Vitals alternative for Mac

Why people look for a Vitals alternative

Vitals, made by Fore Studio, is an activity monitor and process inspector for Mac. A volume mixer is one of its tabs. The reasons below come from Vitals' own pages, checked on 2026-11-12.

• The mixer is a side job. Vitals describes itself as "an activity monitor and process inspector for Mac" and "seven tools in one app". Its Sound tab is a slider and a mute button for every app that has had sound open. If the mixer is the only thing you want, you carry a whole monitor for it.
• The range stops at 100%. The vendor says levels go "from mute to 100%" and that Vitals does not boost an app above its own volume. A quiet video or call cannot be raised past what the app plays.
• No equalizer, no output per app. The vendor states that Vitals does not send one app to other speakers or add effects. Its comparison table says "No" to an equalizer and an output device per app.
• No call ducking and no profiles. Vitals keeps each app at the level you set and says it does not lower music during calls. It remembers each app's level and mute across restarts, but it has no saved profiles.
• The macOS version. Vitals requires macOS 15 Sequoia or later. A Mac that stays on macOS 14 cannot run it.
• Only apps that have played sound. An app that has never played anything is not in the list until it does, and the dropdown shows up to eight apps (Show all opens the rest in the window).

None of this makes Vitals a bad monitor. They only matter if you want more from the mixer.

Vitals alternatives at a glance

Apps like Vitals for the Mac volume mixer, with SoundDial first:

1. SoundDial (top pick). Best overall for per-app volume, mute, EQ, balance and output on macOS 14.2 or later, bought once on the Mac App Store.
2. FineTune. Best free alternative: open source, per-app boost to 4x, 20 EQ presets (macOS 15 or later).
3. Soundish. Best direct-sale one-time purchase on macOS 14.6, with per-app EQ, profiles and hotkeys.
4. SoundSource. Best for Audio Unit plug-ins and one equalizer for all system audio (macOS 15 or later).
5. EQBase. Best for a free equalizer over all system audio, with recording included in the free tier.
6. eqMac. Best for a free equalizer with headphone presets; per-app volume is a Pro feature.

	SoundDial	Vitals	FineTune	Soundish	SoundSource	EQBase	eqMac
Job	Volume mixer	System monitor with a mixer tab	Volume mixer	Volume mixer	Audio tool	Equalizer	Equalizer
Price model	€14.99 one-time purchase, one-time, no subscription, no in-app purchases	USD 12 for a year of updates or USD 19 lifetime launch price, then USD 49 (vitalsmac.com, before tax)	Free, open source (GPL v3)	USD 14.99 once, direct from appish.app	USD 49 license key; USD 25 upgrade from 4 or 5	Free tier; Pro USD 4.99 a month, USD 39.99 a year or USD 79.99 lifetime	Free tier; Pro from $3 a month or $30 a year, or $40 lifetime (currency code not stated)
Try before buying	no free trial; refunds go through Apple	3-day trial of every feature, no account or card	Free	7-day trial, email needed	Trial, noise after 20 minutes	Free tier, no time limit	Free tier; 7-day Pro trial
macOS	macOS 14.2 or later	15 or later	15.0 or later	14.6 or later	15 or later	14.4 or later	10.13 or later
Per-app volume	0% to 200%	0% to 100%, no boost	Yes, boost up to 4x	0% to 200%	Up to 400%	Pro, up to 200%	Pro "App Mixer", range not stated
Per-app mute	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Pro)	Not stated
Equalizer	Per app, 10 bands, 11 presets	No	Per app, 10 bands, 20 presets	Per app, 10 bands, 9 presets	Per app and all system audio, plus Audio Units	All system audio, 10 bands free, 24 in Pro; per app in Pro	All system audio; per app not stated
Output per app	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Pro	Not stated
Lowering others on calls	Yes, on by default	No	Not stated	Planned for 2.0	Not stated	Pro	Not stated

Prices are each vendor's own figures on vendor sites or US storefronts, checked 12 November 2026. Direct-sale and App Store prices are different channels, so none of these numbers are subtracted from each other.

SoundDial: the top pick

SoundDial is a menu-bar app for per-app audio, and the best Vitals alternative for people who want the mixer and nothing else. Each app gets a slider from 0% to 200% with a soft limiter above 100%, a mute button, a 10-band equalizer with 11 presets (31 Hz to 16 kHz, plus or minus 12 dB per band), left/right balance and an output device, set from the row menu "Play Through".

Three things set it apart from Vitals' mixer. It goes above 100% where the app is too quiet. It lowers other apps by itself when a call app such as Zoom, Teams, FaceTime or Discord uses the microphone: other apps drop to 30% of their level by default (adjustable from 5% to 80%) and return when the call ends. The call setting is on by default. And it runs on macOS 14.2 or later, which includes Macs that Vitals cannot run on.

You can save the whole mix as a profile (volume, mute, EQ and balance per app), use global hotkeys without the Accessibility permission, and drive it from the Shortcuts app. SoundDial is a sandboxed Mac App Store app that does not install a virtual audio driver; the guided setup asks for one macOS audio permission and tests that it works. It is available in 34 languages. Price: €14.99 one-time purchase, one-time, no subscription. Trial: no free trial; refunds go through Apple. The per-app volume control, per-app equalizer and call ducking pages go deeper.

Limits, said plainly: SoundDial is not a system monitor, so it shows no CPU, memory, temperature or fan data. The equalizer works per app, not over all system audio; sound is stereo only; there is no recording and no Audio Unit support; profiles do not save the output device; and control is per app, not per browser tab.

FineTune: best free alternative

FineTune is a free, open-source (GPL v3) menu-bar app by Ronit Singh, installed from GitHub or Homebrew. Its README, guides and release notes list per-app volume and mute, boost presets of 2x, 3x and 4x, a 10-band equalizer with 20 presets, AutoEQ headphone correction, output per app and to several devices at once, global hotkeys, level meters and a URL scheme for scripts.

It suits you if you want zero cost and are on macOS 15.0 or later, the same minimum as Vitals. Its own troubleshooting notes say audio processors, DAWs and calling apps may not work well with the Core Audio process taps it uses, and that high boost can clip. Per-app balance, Audio Unit support and call ducking are not stated. The vendor lists version 1.9.0 from 9 July 2026. More in the FineTune alternative page.

Soundish: best direct-sale one-time purchase

Soundish, by Appish, is sold from appish.app as a one-time USD 14.99 purchase with no subscription (vendor store, checked 12 November 2026). It offers per-app volume from 0% to 200% with a mute, a 10-band equalizer per app (plus or minus 12 dB, nine presets), an output device per app, profiles and global hotkeys for the front app. Since version 1.5 it uses macOS's own audio taps, so it installs without a driver, an administrator password or a restart.

It needs macOS 14.6 or later and has a 7-day trial that asks for your email. The vendor lists call ducking, per-app balance, level meters and Shortcuts actions as planned for a version 2.0, not shipped in 1.5.4. It states no Audio Unit support and no per-tab browser volume. Like Vitals, it is sold directly from the vendor's site.

SoundSource: best for Audio Units and system-wide EQ

SoundSource, by Rogue Amoeba, is a per-app audio tool for Mac with a wide feature set. It reaches up to 400% per app, hosts Audio Unit plug-ins and has an equalizer for all system audio. A new license is USD 49, with a USD 25 upgrade from SoundSource 5 or 4 (rogueamoeba.com, checked 12 November 2026).

It needs macOS 15 or later, the same as Vitals, and installs Rogue Amoeba's ARK audio plug-in, which needs your administrator password plus System Audio and Microphone access. Its trial has every feature, but after 20 minutes noise is laid over the audio until you relaunch. Lowering other apps during calls is not stated. More in the SoundSource alternative page and SoundDial vs SoundSource.

EQBase: best free equalizer for all system audio

EQBase, by Bold Biscuit, is a free-tier equalizer: a 10-band equalizer over all system audio, headphone correction for 6,000+ models, global hotkeys and system audio recording are free, with no time limit and no account. Pro (USD 4.99 a month, USD 39.99 a year or USD 79.99 lifetime, vendor store, checked 12 November 2026) adds the App Mixer with per-app volume to 200%, a 10-band equalizer per app, output per app, a 24-band equalizer, Audio Unit hosting and call ducking.

The core app needs macOS 14.4 or later and, per the vendor, without a driver or administrator password; two optional features install a small user-space driver. The interface is English only and the app is closed source. EQBase suits you if the equalizer is the main job and the mixer is a bonus. See the best Mac equalizer list.

eqMac: best free equalizer with headphone presets

eqMac, by Bitgapp Ltd, lists a Basic and a 10-band Advanced equalizer, volume boost and headphone presets for 4,600+ models as free. The App Mixer (per-app volume), the unlimited-band Expert EQ and Audio Unit hosting are Pro. It states macOS 10.13 or later on Intel and Apple Silicon, and installs a system audio driver plus a privileged helper that may ask for your administrator password. Per-app mute, per-app EQ, per-app output and call ducking are not stated. More in the eqMac alternative page.

SoundDial vs Vitals

	SoundDial	Vitals
What it is	Per-app volume mixer	System monitor with a volume mixer tab
Price model	€14.99 one-time purchase, one-time, no subscription	USD 12 for a year of updates or USD 19 lifetime launch price, then USD 49 (vitalsmac.com, before tax, checked 12 November 2026)
Where you buy it	Mac App Store	Direct from vitalsmac.com; the vendor also names a Mac App Store edition, Vitals Lite
macOS	macOS 14.2 or later	15 Sequoia or later
Install	Sandboxed App Store app	Mixer uses Core Audio process taps; asks for the macOS audio-capture permission
Per-app volume	0% to 200%	0% to 100%, no boost
Equalizer and output per app	10-band EQ and an output device per app	No
Lowering others on calls	Yes, on by default	No
Profiles	Yes	No (remembers each app's level and mute)
CPU, memory, temperatures, fans	No	Yes

Both avoid an audio driver: SoundDial does not install a virtual audio driver, and Vitals says its mixer installs none. A full side-by-side lives on the Compare hub, and the best volume mixer for Mac page ranks the field.

Where SoundDial doesn't fit

• You want a system monitor. SoundDial shows no CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, temperature or fan data. Vitals does, and so do other dedicated monitors.
• You need Audio Unit plug-ins. SoundDial has none. SoundSource, EQBase Pro and eqMac Pro state Audio Unit hosting.
• You want one equalizer over everything you hear. SoundDial's equalizer is per app. SoundSource, EQBase and eqMac have equalizers for all system audio.
• You need more than 200% for a quiet app. SoundDial stops at 200%; SoundSource and FineTune go to 400%.
• You want to record. SoundDial does not record. EQBase records system audio in its free tier.
• You use multichannel audio. SoundDial is stereo only.
• You expect separate browser tabs. SoundDial controls the browser as one app.

For the wider field, see the best audio mixer for Mac and the facts about SoundDial.

Can I use SoundDial and Vitals together?

You can keep Vitals as your monitor and use SoundDial as the mixer. Vitals' Sound tab and SoundDial both change app volume, so use one mixer at a time: leave Vitals' sliders at their defaults while SoundDial sets the levels. Vitals states that without the macOS system-audio permission it leaves an app at its own volume.

How to switch from Vitals to SoundDial

1. Note the volume and mute settings you rely on in the Vitals Sound tab.
2. Reset those apps to full volume in Vitals, so two tools do not change the same audio at once.
3. Install SoundDial from the Mac App Store and follow the guided setup, which grants and tests audio access.
4. Open SoundDial from the menu bar and set volume, EQ and output for each app. Choose "Save current mix as a profile" to keep the setup for one click later. Profiles do not save the output device; with "Remember last" on (Settings → General), SoundDial remembers each app's output on its own.
5. Turn on "Lower other apps during calls" if it is not already on (it is on by default).

If you only used Vitals for its monitoring, keep it for that. For the permission step, see setup and permissions.

How we compared

SoundDial's column comes from the app itself (see SoundDial facts). Every other app's column comes from that vendor's own pages, checked on 2026-11-12: Vitals with its pricing, volume mixer and download pages, FineTune on GitHub, Soundish, SoundSource, EQBase and eqMac. "Not stated" means the vendor's pages do not say, which is not the same as "no". None of the apps was run for this page; features are as each vendor describes them. Vitals is a system monitor and was compared only on its volume mixer. Every comparison is on Compare.