--- title: "Best Activity Monitor alternatives for Mac in 2026. — iSurge" description: "Activity Monitor lists processes, not apps. The best alternatives for Mac in 2026, picked by what you want to find out, with where each one falls short." url: https://isurgemac.com/blog/activity-monitor-alternatives-mac/ --- [](https://macpip.com/apps/isurge?ref=badge)[](https://justmacapps.com/apps/isurge) [‹ Back](https://isurgemac.com/) [BLOG](https://isurgemac.com/blog/) # Best Activity Monitor alternatives for Mac in 2026. Picked by what you want to find out. Activity Monitor lists processes, not apps. The best alternatives for Mac in 2026, picked by what you want to find out, with where each one falls short. By Ruthran Baskar · 7 November 2026 · 7 min read We make iSurge, so read this knowing that. Every fact about the other apps comes from their own websites, checked on 3 to 5 November 2026, and each section says where that app is better than ours. IN SHORT - **Best for finding what's slowing your Mac:** iSurge. It adds a thousand processes up into the apps you use and warns you, naming the app, when a problem lasts. - **Most menu bar detail and fan control:** iStat Menus. - **Best free:** Stats, an open-source menu bar monitor. - **When Activity Monitor is enough:** if you only open it after something has already gone wrong. APPS ## Why look past Activity Monitor? Most people look for an Activity Monitor alternative for the same reason. Activity Monitor comes with every Mac, and it's good at one thing: listing every process and what it uses. The trouble is that a Mac runs about a thousand of them, and an app is rarely one process. Chrome shows up as row after row of “Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)”. You can see that something is using 4 GB, but not easily that it's all Chrome. (Why so many? We wrote it up in [A thousand processes](https://isurgemac.com/blog/a-thousand-processes/).) Activity Monitor on a sample Mac: 1,047 processes. Which ones are Chrome? That's why I built iSurge. My Mac kept running out of memory while I had several phone emulators and Claude sessions open side by side, and Activity Monitor showed me a wall of helpers instead of the apps behind them. The other things it leaves out: - **No warnings.** You only find out when the Mac is already slow, hot or loud. - **No sense of normal.** It shows now, not whether now is unusual for that app. - **Nothing else.** Sound, disk space, dev servers and keeping the Mac awake all live somewhere else, or nowhere. Not everyone needs all of that, so this list is sorted by what you're trying to find out. APPS ## How we picked We looked at each app for the things people open Activity Monitor for: does it name the app, not just the process? Does it warn you before you notice? Does it show temperatures and fans? Does it run on your Mac (Apple silicon or Intel, and which macOS)? What does it cost, once or every year? And does it need an account or collect analytics? We didn't rank on looks. AppBest forPriceRuns on**iSurge** Which app is slowing your Mac, and fixing it$14.99 once, or $9.99 a yearApple silicon, macOS 15+iStat MenusThe most menu bar detail, fan control$11.99 (App Store)macOS 13.5+StatsA free menu bar monitorFree, open sourcemacOS 12+VitalsApps, not processes, with long history$9 a year; Lifetime $29 from 9 Nov ($15 before)Apple silicon and Intel, macOS 15+Activity MonitorA quick look after the factFree, comes with macOSEvery Mac Prices and requirements from each app's own site, 3 to 5 November 2026. Every feature side by side: [iSurge and every rival in one table](https://isurgemac.com/compare/). APPS ## 1. iSurge: best for finding what's slowing your Mac iSurge adds every process up into the apps you actually use, so Chrome is one row with its 39 processes inside, and each app's CPU, memory, disk and network sit beside it. It lives in the menu bar and at the top of the screen (in the notch on a MacBook, in a small pill on any other Mac), with a window for the detail. Click an app to see what it uses now and how that compares with its usual. The same Mac, as iSurge shows it. It stays quiet until a problem lasts: the Mac running hot, low on memory or busy for a long time. Then it tells you which app is behind it, and you can quit it from the menu bar in one click. Quit closes the app the normal way, so it can ask you to save first. More on that: [why your Mac is slow, hot or crashing](https://isurgemac.com/blog/mac-alerts-slow-hot-crash/), and [see what’s slowing down your Mac](https://isurgemac.com/blog/mac-system-monitor-window/). It also does the jobs people usually need a second or third app for: each app's own volume and speakers, muting every mic at once, disk clean-up that only moves what you tick to the Trash, removing apps with what they leave behind, a Dev tab for servers, ports, containers and Homebrew, a Focus Timer, and Keep Awake, even with the lid closed. - **Price:** $14.99 once for one Mac, or $9.99 for a year. 3 days free, no card. 14 days to get your money back. - **Runs on:** Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later), macOS 15 Sequoia or later. - **Privacy:** no account and no analytics. Your stats stay on your Mac. - **Where others are better:** it doesn't run on Intel Macs, and it doesn't control fan speed (that's a maybe on its roadmap). For Intel, look at Vitals below; for fans, iStat Menus. APPS ## 2. iStat Menus: the most detail in the menu bar [iStat Menus](https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/) has been the classic paid choice for years. Version 7.5 covers CPU and GPU, memory (with pressure and swap), disks with S.M.A.R.T. status, network, battery and Bluetooth batteries, sensors, weather and world clocks. Its CPU and memory menus list the apps using the most. It can set fan speeds, or ramp them with temperature, and its rules send alerts on almost any reading. - **Price:** $11.99 on the App Store. 14 days free from its site. - **Runs on:** macOS 13.5 or later. - **Missing:** no per-app sound, disk clean-up or developer tools. It's a monitor, and a very thorough one. APPS ## 3. Stats: best free [Stats](https://github.com/exelban/stats) is a free, open-source monitor for the menu bar. It has a module for each part of the Mac: CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery, sensors (temperature, voltage and power), Bluetooth devices and clocks. You turn on the modules you want, and each gets its own spot in the menu bar. Its fan control module is marked as no longer maintained. Its own README is honest about cost: the sensors and Bluetooth modules use the most, and turning them off can cut its CPU and power use by up to half. - **Price:** free (MIT licence). Install with `brew install stats` or download it. - **Runs on:** macOS 12 Monterey or later. - **Missing:** it shows the Mac, not which app is behind a number, and it doesn't warn you about lasting problems. APPS ## 4. Vitals: apps instead of processes, with long history [Vitals](https://vitalsmac.com/) is the closest to iSurge in idea: it groups processes by app too, so each app gets one row for CPU, memory, energy, disk and network. It keeps history for up to a year, hour by hour, and alerts you when an app uses too much CPU or keeps growing in memory. It also tracks dev servers, ports and Docker containers, has a per-app volume mixer, and shows coding agents and AI plan limits. - **Price:** $9 for a year of updates, or Lifetime for $29 from 9 November 2026 ($15 before that). 3 days free. - **Runs on:** macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. - **Where it's better:** Intel Macs, and a year of history. - **Missing compared with iSurge:** each app on its own speakers, muting every mic at once, disk clean-up and full uninstalls (its roadmap lists clean-up), Homebrew, Focus Timer and Keep Awake with the lid closed. APPS ## 5. Activity Monitor: when it's enough If you only check after the Mac has slowed down, Activity Monitor is fine, and it's already on your Mac (Applications › Utilities, or [Apple’s guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/activity-monitor/welcome/mac)). Sort by CPU or Memory, and use View › All Processes, Hierarchically to see which helpers belong to which app. Its Energy tab shows what has used the battery in the last 12 hours. APPS ## Which one should you pick? If you want to know…PickWhich app is slowing my Mac, and stop it**iSurge**, or VitalsWhy my Mac is hot, and control the fansiStat MenusEverything about my Mac in the menu bar, for freeStatsWhat's filling my disk, and clear it safely**iSurge**What my dev servers, ports and containers use**iSurge**, or VitalsOne app's volume, or muting every mic**iSurge** I have an Intel MacVitals ## Questions ### Is there a Task Manager on Mac? Yes: Activity Monitor, in Applications › Utilities. Press ⌘ Space and type Activity Monitor to open it. To quit an app that won't respond, press ⌥⌘Esc for Force Quit. ### What's the best free Activity Monitor alternative? Stats. It's free, open source and lives in the menu bar, with modules for CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery and sensors. ### How do I see which app is using my memory? In Activity Monitor, open the Memory tab and sort by Memory, then turn on View › All Processes, Hierarchically to see helpers under their app. iSurge does that adding up for you: each app is one row with all its processes inside. ### Does a system monitor slow down my Mac? A little, like any app that keeps running. The cost depends on how often it reads and what: Stats' own notes say its sensors and Bluetooth modules use the most. You can check any monitor's own row in Activity Monitor. ### Can I see temperatures on an Apple silicon Mac? Not in Activity Monitor. iSurge, Stats, iStat Menus and Vitals all show them. ### How much is iSurge, and can I try it? $14.99 once for one Mac, or $9.99 for a year. Every Mac gets 3 days free with everything included and no card, and you can get your money back within 14 days. See [pricing](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/). ## Get iSurge Pay once, yours for good. [Buy iSurge](https://isurgemac.com/pricing/) Already have it? [Download](https://isurgemac.com/download) Requires a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 15 Sequoia or later. Everything works on any of them: on a MacBook it uses the notch, and on a Mac or display without one the notch opens from a small pill at the top centre of the screen.