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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.

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9 Answers

up vote 21 down vote accepted

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]
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iStatMenus looks like the day to day winner, but I also appreciate the terminal command too for the quick/dirty way of doing it. – xentek Mar 23 '10 at 8:08
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Wireshark is a packet analyzer with delusions of grander. It doesn't give a good view of everything going on, but it's great for going through packets with a hex editor. – vy32 May 26 '12 at 19:20
tcpdump is what I need here - for some reason, Private Eye wasn't showing me FTPS passive connections, but tcpdump did. – khedron Jun 6 '12 at 21:00
up vote 8 down vote

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.

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+1. MenuMeters beats iStat Menus anyday. – cOle2 Apr 8 '10 at 14:52
up vote 4 down vote

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.

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up vote 4 down vote

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.

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LittleSnitch will be a pain in the ass unless you're explicitly blocking stolen / cracked programs from calling home. Also the menu item is not nearly as informative as iStat. You'd have to open up the Network Monitor screen to get any benefit. – Josh K Mar 23 '10 at 17:50
Well, there is a lot of programs that are calling home and should not. If you are a bit concerned about security you will understand what I mean. The LittleSnitch's mouseouver pop-up is also great for showing realtime process-host network activity. But yes, it is not as informative as iStat. That's why i use both. – Arko Mar 24 '10 at 9:05
up vote 3 down vote

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

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up vote 2 down vote

You need an SNMP-enabled router but you could give PeakHour a try. The best thing is that it monitors usage of your whole Internet connection, not just the computer you're on - useful if you have a few devices on your network.

PeakHour screenshot

http://peakhourapp.com

Features include:

  • Full support for SNMP-enabled devices include Apple Airport Express/Extreme
  • Lives in your menubar
  • Minigraph shows you recent activity at a glance
  • Automatic discovery for your primary Internet router
  • Configuration Assistant to make it really easy to setup

One thing: please make sure your router supports SNMPv1 before you buy. A free compatibility tool that tests your router's SNMP capabilities is available here.

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Welcome to Super User. You're welcome to tell other people about your software in an answer. But, please have a look at our recommendation guidelines: meta.superuser.com/questions/5329/… – Oliver Salzburg♦ Aug 19 '12 at 15:08
up vote 1 down vote

/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.

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up vote 0 down vote

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.

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up vote 0 down vote

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.

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Good first post. To round out your answer perhaps you could include a link to the app and a screenshot? Just a thought. – slm Jan 7 at 4:29

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