Comparison
Battery Buddy vs MacBookBatteryMonitor
Battery Buddy is a different kind of app: it exists to make the battery icon nicer to look at. It is not a monitor or a control tool. Here is the honest comparison anyway, because people ask.
What Battery Buddy does
Battery Buddy, by Neil Sardesai, is a free menu-bar app that replaces the stock macOS battery icon with one of four kawaii faces whose expression changes with charge level. At 20% and below it looks sad. Click it and you get the percentage, charging status, and time remaining. That is the entire app. There is no health percentage, no cycle count, no temperature, no per-app power, no charge limiting, and no process management. It is roughly 1.4 megabytes, makes no network connections except update checks, and collects no data. It has been essentially feature-complete since early 2021 and receives only minor maintenance. It runs on macOS 11 and up, Intel and Apple Silicon. Its job is charm, not information.
What MacBookBatteryMonitor does
MacBookBatteryMonitor is the opposite end of the spectrum. It is built around information and control: real per-app wattage, a component power breakdown, battery health and cycle count against the design limit, hidden drain from Docker, cloudflared, and launchd, a 50% to 100% charge limit, Sailing Mode, automated Low Power Mode, and per-app actions including a CPU throttle, an E-core offload toggle, and a one-click kill. It does not have a cute face. Its menu-bar icon is functional and configurable. It is a paid, Apple-Silicon-only app on macOS 14.6 and up, where Battery Buddy is free and runs on almost anything.
Feature comparison
MacBookBatteryMonitorTry MacBookBatteryMonitor on your own Mac
It runs a free 7-day trial with no card and no subscription.
Which one should you pick?
Battery Buddy and MacBookBatteryMonitor are built for opposite users. If you want a friendlier battery icon and nothing else, Battery Buddy is perfect, it is free, and you should install it. If you want to know which apps are draining your battery and do something about it, Battery Buddy does not try to help with that. These are not really substitutes for each other.
Frequently asked questions
Does Battery Buddy show battery health or cycle count?
No. It shows percentage, charging status, and time remaining. It has no health, cycle count, temperature, or any per-app data. It is purely an aesthetic replacement for the stock icon.
Is Battery Buddy a serious alternative to a battery monitor?
Not for monitoring. It is a serious app at what it does, which is charm. If you want to actually understand or manage your battery, you need a different tool.
Can you run both?
Yes. Battery Buddy replaces the menu-bar icon, while MacBookBatteryMonitor adds its own icon and popover. They do not conflict. Some users will reasonably run both.