Mac Keep Alive Apps Compared: Amphetamine vs. KeepingYouAwake vs. FavTray

Choosing a keep-alive app depends on what you need beyond preventing sleep. Some developers want a simple toggle; others need trigger-based automation or app-level idle detection. This comparison breaks down the three most popular options feature by feature.

How Do Amphetamine, KeepingYouAwake, and FavTray Compare?

Amphetamine is the most feature-rich sleep prevention tool with trigger-based automation, KeepingYouAwake is the simplest and lightest option for basic sleep prevention, and FavTray is the only one that generates mouse input to defeat app-level idle detection while bundling additional developer utilities. All three are reputable and actively maintained — the right choice depends on your specific workflow needs.

Feature Comparison Table

Feature	Amphetamine	KeepingYouAwake	FavTray
Prevent OS sleep	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prevent app idle (Slack, Teams)	No	No	Yes (mouse movement)
Menu bar toggle	Yes	Yes	Yes
Timed sessions	Yes	Yes	Planned
Trigger-based activation	Yes (Wi-Fi, app, battery, time)	No	No
Custom durations	Yes	Preset (30m, 1h, 2h, 5h)	Toggle on/off
Eye rest timer	No	No	Yes (20-20-20 rule)
AI usage tracking	No	No	Yes
Open source	No	Yes	No
App Store distribution	Yes	No (GitHub)	Direct download
Price	Free	Free	Free / Pro
RAM usage (approx.)	~35 MB	~18 MB	~40 MB
macOS version support	12+	11+	14+
Privacy (local-first)	Yes	Yes	Yes

What Are the Pros and Cons of Amphetamine?

Amphetamine is the power-user choice for sleep prevention, offering more configuration options than any competitor. It has been on the Mac App Store since 2014 and is free with no in-app purchases or subscriptions.

Pros:

• Trigger system is genuinely powerful — activate based on Wi-Fi network, running application, battery level, display count, or time of day
• Supports “Allow Display Sleep” mode that keeps the system awake while letting the screen turn off (saves energy on laptops)
• AppleScript support for automation integration
• Free with no catches
• App Store distribution means Apple has reviewed it

Cons:

• The interface is complex for what is fundamentally a simple task — the preferences window has 8+ tabs
• No mouse movement capability, so Slack and Teams will still show you as idle/away
• The app name occasionally triggers corporate web filters (a known issue the developer has addressed publicly)
• No additional developer features — it only does sleep prevention

Best for: Developers who want automated, context-aware sleep prevention — for example, always staying awake when connected to an office monitor or when a specific build tool is running.

What Are the Pros and Cons of KeepingYouAwake?

KeepingYouAwake embraces minimalism. It is a free, open-source app that wraps the macOS caffeinate command in a clean coffee-cup menu bar icon. Click to toggle, right-click for durations. That is the entire feature set.

Pros:

• Lightest resource usage of any option (~18 MB RAM)
• Open source on GitHub — you can audit the code yourself
• Zero configuration required
• Familiar to developers who already use caffeinate
• Does exactly one thing with no feature creep

Cons:

• Very limited functionality — no triggers, no scheduling, no custom durations
• No mouse movement, so app-level idle detection still triggers
• Not on the App Store — requires downloading from GitHub
• No visual feedback beyond the icon change (no countdown timer, no status details)

Best for: Developers who want the simplest possible sleep prevention toggle and are comfortable with a no-frills tool. If you already use caffeinate in the terminal, KeepingYouAwake just gives you a clickable icon for it.

What Are the Pros and Cons of FavTray?

FavTray approaches keep-alive differently. Instead of asserting power management flags (the method caffeinate, Amphetamine, and KeepingYouAwake all use), FavTray’s Move Mouse feature generates subtle periodic mouse movements. This prevents sleep at both the OS level and the application level.

Pros:

• Only option that prevents app-level idle detection in Slack, Teams, and Zoom
• Bundled with an eye rest timer and AI usage tracker — replaces 2-3 separate apps
• Reduces total menu bar icon count by consolidating tools
• Local-first architecture — no data leaves your Mac
• Native Swift/SwiftUI app with low resource usage

Cons:

• Mouse cursor shifts slightly during movements (by design — this is what defeats idle detection)
• Requires macOS 14+ (Sonoma), no support for older versions
• Not open source
• Keep-alive is part of the Pro tier

Best for: Developers who need to stay active on Slack or Teams during long builds, and who also want eye health reminders and AI cost tracking without installing multiple apps.

Which Keep Alive App Wins for Each Use Case?

Simple toggle, free: KeepingYouAwake. Click the icon, sleep is prevented. Click again, it stops. No learning curve.

Automated triggers: Amphetamine. If you want sleep prevention to activate automatically based on context (Wi-Fi, running apps, time of day), nothing else comes close.

Slack/Teams active status: FavTray. It is the only option that generates actual input events, which is what communication apps check for active/away status. See our full guide to preventing Mac sleep for how this compares to the caffeinate approach.

Corporate/managed Macs: Amphetamine. App Store distribution means it is less likely to be flagged by corporate security policies, and it does not require any special permissions.

Minimizing menu bar clutter: FavTray. One icon for keep-alive, eye rest, and AI tracking. Every other option adds a dedicated icon that only does sleep prevention.

Do These Apps Work with macOS Power Management Changes?

Apple has changed power management behavior in recent macOS versions, particularly around how aggressively Apple Silicon Macs enter low-power states. All three apps have been updated to work correctly on macOS 14 (Sonoma) and macOS 15 (Sequoia). Amphetamine and KeepingYouAwake use IOKit power assertions, which remain the supported API for preventing sleep. FavTray’s mouse movement approach works independently of power assertion APIs, making it resilient to future changes in how macOS handles sleep prevention.

If you are still deciding whether you even need a dedicated app, our guide on how to keep your Mac awake covers all five methods including built-in options.