Port Monitor
MacMonitor
Open Ports
See what's exposed. The macOS menu bar app that shows every open port, tunnel, VPN, and container — before it's a problem.
Which is more popular?
Based on our record, GitLab seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 145 times since March 2021.
Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.
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|---|---|---|
| Website | bosun.dev | about.gitlab.com |
| Pricing | ||
| Company | — | Startup from the United States · 1,000 - 1,999 employees · 2014 |
| Listed in |
In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.
Bosun is a native macOS menu bar app that shows you everything your Mac has open to the network, right when you need it, with no Terminal digging required. It runs lsof in the background to list every listening port, then goes further than a simple port scanner: it maps each port to the process...
No description of GitLab yet.
What each product offers, as listed by its team.
Possible disadvantages
An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.
Overall verdict
Why this product is good
Recommended for
Overall verdict
Why this product is good
Recommended for
GitLab is well-suited for developers, DevOps engineers, project managers, and teams that require robust CI/CD capabilities, strong security features, and an open-source platform that can be self-hosted or used as a cloud service. It is particularly beneficial for organizations looking for a comprehensive solution to streamline their development workflows.
Walkthroughs and reviews on video.
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Introduction to GitLab Workflow
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How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.
As answered by people managing Bosun.dev and GitLab.
Bosun.dev's answer
Swift 5.9+, SwiftUI + AppKit (NSStatusItem), lsof for port scanning, Sparkle for auto-updates, Polar for licensing/payments. No Electron, no third-party dependencies beyond Sparkle.
Bosun.dev's answer
Developers who run local dev servers, Docker containers, and tunnels (ngrok/Cloudflare) daily and need instant visibility into what's bound to which port, without opening Terminal or Activity Monitor.
Bosun.dev's answer
Bosun is the only menu bar tool that unifies port scanning with network context: it maps ngrok/Cloudflare tunnels, native VPN status, Docker containers, and SSH -L forwards to the process actually holding each port, then lets you kill it in one click. Most alternatives only do one of those things.
Bosun.dev's answer
iStat Menus monitors the system but not tunnels or containers. Little Snitch blocks connections but doesn't show you what's already running. Seeports comes closest (port scanning for Docker/K8s/dev servers) but lacks tunnel and VPN detection. Bosun covers all of it natively, with zero third-party dependencies, no Electron overhead, and a one-time price instead of a subscription.
Bosun.dev's answer
Built out of a personal need: constantly losing track of which local dev server, Docker container, or forgotten tunnel was holding a port, and resorting to lsof in Terminal every time. Bosun turns that into a native, always-visible menu bar view.
Share your experience with using Bosun.dev and GitLab. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.
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GitLab’s in-context testing solution simplifies the development process by automating both application and infrastructure management on a single platform.Why We Picked GitLab: We like GitLab’s automation of testing...
GitLab is a web-based DevSecOps (take that, Call of Duty) platform that allows software development teams to plan, build, and ship secure code all in one application. GitLab offers a range of features and tools to...
CI/CD GitLab, as a complete DevOps platform, provides an integrated CI/CD solution along with its other features. If your team is already using GitLab for controlling versions and managing projects, the addition of...
Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.
Tracking Bosun.dev since Jul 2026.
So now choosing free git server from a vary short list of options. Bonobo Gogs vs Gitea vs Gitlab. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
We use GitHub here as an example, but there are also other hosts you could explore like GitLab and BitBucket. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
Expertise. The SaaS provider is declaring: "I am good at XYZ; I can deliver it better than any of my competitors, and I constantly work to improve how I deliver it." Who do you think can better run GitLab, your already overworked... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
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