TG Pro alternative: the temperature, in the notch
TG Pro reads every sensor in your Mac and drives the fans, for $10. Notchy shows the reading macOS hides — CPU temperature, in the notch — and since 1.0.172 adds a beta fan control. TG Pro is still the deeper tool, and this page says so up front.
| Fact | TG Pro | Notchy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $10 one-time (3 Macs, personal) | $24.99 one-time, with a 7-day free trial |
| Temperature monitoring | Yes — CPU, GPU, drives, battery | Yes — CPU temperature and system stats |
| Fan speed control | Yes — manual, max and auto rules | Beta — manual speed or temperature curve, where firmware allows |
| Alerts | Notifications and email | Notch alerts |
| CSV logging & diagnostics | Yes | No |
| macOS | 10.13 High Sierra or later | 13 Ventura or later |
| Anything beyond thermals | No | 50+ tools in the same island |
From Tunabelly Software’s own site, checked against Notchy’s shipping build.
Fan control: a beta here, the core there
Notchy now sets a fixed speed or a temperature curve per fan, and hands every fan back to the Mac if it quits or the Mac overheats. It is a beta, and it only works where the firmware accepts fan targets. Rules on any sensor, max boost and years of polish are TG Pro.
Most people just want the number
macOS simply does not show CPU temperature anywhere, which is why people go looking for an app at all. Notchy puts the temperature in the notch next to CPU, memory and network.
Heat while idle is the real signal
A hot Mac under load is a Mac working. A hot Mac doing nothing is usually a runaway process, and a glanceable readout catches that faster than fan rules paper over it.
They coexist happily
Nothing stops you running TG Pro for the fans and Notchy for the notch — just leave Notchy's Fan Control off. If you already own TG Pro, keep it — this is not an argument to uninstall anything.
Everything Notchy does, in one app
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
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- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Custom islands through the local developer API (off by default)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
Notchy vs TG Pro — FAQ
Does Notchy control fan speed like TG Pro?
Partly, since 1.0.172. Notchy's Fan Control is a beta: a manual speed or a temperature curve per fan, run by the same background helper as its charge limit, and every fan goes back to automatic if Notchy quits. It only works where the Mac's firmware accepts fan targets — most Apple silicon laptops refuse. TG Pro's fan control is mature, with max boost and rules tied to any sensor; if fans are the whole reason you're here, TG Pro is still the app.
How much is TG Pro?
$10 as a one-time payment on its current pricing, half its usual $20, covering three Macs for personal use. Notchy is $24.99 once, but its fan control is a beta and it reads far fewer sensors, so it covers the everyday half of TG Pro's job.
Can I see CPU temperature without TG Pro?
Yes. macOS hides the sensor readings, but Notchy surfaces CPU temperature in the notch alongside CPU load, memory, GPU and network — without an extra menu bar icon.
Is my Mac running too hot?
Sustained high temperature under load is normal; Apple silicon Macs throttle rather than damage themselves. What is worth watching is heat while the machine should be idle, which usually means a runaway process rather than a hardware fault — check what is actually using the CPU before you reach for fan control.
What macOS do they need?
TG Pro runs from macOS 10.13 High Sierra all the way to current releases. Notchy needs macOS 13 Ventura or later. On an older Mac, TG Pro is the one that installs.
Can I run both?
Yes, and it is a reasonable setup — TG Pro managing the fans, Notchy showing temperature and everything else in the notch. Leave Notchy's Fan Control switched off (it is off by default) so only one app is setting fan speeds.
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