What is Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Runs web pages and extensions for Chrome; usually one per site or extension.
Renderer helpers run the actual web pages and extensions: their code, layout, video and animations. Chrome keeps sites in separate renderers for security, so you'll often see many. A single busy renderer almost always means one specific tab or extension is working hard.
- Category
- Third-party
- Made by
- Safe to quit:
- With care
Shown in Activity Monitor as Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)
Why is Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) using so much CPU or memory?
- A heavy tab: video, web games, ads or complex web apps
- Many tabs open
- An extension running scripts on every page
- A page stuck running scripts in a loop
What to do
- 1Open Chrome's Task Manager (Window > Task Manager), sort by CPU or memory, and end the heavy tab
- 2Close tabs you don't need, or enable Memory Saver in Settings > Performance
- 3Disable extensions one at a time
- 4Reload or close the tab if it froze
Safe to quit? With care.
Quitting one closes or crashes the tabs it was running ('Aw, Snap!'); reload to get them back.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- Memory
- 50 MB – 1 GB+ each, depending on the site
Related guides
Related processes
- Google ChromeGoogle's web browser. Its tabs and extensions run in separate 'Google Chrome Helper' processes.
- Google Chrome Helper (GPU)Chrome's graphics process: draws pages and plays video using your Mac's graphics chip.
- Google Chrome HelperBackground helpers that do work for Chrome, such as networking, audio and other services.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library