What macOS shows on its own
Activity Monitor’s Memory tab shows Memory Used and a memory pressure graph, in its window.
How Multimeter shows it
- Memory Used, matching Activity Monitor, as a percent of installed memory; the menu shows it as “12 GB of 32 GB”.
- Checked every 5 seconds on power, about every 10 on battery.
- Alerts default to a warning above 80% and critical above 90%.
Set it up
- Choose Add Meter… and pick Memory.
- Pick a face. Level Bar and Ring fit a busy menu bar.
- Adjust the alert levels for how you work.
Every face works with every source it lists. See all 13 faces running live.
Limits
macOS uses spare memory for caching, so a high number on its own is normal. Memory pressure (in Activity Monitor) is the better sign of trouble; Multimeter 1.0 doesn’t show it.
Questions
Is high memory usage on a Mac bad?
Not by itself. macOS keeps memory busy on purpose. Worry when it stays near full and the Mac starts to feel slow or swap grows.