Mac System Processes

1Password

Unknown Impact
Utility

1Password password manager

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

AccessibilityVisualsAgent

Very Low Impact
system

Accessibility visual effects agent

Low
Medium (31MB)
Essential
Cannot be terminated

accountsd

Low Impact
system

Account management daemon

Low
Medium (29MB)
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Activity Monitor

Critical Impact
Utility

macOS Activity Monitor

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

Adobe After Effects

Unknown Impact
Creative

Adobe After Effects motion graphics

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Adobe Creative Cloud

Unknown Impact
Creative

Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Adobe Illustrator

Unknown Impact
Creative

Adobe Illustrator vector graphics editor

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Adobe Photoshop

Unknown Impact
Creative

Adobe Photoshop image editor

10-80%
1-16GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Adobe Premiere Pro

Unknown Impact
Creative

Adobe Premiere Pro video editor

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

airportd

High Impact
Networking

Airport wireless management daemon

1-5%
10-40MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

AKAuthorizationRemoteViewService (Mail)

Very Low Impact
application

Authorization service for Mail

Low
Medium (37MB)
Essential
Cannot be terminated

AMPArtworkAgent

Medium Impact
Media Player

Apple Music Player Artwork Agent

3-25%
50-400MB

AMPLibraryAgent

Critical Impact
Media Player

Apple Music Player Library Agent

3-25%
50-400MB
Essential

Android Studio

Unknown Impact
Development

Google Android Studio IDE

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Apache

Unknown Impact
Development

Apache HTTP Server

5-40%
200MB-2GB

AppCleaner

High Impact
Utility

AppCleaner uninstaller utility

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

AppleMobileDeviceHelper

High Impact
Media Player

Process for iOS device connectivity

3-25%
50-400MB

Archive Utility

Medium Impact
Utility

macOS Archive Utility

1-8%
20-100MB

autofsd

Medium Impact
System

Automatic filesystem daemon

0.5-3%
10-50MB

automountd

Medium Impact
System

Automatic mount daemon

0.5-3%
10-50MB

Avast Security

Unknown Impact
Security

Avast antivirus application

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

AVG AntiVirus

Unknown Impact
Security

AVG antivirus application

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

avgd

Critical Impact
Security

AVG security daemon

2-10%
50-200MB

backupd

Critical Impact
Background

Time Machine backup daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Battle.net

Unknown Impact
Game

Main Battle.net application

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Battle.net Agent

Unknown Impact
Game

Battle.net background service

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

Battle.net Helper

Critical Impact
Game

Battle.net web helper process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

bdld

Critical Impact
Security

Bitdefender live daemon

2-10%
50-200MB

Bear

Critical Impact
Productivity

Bear markdown note-taking app

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

bird

High Impact
Background

iCloud sync coordination daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Bitdefender Virus Scanner

Unknown Impact
Security

Bitdefender antivirus scanner

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Bitwarden

Critical Impact
Utility

Bitwarden password manager

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Blender

Unknown Impact
Creative

Blender 3D creation suite

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

BlockBlock

High Impact
Security

BlockBlock persistence monitor

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

blued

Low Impact
Device Management

Bluetooth daemon for managing Bluetooth connections.

0.5-3%
5-25MB

bluetoothd

Medium Impact
Device Management

Bluetooth management daemon

1-8%
10-50MB

Boot Camp Assistant

Unknown Impact
Utility

Boot Camp Assistant Windows installer

1-8%
20-100MB

Brave Browser

Very Low Impact
application

Main Brave web browser process

Low-Medium
Medium (200-400MB)
Cannot be terminated

Brave Browser Helper

Very Low Impact
application

General helper process for Brave browser

Low
Medium (20-49MB)

Brave Browser Helper (GPU)

Very Low Impact
application

GPU acceleration process for Brave browser

Low-Medium
Medium (300-1000MB)

Brave Browser Helper (Plugin)

Very Low Impact
application

Plugin manager for Brave browser

Low
Medium (22MB)
Cannot be terminated

Brave Browser Helper (Renderer)

Very Low Impact
application

Web content rendering process for Brave browser

Variable
Medium (100-600MB)

Calculator

Medium Impact
Utility

macOS Calculator application

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

Calendar

Critical Impact
Productivity

macOS Calendar application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

CalendarAgent

Medium Impact
Background

Calendar synchronization agent

0.5-5%
10-100MB

cfprefsd

High Impact
System

Core Foundation preferences daemon

0.5-2%
5-25MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Charles Proxy

Unknown Impact
Development

Charles web debugging proxy

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

chrome_crashpad_handler

Very Low Impact
application

Chrome crash reporting handler

Low
Small (2MB)
Cannot be terminated

chronod

Very Low Impact
system

Time synchronization daemon

Low
Medium (35MB)
Essential

chronyd

Medium Impact
System

Chrony time synchronization daemon

0.5-3%
10-50MB

Cinema 4D

Unknown Impact
Creative

Maxon Cinema 4D 3D software

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

clamd

High Impact
Security

ClamAV daemon

2-10%
50-200MB

ClamXav

Critical Impact
Security

ClamXav antivirus scanner

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

claude

Very Low Impact
application

Claude AI assistant application

Low
Medium (130-180MB)
Cannot be terminated

CleanMyMac

Critical Impact
Utility

CleanMyMac system cleaner

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

cloudd

Very Low Impact
Background

iCloud syncing daemon.

0.5-5%
10-100MB

CloudPhotosConfiguration

Medium Impact
Background

iCloud Photos configuration service

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Code Helper

Unknown Impact
Development

Visual Studio Code helper process

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential

Code Helper (GPU)

High Impact
Development

VS Code GPU process

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Code Helper (Renderer)

Critical Impact
Development

VS Code renderer process

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential

com.apple.accessibility.mediaaccessibilityd

Medium Impact
Background

Media accessibility daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper

Medium Impact
Background

Audio sandbox helper

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.backupd-helper

High Impact
Background

Time Machine backup helper

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.CoreSimulator.CoreSimulatorService

Unknown Impact
Development

Core Simulator service

5-40%
200MB-2GB

com.apple.dt.Xcode.sourcecontrol.Git

High Impact
Development

Xcode Git source control process

10-60%
1-8GB

com.apple.iCloudHelper

High Impact
Background

iCloud Helper background process

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.music.StoreFront

Critical Impact
Media Player

Process for Music/iTunes Store

3-15%
100-500MB

com.apple.parsecd

Medium Impact
Background

System parsing daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.QuickTimePluginAgent

Medium Impact
Media Player

Process for QuickTime browser plugin support

3-25%
50-400MB

com.apple.QuickTimeStreaming

High Impact
Media Player

Process for streaming media in QuickTime

3-25%
50-400MB

com.apple.Safari.ContentBlocker

High Impact
Browser

Process for handling content blocking in Safari

3-20%
150-600MB

com.apple.Safari.SearchHelper

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for handling Safari search functions

3-20%
150-600MB

com.apple.siri.context.service

Medium Impact
Background

Siri context service

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd

Medium Impact
Background

Speech synthesis daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.voiceservices.tts

Medium Impact
Background

Text-to-speech service

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.apple.WebKit.Networking.xpc

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for handling WebKit networking operations

3-20%
50-300MB
Essential

com.apple.WebKit.Storage

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for handling WebKit storage operations

3-20%
50-300MB
Essential

com.avast.daemon

Critical Impact
Security

Avast security daemon

2-10%
50-200MB

com.colliderli.iina.helper

High Impact
Media Player

Helper process for IINA

2-20%
50-300MB

com.docker.backend

Unknown Impact
Development

Docker backend service

2-10%
30-100MB
Essential

com.docker.build

Very Low Impact
application

Docker build service

Low
Medium (27MB)
Cannot be terminated

CommCenter

Medium Impact
Background

Communications center for cellular connectivity

0.5-5%
10-100MB

commerce

Medium Impact
Background

App Store commerce daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

com.objective-see.lulu.extension

Very Low Impact
security

LuLu firewall extension

Low
Medium (33MB)
Cannot be terminated

configd

High Impact
System

System configuration daemon

0.5-3%
10-30MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Console

High Impact
Utility

macOS Console application

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

Contacts

High Impact
Productivity

macOS Contacts application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

contactsd

Medium Impact
Background

Contacts synchronization daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

coreaudiod

Medium Impact
System

Core Audio daemon for sound processing.

1-5%
10-50MB

coreautha

Low Impact
system

Core authentication agent

Low
Medium (40MB)
Essential
Cannot be terminated

coreservicesd

Critical Impact
System

Core Services daemon

1-5%
20-80MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

corespotlightd

Low Impact
system

Core Spotlight indexing daemon

Low
Medium (52MB)
Cannot be terminated

cron

Medium Impact
System

Cron daemon for scheduled tasks

0.5-3%
10-50MB

cups-browsed

Low Impact
System

CUPS printer browsing daemon

0.5-3%
10-50MB

cupsd

Medium Impact
System

Common Unix Printing System daemon

0.5-3%
5-30MB

CyberGhost

Critical Impact
Networking

CyberGhost VPN application

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

DaVinci Resolve

Unknown Impact
Creative

Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve video editor

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

DBeaver

Very Low Impact
application

Database administration and development tool

Low
Medium (600MB+)
Cannot be terminated

Deluge

High Impact
Networking

Deluge BitTorrent client

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

DevKinsta

Critical Impact
Development

DevKinsta WordPress development

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

Discord

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Discord communication platform

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

diskarbitrationd

High Impact
System

Disk arbitration daemon for mounting and unmounting volumes

0.1-2%
5-20MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Disk Utility

Unknown Impact
Utility

macOS Disk Utility

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

distnoted

Medium Impact
Background

Distributed notification daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Dock

High Impact
User Interface

The macOS Dock application

2-10%
30-100MB
Essential

docker-compose

Very Low Impact
application

Docker Compose orchestration tool

Low
Medium (23-44MB)
Cannot be terminated

Docker Desktop

Unknown Impact
Development

Docker containerization platform

5-40%
500MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Docker Desktop Helper (GPU)

Very Low Impact
application

GPU acceleration for Docker Desktop

Low
Medium (115MB)

Docker Desktop Helper (Renderer)

Very Low Impact
application

UI renderer for Docker Desktop

Low
Medium (78MB)

Dock Extra

Very Low Impact
system

Extended Dock functionality

Low
Medium (36MB)
Cannot be terminated

DockHelper

Very Low Impact
system

Dock helper service

Low
Medium (10MB)
Essential
Cannot be terminated

EA app

Unknown Impact
Game

Main EA desktop application

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

EABackgroundService

Critical Impact
Game

EA background service

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

EA Desktop Helper

High Impact
Game

EA app web helper

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

ElasticSearch

Unknown Impact
Development

Elasticsearch search engine

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Element

Critical Impact
Communication

Element Matrix messaging client

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

EOS

Critical Impact
Game

Epic Online Services process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

EpicGamesLaunched

Critical Impact
Game

Epic Games launcher daemon

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

Epic Games Launcher

Unknown Impact
Game

Main Epic Games application

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

EpicGamesLauncher Helper

High Impact
Game

Epic Games helper process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

EpicWebHelper

Critical Impact
Game

Epic Games web helper process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

Evernote

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Evernote note-taking application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

ExpressVPN

Unknown Impact
Networking

ExpressVPN application

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

FaceTime

Unknown Impact
Communication

macOS FaceTime application

5-30%
100-500MB
Essential

Figma

Unknown Impact
Creative

Figma collaborative design tool

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Final Cut Pro

Unknown Impact
Creative

Apple Final Cut Pro video editor

20-90%
2-32GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Finder

High Impact
User Interface

The default file manager included with macOS.

1-10%
100-300MB
Essential

Firefox

Unknown Impact
Browser

Main browser process that manages overall browser operation

5-25%
200-700MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Firefox Compositor Process

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for compositing content

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox Extensions

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for managing browser extensions

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox File Content Process

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for handling file:// URLs

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox GMP Process

Critical Impact
Browser

Gecko Media Plugin process

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox GPU Process

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for graphics and GPU operations

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox Launcher Process

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for launching Firefox

5-25%
200-700MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Firefox Privileged Content Process

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for running privileged content

5-25%
200-700MB
Essential

Firefox RDD Process

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for media decoding (Remote Data Decoder)

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox Socket Process

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for network operations

5-25%
200-700MB
Essential

Firefox Thumbnails Process

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for generating tab thumbnails

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox Utility Process

High Impact
Browser

Generic process for running untrusted code

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox VR Process

High Impact
Browser

Process for handling WebVR/XR

5-25%
200-700MB

Firefox Web Content

Unknown Impact
Browser

Content process for rendering web pages

5-25%
200-700MB
Essential

fontd

Medium Impact
System

Font management daemon

0.5-3%
10-50MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

GalaxyClient Helper

High Impact
Game

GOG Galaxy client helper

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

GalaxyClientService

Critical Impact
Game

GOG Galaxy background service

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

GameOverlayUI

Critical Impact
Game

Steam overlay user interface

5-25%
200MB-2GB

GarageBand

Unknown Impact
Creative

Apple GarageBand music creation

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential

Git

Critical Impact
Development

Git version control system

5-40%
200MB-2GB

GitHub Desktop

Unknown Impact
Development

GitHub desktop application

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Go

High Impact
Development

Go programming language

5-30%
200-800MB

GOG Galaxy

Unknown Impact
Game

Main GOG Galaxy client

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Google Chrome

Unknown Impact
Browser

Main browser process that manages the overall browser operation

5-30%
200-800MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Google Chrome Crashpad Handler

Low Impact
Browser

Process for managing crash reporting

5-30%
200-800MB

Google Chrome Helper (Audio Service)

High Impact
Browser

Process for handling audio processing

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Browser Switch)

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for switching between different browser profiles

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Extension)

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for running browser extensions

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (GPU)

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process that handles graphics processing using hardware acceleration

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Installer)

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for handling Chrome updates

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Network Service)

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for handling network operations

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential

Google Chrome Helper (Plugin)

High Impact
Browser

Process that runs browser plugins like Flash (legacy)

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process responsible for rendering web page content

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential

Google Chrome Helper (Sharing Service)

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for handling sharing functionality

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Storage Service)

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for handling browser storage

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential

Google Chrome Helper (Utility)

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for handling various utility tasks

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential

Google Chrome Helper (Video Capture)

High Impact
Browser

Process for handling video capture functionality

2-15%
50-300MB

Google Chrome Helper (Zygote)

Medium Impact
Browser

Process used to launch new renderer processes quickly

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential

hidd

High Impact
Device Management

Human Interface Device daemon

1-5%
10-40MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Homebrew

High Impact
Development

Homebrew package manager

5-40%
200MB-2GB

homed

Very Low Impact
system

Home automation daemon

Low
Medium (14-22MB)
Essential

iconservicesagent

Very Low Impact
system

Icon services agent

Low
Medium (33MB)
Essential

IINA

Unknown Impact
Media Player

Main IINA media player process

2-20%
50-300MB
Essential

iina-plugin-host

Medium Impact
Media Player

Process for IINA plugins

2-20%
50-300MB

iina-thumbnailer

Low Impact
Media Player

Process for IINA thumbnail generation

2-20%
50-300MB

IMDPersistenceAgent

Very Low Impact
system

Messages persistence agent

Low
Medium (24MB)
Essential

installd

High Impact
Background

System installer daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Instruments

Unknown Impact
Development

Xcode performance analysis tool

5-40%
200MB-2GB

IntelliJ IDEA

Unknown Impact
Development

JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA IDE

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

iokit

Critical Impact
System

Input/Output Kit framework process

0.5-3%
10-50MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

iStat Menus

Critical Impact
Utility

System monitoring in menu bar

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

iTerm2

Unknown Impact
Development

Third-party terminal emulator

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential

iTunesHelper

High Impact
Media Player

Helper process for iTunes/Music

3-25%
50-400MB

iTunes Library Helper

High Impact
Media Player

Process for iTunes library management

3-25%
50-400MB

Java

Critical Impact
Development

Java runtime environment

5-40%
200MB-2GB

kadmind

Medium Impact
Security

Kerberos administration daemon

2-10%
50-200MB

Kafka

Unknown Impact
Development

Apache Kafka message broker

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Kaspersky Internet Security

Unknown Impact
Security

Kaspersky security suite

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

kernel_task

Critical Impact
System

The macOS kernel process, responsible for managing system resources, hardware access, and security.

0.1-2%
100-500MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

kextd

High Impact
System

Kernel extension daemon that manages kernel extensions

0.1-1%
5-15MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

KextViewr

Medium Impact
Security

Kernel extension viewer

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Keychain Access

Critical Impact
Utility

macOS Keychain Access utility

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

Keynote

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Apple Keynote presentation software

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

Kibana

Critical Impact
Development

Kibana data visualization

5-40%
200MB-2GB

klnagent

Critical Impact
Security

Kaspersky security agent

2-10%
50-200MB

KnockKnock

High Impact
Security

KnockKnock persistence scanner

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

krb5kdc

High Impact
Security

Kerberos Key Distribution Center

2-10%
50-200MB

LastPass

Critical Impact
Utility

LastPass password manager

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

launchd

Critical Impact
System

The first process started at system boot, responsible for launching other processes.

0.1-0.5%
5-15MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Line

Critical Impact
Communication

Line messaging application

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Little Snitch

Unknown Impact
Security

Little Snitch network monitor

1-5%
20-80MB
Cannot be terminated

Little Snitch Network Monitor

Critical Impact
Security

Little Snitch monitoring service

1-5%
20-80MB

Local by Flywheel

Unknown Impact
Development

Local WordPress development

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

logd

Low Impact
system

System logging daemon

Low
Medium (22MB)

Logic Pro

Unknown Impact
Creative

Apple Logic Pro audio workstation

10-70%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

loginwindow

Critical Impact
User Interface

Login window process

1-5%
20-80MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Logi Options+

Very Low Impact
application

Logitech device configuration software

Low
Medium (73MB)
Cannot be terminated

logioptionsplus_updater

Very Low Impact
application

Logitech Options+ updater

Low
Medium (27MB)
Cannot be terminated

Logstash

Critical Impact
Development

Logstash data processing pipeline

5-40%
200MB-2GB

lsd

High Impact
System

Launch Services daemon

0.5-3%
10-40MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Lulu

Critical Impact
Security

LuLu firewall application

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Macs Fan Control

High Impact
Utility

Fan speed control utility

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

Mail

Unknown Impact
Productivity

macOS Mail application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

Mail Graphics and Media

Very Low Impact
application

Media handling for Apple Mail

Low
Medium (57MB)
Essential

Mail Web Content

Very Low Impact
application

Web content renderer for Mail

Low
Medium (14-55MB)
Essential

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Unknown Impact
Security

Malwarebytes security application

2-15%
100-400MB
Cannot be terminated

MalwareBytes Protection

Critical Impact
Security

Malwarebytes real-time protection

2-10%
50-200MB

MAMP

Unknown Impact
Development

MAMP web development stack

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

masvc

Critical Impact
Security

McAfee security service

2-10%
50-200MB

Maya

Unknown Impact
Creative

Autodesk Maya 3D animation software

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

McAfee Endpoint Security

Unknown Impact
Security

McAfee security platform

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

mDNSResponder

High Impact
Networking

Multicast DNS responder for Bonjour services

0.5-3%
5-25MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

mds

Medium Impact
Background

Metadata Server process for Spotlight indexing.

0.5-5%
10-100MB

mds_stores

Low Impact
system

Metadata stores daemon

Low
Medium (29MB)

mdutil

Low Impact
Background

Metadata utility for Spotlight management

0.5-5%
10-100MB

mdworker

Medium Impact
Background

Metadata worker process for Spotlight indexing

1-20%
10-200MB

mediaanalysisd

Very Low Impact
system

Media analysis daemon

Low
Medium (30-31MB)
Essential

MenuMeters

High Impact
Utility

System metrics in menu bar

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

Messages

Critical Impact
Communication

macOS Messages application

2-10%
50-200MB
Essential

Messenger

Critical Impact
Communication

Facebook Messenger desktop app

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Micro Snitch

High Impact
Security

Micro Snitch microphone monitor

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Microsoft Excel

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application

5-30%
300MB-1GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Microsoft Outlook

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Microsoft Outlook email client

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Microsoft PowerPoint

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Microsoft Teams

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Microsoft Teams collaboration platform

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Microsoft Word

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Microsoft Word document processor

3-20%
200-800MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Migration Assistant

Critical Impact
Utility

macOS Migration Assistant

1-8%
20-100MB

mobileassetd

Medium Impact
Background

Mobile asset management daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

MongoDB

Unknown Impact
Development

MongoDB database server

5-40%
200MB-2GB

mpv

Critical Impact
Media Player

Media playback engine for IINA

3-25%
50-400MB
Essential

MTLCompilerService

Very Low Impact
system

Metal shader compiler service

Low
Medium (20-90MB)
Essential

Music

Unknown Impact
Media Player

Main Music/iTunes application process

3-15%
100-500MB
Essential

MusicCacheExtension

Medium Impact
Media Player

Process for Music app caching

3-15%
100-500MB

MySQL

Unknown Impact
Development

MySQL database server

5-40%
200MB-2GB

networkd

High Impact
Networking

Network configuration daemon

0.5-2%
10-30MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Network Radar

High Impact
Networking

Network discovery tool

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

networkserviceproxy

Very Low Impact
system

Network service proxy

Low
Medium (30MB)
Essential

NewsToday2

Very Low Impact
application

News widget service

Low
Medium (20-37MB)

Nginx

Unknown Impact
Development

Nginx web server

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Nmap

Critical Impact
Networking

Network mapping tool

1-10%
20-150MB

Node.js

Critical Impact
Development

Node.js JavaScript runtime

5-40%
200MB-2GB

NordVPN

Unknown Impact
Networking

NordVPN application

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

Norton 360

Unknown Impact
Security

Norton 360 security suite

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Notes

High Impact
Productivity

macOS Notes application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

NotificationCenter

Medium Impact
User Interface

Notification center process

1-5%
20-80MB
Essential

notifyd

High Impact
Background

Notification daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Notion

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Notion workspace application

3-15%
150-500MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

npm

High Impact
Development

Node.js package manager

5-40%
200MB-2GB

nsurlsessiond

High Impact
Background

NSURLSession daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

ntpd

Medium Impact
System

Network Time Protocol daemon

0.5-3%
10-50MB

Numbers

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Apple Numbers spreadsheet

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

Obsidian

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Obsidian knowledge management

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

opendirectoryd

Critical Impact
Security

Open Directory daemon

1-5%
20-100MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

org.videolan.vlchelper

Medium Impact
Media Player

Background service process for VLC

3-25%
50-400MB

OverSight

High Impact
Security

OverSight microphone and camera monitor

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Pages

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Apple Pages word processor

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

Parallels Desktop

Unknown Impact
Development

Parallels virtualization software

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

photoanalysisd

High Impact
Background

Photos analysis daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

photolibraryd

High Impact
Background

Photos library daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

PHP

High Impact
Development

PHP interpreter

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Plugin-container

High Impact
Browser

Process for running browser plugins

3-20%
50-300MB

PostgreSQL

Unknown Impact
Development

PostgreSQL database server

5-40%
200MB-2GB

powerd

High Impact
System

Power management daemon

0.1-1%
5-15MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Preview

Critical Impact
Utility

macOS Preview application

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

ProtonVPN

Critical Impact
Networking

ProtonVPN application

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

Pro Tools

Unknown Impact
Creative

Avid Pro Tools audio workstation

10-60%
500MB-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Proxyman

Unknown Impact
Development

Proxyman HTTP debugging proxy

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

PyCharm

Unknown Impact
Development

JetBrains PyCharm Python IDE

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Python

Critical Impact
Development

Python interpreter

5-40%
200MB-2GB

qBittorrent

Critical Impact
Networking

qBittorrent client

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

QuickTime Helper

High Impact
Media Player

Helper process for QuickTime

3-25%
50-400MB

QuickTime Player

Unknown Impact
Media Player

Main QuickTime application process

5-40%
50-300MB
Essential

QuickTimePlayerHelper

Medium Impact
Media Player

Helper process for QuickTime Player

3-25%
50-400MB

RabbitMQ

Critical Impact
Development

RabbitMQ message broker

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Radio Silence

High Impact
Security

Radio Silence network firewall

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

RansomWhere

High Impact
Security

RansomWhere ransomware detector

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

rapportd

High Impact
Background

Rapport daemon for device-to-device communication

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Redis

Critical Impact
Development

Redis in-memory database

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Reminders

High Impact
Productivity

macOS Reminders application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential

reversetemplated

Very Low Impact
system

Reverse template daemon

Low
Medium (28MB)
Essential

Ruby

High Impact
Development

Ruby interpreter

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Rust

High Impact
Development

Rust programming language

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Safari

Unknown Impact
Browser

Main browser process that manages browser operation

3-20%
150-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

SafariBookmarksSyncAgent

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for synchronizing Safari bookmarks

3-20%
150-600MB

Safari Extension

High Impact
Browser

Process for running Safari extensions

3-20%
150-600MB

Safari (GPU Process)

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process for hardware-accelerated graphics in Safari

3-20%
150-600MB

Safari Graphics and Media

Very Low Impact
application

Media processing for Safari

Low
Medium (59MB)
Essential

Safari Networking

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process handling network operations for Safari

3-20%
150-600MB
Essential

SafariNotificationAgent

Low Impact
Browser

Process for handling Safari notifications

3-20%
150-600MB

Safari Web Content

Unknown Impact
Browser

Process that renders web page content using WebKit

3-20%
150-600MB
Essential

Safari Web Content (Cached)

Medium Impact
Browser

Process for cached web content

3-20%
150-600MB

Safari Web Service

High Impact
Browser

Background service process for Safari

3-20%
150-600MB

sandboxd

Critical Impact
Security

Sandbox daemon for application security

0.5-3%
10-50MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Scrivener

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Scrivener writing software

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

securityd

Critical Impact
Security

Security daemon responsible for managing security policies and keychain access.

0.5-3%
20-80MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

sharingd

High Impact
Background

Sharing daemon for AirDrop and Handoff

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Signal

Unknown Impact
Communication

Signal secure messaging

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Simulator

Unknown Impact
Development

iOS/watchOS/tvOS Simulator

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Sketch

Unknown Impact
Creative

Sketch vector design tool

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Skype

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Skype video calling service

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Slack

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Slack team communication platform

3-15%
200-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

smcFanControl

High Impact
Utility

System Management Controller fan control

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

softwareupdate

High Impact
System

Software Update process

0.5-3%
10-50MB

softwareupdated

Low Impact
system

Software update daemon

Low
Medium (30MB)

Sophos Home

Unknown Impact
Security

Sophos security application

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

SophosWebIntelligence

Critical Impact
Security

Sophos web protection service

2-10%
50-200MB

SourceTree

Unknown Impact
Development

Atlassian SourceTree Git client

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Spotlight

Medium Impact
User Interface

Spotlight search interface

2-15%
30-150MB
Essential

SpringBoard

Critical Impact
Background

iOS SpringBoard (on Apple Silicon during iOS app emulation)

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Steam

Unknown Impact
Game

Main Steam client process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

SteamChildMonitor

High Impact
Game

Steam child process monitor

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

steamservice

Critical Impact
Game

Steam service process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

steamwebhelper

Unknown Impact
Game

Steam web browser component

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

StocksWidget

Very Low Impact
application

Stocks information widget

Low
Medium (30MB)

storeassetd

Medium Impact
Background

App Store asset daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

storedownloadd

High Impact
Background

App Store download daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

suggestd

Medium Impact
Background

Spotlight suggestions daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

Surfshark

Critical Impact
Networking

Surfshark VPN application

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

swcd

Medium Impact
Background

Software Update Catalog daemon

0.5-5%
10-100MB

SymDaemon

Critical Impact
Security

Norton Symantec daemon

2-10%
50-200MB

syslogd

High Impact
System

System log daemon that manages logging services

0.5-2%
5-20MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

syspolicyd

Low Impact
system

System policy daemon

Low
Medium (67MB)
Cannot be terminated

System Information

High Impact
Utility

macOS System Information utility

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

SystemUIServer

High Impact
User Interface

System menu bar and user interface server

1-8%
20-60MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Telegram

Unknown Impact
Communication

Telegram messaging application

2-8%
80-250MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Terminal

Critical Impact
Development

macOS Terminal application

1-10%
20-100MB
Essential

TextEdit

High Impact
Utility

macOS TextEdit text editor

1-8%
20-100MB
Essential

TG Pro

Critical Impact
Utility

Temperature and fan control

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

thermald

High Impact
System

Thermal management daemon

0.1-2%
5-20MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

The Unarchiver

High Impact
Utility

The Unarchiver archive utility

1-8%
20-100MB
Cannot be terminated

TmPreFilter

High Impact
Security

Trend Micro pre-filter

2-10%
50-200MB

Transmission

Critical Impact
Networking

Transmission BitTorrent client

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

Trend Micro Antivirus

Unknown Impact
Security

Trend Micro security suite

2-10%
50-200MB
Cannot be terminated

Tunnelblick

Critical Impact
Networking

Tunnelblick OpenVPN client

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

Ubisoft Connect

Unknown Impact
Game

Main Ubisoft Connect application

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

UbisoftConnect Helper

High Impact
Game

Ubisoft Connect helper process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

UbisoftConnectService

Critical Impact
Game

Ubisoft Connect service

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

Ulysses

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Ulysses writing application

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

UnityHelper

Medium Impact
Game

Unity helper process

5-25%
200MB-2GB

Unity Hub

Critical Impact
Game

Unity game engine launcher

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

UnityPackageManager

High Impact
Game

Unity package manager process

5-25%
200MB-2GB

UnrealCEFSubProcess

High Impact
Game

Unreal engine web subprocess

5-25%
200MB-2GB

Unreal Engine

Unknown Impact
Game

Unreal game engine process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

update_dyld_shared_cache

Medium Impact
System

Dynamic linker shared cache update process

0.5-3%
10-50MB

usbmuxd

Medium Impact
Device Management

USB multiplexing daemon for iOS devices

1-5%
10-50MB

UserEventAgent

Medium Impact
Background

User event agent

0.5-5%
10-100MB

UserNotificationCenter

Medium Impact
User Interface

User notification center daemon

0.5-3%
10-40MB
Essential

uTorrent

Critical Impact
Networking

uTorrent BitTorrent client

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

Vagrant

Critical Impact
Development

Vagrant virtualization manager

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Valet

High Impact
Development

Laravel Valet development environment

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Viber

Critical Impact
Communication

Viber messaging and calling

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

VirtualBox

Unknown Impact
Development

Oracle VirtualBox virtualization

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

Virtual Machine Service for Docker

Low Impact
virtualization

Docker virtualization service that provides containerization support

Variable
High (7-8GB)

Viscosity

Critical Impact
Networking

Viscosity OpenVPN client

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

Visual Studio Code

Unknown Impact
Development

Microsoft Visual Studio Code editor

5-30%
200-1GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

VLC

Unknown Impact
Media Player

Main VLC media player process

3-25%
50-400MB
Essential

vlc-cache-gen

Low Impact
Media Player

VLC cache generation process

3-25%
50-400MB

VLC Helper

High Impact
Media Player

Helper process for VLC

3-25%
50-400MB

VLCKit

Medium Impact
Media Player

Framework process for VLC

3-25%
50-400MB

VMware Fusion

Unknown Impact
Development

VMware virtualization software

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

VSCodium

Very Low Impact
application

Open source Visual Studio Code editor

Low
Medium (103MB)
Cannot be terminated

VSCodium Helper

Very Low Impact
application

General helper for VSCodium editor

Low
Medium (36-38MB)
Cannot be terminated

VSCodium Helper (GPU)

Very Low Impact
application

GPU acceleration for VSCodium editor

Low
Medium (160MB)

VSCodium Helper (Plugin)

Very Low Impact
application

Plugin management for VSCodium

Low
Medium (100-135MB)
Cannot be terminated

VSCodium Helper (Renderer)

Very Low Impact
application

Visual Studio Code rendering process

Low
Medium (300MB)

VTDecoderXPCService

Very Low Impact
system

Video decoder service

Low
Medium (6-104MB)
Essential

VTEncoderXPCService

Very Low Impact
system

Video encoder service

Low
Small (5-8MB)
Essential

watchdogd

High Impact
System

System watchdog daemon

0.1-1%
5-15MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

WeatherWidget

Very Low Impact
application

Weather information widget

Low
Medium (21-26MB)

WebKitServiceProcess

Critical Impact
Browser

Process for handling WebKit services

3-20%
50-300MB
Essential

WebKit Web Content

Unknown Impact
Browser

WebKit rendering engine process

3-20%
50-300MB
Essential

WebStorm

Unknown Impact
Development

JetBrains WebStorm JavaScript IDE

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

WeChat

Unknown Impact
Communication

WeChat messaging application

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

WhatsApp

Unknown Impact
Communication

WhatsApp messaging application

2-10%
100-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Wickr Me

Critical Impact
Communication

Wickr secure messaging

2-15%
50-300MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

wifianalyticsd

Very Low Impact
system

WiFi analytics daemon

Low
Medium (21MB)
Essential

wifid

High Impact
Networking

WiFi daemon for wireless network management

1-5%
10-40MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

WiFi Explorer

Critical Impact
Networking

WiFi analysis tool

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

WiFi Scanner

High Impact
Networking

WiFi network scanner

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

WindowManager

Low Impact
system

Window management service

Low
Medium (33MB)

WindowServer

Critical Impact
User Interface

Manages the graphical user interface and handles drawing to the screen.

2-15%
50-200MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

Wireshark

Unknown Impact
Networking

Wireshark network analyzer

1-10%
20-150MB
Cannot be terminated

XAMPP

Unknown Impact
Development

XAMPP web development stack

5-40%
200MB-2GB
Cannot be terminated

Xbox

Unknown Impact
Game

Xbox app for Mac

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

XboxHelper

High Impact
Game

Xbox app helper process

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

XboxNetworkingService

Critical Impact
Game

Xbox networking service

5-25%
200MB-2GB
Essential

Xcode

Unknown Impact
Development

Main Xcode IDE process

10-60%
1-8GB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

xcodebuild

Unknown Impact
Development

Xcode command-line build tool

10-60%
1-8GB

xcrun

Critical Impact
Development

Xcode command-line tool runner

5-40%
200MB-2GB

Zoom

Unknown Impact
Productivity

Zoom video conferencing

3-20%
100-600MB
Essential
Cannot be terminated

zsh

Very Low Impact
system

Z shell command interpreter

Low
Small (4-7MB)
Cannot be terminated