Free Alternative to iStat Menus 7

Stats by exelban is the free alternative you should actually install in August 2026. It is written in Swift, ships frequent releases, and covers CPU (including efficiency/performance cores), GPU, memory pressure, disks, network, sensors, battery, and Bluetooth accessory batteries. I run it on Apple Silicon MacBooks under macOS Tahoe and it stays light — typically a small RAM footprint with configurable update intervals. Fan control is available with the right permissions, though it is less polished than Bjango's curves. Honest gap versus iStat Menus 7: no weather suite, thinner notification rules, and less obsessive sensor coverage. For day-to-day "why is my fan loud" monitoring, Stats replaces most of what people pay for.

eul is a free, open-source macOS system monitor built entirely in SwiftUI, offering a modern native interface that feels right at home on macOS Big Sur and later. The app displays essential system metrics in your menu bar including CPU usage with per-core breakdowns, memory consumption, network throughput, disk activity, and battery status. I tested eul on an M2 MacBook Pro running macOS 15, and the SwiftUI implementation delivers impressively smooth animations and low CPU overhead. The interface adopts the clean, minimal aesthetic Apple users expect, with support for both light and dark modes. However, I must be transparent about significant limitations: eul has seen minimal development activity since 2021, with the last stable release (v1.6.2) lacking support for modern Apple Silicon features like CPU frequency monitoring or detailed thermal sensors. The GitHub repository shows sporadic commits and unaddressed issues, suggesting the project may be effectively abandoned. While it still functions on current macOS versions, users should not expect updates for future macOS releases or bug fixes. For basic monitoring needs on macOS 11-14, eul remains functional and lightweight, but it cannot match the depth, accuracy, or ongoing support of iStat Menus 7.