Is there a good tool for monitoring network activity on Mac OS X?

Question

Is there a good bit of software on Mac OS X that I can use to monitor incoming and outgoing network activity? Nothing too geeky, I just want something simple to use.

I'm on version 10.6 (Snow Leopard) if that helps.

score 82 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 11 '12 at 20:58

82

Wireshark is widely acknowledged as one of the best network monitor tools available. Distributions are available for OS X.

If you prefer something more simplistic you can use iStatMenus to show incoming / outgoing network traffic speeds.

For the person who doesn't want to install anything you can also use tcpdump in Terminal.

tcpdump -i [interface, en0 is ethernet, en1 is wireless]

edited Oct 11 '12 at 20:58

Burak Erdem

125

answered Mar 23 '10 at 03:40

Josh K

12,990

score 57 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 31 '12 at 08:18

57

Also check out nettop, a little command line gem that ships with Mac OS.

answered Dec 31 '12 at 08:18

SengMing

679

score 32 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 27 '15 at 13:15

32

Also look at MenuMeters. I tried iStat Menus & MenuMeters and preferred MM. Not saying one is better; just that there are a couple of choices.

A working version of MenuMeters for El Capitan can be found here.

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edited Nov 27 '15 at 13:15

user2707001

133

answered Apr 08 '10 at 12:58

JRobert

7,134

score 15 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 11 '12 at 20:57

15

LittleSnitch! - 30$

It is mainly a software Firewall that may help you to prevent some apps to access the internet. It also has a nice menubar icon with live network usage. Mouseover on it and it displays which app is communicating with which server or ip address.

I have LittleSnitch and iStat Menus installed. Both are complementary.

edited Oct 11 '12 at 20:57

Burak Erdem

125

answered Mar 23 '10 at 10:17

Arko

1,692

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 19 '12 at 00:20

7

Commercial (16$) iStat Pro and iStat Menus (dashboard widget and menu bar item respectively) are great for monitoring everything from network activity to CPU temperatures.

And of course there's the network tab of Activity Monitor.

edited Apr 19 '12 at 00:20

sorin

12,189

answered Mar 23 '10 at 03:39

Kevin Yap

1,027

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 05 '13 at 20:27

Network Logger for Mac OS X from Group Mind does a great job of tracking network traffic, downtime (in real time, with timed log), and lots of easy-to-understand stuff. I'm not technical and all I really wanted was to track when my ISP connection went down, and for how long it stayed down. Mac's little Network Utility app would ping endlessly but wouldn't give me a chronological log. Network Logger did, and was easy for a novice to understand.

Cost me $5.99 from the App Store.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 25 '12 at 13:01

1

/System/Library/CoreServices/Network Diagnostics Simple green/red LEDs for various layers. I slide it over to the right side of the screen until just the lights show.

answered May 25 '12 at 13:01

CJ1

19

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 11 '10 at 01:59

0

I've just installed Net Monitor and Net Monitor Sidekick and so far I like them. Nothing you can't get with other tools, but a nice summary display. Each is $10 after a 30 day eval, so YMMV, but I thought I'd mention them.

answered Apr 11 '10 at 01:59

Fred

1,230

Is there a good tool for monitoring network activity on Mac OS X?

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