iStat Menus alternative: Peekaboo vs iStat Menus
By Vishva Variya · Updated
iStat Menus is the menu bar monitor people mean when they say “system monitor”: CPU and GPU, memory, disks with S.M.A.R.T. status, network bandwidth per app, every sensor, and fan control. It answers “what is my Mac doing right now?” in as much detail as you want. Peekaboo’s Mac Health answers a narrower question, “is my Mac OK, and if not, what do I do?”, and then hands you the tools to do it.
Looking for iStat Menus itself? It’s at bjango.com.
- iStat Menus price
- $11.99 Single, $14.99 Family; also in Setapp
- iStat Menus requires
- macOS 13.5 or later
- Peekaboo
- $24.99 one-time (launch price $9.99 until Nov 13), 14-day trial, macOS 14+
iStat Menus figures from bjango.com/mac/istatmenus (prices from its Paddle checkout) and the Mac App Store listing, verified 2026-11-03.
Why pick Peekaboo over iStat Menus?
A score instead of a wall of graphs
Mac Health (⌥⇧⌘H) rates your Mac from 0 to 100 in fixed bands and says in a sentence why it isn’t 100: low disk space, memory pressure, a busy processor, heat or a worn battery. Each reason has a button to the fix.
The fix is in the same app
When the startup disk is what costs points, Clean Up, Disk Usage, Duplicates and the App Uninstaller are one click away, and every cleanup can be undone. iStat Menus tells you the disk is full; it doesn’t help empty it.
Less detail, by design
iStat Menus has per-core graphs, every temperature sensor, fan curves and per-app bandwidth. Mac Health shows heat in plain words and the apps keeping your Mac busy or awake, and stops there.
Peekaboo vs iStat Menus, job by job
| Job | iStat Menus | Peekaboo |
|---|---|---|
| Live readings in the menu bar | iStat Menus: CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery, sensors, weather | Peekaboo: Optional: processor, memory pressure and network speed |
| Temperatures and fans | iStat Menus: Every sensor, plus fan speed control | Peekaboo: Heat in plain words; no sensor list or fan control |
| Drive health | iStat Menus: S.M.A.R.T. status | Peekaboo: Not offered |
| An overall verdict | iStat Menus: Not offered; rules can notify you | Peekaboo: 0–100 score with a reason and a fix for each lost point |
| Freeing disk space | iStat Menus: Outside its scope | Peekaboo: Clean Up, Duplicates, Space Map, App Uninstaller, all undoable |
| Price and macOS | iStat Menus: $11.99 Single, $14.99 Family; macOS 13.5 or later | Peekaboo: One-time per Mac after a 14-day trial; macOS 14 or later |
The honest verdict
If you like watching your Mac (per-core load, fan curves, which app is eating bandwidth), iStat Menus is the better monitor and Peekaboo doesn’t try to match it. If you want to glance once, be told whether anything needs doing and fix it there and then, especially when the disk is the problem, Peekaboo covers that and the rest of your files.
iStat Menus vs Peekaboo: questions
How much is iStat Menus?
- A Single licence is $11.99 and a Family licence for up to 5 family members is $14.99, before local tax, with upgrades from iStat Menus 6 at $9.99 and $12.99, per Bjango’s checkout on November 3, 2026. It’s also on the Mac App Store at $11.99 and included in Setapp.
Can iStat Menus control fan speed?
- Yes. Bjango says fan speeds can be controlled, switched or ramped based on temperatures and battery state. Peekaboo has no fan control.
Does Peekaboo replace iStat Menus?
- Only if what you wanted was a verdict, not the detail. Peekaboo shows processor, memory pressure and network speed in the menu bar and a health score with fixes, but no per-sensor temperatures, GPU graphs, S.M.A.R.T. status or fan control.