Spare vs Stats
Make sense of a busy Mac.
Stats puts hardware readings in your menu bar. Spare focuses on the apps, projects, and agents behind your CPU and memory use, with context for deciding what can close.
Free. No subscription. No account. Apple silicon · macOS 14+.
Which one fits?
Choose Stats for broad hardware monitoring. Consider Spare when you want to connect resource use to recognizable work and review what to stop.
A familiar workday
Three projects open. Which one is still running?
A dev server from this morning can keep running after you switch projects. Alongside your browser and agents, it becomes another background task to identify before you close anything.
Spare lets you search by app, project folder, or port, then inspect the matching work. Review a session before sending a stop request. This helps you keep the project you need and identify the one you meant to close.
See Spare’s illustrated workflow →Spare and Stats, side by side.
Different scopes. Choose the one that answers your questions.
| What matters | Stats | Spare |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Menu bar system monitoring | Apps, projects, and agents using CPU and memory |
| Hardware coverage | CPU, GPU, memory, disk, network, battery, and sensors | CPU and memory; no sensor or fan controls |
| Finding your work | System readings across monitoring modules | Search by app, folder, or port; inspect recognized sessions |
| Availability | Public download and source repository | Free download and MIT-licensed public source |
Competitor information: Stats’ official repository. Reviewed October 4, 2026. This is a documentation-based comparison, not a performance test.
Choose Stats for hardware coverage
Stats is a strong fit if you want GPU, disk, network, battery, and sensor readings in your menu bar. Spare does not currently cover those areas.
Consider Spare for everyday decisions.
See recognized apps and their helpers together. Find development work by project or port. Review what a stop request affects. Look back at your day or week in a dedicated Recap window.
Spare never closes work automatically. A stop request can still interrupt a server or agent, so review the session before proceeding.
Before you choose
A few practical details.
Is Spare a hardware monitor like Stats?
Its scope is narrower: CPU and memory use tied to recognizable work. It does not currently provide temperature readings, GPU monitoring, or fan controls.
Can Spare identify individual browser tabs?
No. It groups browsers with their helpers but does not identify individual tabs or read their contents. It also does not inspect Docker containers or measure per-app power use.
Can I download Spare today?
Yes. Download the signed, Apple-notarized release for Apple-silicon Macs running macOS 14 or later. The source is available on GitHub under the MIT license.
What does Spare keep from my day?
Up to 30 days of hourly summaries stay on your Mac, including app and project names. You can pause recording, clear history, or export a selected period as CSV. Sleep and missed readings are shown as unobserved time. Resource use does not measure productivity.
Explore another comparison.
Get Spare
Free to use. Yours to explore.
Download Spare for Apple silicon, or explore the MIT-licensed source on GitHub. Free to use, with no subscription or account.
macOS 14+ · Apple silicon · Signed and notarized