System Monitor for MacPulseYour Mac slowed down. Pulse knows why.
Pulse catches CPU and memory spikes as they happen and shows which apps were busiest when they began. Every vital sign sits in your menu bar, and a full dashboard gives each one its own page. Native, sandboxed and on-device.
Free download · Pro is a one-time purchase · macOS 14.6 or later
Menu bar
Everything, one click away.
Your Mac’s vital signs live in the menu bar. One click opens the popover, where rows expand in place, and one more opens the dashboard. A keyboard shortcut opens it from anywhere.
Pick up to three metrics
Draw each one your way
- CPU
- Memory
ProThis one needs Pulse Pro. Free shows one metric, as Text or Icon + Text.
Graphs are offered for CPU, memory and network, the metrics Pulse keeps history for.
What it does
Activity Monitor shows you now. Pulse remembers what happened.
Catch every spike, and who was busy
Pulse writes down every CPU and memory spike as it happens: the peak, the time and the apps that were busiest when it began. It keeps logging while you are away from the Mac, so the slowdown you missed still has a name. A memory spike means real memory pressure, not a RAM gauge that only looks full.
ProPro shows the apps behind every spike.
Find out what keeps your Mac awake
Mac won’t sleep? The Sleep page names whatever is holding it awake, from a FaceTime call to a caffeinate left running in Terminal. Need the opposite? Keep Awake holds off idle sleep in one click, and the display is still free to turn off.
ProPro adds timers: 15 minutes, an hour, until 6 PM, while charging or a time you pick.
See where your disk space went
Pick Home, Downloads or any folder, and Pulse draws every folder and file at the size it really takes up. Click to zoom in. The largest files are listed with how long they have sat untouched, a click away from Finder or the Trash.
A weekly check-up for your Mac
Once a week Pulse sums up how your Mac really did: the spikes and the apps behind them, the patterns that keep coming back, when the disk is on course to fill up and how the battery is aging.
ProPro unlocks every section of the report.
Alerts
Alerts that wait for a real problem.
None of the built-in alerts cry wolf. CPU waits for sustained load, not a brief spike. Memory follows real pressure, not a percentage. The network alert gives your Mac a moment after it wakes up.
- CPU usage
- Memory pressure
- Disk space
- Thermal state
- Battery
- Network
ProWrite your own rules, up to 20 in all: any metric, or one app’s CPU or memory, with the line it has to cross and how long it has to stay there.
When Google Chrome memory is at or above 4 GB for at least 2 min, notify me, then stay quiet for 30 min.
Your rules
- Google Chrome memoryGoogle Chrome memory at or above 4.0 GB for 2 minAt most once every 30 min
- GPUGPU at or above 85% for 5 minAt most once every 30 min
- Disk free spaceDisk free space below 50.0 GBAt most once every 30 min
And every vital sign, with its own page.
Every core, live
Total and per-core load with performance and efficiency cores side by side, user and system time, load average and the thermal state macOS reports.
ProPro adds 1-hour, 24-hour and 7-day graphs, and a 1-second refresh.
What is using your memory
Top Apps ranks what is using memory and CPU right now. App Groups adds up the apps you use together, a project or a workday, and Memory Growth spots an app whose memory keeps climbing.
ProPro shows the full list, sorted by memory or CPU.
Health
One score from 0 to 100, with each factor that pulls it down and by how much.
Memory
Real memory pressure, with active, wired and compressed memory broken out.
Disk
Every volume, its free space and live read and write speed.
Network
Live download and upload, data moved today and the connection type.
Battery
Charge, health, cycle count and time left.
GPU
Live load. With Pro, VRAM, every GPU and the apps using it.
Also in there
Under 1% CPU
Pure Swift, with no daemons and no helper processes. When nothing is on screen Pulse slows its own polling down, and Low Power Mode slows it further.
A shortcut away
Open the popover from anywhere with a keyboard shortcut. With Pro, reorder its rows or hide the ones you never read.
Share and export
Copy your Mac’s vitals as an image for a chat or a support ticket. Pro saves full system reports to a file and exports history as CSV.
Private by design
Sandboxed. No account, no analytics, no tracking. The only connection Pulse makes is to the App Store, for the optional Pro purchase.
Accessible
Every element works with VoiceOver, and Pulse respects Reduce Motion.
13 languages
English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
Next time your Mac slows down, you’ll know why.
Start free. Pay once for Pro when you want your own alerts, the treemap and the full weekly report. Never a subscription.
macOS 14.6 or later
Free
No time limit
- Health score & full dashboard
- Spike Log
- What keeps your Mac awake
- Keep Awake
- Six built-in alerts
- One metric in the menu bar
Pro
Pay once, no subscription
- Your own alert rules
- The apps behind every spike
- Disk Treemap
- The full Weekly Health Report
- Up to 3 menu bar metrics, with graphs
- 24-hour & 7-day history
- Keep Awake timers
- 1-second refresh & CSV export
FAQ
Common questions about Pulse.
What does Pulse show in the menu bar?
Your pick of CPU, memory, disk, network, battery or GPU, as a number or an icon and a number. Pulse Pro shows up to three side by side, with live graphs. One click opens a popover with every vital sign, and one more opens the full dashboard.
How does Pulse find out what slowed my Mac down?
Pulse keeps a Spike Log: every CPU and memory spike is recorded with its peak, the time and the apps that were busiest when it began, even while you were away. The Weekly Health Report then shows which apps keep turning up, and when.
Why won’t my Mac go to sleep?
Usually an app is holding it awake: a video call, a download, a caffeinate command left running. The Sleep page in Pulse names it. Pulse can also keep your Mac awake on purpose, holding off idle sleep while the display is still free to turn off.
Is Pulse free?
Pulse is free to download, with no time limit. Pulse Pro is a one-time in-app purchase, never a subscription, that adds your own alert rules, the apps behind every spike, the Disk Treemap, the full Weekly Health Report, menu bar graphs, and 24-hour and 7-day history.
Does Pulse slow my Mac down?
No. Pulse typically uses under 1% CPU, runs no background daemons or helper processes, and slows its own polling down when nothing is on screen.
Which macOS versions does Pulse support?
Pulse requires macOS 14.6 or later and is available on the Mac App Store.