Guides/Best system monitors for Mac
The 10 best system monitors for Mac
Quick answer
Orcylo (we make it) is the best system monitor for Mac if you want to know which app is behind every figure. It keeps 30 days of history, alerts you when an app misbehaves, puts each metric in the menu bar and adds your Claude Code and Codex limits, but it needs macOS 15 or later and cannot control fans. iStat Menus covers the most sensors and does control fans. Stats is the best free one.
A system monitor has three questions to answer: how busy is the Mac, which app is causing it, and what happened while you were not looking. Most monitors answer the first in the menu bar. Fewer name the app, and fewer still remember. We make Orcylo, so we say plainly where it falls short. The apps below are ranked on all three questions, and each carries a label for the one job it does best.
| # | App | Best for | Price | Runs in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  OrcyloBest overall | Knowing which app is behind every figure, over 30 days, with your AI coding limits | €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 |
| 2 | Vitals | The app behind every figure, with fan control | $9 during the launch, then $29, once | Menu bar and a window |
| 3 | iStat Menus | The most sensors in the menu bar, with fan control and rules | $11.99 once, $14.99 for a family of 5 | Menu bar |
| 4 | MacPulse | History explained in plain English | €14.99 once, €49.99 for 5 Macs | Menu bar and a window |
| 5 | Stats | Free menu bar figures, open source | Free (MIT licence) | Menu bar |
| 6 | iStatistica Pro | Widgets, a web dashboard and a REST API | $9.99 on the Mac App Store ($5.99 without Pro) | A window, widgets and the menu bar |
| 7 | Sensei | Monitoring inside a maintenance suite | $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 |
| 9 | btop | Graphs in the terminal | Free (Apache 2.0) | Terminal |
| 10 | htop | The terminal, on every machine you log into | Free (GPLv2) | Terminal |
- 01
Orcylo
by usBest for: Knowing which app is behind every figure, over 30 days, with your AI coding limits
- 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 measures CPU, memory, GPU, power, disk and network for each app, with its helper processes counted in, and stores one point per minute for 30 days. On the hardware side it groups 38 temperature sensors by component, reads fan speed, system power or battery health and cycles, and the batteries of Bluetooth devices. A Mac Health score from 0 to 100 lists the reasons behind it. Each metric, plus your Claude Code and Codex limits, can be its own menu bar item.
Good
- CPU, memory, GPU, power, disk and network per app
- 30 days of per-minute history
- 38 temperature sensors, grouped by component
- Alerts for misbehaving apps and critical memory pressure
- Claude Code and Codex limits next to the system figures
- About 16 ms of sampling per second
Not so good
- New, so no long track record yet
- macOS 15 Sequoia or later only
- Reads fan speed but cannot control fans
- No per-app volume
- 02
Vitals
by Fore StudioBest for: The app behind every figure, with fan control
- Price
- $9 during the launch, then $29, once
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
Vitals answers the same three questions as Orcylo: each readout can sit in the menu bar, the window lists apps with their helpers counted in, and 30 days of history plus alerts cover the past. On hardware it shows CPU and GPU temperature, lets you set fan speed and reads the battery of AirPods, mice and keyboards. Version 1.2.1 lets you quit apps and control fans straight from the menu bar. Its roadmap lists an Agents tab for Claude Code and Codex.
Good
- Apps with helpers counted in, plus 30 days of history
- Fan control, also from the menu bar
- Volume per app
- Runs on macOS 15 Sequoia and later
Not so good
- No free trial, a 14-day money-back guarantee instead
- Price rises in steps to $29 after the launch
- No AI coding limits yet
- 04
MacPulse
by MacPulseBest for: History explained in plain English
- Price
- €14.99 once, €49.99 for 5 Macs
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
MacPulse samples CPU, memory, GPU, thermals, fans and battery every 5 seconds into 30 days of local history, and its Insights Engine turns that into plain-English notes such as sustained heat or unusual battery drain. You can record a performance session at 1-second resolution and export it as CSV. Its process list can group helpers by app. Sensors, fan curves and top processes come with the version sold on its site, not the App Store edition.
Good
- Written insights from 30 days of data
- 1-second performance sessions with CSV export
- Fan curves with presets (direct version)
- 14-day free trial
Not so good
- The App Store edition leaves out sensors and fan control
- The menu bar item shows CPU, memory or network only
- 05
Stats
by exelban (open source)Best for: Free menu bar figures, open source
- Price
- Free (MIT licence)
- Runs in
- Menu bar
Stats is free under the MIT licence and offers nine modules for the menu bar: CPU, GPU, memory, disk, sensors, network, battery, Bluetooth and a clock, in 13 widget styles. Its menus list the busiest processes and the top memory users, and each module can notify you past a threshold you set. The maker notes that Sensors and Bluetooth cost the most energy, and fan control is in unmaintained legacy mode. Install it with
brew install stats.Good
- Free and open source
- Nine modules, 13 widget styles
- Threshold notifications per module
- New releases most weeks
Not so good
- Processes, not apps
- No history length stated
- Fan control no longer maintained
- 06
iStatistica Pro
by ImageTasksBest for: Widgets, a web dashboard and a REST API
- Price
- $9.99 on the Mac App Store ($5.99 without Pro)
- Runs in
- A window, widgets and the menu bar
iStatistica puts monitors for CPU, memory, disk, network, battery and GPU in the menu bar and in Notification Center widgets, and its notifications can trigger a Terminal command or a workflow. Any device on your local network can read its web dashboard or its JSON API. Temperatures and fan speeds need a separate Sensors plug-in from the maker's site. Pro adds per-app CPU history and CSV export.
Good
- Low price, on the Mac App Store
- Web dashboard and REST API on your network
- Notifications that can run a command
Not so good
- Temperatures and fans need a separate plug-in
- No grouping of helpers stated
- 07
Sensei
by CindoriBest for: Monitoring inside a maintenance suite
- Price
- $29 a year, or $59 for the regular licence (3 Macs)
- Runs in
- Menu bar and a window
Sensei pairs a customisable status bar monitor for CPU, GPU, battery and storage with a thermal dashboard, battery and drive health, a disk benchmark, a cleaner and an uninstaller. Monitoring is one tool among several. Its site does not describe a list of running apps, alerts, or how long it keeps history. The $59 licence covers versions 1 and 2, and version 3 may be a paid upgrade.
Good
- Many maintenance tools in one
- Thermal dashboard and drive health
- One licence covers 3 Macs
Not so good
- No list of running apps described
- Yearly price, or $59 for the regular licence
- 09
btop
by aristocratos (open source)Best for: Graphs in the terminal
- Price
- Free (Apache 2.0)
- Runs in
- Terminal
btop fills a terminal window with graphs for CPU, memory, network and disks, a battery meter and a process list you can filter, view as a tree and send signals from. Version 1.4.7, released in May 2026, added the GPU on Apple silicon. Install it with
brew install btop. It keeps nothing after you quit, so it is a view of now, not of the past.Good
- Free and keyboard-driven
- CPU, memory, disk, network and GPU on one screen
Not so good
- No history or alerts
- Processes, not apps
- 10
htop
by htop-dev (open source)Best for: The terminal, on every machine you log into
- Price
- Free (GPLv2)
- Runs in
- Terminal
htop is the interactive process viewer that ships or installs on almost every Unix system, so the keys you learn on your Mac work on a Linux server too. It sorts, filters, shows a tree, and kills or renices a process without typing its PID. Version 3.5.3 came out in August 2026. Install it with
brew install htop.Good
- Free, and on nearly every Unix machine
- Kill and renice from the list
Not so good
- No GPU, temperatures, history or alerts
- Processes, not apps
Every Mac already has a system monitor. Activity Monitor shows what each process is using this second, and for many people that is enough. The apps on this page earn their place by doing what it cannot: keeping a figure in sight while you work, naming the app rather than the process, and remembering the last hours or weeks. Below, the 10 are compared in one table, followed by the tools that do one neighbouring job better and the questions we used to rank them.
Three questions a monitor should answer
Each app above was ranked on how well it answers these, in this order.
- How busy is the Mac right now? Every app here answers this. The menu bar apps answer it without a click.
- Which app is behind the figure? This is where they split. Orcylo and Vitals list apps with their helper processes counted in, MacPulse can group by app, and iStat Menus, Stats and CleanMyMac name the busiest apps inside their menus. If your Mac is slow right now, our guide to why a Mac slows down walks through the usual causes.
- What happened while I was away? Orcylo, Vitals and MacPulse keep 30 days. iStat Menus draws graphs as far back as 28 days. Stats does not state a history length, and the terminal tools show only the present.
One figure deserves a definition because every monitor shows it. Memory pressure is Apple’s measure of how well the memory is serving what you run, worked out from free memory, the swap rate, wired memory and cached files (Apple: View memory usage in Activity Monitor). Apple reads it as green, yellow or red: green means the Mac is using its RAM efficiently, red means it needs more (Apple: Check if your Mac needs more RAM). The Activity Monitor glossary explains the other columns.
The 10 monitors at a glance
“Not stated” means the maker’s site does not say either way.
| App | Names the app | History | Temperatures | Fan control | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orcylo | Every app, helpers in | 30 days | 38 sensors | No, reads speed | €5, then €7.50, then €9.99, one Mac |
| Vitals | Every app, helpers in | 30 days | CPU and GPU | Yes | $9 launch, then $29 |
| iStat Menus | Busiest apps per menu | Up to 28 days | Every sensor | Yes, direct version | $11.99 |
| MacPulse | Group by App | 30 days | Yes, direct version | Yes, direct version | €14.99 |
| Stats | Busiest processes | Not stated | Yes | Legacy, unmaintained | Free |
| iStatistica Pro | Per-app CPU history | Per app, Pro | With plug-in | Not stated | $9.99 |
| Sensei | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Not stated | $29 a year or $59 |
| CleanMyMac Menu | Busiest apps | Not stated | CPU, disk, battery | Not stated | From €39.95 a year |
| btop | Processes | This session | CPU | No | Free |
| htop | Processes | None | No | No | Free |
Orcylo and Vitals are close: both list apps rather than processes and both remember 30 days. Orcylo adds the AI coding limits and a lower price; Vitals adds fan control. For the full head-to-heads, see Orcylo against Vitals, iStat Menus and Stats.
Does a system monitor slow your Mac down?
A well-made one barely registers, but the cost depends on what you ask it to read. Orcylo spends about 16 ms per second on sampling. The Stats README says its Sensors and Bluetooth modules are the most expensive, and that turning them off can cut its CPU and energy use by up to 50% in some cases (Stats FAQ). Bjango says iStat Menus 7 uses as little as a fifth of the CPU of version 6 with the same items (iStat Menus version history).
You can check any monitor yourself. Open Activity Monitor, click CPU, and find the monitor in the list while it runs.
Tools that do one job well
These each do one neighbouring job, so they are not ranked against the list above.
- TG Pro, $10 once (on sale from $20). Temperatures and fan control for Intel and Apple silicon Macs through the M5 series, with Auto Boost rules, notifications and email alerts. If the fans are the problem, start with our guide to a loud Mac fan.
- Little Snitch, €59 once. Shows which app connects to which server and keeps a traffic chart for up to twelve months. Network only.
- TripMode, free limited mode, or $14.99 a year or a lifetime purchase. Lists the apps that use your connection, blocks the ones you choose on a hotspot and reports data use per app by day, week or month.
When the built-in Activity Monitor is enough
Activity Monitor is free, already installed, and the right tool to sample a process or take a spindump. For a quick look at what is using the CPU this second, nothing above is faster to reach. It falls short when you want a figure always in sight, one row per app, or any history beyond the 12-hour energy and battery figures on a laptop (Apple: View energy consumption). Our Activity Monitor alternatives ranking covers the apps that replace its window, including process explorers such as ProcessSpy.
Checked, but not ranked
These still turn up in many roundups but are no longer maintained:
- MenuMeters: last release in November 2021, and its README now points to newer monitors such as Stats.
- eul: last release in August 2021.
- iGlance: last release in October 2020.
- XRG: last release in October 2023.
- Hot: last release in July 2024.
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; the sources are listed below. We compared what each maker documents and did not run benchmarks. Where a maker does not say whether its app does something, the table says “Not stated”. Prices change, so check before you buy.
We make Orcylo. It is first because it answers all three questions, with the app named and helpers counted in, and it is the only monitor here that also tracks Claude Code and Codex limits. It is new, needs macOS 15 or later and does not control fans, so iStat Menus or Vitals is the better choice if fan control matters. On macOS 14 Sonoma or older, pick iStat Menus (macOS 11 and later) or Stats (macOS 12 and later): Vitals needs macOS 15 too. See the Orcylo feature tour or the launch price.
Questions people ask
What is the best system monitor for Mac?
Orcylo, if you want to know which app is behind a figure, with 30 days of history, alerts and your Claude Code and Codex limits; we make it, and it needs macOS 15 or later. iStat Menus if you want the most sensors in the menu bar and fan control. Vitals for the app-first view with fan control. Stats if you do not want to pay.
What is the best free system monitor for Mac?
Stats, which is free and open source and puts CPU, GPU, memory, disk, sensors, network and battery in the menu bar. In the terminal, btop. For a window, Activity Monitor comes with macOS.
Which Mac system monitor can control the fans?
iStat Menus (the version sold on Bjango's site), Vitals and MacPulse (the version sold on its site) can set fan speeds, and TG Pro is the specialist for it. Orcylo reads fan speed but does not control fans, and Stats marks its fan control as unmaintained.
Which system monitor for Mac keeps history?
Orcylo, Vitals and MacPulse keep 30 days. iStat Menus draws graphs as far back as 28 days in its menus. Activity Monitor keeps 12 hours of energy and battery data on a laptop; everything else in it is live.
Can a system monitor show Claude Code or Codex usage?
Of the monitors on this list, only Orcylo does. It shows Claude Code's 5-hour and weekly limits and Codex's plan limits, with reset countdowns, as menu bar items next to CPU and memory. Vitals lists an Agents tab for Claude Code and Codex on its roadmap.
Sources
- 1.Vitals: product page, pricing and FAQ · vitalsmac.com
- 2.Bjango: iStat Menus 7 · bjango.com
- 3.Bjango: iStat Menus version history · bjango.com
- 4.Bjango: iStat Menus Mac App Store differences · bjango.com
- 5.MacPulse: features, pricing and edition differences · macpulse.app
- 6.Stats on GitHub (README and releases) · github.com
- 7.Stats: mac-stats.com · mac-stats.com
- 8.iStatistica on the Mac App Store · apps.apple.com
- 9.iStatistica Pro on the Mac App Store · apps.apple.com
- 10.ImageTasks: iStatistica · imagetasks.com
- 11.Cindori: Sensei · cindori.com
- 12.Cindori: Sensei store · cindori.com
- 13.MacPaw: CleanMyMac pricing · macpaw.com
- 14.MacPaw: Use the CleanMyMac Menu · macpaw.com
- 15.btop on GitHub (README and v1.4.7 release) · github.com
- 16.htop on GitHub · github.com
- 17.TG Pro by Tunabelly Software · tunabellysoftware.com
- 18.Objective Development: Little Snitch · obdev.at
- 19.TripMode on the Mac App Store · apps.apple.com
- 20.Apple: View memory usage in Activity Monitor · support.apple.com
- 21.Apple: Check if your Mac needs more RAM · support.apple.com
- 22.Apple: View energy consumption 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.