Comparison
Perked vs Adrafinil
Looking for a Adrafinil alternative to keep your Mac awake while your coding agents work? Here's an honest look at how Perked and Adrafinil compare — what each is best at, and which one fits your workflow.
What is Adrafinil?
Adrafinil is a free, MIT-licensed menu-bar app that blocks sleep only while an AI coding agent holds a session. It is the most technically ambitious tool in this list: lifecycle hooks for nine agents, an MCP tool so agents can ask for time-boxed holds themselves, reference-counted sessions that stack, a thermal cutout that force-releases when a closed Mac gets too hot, and a lid-open summary showing what ran and the peak temperature.
The main difference
The catch is the requirement, not the code: Adrafinil targets macOS 26.4 and later (a community fork backports it to 15). Perked runs on macOS 14 and later, so for most Macs in use today it is the one that will actually install. The other real gap is power: Adrafinil documents a thermal cutout and an idle release but no battery or AC rules at all, where Perked can require mains power or a battery floor you choose. Both drive keep-awake from lifecycle hooks — Adrafinil hooks nine agents to our six, and covers Cursor, Aider and Hermes where we do not.
Perked vs Adrafinil, feature by feature
| Feature | Perked | Adrafinil |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-detects AI coding agents (zero setup) | ||
| Power-aware (AC / battery threshold) | — | |
| Clamshell / lid-closed keep-awake | ||
| Timed sessions | ||
| Lock & Leave (lock screen, stay awake) | — | |
| Runs entirely on-device (no account) | ||
| Open source | — | |
| Price | One-time from €1 | Free (MIT, open source) |
“Manual setup” means the app can do it, but you configure it yourself. Last reviewed June 2026.
Which should you pick?
Choose Adrafinil if…
- You are already on the latest macOS and want something free and open source.
- You want agents to drive keep-awake explicitly over a CLI or MCP.
- You are happy to read the source and file issues rather than email support.
Choose Perked if…
- You are on macOS 14 or 15 — Adrafinil will not run.
- You want battery rules: AC-only, or a percentage floor below which the Mac sleeps.
- You want Lock & Leave and a signed, notarized app with support behind it.
FAQ
Is Adrafinil free?+
Yes — it is MIT-licensed and free, with optional sponsorship. Perked is a one-time purchase; what you get for it is macOS 14 support, battery-aware rules, Lock & Leave and support.
Why can I not install Adrafinil?+
It requires macOS 26.4 or later. If you are on Sonoma or Sequoia there is a community backport fork, or use a tool that supports your version — Perked requires macOS 14 and up.
Which has better agent detection?+
Both use lifecycle hooks, which tell the app when an agent is genuinely working rather than merely running. Adrafinil hooks nine agents, Perked six — but Perked also recognises around thirty by process behind that, lets you add any process yourself, and applies battery and thermal rules on top of whatever it detects.
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