NetSpeedTray is a lightweight network monitoring tool designed to display live upload and download speeds directly on your Windows Taskbar with a native look and feel. It provides users with real-time insights into their network activity without compromising system performance.
Key Features:
Lightweight & Efficient: Runs smoothly in the background, minimizing resource usage.
Native Design: Integrates seamlessly with Windows 10/11 UI for a polished experience.
Customizable Widget: Adjust position, colors, and display settings to suit your preferences.
Detailed History Graph: Double-click to view comprehensive network activity history.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for anyone seeking real-time network monitoring on Windows. Users benefit from immediate visibility of their bandwidth usage, enhancing productivity without unnecessary interruptions.
Available via winget for easy installation.
README
NetSpeedTray
A lightweight, open-source system monitor for Windows that displays live network speeds, CPU/GPU utilization, temperatures, and power draw directly on the Taskbar. It's the feature Windows forgot.
Installation
The easiest way to install and get automatic updates is with a package manager.
CPU & GPU Utilization displayed alongside network speeds on the taskbar
Temperature Readouts for CPU and GPU (via LibreHardwareMonitor, nvidia-smi, or Windows PDH/ACPI)
Power Draw in Watts for CPU (Intel RAPL) and GPU (nvidia-smi / LHM)
RAM & VRAM usage readouts
Vendor-Agnostic GPU Support via Windows Performance Counters (PDH) — works with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPUs
LibreHardwareMonitor Auto-Detection: If LHM/OHM is running, NetSpeedTray picks it up automatically for temperature and power readings across all GPU vendors
> Tip: CPU and GPU temperatures require a kernel-level driver. Install LibreHardwareMonitor and run it as Administrator — NetSpeedTray detects it automatically. NVIDIA GPU temps also work natively via nvidia-smi.
Widget Layout Modes
Side-by-Side: Network and hardware stats displayed together
Stacked: CPU + GPU in a compact column
Auto-Cycle: Rotates through Network, CPU, and GPU views
Per-Segment Ordering: Choose the display order (Network / CPU / GPU / None)
History & Graphs
Dual-Axis Area Charts for download and upload with split view
CPU & GPU History Tabs with dedicated graphs
Overview Tab with synchronized Network/CPU/GPU charts and at-a-glance stats
Symlog Scaling: Dynamic logarithmic scale shows fine detail in idle traffic and handles Gigabit spikes
Time-Dynamic Rendering: Detailed line plots for recent data, "Mean & Range" aggregation for long-term history
Data Export: Export to .csv or save high-resolution .png snapshots
3-Tier Data Retention: Raw (24h) → Minute (30d) → Hourly (configurable) for both network and hardware stats
Performance
NumPy Vectorization for near-instant graph rendering with years of data
Dynamic Update Rate: Reduces polling when idle to save CPU and battery
Global Debouncing: Intelligent input debouncing prevents UI thread freezes
RDP Session Detection: Automatically detects Remote Desktop sessions, skipping GPU polling and adjusting App Activity to avoid performance issues in virtualized environments
Visual Customization
Auto-Theme Detection: Switches text and background colors for Light, Dark, or Mixed taskbar themes
Fluent Design: Modern Windows 10/11-style controls and flat card styling
Free Move Mode: Place the widget anywhere — another monitor, the desktop, a specific taskbar spot
Mini-Graph Overlay: Real-time area chart on the widget with adjustable opacity and gradient fills
Arrow Styling: Independent font, size, and weight for arrow symbols
Font & Precision Control: Custom fonts, 0-2 decimal places, fixed-width values to prevent layout jitter
Text Alignment & Units: Bits (Mbps), Bytes (MB/s), Binary (MiB/s), or Decimal units with toggleable suffixes
Positioning & Integration
Auto-Shift: Finds empty space near the system tray and adjusts for new icons
Z-Order Management: Stays above the taskbar, hides for fullscreen apps and system menus, reappears instantly
Tray Offset Control: Fine-tune position relative to the system tray
Vertical Taskbar Support: Automatically adapts layout for side-mounted taskbars
High-DPI Aware: Proper scaling on 4K and multi-monitor setups
Localization
Full support for 9 languages: English, Korean, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, and Slovenian
100% key parity across all locales — no missing translations
The core of NetSpeedTray. It sits on your taskbar showing live speeds and hardware stats.
Right-click to access Settings, Graph, App Activity, or Exit.
Double-click to open the full history graph.
Left-click and drag to adjust position along the taskbar.
Modern Settings
A clean, 6-page settings UI with collapsible hardware sections, Windows 11 flat card styling, and full control over every aspect of the widget.
History Graph
Double-click the widget to see detailed, filterable graphs of your network, CPU, and GPU history.
Support This Project
NetSpeedTray is a labor of love — hundreds of hours of development and debugging to build the feature Windows should have had built-in. It will always be free, open-source, and ad-free.
If you get daily value from this widget, please consider supporting its development. Every contribution directly funds new features and long-term maintenance.
Can't contribute financially? Starring the repo on GitHub is a free and hugely appreciated way to show your support.
> Note for Python 3.13+ Users: If you are using a pre-release version of Python (e.g., 3.14), you may need to install dependencies with the --pre flag if stable wheels are not yet available:
> pip install --pre -r dev-requirements.txt
Run the Application from Source:
python src/monitor.py
Run the Test Suite (Optional):
pytest -v
Build the Executable and Installer (Optional):
Full Package: To build both the executable and the Inno Setup installer:
.\build\build.bat
Executable Only: To build just the standalone executable (no installer):
.\build\build-exe-only.bat
The final files will be created in the dist folder.
Contributing
Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.
> A Note on System UI Integration: NetSpeedTray is designed to integrate seamlessly with core Windows UI. Elements like the Start Menu and Action Center will always appear on top. The widget gracefully hides when these menus are active and reappears instantly when they close. This is intentional — it ensures the widget feels like a polished, non-intrusive part of the operating system.