Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Compact Tray Meter VS thinkfan

Compare Compact Tray Meter VS thinkfan and see what are their differences

Compact Tray Meter logo Compact Tray Meter

This compact utility displays real-time CPU, RAM and disk drives usage meters right on the taskbar...

thinkfan logo thinkfan

Thinkfan is a simple, lightweight fan control program.
Not present
  • thinkfan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16

Compact Tray Meter features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

thinkfan features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Thinkfan is a minimalistic utility that consumes very few system resources, making it ideal for systems with limited processing power.
  • Customizable
    Thinkfan allows users to define custom temperature thresholds and fan speed levels, providing granular control over system cooling.
  • Compatibility
    Designed to work well with ThinkPad laptops but can be used on other systems by configuring manually, offering broader applicability.
  • Ease of Use
    Thinkfan is relatively straightforward to set up and use for those familiar with Linux command-line tools, providing a simple approach to fan control.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, thinkfan allows users to contribute, modify, and enhance the code, fostering community-driven improvements.

Possible disadvantages of thinkfan

  • Limited GUI
    Thinkfan lacks a graphical user interface, which can make configuration and usage more challenging for users unfamiliar with command-line operations.
  • System Specific Setup
    Although it can be adapted for various systems, thinkfan requires manual configuration, potentially leading to a steeper learning curve for non-ThinkPad users.
  • Potential Risk
    Incorrect configuration may lead to inadequate cooling and overheating, which poses a risk to system stability and hardware integrity.
  • Limited Features
    Compared to some other fan control utilities, thinkfan provides basic functionalities without advanced features like fan profiles or logging.
  • Requires Understanding of System Sensors
    Users need some understanding of the system's thermal sensors to effectively configure thinkfan, which may be a barrier for less experienced users.

Compact Tray Meter videos

Tutorial Menampilkan RAM, CPU, HDD di taskbar windows 10 Compact Tray Meter

thinkfan videos

Lenovo W520 Fan Control using thinkfan

More videos:

  • Review - Thinkfan on Thinkpad T410 - thinkpad_acpi doesn't seem to support fan_control (2 Solutions!!)
  • Review - Ubuntu: thinkfan control doesn't use the fan full potential when needed (2 Solutions!!)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Compact Tray Meter and thinkfan)
Monitoring Tools
34 34%
66% 66
Device Management
61 61%
39% 39
Log Management
29 29%
71% 71
Error Tracking
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Compact Tray Meter and thinkfan. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, thinkfan seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 14 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Compact Tray Meter mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Compact Tray Meter yet. Tracking of Compact Tray Meter recommendations started around Mar 2021.

thinkfan mentions (14)

  • [Linux@T460] Fan running non-stop (every now and then)
    I use Thinkfan on my T420, T440, X230 and X1 that run Linux. I linked the author's github page, but I believe it's available straight from the package manager in Ubuntu/Mint, so elementary might have it too. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Fans issue on my Lenovo Thinpad P16s AMD on Ubuntu
    I have found Thinkfan seems to be a good way to control Thinkpad fans on Ubuntu. Https://github.com/vmatare/thinkfan. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Black screen after suspend resume - gnome wayland
    Solved that with Thinkfan (https://github.com/vmatare/thinkfan). Source: almost 3 years ago
  • The minimum viable fan control script
    The second solution on this page probably isn't reliable, because hwmon paths like `hwmon3` depend on module load order. That's likely the same reason for the `card*` workaround mentioned above. I am using thinkfan for this and it works really well: https://github.com/vmatare/thinkfan. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • Problem building thinkfan from source: DSO missing from command line
    As thinkfan (https://github.com/vmatare/thinkfan) doesn't come prepackaged with my Debian version I tried to build it myself. I installed all the libraries as instructed in the README file, and followed the build instructions. Running cmake works fine, but then when I run make I get the following linker error that I cannot solve no matter what I try (this is actually my first time building a project!):. Source: about 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Compact Tray Meter and thinkfan, you can also consider the following products

Stats - Simple macOS system monitor in your menu bar.

SpeedFan - Hardware monitor for Windows that can access digital temperature sensors located on several 2-wire SMBus Serial Bus. Can access voltages and fan speeds and control fan speeds. Includes technical articles and docs.

iStat Menus - "An advanced Mac system monitor for your menubar."

iMac HDD Fan Control - iMac HDD Fan Control is an HDD fan control for the Mac operating systems by using which the Mac users can control the speed and noise of the fan of the Mac.

iGlance - macOS system monitor for the status bar

Open Hardware Monitor - Monitors temperature sensors, fan speeds, voltages, load and clock speeds, with optional graph.