What macOS shows on its own
Activity Monitor can put a CPU graph in its Dock icon (View, Dock Icon, Show CPU Usage), and the CPU tab shows per-process detail. Both need Activity Monitor running.
How Multimeter shows it
- Total CPU across all cores, sampled every 3 seconds on power and about every 6 on battery.
- Alerts default to a warning above 70% and critical above 90%.
- A CPU meter with the Needle Gauge face measured about 1.5% CPU itself on a busy test Mac; five live meters together about 2% to 3%. The moving faces step at 30 frames a second instead of using CSS transitions, which would make WebKit redraw at 120 Hz.
Set it up
- Choose Add Meter… and pick CPU.
- Pick a face. Needle Gauge reads fastest at a glance; Sparkline shows whether a spike is new.
- Adjust the warning and critical levels and turn on the notification if you want one.
Every face works with every source it lists. See all 13 faces running live.
Limits
Multimeter shows the total, not which app is using it, and has no per-core or GPU meter in version 1.0. Activity Monitor answers “which app”.
Questions
Can I see CPU temperature too?
Multimeter shows thermal pressure, not temperatures. See the thermal pressure page for what that means and when it’s the better signal.
Does a CPU meter slow my Mac down?
In our tests a CPU needle gauge used about 1.5% CPU on a busy Mac, and five live meters about 2% to 3%.