Live CPU and memory. 12 categories of honest storage cleanup. A process list that actually kills processes. A menu bar item that doesn't lie about being real-time.
No account, no setup wizard. Four obvious moves and you've got a working diagnostics suite plus a permanent menu bar readout.
The .dmg has the app and an /Applications shortcut. Drag, double-click, done.
One-time macOS prompt — only used for cleaning system caches under /Library. Decline and the rest still works.
Live CPU% sits next to Wi-Fi and your clock at 1 Hz. Click it for a popover, right-click for Open / Quit.
Caches, logs, Trash — review the file list, click Move to Trash. Recoverable until you empty.
Raw signals from the kernel, refreshed once per second. No "boost" buttons, no "speed gauge" out of 100, no fictional optimization scores.
host_processor_info — the same call top uses.Every byte you reclaim is one you reviewed. There is no "Optimize Mac" button. Smart Scan runs the three safe, default-on categories; everything else is opt-in.
.app in, see every leftover the app stashed across ~/Library.Live CPU, memory, and thread count for every running process. Right-click sends SIGTERM, force-quit sends SIGKILL behind a confirmation. Activity Monitor's table without the launch delay.
A live CPU percentage in your menu bar at 1 Hz. Click for a mini dashboard, right-click for Open / Quit. Drops to 0.2 Hz when you've been idle for 5 minutes so it doesn't sip battery in the background.
Mac monitoring is a crowded shelf. Here's the honest map: what each tool does, what it costs, and where the gaps are.
| CPU Runner | Activity Monitor | CleanMyMac | iStat Menus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free (built-in) | $40 / year | $10 once |
| Live CPU + memory | Yes | Yes | — | Yes |
| Per-core breakdown | Yes | Yes | — | Yes |
| Menu bar live readout | Yes | — | — | Yes (flagship) |
| Process list with Quit / Force Quit | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Storage cleanup (12 categories) | Yes | — | Yes (flagship) | — |
| App uninstaller drop-zone | Yes | — | Yes | — |
| Large / Old Files scanner | Yes | — | Yes | — |
| Auto-updates | Yes (Sparkle, EdDSA-signed) | Yes (via macOS) | Yes | Yes |
Tools change. Specs are current as of v0.1.9 (May 2026) and reflect each app's marketing pages and shipping defaults. Tracking and telemetry claims belong to each vendor — CPU Runner's promise is that we don't add any.
CleanMyMac has its lane. iStat Menus has its lane. We pick the same problem space but with a stricter set of self-imposed rules.
Zero analytics SDKs. Zero telemetry pings. Zero "anonymous usage statistics" that turn out to track everything. The app talks to your kernel, not to our servers.
No one-click cleanup that hides what it's about to delete. No "your Mac is 73% optimized" gauges. Every byte you reclaim is one you reviewed in a real file list first.
Scans run on your machine. Cleanup runs on your machine. Process metadata never leaves your machine. There is no cloud component at any point, by design.
Yes. No license keys, no trial countdowns, no "Pro" upsells. If you'd like to support development, there will be an optional sponsor link in the About window later — non-blocking.
macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, on Apple Silicon. Intel Macs and macOS 13 are not supported.
App Store apps must be sandboxed. The sandbox forbids reading /Library/Caches, enumerating processes you don't own, and killing them — which would gut Storage Cleanup and Process List. Apple's Developer ID program is the right channel for this kind of tool, with the same security posture (signed + notarized + Hardened Runtime), just without the feature ceiling.
Sparkle 2.x, the same auto-update framework that ships with most non-MAS Mac apps (1Password, Transmit, Bartender, dozens more). Updates are EdDSA-signed and verified by the bundle's embedded public key — no man-in-the-middle can push you a malicious build.
Closed source. The binary itself is signed and notarized by Apple, which Mac users can verify with spctl --assess --type install /Applications/CPURunner.app.
The iOS version of CPU Runner ships on the App Store and has been available for years — same brand, different feature set (live diagnostics, hardware tests, GPU benchmarks, and Home Screen widgets). Tap "On the App Store" above.
3.31 MB. Signed and notarized. Drag to Applications. Auto-updates from here.
Download CPU Runner 0.1.9 Apple Silicon · macOS 14+