Taskglass vs Stats
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Updated · I make Taskglass, so weigh it accordingly
Short answer
Stats is free, open source and the default recommendation for menu bar stats, and it's a good one. Taskglass is a paid app with a different goal: explaining what's slowing, heating or draining your Mac in plain English, with a 30-day timeline, per-app battery drain and alerts.
Choose Stats if…
- You want a free, open-source tool.
- You only need live numbers in the menu bar.
Choose Taskglass if…
- You want to know what a process is and whether it's safe to quit.
- You want history, event markers and alerts.
- You want an app that shows its own resource cost live.
Side by side
| Feature | Taskglass | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From $5 one-time (launch ladder), then $14 | Free |
| Open source | No | Yes (MIT) |
| Where it lives | Window app plus a menu bar popover | Menu bar |
| Plain-English process explanations | 214 processes | No |
| History | 30 days with event markers | Short live charts |
| Self-cost meter | Shows its own CPU, RAM and disk writes | No |
Stats details checked November 5, 2026. Products change, so check with Serhiy Mytrovtsiy and contributors for the latest.
What Stats does well
- Completely free and open source, with a large community.
- Many menu bar modules: CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery, sensors and fans.
- Easy to install with Homebrew.
Where it falls short
- Menu bar only, with no process explanations.
- Short history.
- Some users have reported noticeable CPU use or disk writes from the app itself in certain versions (see its GitHub issues).
At a glance
- Price
- Free (Open source (MIT))
- Made by
- Serhiy Mytrovtsiy and contributors
- Get it from
- GitHub and Homebrew
Questions
Why pay for Taskglass when Stats is free?
If you only want numbers in your menu bar, Stats is a great free choice. Taskglass is for people who want those numbers explained: what a process is, why it's busy, what happened earlier, and what to do about it.