KeepingYouAwake Alternatives: Keep a Mac Awake

KeepingYouAwake is a small, free, open-source menu bar app that wraps one macOS command so your Mac stops sleeping while you present, download or compile. It works well. If you want an alternative, it helps to know that the engine underneath is already installed on your Mac.

The command it wraps

caffeinate ships with macOS. Everything in this category is a front end for it:

# prevent display sleep until you press Control-C
caffeinate -d

# prevent sleep for two hours, then let it go
caffeinate -d -t 7200

# keep the Mac awake only while a specific command runs
caffeinate -i make release

That last form is the one power users miss. Wrap a long job and the Mac stays awake exactly as long as the job takes, then goes back to normal on its own. No app, no forgetting to switch it off.

The app alternatives

• Amphetamine (free, Mac App Store) — the most capable of the group. Triggers based on app, display count, Wi-Fi network or battery level, plus timed sessions and lid-closed support on some setups. If KeepingYouAwake is too simple for you, this is the upgrade.
• Caffeine — the classic. Simple, and unmaintained for long stretches; check its current state before relying on it.
• Shortcuts (built in) — a shortcut containing a single Run Shell Script action with a caffeinate command, pinned to the menu bar. Free and no extra app running.

What none of them do by default: the closed lid

This is the case people actually want and the one that trips them up. On a MacBook, closing the lid sleeps the machine regardless of caffeinate, unless it is connected to power and an external display, keyboard or mouse. That is macOS behaviour, not a limitation of the app.

The relevant settings live in System Settings → Battery → Options and System Settings → Lock Screen, where you control when the display turns off and when the Mac sleeps. Getting a closed-lid Mac to keep running for a download or a long render needs those settings set correctly as well as sleep prevention. Our full guide covers the combination that works.

Check what is keeping the Mac awake

The reverse problem is just as common: a Mac that will not sleep and you do not know why. macOS will tell you.

# list every process currently holding a power assertion
pmset -g assertions

# current sleep and display settings
pmset -g custom

In the assertions output, look for PreventUserIdleSystemSleep and PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep and the process names beside them. It is often a media app, a browser tab playing audio, or a sleep-prevention tool from months ago that is still running. That single command answers the question faster than any app.

Which to choose

1. One-off long job: use caffeinate directly. Nothing to install, and it stops by itself.
2. You want a menu bar switch: KeepingYouAwake is fine and free. There is no reason to move unless you need more.
3. You want triggers and schedules: Amphetamine, free.
4. You want it as one toggle among the other settings you change: a settings tool covers it alongside everything else.

Check this before a long job

Sleep prevention does not survive every power setting. Our guide to stopping a Mac from sleeping covers the Battery and Lock Screen options that override anything an app can do.