Bandwidth shaper or bandwidth controller application for Mac OS X

Question

I'm looking for a bandwidth/packet throttle/shaper program with the following features:

Similar to Windows-based Netlimiter.
GUI based and not terminal or command line.
Shows list of all applications communicating over network its connections, transfer rates and more.
Set download or upload transfer rate limits for applications, connections or groups of them.

See SuperUser question http://superuser.com/questions/126642/throttle-network-bandwidth-per-application-in-mac-os-x — , Jan 31 '11 at 17:14
The canonical question on this site appears to be here -> http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/24066/how-to-simulate-slow-internet-connections-on-the-mac — bmike, Sep 07 '12 at 18:39
I read all the above answers, and still I agree that nobody found the solution. We are looking for an exact alternative of netlimiter for windows. So a GUI based software that easily allows to monitor and also limit the download/upload of each application, not ports, but applications. For example if I am using JAKSTA to download videos that will use all the available bandwidth leaving me stuck and unable to surf the web while I download the videos. So, Any valid alternative for the mac? — , Nov 06 '12 at 18:11
2014: The status seems to still be the same as above commenter. No apps (not even saying good apps), for limiting bandwidth based on apps and not ports. — jason, Jan 16 '14 at 19:19
You might be able to do some net limiting from your router if you have a good one ... — bobobobo, Apr 18 '22 at 12:50

Warren Young · Answer 1 · 2021-10-19T11:05:34.210

33

For those on 10.7 or newer, the easiest solution to the bandwidth limiting part of the question is Apple's Network Link Conditioner (NLC), a free utility that was originally included with Xcode. Then Apple got all sandbox-happy, so now it's a separate download from Apple's developer web site, called the Additional Tools for Xcode.

The important points going for NLC are that it's from Apple, it's got a very straightforward UI, and it works. Some of the other suggestions given in other answers fail some or all of these criteria, particularly in failing to work on newer OSes.

As for monitoring per-application bandwidth usage, I recommend iStat Menus.

edited Oct 19 '21 at 11:05

answered Sep 07 '12 at 17:26

Warren Young

640

*and it fails.... for me anyway :( – user1133275 Mar 26 '18 at 01:11
How can NLC be used to view and control network bandwidth on a per-application basis (per bullet points 3 and 4 in the question)? – Jon Schneider Jul 02 '18 at 15:53
In 2021 Network Link Conditioner is in the package "Additional Tools for Xcode": https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=network%20link – Victor Oct 19 '21 at 10:24

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 13 '16 at 13:56

7

There are multiple ways to do this.

For example, using ipfw, pf, or trickle, or GUI front ends to these, such as:

Speed Limit (not maintained as of 2014)
Throttled (only 10.4.x - 10.8.x)
Waterroof (10.7): http://www.hanynet.com/waterroof/
IceFloor (10.8): http://www.hanynet.com/icefloor/

edited Jan 13 '16 at 13:56

diimdeep

1,094

answered Jan 31 '11 at 17:19

+1 For those. Sadly none really does what the OP wants which is real time monitoring of network traffic by App. Been looking for this myself for some time to no avail :S – Martin Marconcini Feb 01 '11 at 10:01
iftop might be useful for you. Does realtime monitoring (not shaping), and by host (not app). – Feb 01 '11 at 16:15
ipfw is deprecated according to man on Lion. can pfctl be used the same way? – adambox Jul 04 '12 at 20:17
Yup. And IceFloor is a frontend: http://www.hanynet.com/icefloor/index.html – Jul 05 '12 at 00:06

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 28 '21 at 04:04

Since there wasn't a clear answer here.... somebody recommended vellum and that got me looking into it. Turns out velum gives you a license too their other product "snail" which is exactly what the post originally asked for.... so skip vellum just buy snail.

https://www.murusfirewall.com/snail/

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 12 '14 at 04:22

0

take a look at little snitch: http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

Little Snitch features real-time network monitoring. It started as a nice GUI for adding per-application access rules and has grown into a bandwidth tool as well. I don't know how to use it to shape bandwidth. It's mostly an all-or-nothing, accept/reject network access monitor.

Still, it will certainly help you find out which processes are spiking your Mac's network activity.

menu snitch

edited Mar 12 '14 at 04:22

M K

11,047

answered Sep 18 '13 at 14:14

jim

11

can you explain how little snitch will be helpful? – Daniel Sep 18 '13 at 19:44
This is a partially useful answer, in that identifying per-app traffic on Macs is not that easy. Having shaping in same tool is ideal but not sure if that exists. – RichVel Mar 20 '14 at 12:45

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 21 '12 at 17:18

0

Waterroof or Noobproof, both free!!

edited Jun 21 '12 at 17:18

nohillside

100,768

answered Jun 21 '12 at 11:19

geo

1

3

Thanks for your answer, geo! Can you please add more information? How do these applications help the OP? – daviesgeek Oct 24 '12 at 05:48

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 08:04

0

Charles Proxy

Limit the bandwidth and see requests, responses in real time.
Charles Proxy has quite a nice GUI.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 08:04

Community

1

answered Feb 02 '11 at 08:22

Jonathan.

4,257

Unfortunately http only – Heiko Rupp Apr 26 '12 at 12:44
1

No you can do HTTPS, it's in the proxy settings I think – Jonathan. Apr 26 '12 at 14:47

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 05 '20 at 20:12

-1

In 10.15 and above, try: Vallum

answered Oct 05 '20 at 20:12

Mike Averto

99

Bandwidth shaper or bandwidth controller application for Mac OS X

7 Answers7

Charles Proxy

Linked

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