8 ways to reduce Mac CPU usage

6 min read

High CPU usage on your Mac could be the reason your device has become painfully slow.

If you're constantly waiting for applications to load or find yourself gazing at the spinning beachball more than you'd like, it's time to check your CPU usage and jump into troubleshooting mode.

What is CPU usage on Mac?

CPU (Central Processing Unit) is essentially responsible for performing all of your system tasks. Often referred to as the brain of a Mac, it executes commands and instructions and interacts with all other parts of your Mac.

Although CPU usage constantly changes, depending on which activities your Mac is running, high usage can cause multiple issues for Macs, including:

Decreased system performance
Overheating
Crashing, freezing, or stalling applications

If you've noticed your device is suffering from any of the issues above, jump to the next step, and I'll show you how to check the CPU usage on your Mac.

How much CPU is normal for macOS?

Surprisingly to many Mac users, there is no recommended percentage of CPU usage. But obviously, the higher the usage, the slower your Mac performance will become. If the CPU usage is edging around 100%, your Mac is trying to do more work than it has the capacity for.

Luckily, it's easy to reduce Mac CPU usage and speed up your Mac; let's go.

How to check CPU usage on Mac

Thanks to Apple's built-in Mac performance monitor, Activity Monitor, it's simple to check your CPU usage. Here's how:

Activity Monitor

Select Finder > Applications > Utlitiles > Activity Monitor.
Select the CPU tab from the top and sort by CPU.

Here in Activity Monitor, you'll see precisely what applications and programs are running and what resources they are using. The highest CPU-consuming tasks will be located at the top of the list.

Notice the graph at the bottom; this shows a breakdown of your CPU consumption. To end any CPU-hungry tasks, simply select it from the list and click the "X."

To learn about other ways to check CPU usage on Mac, jump to this handy article.

How to reduce CPU usage

1. Restart your Mac

It is the very first thing you should do if you face any issues with your Mac. Restarting it quits all processes and apps, basically giving your computer a fresh start. So, head over to the main Apple menu and click Restart.

Restart your Mac

2. Update your Mac

Keeping your Mac up-to-date is the surest way to resolve multiple issues, including high CPU usage on Mac.

If your Mac is slow, a quick system update can work wonders. Here's how:

System Preferences - Software Update

Select the main Apple menu > System Settings > General.
Here, click Software Update.

If your Mac has an update available, follow the on-screen instructions to install it.

3. Check your top CPU consumers

Some apps, like Chrome, are obvious high CPU consumers, but others may be running unnoticed. A popular Mac optimization app, CleanMyMac X, has a free tool to check CPU usage in real time. So you'll have a full picture in less than a minute. This app is notarized by Apple, so it's safe to use.

Download the free version of CleanMyMac X.
Click on the small iMac icon in the upper Menu bar.

Now, locate the CPU tab. Can you see the temperature of your processor? What apps are high on the list? Now, you've got some valuable knowledge.

4. Reset your SMC

SMC stands for System Management Controller; it gives power to your Mac's keyboard, battery, fan, and other critical device hardware. If one or more of these items stop working correctly, the kernel_task process could ramp up your CPU load. Resetting your SMC can resolve this issue and give your Mac some breathing room; here's how:

Macs with Apple silicon

Although you can't reset the SMC on Macs with Apple silicon as new M chips manage all functions, many users report that shutting down your Mac completely, waiting 30 seconds, and then restarting acts something like an SMC reset— worth a try.

Desktop Macs

Remove the power cord and wait for 15 seconds before plugging it back in.
Wait for a further 5 seconds and turn your Mac on.

Laptops with T2 chip

Turn off your Mac, then press and hold the following keys for 10 seconds: Control-Option-Shift-Power button.
Now, hold the following keys for 7 seconds: Control-Option-Shift.
Now add the power button and hold for 7 seconds.
Release all keys, then turn on your Mac.

Laptops with non-removable batteries

Once your Mac is turned off, unplug the power cord.
On the left side of the keyboard, press and hold the following keys:

Shift-Option-Control-Power button

Hold down for ten seconds and then release it.
Plug your Mac back on and switch it on.

Laptops with removable batteries

Turn your Mac off and remove the power adapter and battery.
Hold down the power button for five seconds and then release it.
Put the battery back in, connect the adapter, and turn your Mac on.

5. Remove unnecessary login items

Launch agents and login items can bombard your system upon startup, using vital resources and increasing CPU usage.

You can significantly improve your system performance by removing unnecessary items from automatically launching when your Mac starts up.

Again, I like to use the Apple notarized tool CleanMyMac X to help me manage the job; its Optimization Module makes it easy to remove unneeded launch agents, close hung applications, and heavy consumers all in one go. Here's how:

CleanMyMac X - Launch Agents

Open the app — download the free version here.
Select Optimization from the sidebar and click View All Tasks.
From login items, select which items are not needed and click Remove. Repeat for launch agents.
If you have any hung applications or heavy consumers, they will be listed — simply follow the on-screen instructions to manage these.

Third-party apps are not for everyone, so if you'd rather manage these manually, follow these steps.

System Preferences - Login Items

Select the Apple menu > System Settings > General.
Find the Login Items pane.
Select the applications you wish to remove and click the "-" button.

6. Declutter your Desktop

Next tip, take a few minutes to clean up your Desktop. Unnecessary clutter not only slows down your Mac but can consume resources.

Move unwanted items to the Trash, remembering to empty it afterward.

7. Free up RAM

Another way to speed up performance and improve high CPU usage on your Mac is by freeing up your RAM, giving your Mac extra room to breathe.

You could waste considerable time trying to do this manually by removing browser extensions and deleting old apps, system logs, and temporary files, or you could use the app I mentioned earlier.

CleanMyMac X has a handy Maintenance module that can free RAM and run maintenance scripts quickly. Here's how:

Open the application and select Maintenance from the sidebar.
Click View, All Tasks, then select Free Up RAM and Run Maintenance Scripts from the list.
Click Run.

8. Close unused apps

Remember we quit heavy consumers? It's time to take a step forward and close all unused apps. When a lot is going on in the background, it will consume precious CPU. Therefore, develop a habit of keeping only apps you need at the moment open and quit all other programs.

The easiest way to do it is from the Dock. If you see an app with a dot under it and know that you don't need it, right-click and choose Quit.

Quit unused apps

If you prefer keeping your Dock neat and don't have a lot of apps there, you can navigate to Activity Monitor as described above. Alternatively, you can press Command-Tab to switch between the apps that are currently open and quit unnecessary ones.

Now, you know how to reduce high CPU usage on your Mac.