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MacPulse

Know what your Mac’s up to

MacPulse is a Mac system monitor for when you want to understand performance spikes, review activity over time, and adjust fan behavior during demanding work.

by Athanasios Chonias

Buy on Setapp Sold separately, not in the membership Developer website ↗
Helps you Monitor CPU, memory & temperature 16

What you get

See what your Mac is doing and understand its performance changes.

You get a live view of how your Mac is using its CPU, memory, GPU, disk, network, and battery, alongside temperatures and fan speeds. You can keep selected stats in your menu bar, so checking activity doesn’t require opening a dashboard every time.

When something looks unusual, you can review the past hour, day, week, or month rather than relying on a momentary reading. Plain-English insights help you understand CPU spikes, memory pressure, thermal events, battery health changes, and unusual network activity. Your history and AI-generated insights stay on your Mac.

For gaming or creative work, you can record a session and review CPU, memory, FPS, and frame-time charts afterward. You can also set custom fan curves or performance presets for demanding workloads, and export recorded metrics to CSV for closer analysis.

  • Check activity at a glance

    You can keep CPU, memory, or network readings in your menu bar without leaving your current work.

  • Understand unusual readings

    You get plain-English explanations of performance spikes, memory pressure, thermal events, and battery health changes.

  • Review what happened earlier

    You can look back across an hour, day, week, or month to spot patterns beyond the current moment.

  • Adjust fan behavior

    You can check temperatures and set custom fan curves or performance presets for demanding workloads.

  • Review demanding sessions

    You can record gaming or creative sessions, then examine CPU, memory, FPS, and frame-time charts afterward.

Best for

  • You want explanations alongside system readings
  • You review performance during gaming or creative work
  • You want local performance history and fan controls

Skip it if

You probably don’t need it if Activity Monitor gives you enough information and you don’t need historical charts or fan controls.

Screenshots

MacPulse screenshot 1 MacPulse screenshot 2 MacPulse screenshot 3 MacPulse screenshot 4 MacPulse screenshot 5

From the developer

MacPulse is a system monitor for Mac that turns Activity Monitor into a cleaner, smarter dashboard. Track CPU, memory, GPU, battery, network, and thermal activity in real time with live charts, menu bar stats, and historical analytics. It’s built for people who want more than a wall of numbers.
Read the full description

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