How to determine how much memory a program is using

Updated: 02/04/2024 by Computer Hope
Computer memory aka RAM

Each program on a computer uses different amounts of memory when it's actively running or idle. The packaging or website for software provides system requirements about the minimum and recommended memory a computer should have to run the program. However, the exact memory the program uses depends on how it's being used. To determine how much memory a program is using, follow the steps below.

Microsoft Windows users

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc on the keyboard to open the Windows Task Manager.
  2. In the Task Manager window, click the Processes tab, if not already selected.

Windows 10 Task Manager

  1. As shown in the image above, in the Processes tab, each running application (under Apps) and how much memory they are using is displayed. For example, the first entry, Adobe Dreamweaver, is using a total of 52.4 megabytes of memory.
Tip

Click the Arrow to expand an app's processes in Task Manager. arrow to the left of any Apps entry to expand it. Doing so displays a list of the program's separate processes and how much memory they're using individually.

Tip

Clicking the Memory column title lets you sort the programs by how much memory they're using. In the example above, we sorted the programs from the most used memory to the least used memory.

Linux users

Linux users can utilize the top command to display their current total, used, and free memory. It can also list each PID (Process IDentifier) and the amount of memory used by it.

Linux Top memory usage

macOS users

Users on a MacBook or iMac can see how much memory a program is using in the Activity Monitor. Follow the steps below to access the Activity Monitor in macOS.

  1. In the Dock at the bottom of your screen, click the Finder icon.

Finder icon in the Dock

  1. On the left side of the screen, under the Favorites section, click the Applications selector in macOS. selector.
  2. In the list of applications, double-click the Utilities app.

Utilities folder icon in macOS.

  1. In the Utilities folder, double-click the Activity Monitor icon.

Activity Monitor icon in macOS.

  1. In the Activity Monitor utility, click the Memory tab at the top of the screen. Under the Memory column, the currently used memory is displayed for each process.

Viewing memory usage of processes in macOS.

Tip

Sort the Memory column in ascending or descending order by clicking the arrow Sorting arrow in macOS. on the right side of the heading.