A fast-moving edition of PingZilla
A lightweight macOS menu bar application that monitors network latency in real time. PingZilla Next builds on the original PingZilla with longer-term history, network-session tracking, and additional diagnostics. It is built with Tauri 2, React, and Rust.
PingZilla Next is an unofficial, fast-moving edition of PixelTowers/Pingzilla where I develop and use new monitoring features. It keeps the original project's lightweight menu bar experience, and suitable changes may continue to be proposed upstream.
- Up to 24 hours of persisted, range-selectable ping history
- Network sessions grouped by public IP and ISP fingerprint
- Custom aliases for recognizing networks at a glance
- User-triggered macOS network quality tests with recent results shown alongside ping history
- Historical graph segmentation, downsampling, and detailed point inspection
- Ongoing fixes and usability improvements beyond the current upstream release
For Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Working from a café in Lisbon? PingZilla Next alerts you the moment your VPN drops, before your real IP gets exposed. See your current country right in the menu bar.
For Gamers & Streamers
That lag spike just cost you the match. PingZilla Next lives in your menu bar showing real-time latency. Green means go, red means rage quit.
For Developers
A menu bar ping monitor that doesn't eat your battery. Built with Tauri 2 and Rust, not another Electron memory hog. Open source.
- Live Menu Bar Display - Current ping displayed right in your menu bar
- Dynamic Menu Bar Icons - PingZilla Next's mood changes based on latency:
- Happy (< 60ms) - Everything is great!
- Angry (60-150ms) - Getting concerned...
- Sad (> 150ms) - Network troubles!
- Dead (timeout) - No response!
- IP Geolocation - See your public IP address and country with flag emoji - perfect for VPN users
- Site Monitoring - Monitor up to 10 websites or servers with 60-second check intervals
- Down Alerts - Get notified when monitored sites go down
- Multiple Targets - Monitor multiple hosts simultaneously
- Statistics Dashboard - View min/max/avg latency, uptime percentage, and packet loss
- Real-Time Graph - Visual history of the last 2 minutes of ping data
- Display Mode Options - Choose what to show in menu bar:
- Icon + Ping (default)
- Icon Only
- Ping Only
- Smart Notifications - Get alerted when latency exceeds your threshold (default: 400ms)
- Configurable Target - Ping any host (default: 8.8.8.8)
- Persistent History - Stores up to 24 hours of ping data locally
- Smooth Animations - Buttery smooth number transitions
- Native Performance - Rust backend with minimal resource usage
- No Root Required - Uses system ping command
PingZilla Next uses expressive icons to show network health at a glance:
| Icon | Latency | Mood |
|---|---|---|
 |
< 60ms | Happy |
 |
60-150ms | Angry |
 |
> 150ms | Sad |
 |
Timeout | Dead |
Download the latest available build from the Releases page. If no packaged release is available for the version you want, build it from source below.
The original PingZilla is also available from the Mac App Store. That listing is maintained by the upstream project and is not PingZilla Next.
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/rsheyd/pingzilla-next.git
cd pingzilla-next
# Install dependencies
pnpm install
# Run in development mode
pnpm tauri dev
# Build for production
pnpm tauri buildThe built app will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/.
To build for Mac App Store submission:
# Full pipeline: build universal binary, sign, and create .pkg
make appstore
# Or step by step:
make universal # Build universal binary (Intel + Apple Silicon)
make sign # Sign with Apple Distribution certificate
make pkg # Create signed installer package
make upload # Show upload instructionsPrerequisites for App Store:
- Apple Developer account
- App Store provisioning profile (save as
src-tauri/embedded.provisionprofile) - Certificates installed in Keychain:
- Apple Distribution certificate
- 3rd Party Mac Developer Installer certificate
- Apple WWDR intermediate certificate
- Launch - PingZilla Next appears in your menu bar showing the current ping
- Click the menu bar icon to open the detailed view with graph
- Right-click to access the quit menu
- Settings - Click "Settings" in the popup to configure:
- Target: The host to ping
- Alert threshold: Latency (in ms) that triggers notifications
- Display Mode: What to show in the menu bar
- Frontend: React 19, TypeScript, Recharts
- Backend: Rust, Tauri 2
- Build: Vite, pnpm
Run make help to see all available commands:
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
make dev |
Start development server with hot reload |
make build |
Build for current architecture |
make universal |
Build universal binary (Intel + Apple Silicon) |
make appstore |
Full App Store build pipeline |
make sign |
Sign app for distribution |
make pkg |
Create installer package |
make upload |
Show upload instructions |
make clean |
Clean build artifacts |
make lint |
Run linters |
make info |
Show build info |
| Color | Latency | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Green | < 60ms | Excellent |
| Yellow | 60-150ms | Good |
| Red | > 150ms | Poor |
| Gray | Timeout | No response |
- Contributing and local testing - Test development changes without removing the installed app
- Marketing Plan - Launch strategy and growth plans
MIT
PingZilla Next is maintained by rsheyd. The original PingZilla was created by Chriszilla and Claudio; see the upstream project for its contributors and history.
PingZilla Next: Stomping latency with a little more history.