What's your favorite system monitoring tool?

[mdhaus72]

I'm looking to install a system monitoring tool for my 16" MacBook Pro (2021) and I'm wondering what everyone is using. Preferably, I would like something that will display in the menu bar and will track CPU and GPU usage as well as fan speed and anything else that may be important. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[casperes1996]

Stats. It is very configurable. This is my layout on my 16" MacBook Pro. I use a slightly more detailed view for my iMac

The two 0's are current fan speeds. Then there's CPU and GPU temp for hottest point, wattage, and usage stats. Can add all sorts more. It can also control fan speed and has more detail for all points when clicked.

It's free and open source. You can brew install stats.
Here's the GitHub

GitHub - exelban/stats: macOS system monitor in your menu bar

macOS system monitor in your menu bar. Contribute to exelban/stats development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[rm5]

There's a free one that I like (I don't have it installed on this machine though) called Macs Fan Control. There is a pro version which allows you to save presets, but the free version is still pretty good. Otherwise, paid options like iStat Menus and TG Pro are pretty good - both have 14 day trials, too.

 

[januarydrive7]

+1 for stats. I've been using for a few years and have had a great experience. Dev support is also great, and, being a native swift app, resource usage is low. Full disclosure: I've contributed to the app, so there's a bit of bias.

 

[satcomer]

I have web using iStat Menus sense they went Universal last December!

 

[mdhaus72]

Thank you, everyone! I downloaded Stats and it seems to be working great!

 

[altaic]

Another happy Stats user, here. The configuration UI could be better, but it does the job.

 

[jdb8167]

Another happy Stats user, here. The configuration UI could be better, but it does the job.

The UI is a little weird. The other problem is that they aren’t up to date on the M2 sensors yet. For some reason Apple completely changed them for the M2 vs the M1. Choose HID sensors if you have an M1 or M2.

I’ve been using stats to compare with my own menu bar temperature application. I just use the HID sensors from IOKit and I get slightly different values than Stats. If I use the SCM values, I get wildly different results. I’m still experimenting. I’m not sure what sensors are the most accurate for measuring the SoC temperatures. With the SCM values I see up to 118 °C but with the HID sensors I see about 102 °C max.

 

[BanditoB]

iStat Menus all the way! It's extremely configurable so you can monitor just what you want to. If you're really tight on money, watch the bundles that get put together for Mac software. iStat Menus is usually available for a discount in them.

 

[ceevee]

Do any of these monitoring tools include FPS measurement for games?

 

[jav6454]

Stats. It is very configurable. This is my layout on my 16" MacBook Pro. I use a slightly more detailed view for my iMac
View attachment 2041600

The two 0's are current fan speeds. Then there's CPU and GPU temp for hottest point, wattage, and usage stats. Can add all sorts more. It can also control fan speed and has more detail for all points when clicked.

It's free and open source. You can brew install stats.
Here's the GitHub

GitHub - exelban/stats: macOS system monitor in your menu bar

macOS system monitor in your menu bar. Contribute to exelban/stats development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I was looking for a new free alternative, thank you!

 

[rm5]

@casperes1996 You've convinced me to start using Stats... loving it so far!

 

[casperes1996]

I was looking for a new free alternative, thank you!

@casperes1996 You've convinced me to start using Stats... loving it so far!

You're welcome - It's a really nice program and the maintainer/developer manages the project super nicely with a lovely roadmap view on the GitHub and everything and is super nice in their PR replies and all. Great tool

 

[benwiggy]

TBH, Activity Monitor has most of the information you need for troubleshooting a problem; and if there's no problem, then I don't need to oversee the OS's self-management.

 

[Mike Boreham]

TBH, Activity Monitor has most of the information you need for troubleshooting a problem; and if there's no problem, then I don't need to oversee the OS's self-management.

One big difference between AM and iStat Menus is that data is available for 30 days past. This has been crucial for me sometimes. Also much more data in iStat, including sensors.

 

[Populus]

I was going to ask the same question, and I was about to open a new thread… on the macOS sub forum. If I don’t get replies maybe I’ll ask there, but for now I’m going to use this thread to not overload the forum.

I’m tired of opening Activity Monitor each time I boot my Mac to see how the 2 cores 4 threads behave. My Mac is an Intel Haswell dual core Mac mini, but I’d like a modern software prepared for Apple Silicon in the near future (I’m planning to jump during the 3nm era).

My priorities are:

Discreetely living on the menu bar.

Accuracy and precision on the CPU/GPU readings, as well as a good refresh rate (1 second is good for me)

Low CPU resources needed. My dual core is already pretty taxed by running Monterey and playing 1080p videos, the last thing I need is an app running in the background consuming an 8% or more CPU. But, at the same time, I need to visualize at a glance when the CPU is on its knees (which is pretty often).

Open Source: Okay, I’m willing to pay for iStat Menus but I’m not sure if there are open source alternatives with a lower CPU consumption. At first glance, iStat Menu seems a bit bloated and taking precious CPU cycles. Also I love Open Source software, and if I cannot enjoy it on my iPhone or iPad, at least use it on my Mac.

Prepared for Apple Silicon. An by this don’t mean merely compatible, but showing me when it is using just the efficiency Cores and when it is using heavily the performance Cores. This is not a high priority but it would be great if there was an app capable of doing so.

For now, it seems like the Open Source app Stats is the best choice but I want to hear everyone if there’s another interesting menu bar stats app.

I have seen one named Menu Bar Stats 3: https://www.seense.com/menubarstats/
Has anyone used it? Any opinions?

There are other apps I’ve been able to learn about:
EUL (open source and swift coded app): https://github.com/gao-sun/eul

Ill be happy to read opinions, good or bad, about any of those apps, and if you still consider Stats is the better alternative, I’ll probably end up getting that one.

Thank you all

PS: this post isn’t just me asking about those apps, my intention is to also provide links to alternative apps if there comes anyone else asking for alternatives to iStat Menus or Stats. But I want to stress that I haven’t tried them yet.

 

[dmccloud]

You can customize what elements of iStat menus are running on your system, thereby limiting it's usage of system resources. The only elements I run are the temp sensor, CPU, GPU, and Memory modules, turning everything else off. The other thing I use is ASITOP, which is a terminal command run on top of powermetrics. It gives you a graphical representation of CPU and GPU usage, along with power consumption data...

 

[Populus]

You can customize what elements of iStat menus are running on your system, thereby limiting it's usage of system resources. The only elements I run are the temp sensor, CPU, GPU, and Memory modules, turning everything else off. The other thing I use is ASITOP, which is a terminal command run on top of powermetrics. It gives you a graphical representation of CPU and GPU usage, along with power consumption data...

The thing is that I don’t really need Temperature monitoring, because I already have purchased TG Pro, but I guess using just one app for all, maybe, is more efficient…

Anyway, I’ve been reading there’s a bit of a problem with HID sensors on M1 and M2, I guess that’s just for monitoring temperatures and has nothing to do with CPU/GPU activity.

Oh, and by the way, I also want accuracy on the readings as well as a good refresh speed (each second or so)

 

[dmccloud]

The thing is that I don’t really need Temperature monitoring, because I already have purchased TG Pro, but I guess using just one app for all, maybe, is more efficient…

Anyway, I’ve been reading there’s a bit of a problem with HID sensors on M1 and M2, I guess that’s just for monitoring temperatures and has nothing to do with CPU/GPU activity.

Oh, and by the way, I also want accuracy on the readings as well as a good refresh speed (each second or so)

Setting the refresh to every second will contribute to reduced battery life overall, although I can't quantify exactly how much of an impact it will have. I usually have mine sample every 5 or 10 seconds, depending on the workload I'm running at the time.

 

[Gudi]

For now, it seems like the Open Source app Stats is the best choice, but I want to hear everyone if there’s another interesting menu bar stats app.

Nope.

 

[brerlappin]

Personally, I use iStat Menus and love it.

There’s also Menubar Stats, but I haven’t tried it

MenuBar Stats

MenuBar Stats, an Advanced Mac system monitor with Temperature & Fans plugins

www.seense.com

 

[Populus]

OKay, I'm testing Stats, the open source app, and does the job pretty neatly.

Now, I'm not sure iStat menus would work better, or would consume more resources. I guess only trying it out and comparing both will make my mind, but I'm not sure it is worth it.

 

[Mike Boreham]

OKay, I'm testing Stats, the open source app, and does the job pretty neatly.

Now, I'm not sure iStat menus would work better, or would consume more resources. I guess only trying it out and comparing both will make my mind, but I'm not sure it is worth it.

Stats looks good but AFAICS doesn't have 30 day history like iStat has. Has been very useful to me investigating problems after they happened.

 

[uller6]

I use system monitor (https://www.bresink.com/osx/SystemMonitor.html) and like it a lot. It’s very configurable and runs with minimal resources. Before Big Sur I used Menumeters (https://github.com/yujitach/MenuMeters) but menumeters doesn’t work correctly on newer OS’s.

 

[bluesteel]

I have been using iStat Menus for many years. It's stable and does a good job. The design is appealing, however, I wish it would get a refresh since it has looked the same for so many years.