TG Pro alternative: the temperature, for free
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, free. It does not control fans, and this page says so up front.
| TG Pro | Notchy | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $10 one-time (3 Macs, personal) | Free — optional donations |
| Temperature monitoring | Yes — CPU, GPU, drives, battery | Yes — CPU temperature and system stats |
| Fan speed control | Yes — manual, max and auto rules | No |
| 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 is the dividing line
If you want to force the fans up before a long export, or write rules that spin them on a sensor threshold, that is TG Pro and nothing here replaces it. Notchy is a gauge, not a throttle.
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, free.
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. If you already own TG Pro, keep it — this is not an argument to uninstall anything.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- 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
- 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
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Privacy Indicator — pill when any app's camera or mic goes live
- 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
- 133 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon
Notchy vs TG Pro — FAQ
Does Notchy control fan speed like TG Pro?
No. TG Pro can drive your fans — manual speeds, a max setting, and automatic rules tied to sensor readings. Notchy reads temperatures and shows them; it does not touch the fans. If fan control is what you came for, TG Pro is 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 free, but it is only doing the monitoring half of TG Pro's job.
Can I see CPU temperature without paying?
Yes. macOS hides the sensor readings, but Notchy surfaces CPU temperature in the notch alongside CPU load, memory, GPU and network — free, and 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. They do not conflict.
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