How to See All Running Processes on Mac

To see what is running on your Mac, start with Activity Monitor. If you need a process list for a script or a specific PID, use Terminal. Both are included with macOS.

Quick Answer

Press Cmd + Space, search for Activity Monitor, and choose View → All Processes. Sort the CPU or Memory tab to investigate resource use. In Terminal, ps aux lists processes, while top -o cpu shows a live view.

Method 1: Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor is Apple’s built-in process viewer. It shows CPU, memory, energy, disk, and network usage for every running process.

How to open Activity Monitor

1. Open Finder.
2. Go to Applications > Utilities.
3. Double-click Activity Monitor.

Alternatively, press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight, type “Activity Monitor”, and press Enter.

Viewing all processes

If Activity Monitor is showing only your own processes, switch its view:

1. Click the View menu in the menu bar.
2. Select All Processes.

You can now see every process running on your Mac, including system daemons and background services.

Sorting and filtering

• Click any column header (CPU, Memory, PID) to sort by that metric.
• Use the search field in the top-right to filter by process name.
• Switch between the CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk, and Network tabs for different resource views.

Activity Monitor can show parent-child relationships: choose View → All Processes, Hierarchically. This is useful for tracing which process started a helper. See Apple’s process-viewing guide.

Limitations

Activity Monitor works well for quick checks, but it has blind spots:

• No environment variables. You cannot inspect the environment a process was started with.
• Short-lived processes are missed. Processes that start and exit between refresh intervals are never displayed.
• No regex search. The search field only supports simple text matching.

Method 2: Terminal Commands

Terminal gives you more power and flexibility. Here are the most useful commands for checking running processes.

ps — List processes

The ps command prints a snapshot of current processes.

# List all running processes with detailed info
ps aux

The main columns help you identify the process before taking action:

These are process measurements, not proof that a process is faulty. For system memory pressure, use Activity Monitor.

To find a specific process by name:

# Find all processes matching "Safari"
ps aux | grep Safari

To see the full command-line arguments (useful for scripts):

# Show full command for a specific PID
ps -ww -p 1234 -o pid,command

top — Real-time process monitor

The top command shows a live, continuously updating view of running processes.

# Launch top, sorted by CPU usage
top -o cpu

Press q to quit. Use top -o cpu to start sorted by CPU; see man top for the options supported by your macOS version.

For a short non-interactive CPU check, collect two samples and read the second one. The first sample has no previous interval for a valid per-process CPU comparison:

top -l 2 -s 1 -n 10 -o cpu

lsof — List open files and connections

Every process holds open files, sockets, and system resources. The lsof command reveals them.

# Show all open files for a specific process
lsof -p 1234

# Find which process is using a specific port
lsof -i :8080

# List all network connections
lsof -i

Limitations

Terminal commands are powerful but have trade-offs:

• Output can be overwhelming — lsof often produces thousands of lines.
• ps shows a static snapshot; by the time you read it, short-lived processes may have already exited.
• Correlating data across ps, top, and lsof requires manual work.
• No visual process hierarchy without additional formatting.

Method 3: ProcXray

Use ProcXray when the process list raises a deeper question: which parent launched a helper, what arguments or environment it received, or how its resource use changed during your investigation.

What ProcXray adds

• Process tree view. Toggle between a flat list and a live hierarchical tree showing parent-child relationships. Instantly see which app or script spawned a process.
• Environment variables. Click any process to inspect every environment variable it was launched with — searchable and copyable as JSON.
• Short-lived process capture. Newly spawned processes are highlighted in green; recently exited processes are retained in red. Transient processes that Activity Monitor and ps miss are captured.
• Real-time regex search. Filter across process names, PIDs, command-line arguments, and paths using regex patterns.
• Code signature verification. See at a glance whether each process is signed, who signed it, and what entitlements it holds.

ProcXray is especially useful when you need to investigate why a process is running, not just that it is running.

The selected process in this ProcXray screenshot is the main Google Chrome process (PID 1984); its renderer helpers appear as separate rows. The memory chart shows a brief spike followed by a return near the earlier level. It illustrates how to read a trend, not a confirmed memory leak.

When to Use Each Method

FAQ

How many processes are normally running on a Mac?

The number varies with macOS, installed apps and current work. A count alone cannot tell you whether the Mac is healthy. Look for sustained resource use, memory pressure and symptoms rather than a fixed “normal” total.

Can I check running processes without installing anything?

Yes. Activity Monitor is pre-installed on every Mac, and Terminal commands like ps and top are available out of the box. These cover most basic needs. Third-party tools like ProcXray become valuable when you need deeper inspection capabilities.

How do I find and stop a process that is slowing down my Mac?

Save your work and quit the app normally first. If it remains unresponsive, select its process in Activity Monitor and use Stop → Quit, then Force Quit only if necessary. Unsaved work can be lost. Identify unfamiliar system processes before considering termination.

In Terminal, kill -TERM 1234 requests termination; replace 1234 with the PID you have just checked. kill -KILL 1234 is a last resort because it prevents cleanup. See Apple’s explanation of Quit and Force Quit.

Related guides

• Task Manager for Mac: The Real Equivalent (and What’s Better)
• Is This Mac Process a Virus? How to Tell If a macOS Process Is Safe

Sources and References

• Apple: Activity Monitor User Guide
• ps command reference
• top command reference
• lsof command reference

Inspect process details and resource history with ProcXray →