Vitals - A Mac activity monitor that thinks in apps, not processes
by•
Activity Monitor lists a thousand processes, a hundred of them called Google Chrome Helper. Vitals adds every helper to the app that launched it, so you see 60 apps instead of 1,000 processes, each with one figure for memory, CPU, energy, disk and network. It keeps 30 days of history, alerts you when an app misbehaves, finds forgotten dev servers, and shows temperatures, fans and battery. Every readout can sit in your menu bar, arranged your way. Pay once. No subscription, no account.
Replies
Hey Product Hunt 👋
I'm Atta. I make Mac apps on my own, and Vitals is the one I made for myself first.
My Mac would get hot and slow, so I'd open Activity Monitor and find 1,041 processes, 96 of them called "Google Chrome Helper". It never told me the one thing I wanted to know: which app is doing this?
So I built the tool that answers that. Vitals adds every helper to the app that launched it. One row per app, one figure each for memory, CPU, energy, disk, and network. Click the row, and everything about that app is in one place. It keeps 30 days of history, tells you when an app starts misbehaving, and finds the dev servers you forgot were running, grouped by project.
That is also what makes it different. Activity Monitor and the terminal tools show you processes and leave the adding up to you. The menu bar monitors show you how busy your Mac is, with gauges and graphs, but not which app is behind it. Vitals starts from the app, and I built it to feel like one native Mac app, not a dashboard.
Version 1.1 ships today. Every readout can be its own menu bar item; volume and Bluetooth sit beside them, and you arrange the panel and the window the way you like.
Two days ago I put it on X. 800+ people bought it in 72 hours, which I still don't quite believe. It's $5 for the first 1,000 licenses, then $29. One payment, no subscription, no account, and nothing leaves your Mac.
👉 https://vitalsmac.com
I'll be here all day. Tell me what you'd want Vitals to answer next, and what you'd want it to stop doing.
@attacomsian Pre Sale Query: Looks like a nice app with amazing UI. Will it help me optimise storage and RAM too, or is it just a monitor?
@palash_bagchi Thank you so much!
Today Vitals shows exactly what's eating your RAM and disk, and lets you quit heavy apps or stop forgotten dev servers in one click. Storage cleanup is on our list, and we're building it next: what's taking up your space and what's safe to remove. It'll arrive as a free update.
as one of the first users i highly reccomend it!!
very helpful as someone multi-tasking PRs over multiple repos, worktrees, and agents. alot of the time my mac gets stuck due to left over servers and simulators, and i always had to hunt down what causes the lags
not anymore!
@ofir_smolinsky Thank you for being the very first user 🙌
means a lot to have you here from day one.
Atta, congrats on launching Vitals. Can I tune the alert thresholds per app, or mute them for an app like Chrome that always runs hot?
@protsenkoalexandra Thank you!
Not per app yet. Today you can tune the thresholds in Settings → Insights, but they apply to every app. Muting one app (Chrome is the usual suspect) and giving an app its own thresholds are both on the list, and mute is coming first.
Vitals was an instant iStat Menu's replacement for me. Looking forward to all the upcoming goodies @attacomsian has in mind for this!
@gniting Thank you 🙌
plenty more coming soon, stay tuned.
Love apps which prioritise design and experience. Vitals really puts the indie community on limelight because of how good it is. For me a must recommend. ✨
@aashishlal Thank you so much 🙌
that really means a lot coming from a fellow indie.
@curiouskitty iStat Menus and Stats are great at telling you your Mac is busy. The switching moment is when you want to know who's doing it.
Instead of a graph at 90% and a hunt through hundreds of "Helper" processes in Activity Monitor, Vitals shows you the app by name: Chrome as one row, your forgotten dev server under its project, and one click to quit it.
The graphs tell you something's wrong. Vitals gives you the name.
Good luck with the launch! Awesome product ❤️
@alexcloudstar thank you!
launch day nerves are real, this helps.
Congratulations on the launch! This is amazing!
@makadiaharsh Thank you so much 🙌
glad you like it!
I bought Vitals and have been using it, and I’m really impressed. It delivers on its promise: I can see which apps are using my Mac’s resources without digging through a long list of processes. The interface is clear, beautifully designed, and a pleasure to use. Congrats on the launch! 🙌
@neylwalecki Thanks so much for buying it and sharing this 🙏
it made my launch day.
@ajay_yadav_1829 Thanks for buying it.
A shortcut to quit the heaviest app is doable. Shortcuts to open Vitals are coming in the next update, and this one can follow.
Showing stats around the notch is a bigger job. It's on my list, but I can't give a date yet.