Comparing the Top, Htop, Atop, and Glances system monitors
Trackers
© Lead Image © Barna Tanko, 123RF.com
The Top system monitor is a useful aid for identifying system bottlenecks, and Htop, Atop, and Glances extend its possibilities.
The Top utility has served as a general-purpose system monitor on Linux systems for many years. Top originally appeared as part of the procps package [1]. Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE forked the original package and released procps-ng version 3.3.0 [2] at the end of 2011. The new Top impresses with many new fields, simpler operation, and better performance. Resourceful developers have also devised alternatives to the Top utility, including Htop [3], Atop [4], and most recently the Python program Glances [5] (see Table 1 for a comparison of features).
Htop delights users with a rollable process list, simple operation via function keys, and ASCII bar graphs for CPU utilization. Atop records the CPU, memory, disk, and network utilization, and colors highlight resources that are working at full capacity. Atop also records performance data and supports analysis with reporting functions or even interactive post-processing.
The newcomer Glances displays as much information as possible on a terminal with 80 characters and 24 rows. Glances also offers the ability to monitor remote systems by running in server mode over the network. Color highlights illuminate resource bottlenecks.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.