Sound, and Vitals sets each one's level. SoundSource can send each app to its own device.
Is there a trial?
Yes, 3 days of every feature, with no account and no card. After you buy, there is still a 14-day refund.
Lifetime for $19 while the launch price lasts
One-time paymentLifetime updates14-day refund
Get Vitals for $19How we compared
The SoundSource 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 us and we will fix it.
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How to turn one app down with nothing installed, and why macOS has no mixer: Mac volume mixer: how to change the volume of one app.