Free system monitor for macOS
Your Mac’s load —
right on the desktop.
CPU, memory, GPU, network and disk in widgets you can’t tell from the built-in ones. And a menu bar badge that turns red when your Mac is maxed out and keeps it awake when you need it.
Desktop widgets: one of the family.
Fonts, spacing and the glass look are matched pixel by pixel to the built-in Weather widget. Next to the system widgets they look right at home.
System
CPU, memory, GPU, network and disk in one list.
CPU, Memory, Disk
A big percentage, a last-hour graph and “how much of how much”.
Battery
A charge ring and the time to full or to empty.
Resources and Network
Four load rings, or download and upload speed with a graph.
Last Hour
Every metric in a list, each with its own graph, like in Stocks.
Same numbers
One measurement for all widgets — neighbors never disagree.
Menu bar monitor: one glance up.
A badge styled like the keyboard layout indicator shows whatever is busiest — CPU, memory or GPU — as an icon and a percentage. Above 80% it turns red.
Keep your Mac awake — right from the badge.
The badge menu can keep your Mac from sleeping. While it’s on, a lock shows in the badge.
- Display — off or onFor downloads and builds the display can turn off; for presentations it stays on.
- From 15 minutes to “until I turn it off”When time’s up, your Mac sleeps as usual again, no reminders.
- Saves your batteryOn battery below 20% it lets go by itself, so a drained Mac won’t lose your work.
Eight widgets in one gallery.
- Eight widgetsSmall, medium and large — put any of them next to the built-in ones.
- Updates every minuteAs often as macOS allows; the menu bar badge updates every 2 seconds.
- Honest networkThe average speed over a minute, not a random zero in a quiet second.
- Starts on its ownAfter a restart the badge is back; you can turn this off in its menu.
- Tells you about new versionsA notification and a menu item — whether to update is up to you.
Installs in a minute.
The app isn’t from the App Store, so on first launch macOS asks you to confirm you trust it. You only do this once.
Open the disk image and drag HostWidgets to Applications
The Applications shortcut is in the same window.
Open HostWidgets
macOS will say it can’t verify the developer — click Done.
Allow it to open
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway at the bottom, then confirm with your password. Or with one command in Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/HostWidgets.app
Add the widgets
Right-click the desktop → Edit Widgets → the Mac Resources section. Drag the ones you like onto the desktop.
To remove: Quit from the badge menu, take the widgets off the desktop and delete HostWidgets from Applications.
SHA-256 of the disk image: f2285309ad7df91031e8e9c98e282aa404878fb811263450c9cf4d6b367a5e79
Mac Resources is free. If it helps you — thank the author.
Questions.
Is Mac Resources free?
Yes. No ads, no subscription, no account. If it helps you, you can thank the author.
The app isn’t notarized by Apple. Is it safe?
Notarization needs a paid Apple developer membership, which the app doesn’t have yet. The app runs in the macOS sandbox, only reads load counters, collects no data and goes online for one thing: checking dl.beregov.me for a new version every six hours. You can compare the disk image with its SHA-256 checksum.
Why do the widgets update only once a minute?
macOS decides how often desktop widgets refresh, and once a minute is the most it allows. The menu bar badge updates every 2 seconds.
Why are there no temperatures, fans or process list?
The macOS sandbox doesn’t let apps read sensors or other processes. If you need them, Stats or iStat Menus are a better fit.
How is it different from Stats or iStat Menus?
They are full system monitors with many menu bar modules. Mac Resources does less: desktop widgets you can’t tell from the built-in ones, one menu bar badge with whatever is busiest, and keeping your Mac awake — like Amphetamine or caffeinate.
Which Macs does it run on?
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Macs with Apple Silicon and Intel.
How do I keep my Mac from sleeping?
Turn on Prevent sleep in the badge menu: with the display on or off, from 15 minutes to “until I turn it off”. On battery below 20% it lets go by itself.
How do I uninstall it?
Quit from the badge menu, take the widgets off the desktop and delete HostWidgets from Applications.
Guides
- WindowServer High CPU on a Mac: Why and How to Bring It Down WindowServer taking 30–80% CPU in Activity Monitor? It's the process that draws your windows. What loads it — displays, windows, effects — and how to test each. Mac PerformancemacOS
- System Data Taking Up Space on a Mac: What It Is and How to Shrink It System Data in Mac storage at 100 GB or more? What's in it — Time Machine snapshots, caches, swap — how to find what grew and what you can safely remove. Mac PerformancemacOS
- MacBook Battery Health: Capacity, Cycle Count and When to Replace Where to check MacBook battery health, maximum capacity and cycle count, what Service Recommended means, and how to slow battery aging with macOS settings. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Mac Fan Loud: When It's Normal and What to Do MacBook or iMac fan loud for no reason? When fan noise is normal, how to find the app heating your Mac, and what to do on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Mac PerformancemacOS
- kernel_task High CPU on a Mac: What It Is and What to Do kernel_task at 300% CPU, fans loud, Mac slow? That's the macOS kernel cooling the processor. How to find what heated it up and what to do next, step by step. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Stats vs iStat Menus vs Activity Monitor: Compared An honest table: what Stats, iStat Menus, Activity Monitor and Mac Resources show, what they cost, where they live — and which monitor fits whom. Mac PerformancemacOS
- How Much Space an App Takes on a Mac and How to Remove It How to see an app's size on a Mac, where to find all apps sorted by size and how to remove an app completely, with its settings, caches and login items. macOSMac Performance
- How Much Has Been Written to a Mac SSD: Checking Wear macOS shows only the S.M.A.R.T. status. smartctl shows terabytes written, Percentage Used and Available Spare. How to read them and when SSD wear is a concern. Mac PerformancemacOS
- How to See Network Traffic on a Mac: Who Is Downloading Who is using the network and how much: per-app traffic in Activity Monitor and nettop, live speed in a desktop widget, and Low Data Mode. Mac PerformancemacOS
- MacBook Battery Drain: What Uses the Charge and Where to Look MacBook draining faster than usual? Where macOS shows battery usage by hour and by app, how to check battery health and what actually helps. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Mac Temperature: Where to Check It and When to Worry Is your Mac running hot, and is that a problem? What macOS shows about heat on Intel and Apple silicon, where to get degrees and what to do. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Menu Bar System Monitor for Mac: Which One to Choose CPU, memory and network load, even temperature, right in the Mac menu bar. What macOS shows by itself and what Stats, iStat Menus and Mac Resources can do. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Mac Slow After a macOS Update: What's Normal, What Isn't After a macOS update, Spotlight indexing, Photos analysis and iCloud sync run for days. How to help them finish and when a slow Mac means a real problem to fix. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Swap on a Mac: How Much Is Normal and When to Worry Activity Monitor shows gigabytes of Swap Used? The number alone is no diagnosis: check memory pressure and whether swap grows. What's normal, what to do. Mac PerformancemacOS
- How to Keep Your Mac Awake: Settings, caffeinate, the Lid Stop a Mac from sleeping with one setting in System Settings or the caffeinate command in Terminal. Display sleep vs. system sleep, and what a closed lid does. macOSMac Performance
- Why Is My Mac So Slow? A Step-by-Step Diagnosis Mac or MacBook running slow? Before you install a cleaner app, check memory, CPU usage, disk and heat in order and find the real cause. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Memory Pressure on a Mac: What Yellow and Red Mean Used memory on a Mac is almost always high, and that's fine. How to read the Memory Pressure graph, swap and compressed memory, and when RAM really runs short. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Mac Desktop Widgets: How to Add Them and Which to Keep How to add widgets to your macOS desktop, which ones are worth keeping — from calendar to CPU and memory load — and what to do when widgets disappear. macOSProductivity
- How to Check CPU Usage on a Mac: Activity Monitor Guide To check CPU usage on a Mac, open Activity Monitor, the Mac's task manager. What the CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network tabs show and who is to blame. Mac PerformancemacOS
- Is 8 GB of RAM Enough for a Mac, or Do You Need 16? Other people's opinions on 8 vs 16 GB won't help. A week of watching memory pressure shows whether RAM is enough for your work and worth paying for. Mac PerformancemacOS
- How to Customize the Mac Menu Bar: Icons and the Notch Menu bar icons hide behind the notch and clutter the screen. How to reorder and hide them with built-in settings, and what is worth keeping in view. macOSProductivity