compare
plottypus next to the tools you already use
Most of these tools do something plottypus does not. Each page below says what, with the version, the date and the Mac it was checked on: an M5 Pro running macOS 27 (Golden Gate).
every tool, one table
| tool | kind | price | needs sudo | CPU watts, macOS 27 | GPU MHz | GPU °C | per-process energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plottypus 1.0.0 | tui | free | no | M5 Pro: live. Other chips: last batch, marked ≈1 | yes | yes | yes |
| btop 1.4.7 | tui | free | no | not shown | not checked | partial | no |
| Stats 3.0.17 | menu-bar app | free | no | 0.00 W, reported by users | not checked | not checked | no |
| iStat Menus 7.50.1 | menu-bar app | paid | no | not checked | not checked | not checked | not checked |
| macmon 0.8.2 | tui | free | no | 0.00 W, measured | yes | yes | no |
| htop 3.5.3 | tui | free | for some data | not shown | no | no | no |
| mactop 2.1.5 | tui | free | for some data | 0.00 W, measured | yes | yes | no |
| asitop 0.0.24 | tui | free | yes | not checked | yes | no | no |
| Activity Monitor (Apple) macOS 27.0 | gui app | free | no | not shown | no | no | partial |
| bottom (btm) 0.14.9 | tui | free | no | not shown | no | no | no |
| Glances 4.5.6 | tui | free | no | not shown | no | no | no |
| powermetrics (Apple) macOS 27.0 (26A428) | cli | free | yes | not checked | yes | no | partial |
| macpow 0.1.19 | tui | free | no | not run; same delta method | yes | yes | yes |
Checked on a MacBook Pro Mac17,8 (M5 Pro), macOS 27.0, no sudo. “Not checked” means we do not know, not no.
1plottypus reads live CPU watts from SMC power rails on the M5 Pro (Mac17,8), without sudo. On Macs without mapped SMC rails, CPU watts show ≈ with an age between batches, and a dash (—) once the last batch is over 10 s old. On macOS 27 that is often, because the counters publish in batches and sometimes not for tens of minutes. The whole story, with traces: why macOS 27 shows 0.00 W CPU power.
macmon vs mactop (and plottypus) on macOS 27
macmon and mactop compute CPU watts the same way: an IOReport Energy Model delta divided by the sample interval. On macOS 27 those counters publish in batches, so both read 0.0 W for CPU. mactop adds a process list, layouts, DRAM bandwidth and Prometheus; macmon has no process list, and its JSON field names are the ones plottypus copies. plottypus reads CPU watts from the SMC rails on the M5 Pro instead.
| attribute | macmon | mactop | plottypus |
|---|---|---|---|
| version checked | 0.8.2 | 2.1.5 | 1.0.0 |
| licence | MIT | MIT | proprietary, free |
| needs sudo | no | for some data | no |
| process list | no | ✓ | ✓ |
| CPU watts, macOS 27, same 20 s | 0.0 W in 20 of 20 samples | 0.0 W in 20 of 20 samples | 15.3–48.4 W (SMC rails) |
| how CPU watts are computed | IOReport delta ÷ interval | IOReport delta ÷ interval | SMC rails on the M5 Pro |
| GPU MHz / °C | yes / yes | yes / yes | yes / yes |
| per-process energy | no | no | ✓ |
| self-cost at 1 s | 1.47% of one core | not measured | about 1.0% of one core |
| install | brew install macmon (or cargo install macmon) | brew install mactop | install script or tarball |
The three ran together, one sample a second, on a MacBook Pro Mac17,8 (M5 Pro), macOS 27.0, no sudo,. macmon 0.8.2 and mactop 2.1.5 read 0.0 W CPU in 20 of 20 samples (M5 Pro, macOS 27.0, 2026-09-24). Raw samples: the side-by-side dataset (CC BY 4.0). Run it yourself: reproduce it. Sources: macmon issue #76, mactop's IOReport code.
one tool at a time
plottypus vs btop
btop 1.4.7 and plottypus 1.0.0 on an M5 Pro running macOS 27. CPU watts, cluster clocks, GPU temperature, self-cost, process actions and key mappings.
plottypus vs Stats
Stats 3.0.17 (exelban) and plottypus 1.0.0. A free menu-bar app against a terminal monitor, and why CPU power reads 0 W on macOS 27 in delta-based tools.
plottypus vs iStat Menus
iStat Menus 7.5 ($11.99) and plottypus 1.0.0. A polished paid menu-bar app against a free terminal monitor, and what each is good at on Apple Silicon.
plottypus vs macmon
macmon 0.8.2 and plottypus 1.0.0 side by side on macOS 27. CPU watts, processes, self-cost, JSON field names, and when macmon is the better pick.
plottypus vs htop
htop 3.5.3 and plottypus 1.0.0 on Apple Silicon. What each reads on a Mac, what htop has that plottypus lacks, and plottypus's htop key profile.
plottypus vs mactop
mactop 2.1.5 and plottypus 1.0.0 on an M5 Pro running macOS 27. CPU watts, exporters, fan control, process tools and key mappings.
plottypus vs asitop
asitop 0.0.24 and plottypus 1.0.0. powermetrics with sudo against sudoless IOReport and SMC reads, and what changed on Apple Silicon since asitop's last release.
plottypus vs Activity Monitor
Activity Monitor and plottypus 1.0.0 on Apple Silicon. Energy Impact against watts, what each shows about the chip, and when the built-in app is the better tool.