iStat Menus alternative
A lightweight iStat Menus alternative, built for Apple Silicon
If you came looking for an iStat Menus alternative, MenuBarMonitor is a focused, native system monitor that keeps your Mac's vitals — CPU, GPU, RAM, temperature and fans — live in the menu bar. It's built specifically for M-series Macs, collects no telemetry, and is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription.
What you get
- Live CPU, GPU, RAM and temperature in one clean menu bar line
- Per-core load across performance and efficiency cores, with live clock speed
- Real memory pressure — not just "free RAM" — plus a one-click free-up
- Temperature and fan RPM so you know why it got loud
- Disk read/write and battery health
- Background hog detector that flags apps quietly burning CPU
Why pick MenuBarMonitor
Built only for Apple Silicon
MenuBarMonitor reads the real per-core activity and sensors of M-series chips instead of generic estimates — performance and efficiency cores split out, the way macOS actually runs them.
One-time price, or free on Setapp
A single Lifetime license (€14.99) with no subscription — or add it at no extra cost if you already subscribe to Setapp.
Private by design
No root access, no telemetry, no analytics SDKs. Your system data never leaves your Mac.
Light and focused
It does one job well: live vitals at a glance. Low CPU, around 18 MB of memory, and it stays out of your way.
MenuBarMonitor vs. iStat Menus — which fits you?
iStat Menus is the long-established, comprehensive option and covers a very broad set of metrics across many years of Mac hardware. If you want that full breadth, it's a great tool. MenuBarMonitor takes the opposite approach on purpose: a focused, Apple-Silicon-native monitor that shows the live numbers that actually matter on an M-series Mac, stays light, keeps everything on-device, and costs a single one-time payment instead of recurring billing. If those priorities sound like yours, it's a clean alternative worth a try.
Try it on your Mac
Apple Silicon only, macOS 13 and later. One-time Lifetime license, or free to add if you're on Setapp.