What Is Stats (mac-stats.com) and What Does It Do?

Updated

Stats is a free, open-source system monitor for macOS that lives in your menu bar. It shows live readings for CPU, GPU, RAM, disk, network, sensors, battery, Bluetooth devices, and a clock, and it runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It is a good fit if you want always-visible system readings without opening Activity Monitor, and you are comfortable installing a third-party utility (directly or via Homebrew) on macOS 12 or later.

What Stats monitors

Stats organizes its features into 9 modules, which can be displayed through 13 customizable widgets. According to the project, the modules cover:

Module What it shows
CPU Real-time CPU load, frequency, and temperature, plus a live list of the most demanding processes
GPU GPU utilization, memory, and temperature for Intel, AMD, and Apple Silicon graphics
RAM Memory pressure, used and free RAM, swap usage, and top memory-consuming apps
Disk Free and used space, read/write activity, and SMART health for each drive
Sensors Temperature, voltage, power, and fan-speed sensors across the hardware
Network Upload/download speeds, total data usage, and local and public IP addresses
Battery Charge level, health, cycle count, time remaining, and power source
Bluetooth Battery levels of connected devices such as keyboards, mice, and headphones
Clock Customizable clock and calendar with multiple time zones

How the menu bar display works

Each module can appear as a chart, a number, a gauge, or a dot. The available widget styles include mini line chart, bar chart, pie chart, network chart, speed label, tachometer, memory, battery, stack, dot, and text. You can combine, reorder, and color them to fit your menu bar. The practical effect: instead of a fixed set of readouts, you build the bar you actually glance at — for example, a CPU dot, a RAM gauge, and a network speed label side by side.

Who it is for

Stats is positioned as a free alternative to paid menu bar monitors such as iStat Menus. The project states it is completely free and open-source, with no ads, no tracking, and no subscriptions. It also reports 100M+ downloads, 42.5k GitHub stars, 41 languages, and 7 years of active development.

Choose Stats if you want:

  • A no-cost, open-source menu bar monitor with broad hardware coverage.
  • Support for both Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, and later) and Intel Macs.
  • Customizable widgets rather than a single fixed display.

Look elsewhere if you need a monitor that is bundled and supported as part of a commercial suite, or if you prefer not to install third-party menu bar utilities.

Requirements and how to get it

  • macOS version: macOS 12 or later.
  • Current version listed: v3.0.21.
  • Install options: download directly from mac-stats.com, or install with Homebrew.

After installing, the expected result is a set of Stats widgets in your menu bar; you then enable the modules you care about and pick a widget style for each. A common snag is a crowded menu bar — with 13 widget styles and 9 modules, it is easy to enable more than fits, so start with two or three modules and add from there.