Guides/Best menu bar monitors for Mac
The 8 best menu bar system monitors for Mac
Quick answer
iStat Menus puts the most in the menu bar: every sensor, weather and clocks, with alert rules and fan control, for $11.99. Orcylo (we make it) is the pick if you want the app behind each figure and your Claude Code and Codex limits as menu bar items; it needs macOS 15 or later. Stats is the best free one. If a new monitor shows nothing on macOS 26, check System Settings > Menu Bar.
A menu bar monitor keeps a figure in sight while you work, and its dropdown should tell you what is behind the number. The apps below are judged on both halves: what each can put in the menu bar, in which styles, and what you learn when you click. We make Orcylo; it ranks second here because iStat Menus still puts more in the bar. Each app is labelled with the job it does best.
| # | App | Best for | Price | Runs in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iStat MenusBest overall | The most in the menu bar, with weather, rules and fan control | $11.99 once, $14.99 for a family of 5 | Menu bar |
| 2 |  Orcylo | The app behind each figure, with Claude Code and Codex limits as menu bar items | €5 launch price for the first 20 licences, then €7.50 for the next 30, then €9.99, once, for one Mac | Menu bar and a window |
| 3 | Stats | The best free menu bar monitor | Free (MIT licence) | Menu bar |
| 4 | Vitals | Quitting apps and setting fans without leaving the menu bar | $9 during the launch, then $29, once | Menu bar and a window |
| 5 | MacPulse | Sparklines in the menu bar, with history behind them | €14.99 once, €49.99 for 5 Macs | Menu bar and a window |
| 6 | iStatistica Pro | Menu bar monitors plus Notification Center widgets | $9.99 on the Mac App Store ($5.99 without Pro) | A window, widgets and the menu bar |
| 7 | Sensei | A menu bar monitor you design yourself | $29 a year, or $59 for the regular licence (3 Macs) | Menu bar and a window |
| 8 | CleanMyMac Menu | People who already pay for CleanMyMac | Part of CleanMyMac, from €39.95 a year | Menu bar |
- 02
Orcylo
by usBest for: The app behind each figure, with Claude Code and Codex limits as menu bar items
- Price
- €5 launch price for the first 20 licences, then €7.50 for the next 30, then €9.99, once, for one Mac
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
Orcylo gives each metric its own menu bar item: CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, thermals, power, Claude and Codex, each shown as a value, a graph, both, or a ring. Hold ⌘ and drag to reorder them, and the icon turns into a warning sign when the Mac is under strain. The dropdown has a tab per metric as a list or tiles, a Busiest Right Now list, and sliders for volume and display brightness, external monitors included over DDC/CI. The Claude and Codex items show how much of your 5-hour and weekly limits you have used, with a countdown to the reset.
Good
- One item per metric, in four styles
- Claude Code and Codex limits in the menu bar
- Volume and brightness sliders, external displays too
- A warning sign when the Mac is under strain
- One payment, every future update
Not so good
- New, so no long track record yet
- macOS 15 Sequoia or later only
- No fan control and no per-app volume
- 03
Stats
by exelban (open source)Best for: The best free menu bar monitor
- Price
- Free (MIT licence)
- Runs in
- Menu bar
Stats offers nine modules for the menu bar, covering CPU, GPU, memory, disk, sensors, network, battery, Bluetooth devices and a clock, and 13 widget styles from line and bar charts to gauges, dots and plain text. You can combine, reorder and colour them. The CPU menu lists the most demanding processes and the memory menu the top memory users. It is free and open source, with new releases most weeks.
Good
- Free and open source
- 13 widget styles you can combine
- Bluetooth batteries and a world clock
Not so good
- Processes, not apps, in its menus
- Fan control no longer maintained
- 04
Vitals
by Fore StudioBest for: Quitting apps and setting fans without leaving the menu bar
- Price
- $9 during the launch, then $29, once
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
Every Vitals readout can be its own item, CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, temperature or battery, as a value, a graph or both, with or without its icon, in the order you ⌘-drag them into. Click one and the dropdown shows every metric, the busiest apps and a tab per metric with the apps behind the figure, as tiles or a list. Since version 1.2.1 you can quit apps and control the fans from there. It runs on macOS 15 and later.
Good
- One item per readout, with or without its icon
- Busiest apps with helpers counted in
- Quit apps and set fans from the dropdown
Not so good
- No free trial, a 14-day money-back guarantee instead
- No Claude Code or Codex items yet
- 05
MacPulse
by MacPulseBest for: Sparklines in the menu bar, with history behind them
- Price
- €14.99 once, €49.99 for 5 Macs
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
MacPulse's status item shows CPU, memory or network speed as an icon, text, a sparkline, or text with a sparkline. Its popover has gauges for CPU, memory and disk, network throughput, thermal status, GPU, battery and Bluetooth batteries, and the version sold on its site adds the top five processes. Behind it sit 30 days of history and the Insights Engine. Desktop widgets show averages that update every 5 minutes.
Good
- Sparkline styles in the menu bar
- Bluetooth batteries in the popover
- 30 days of history one click away
- 14-day free trial
Not so good
- The status item covers CPU, memory and network speed
- Top processes only in the direct version
- 06
iStatistica Pro
by ImageTasksBest for: Menu bar monitors plus Notification Center widgets
- Price
- $9.99 on the Mac App Store ($5.99 without Pro)
- Runs in
- A window, widgets and the menu bar
iStatistica has menu bar monitors for CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, GPU and sensors, and the same figures as Notification Center widgets. Notifications on any of them can run a Terminal command or a workflow, and a web dashboard serves the numbers to other devices on your network. Sensor readings need the separate Sensors plug-in from the maker's site.
Good
- Menu bar monitors and widgets
- Notifications that can run a command
- Sold on the Mac App Store
Not so good
- Sensors need a separate plug-in
- Its site says little about what the dropdowns show
- 07
Sensei
by CindoriBest for: A menu bar monitor you design yourself
- Price
- $29 a year, or $59 for the regular licence (3 Macs)
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
Sensei Monitor's editor lets you build the status bar widgets and the dropdown panel yourself, with themes and styling, for CPU, GPU, battery health and storage. The rest of Sensei is a maintenance suite: a thermal dashboard, drive and battery health, a cleaner, an uninstaller and a disk benchmark. Its site does not describe a list of running apps.
Good
- An editor for status bar widgets and the dropdown
- Themes and styling
- Thermal dashboard one click away
Not so good
- No list of running apps described
- Yearly price, or $59 for the regular licence
A menu bar monitor is only as useful as the space you give it, and on a laptop that space runs out fast. So this guide starts with the macOS 26 settings that decide what appears in the bar, then compares what each of the eight apps can show there, and ends with the tools that do one menu bar job better than any of them.
Make room for a monitor on macOS 26
The menu bar is the strip along the top of the screen, and its right-hand side holds status items such as Wi-Fi, the clock and any monitor you install. On macOS 26 Tahoe, these steps decide what shows there.
- Allow the app. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Menu Bar in the sidebar, and turn the app on under Allow in the Menu Bar (Apple: Change Menu Bar settings). The Stats README notes that on macOS 26 apps must be allowed there before their items appear (Stats FAQ).
- Turn off Apple items you never read. In the same pane, deselect controls such as Spotlight or Siri, and set items such as Now Playing or Sound to Show When Active.
- Reorder with ⌘. Hold the Command key and drag an icon left or right. To remove one quickly, hold Command and drag it out of the menu bar (Apple: What’s in the menu bar on Mac?).
- Show fewer, richer items. One item with a good dropdown, for example a single CPU graph, often beats six numbers side by side. iStat Menus and Stats can also combine several figures into one item.
What each app can put in the menu bar
The table compares the bar and the dropdown behind it. “Not stated” means the maker’s site does not say.
| App | Items in the bar | Styles | The dropdown shows | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iStat Menus | CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors, battery, weather, time | Colours, spacing, Combined mode | Graphs up to 28 days, busiest apps | $11.99 |
| Orcylo | CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, thermals, power, Claude, Codex | Value, graph, both or ring | Tab per metric, busiest apps, volume, brightness | €5, then €7.50, then €9.99, one Mac |
| Stats | CPU, GPU, memory, disk, sensors, network, battery, Bluetooth, clock | 13 widgets, combinable | Busiest processes, top memory apps | Free |
| Vitals | CPU, memory, GPU, network, disk, temperature, battery | Value, graph or both | Every metric, busiest apps, quit, fans | $9 launch, then $29 |
| MacPulse | CPU, memory or network speed | Icon, text, sparkline or both | Gauges, thermals, GPU, batteries | €14.99 |
| iStatistica Pro | CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, GPU, sensors | Not stated | Not stated | $9.99 |
| Sensei | CPU, GPU, battery, storage | Widgets and themes you design | A panel you design | $29 a year or $59 |
| CleanMyMac Menu | One icon | One icon | Health, CPU, memory with Free Up, battery, network | From €39.95 a year |
iStat Menus leads on breadth. Orcylo is the only one with AI coding limits in the bar, and Orcylo and Vitals are both built around apps rather than processes, so their dropdowns name the app behind a figure. Our comparisons of Orcylo with iStat Menus and with Stats go row by row, and the homepage shows Orcylo’s menu bar items in action. If the Claude item is why you are here, our guide to Claude Code usage limits explains what the 5-hour and weekly windows mean.
Tools that do one menu bar job well
These are not general monitors, so they are not ranked above. Each is the strongest pick for its one job.
- TG Pro, $10 once (on sale from $20). Temperatures and fan speeds in a menu bar dropdown, with quick fan control and Auto Boost rules that set fan speeds from the CPU, GPU or drive temperatures.
- Little Snitch, €59 once. Its Control Center lives in the menu bar and shows current network activity and recently denied connections. Network only.
- TK-mac, $7.99 during its launch offer. A dropdown with the ten apps using the most, and pause, restart or force quit for each, plus one button to force quit all apps when the Mac freezes. Our Task Manager for Mac guide covers apps like it.
When you do not need a menu bar monitor
If you only look when the Mac feels slow, Activity Monitor can live in the Dock instead. Choose View > Dock Icon, then pick one of the Show CPU options, and its Dock icon becomes a live CPU meter (Apple: View CPU activity). A menu bar monitor earns its space when you want to see trouble coming, such as memory creeping up over a long session or a limit about to run out. For apps that replace Activity Monitor’s window, see our ranking of Activity Monitor alternatives.
Checked, but not ranked
These still appear in many roundups but are no longer maintained:
- MenuMeters: last release in November 2021; its README points to newer monitors such as Stats.
- eul: last release in August 2021.
- iGlance: last release in October 2020.
- Hot: last release in July 2024. It showed CPU temperature and thermal pressure in the bar.
How we checked
We fact-checked every price and feature against the maker’s own site, Mac App Store listing or GitHub repository on October 1, 2026, and the menu bar steps against Apple’s macOS 26 guides. We compared what each maker documents and did not run benchmarks. Where a maker does not say, the table says “Not stated”. Prices change, so check before you buy.
We make Orcylo. We ranked it second because iStat Menus offers more items, more styles and fan control, and has years of updates behind it. Orcylo ranks above the rest because its items cover every metric plus Claude Code and Codex, and its dropdown names the app behind each figure. It is new and needs macOS 15 or later. Our system monitor ranking weighs the window and history too, and pricing has the launch offer.
Questions people ask
What is the best menu bar system monitor for Mac?
iStat Menus, if you want the most in the menu bar: every sensor, weather, clocks, alert rules and fan control. Orcylo, which we make, if you want the app behind each figure and your Claude Code and Codex limits as menu bar items, on macOS 15 or later. Stats if you do not want to pay.
What is the best free menu bar monitor for Mac?
Stats. It is free and open source, offers nine modules from CPU to Bluetooth batteries and 13 widget styles, and its menus list the busiest processes. Install it from GitHub or with brew install stats.
Why is my menu bar monitor not showing up on macOS 26?
macOS 26 lists third-party menu bar items under System Settings > Menu Bar, in a section called Allow in the Menu Bar. Turn the app on there. If it is on and still missing, the bar may be full: hold Command and drag other icons out of the menu bar to make room.
Can I see my Claude Code usage in the menu bar?
Yes, with Orcylo. Its Claude item shows how much of your 5-hour and weekly Claude Code limits you have used, with a countdown to the reset, and a Codex item does the same for Codex plan limits. Alerts arrive at 80 % and 95 %. None of the other apps here track AI coding tools.
Can each figure be its own menu bar item?
In iStat Menus, Stats, Vitals and Orcylo, yes, and you hold Command and drag them into order. iStat Menus and Stats can also combine several figures into one item to save space. CleanMyMac uses a single icon with its monitors in the menu behind it.
Sources
- 1.Bjango: iStat Menus 7 · bjango.com
- 2.Bjango: iStat Menus version history · bjango.com
- 3.Bjango: iStat Menus Mac App Store differences · bjango.com
- 4.Stats on GitHub (README and FAQ) · github.com
- 5.Stats: modules and widgets · mac-stats.com
- 6.Vitals: product page, pricing and FAQ · vitalsmac.com
- 7.MacPulse: features, pricing and edition differences · macpulse.app
- 8.ImageTasks: iStatistica · imagetasks.com
- 9.iStatistica Pro on the Mac App Store · apps.apple.com
- 10.Cindori: Sensei · cindori.com
- 11.Cindori: Sensei store · cindori.com
- 12.MacPaw: Use the CleanMyMac Menu · macpaw.com
- 13.MacPaw: CleanMyMac pricing · macpaw.com
- 14.TG Pro by Tunabelly Software · tunabellysoftware.com
- 15.Objective Development: Little Snitch · obdev.at
- 16.TK-mac: features and pricing · tk-mac.com
- 17.Apple: Change Menu Bar settings on Mac (macOS Tahoe 26) · support.apple.com
- 18.Apple: What's in the menu bar on Mac? (macOS Tahoe 26) · support.apple.com
- 19.Apple: View CPU activity in Activity Monitor · support.apple.com
About the author
Maker of Orcylo
Orcylo is a native menu bar system monitor for macOS 15 Sequoia and later. It groups about 700 processes under the 25 or so apps that own them, keeps 30 days of history and shows your Claude Code and Codex limits. The guides cover the same ground: what is slowing a Mac down, what Activity Monitor's figures mean, and how much of an AI coding limit is left.
How these guides are written and checked: our editorial policy. To report a mistake, contact support@orcylo.app.