iStat Menus

Bjango, a small Australian design and development studio, launched iStat Menus around 2009. The app lives in the Mac menu bar and shows real-time CPU, GPU, memory, network, disk, temperature, and battery information in beautiful, customizable menu bar dropdowns. Where Apple's Activity Monitor was a window you had to open, iStat Menus was always there — glanceable, instant, gorgeous. Developers, designers, and power users adopted it as an essential Mac utility. The app was sold as a one-time purchase (~$10) through the Mac App Store and the Bjango website, and was later included in Setapp. iStat Menus generated steady income for the tiny Bjango team (2-3 people) from millions of users over 15+ years. It won Apple Design Awards and was consistently featured by Apple in Mac App Store promotions. A timeless example of a small indie studio building a native Mac utility with extraordinary design quality and sustaining it profitably for over a decade.