Check memory pressure, not 'free RAM' — via Apple Support

Tricklow riskmacOS 14 Sonoma and later

A Mac that shows almost no free memory is usually fine: macOS keeps recently used files cached in RAM so apps reopen faster. The number that matters is the Memory Pressure graph in Activity Monitor, which combines free memory, swap and cached files.

Takes effect right away

How to do it

Open Activity Monitor and click the Memory tab.
Look at the Memory Pressure graph at the bottom. If it stays low, you have enough RAM. If it stays high and Swap Used keeps growing, close memory-heavy apps or tabs (sort by the Memory column to find them).

Sources

View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac — by Apple Support

Source reviewed: 2026-11-02
Link checked: 2026-11-02
Tested hands-on: Not by Oddbyte.Me

Oddbyte.Me hasn't tried this on every macOS version, so keep the undo handy.

memoryrammemory pressureswapactivity monitorslow mac

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