Alternatives to btop++

A terminal resource monitor that looks good enough to leave open, with processes, CPU, memory, disks, network and GPUs. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as btop++.

  • bottom

    A graphical system monitor for the terminal, with charts for CPU, memory, network, temperature and disk over time.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    bottom is an MIT-licensed terminal monitor that plots CPU, memory, network, temperature and disk over time and runs natively on Windows as well as macOS and Linux.

  • htop

    Interactive process viewer for the terminal.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    htop is a lighter GPL-2.0 process viewer with interactive kill, renice and tree view, but lacks btop's disk and network graphs and GPU monitoring.

  • Glances

    A cross-platform system monitor that runs in a terminal, in a browser, or as an API feeding a dashboard.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand lineWeb

    Glances adds a built-in web interface, REST APIs, container monitoring and metric exports, runs on Windows too, but is heavier than btop on very small machines.

  • NeoHtop

    Inspect running processes in a desktop system monitor.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    NeoHtop moves process monitoring from the terminal to a desktop app on Windows, macOS and Linux, with CPU and memory views and process search.

  • atop

    A full-screen Linux performance monitor that reports and logs system and per-process resource usage.

    FreeProprietaryLinuxCommand line

    atop adds daily logging for long-term analysis and colour highlighting of overloaded resources, but is Linux only and not open source.

  • nmon

    A terminal performance monitor for Linux and AIX showing CPU, memory, disks, network and processes.

    FreeProprietaryLinuxCommand line

    nmon shows many metrics with low CPU impact and records to CSV for later analysis, but is aimed at Linux and AIX and uses keyboard toggles.

  • below

    A Linux resource monitor that records system, cgroup and process statistics and replays them later.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    below records system, cgroup and process statistics for later replay on Linux, adding history that btop++ lacks, but is aimed at servers.

Also worth comparing

These listings name btop++ as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • amdgpu_top

    A Linux tool that shows AMD GPU utilization, clocks, sensors and per-process usage in a terminal or window.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    btop++ adds GPU monitoring on supported hardware to a full terminal system monitor, but gives much less AMD-specific detail than amdgpu_top.

  • GNOME System Monitor

    GNOME's process viewer and resource monitor for checking CPU, memory, network and file system usage.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    btop++ is a terminal monitor with process list and graphs for CPU, memory, disks, network and GPUs, usable over SSH on Linux and macOS.

  • macmon

    A terminal monitor for Apple Silicon Macs showing power, frequency, temperature and memory without sudo.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSCommand line

    btop is a terminal resource monitor for macOS and Linux with process lists and graphs, but lacks macmon's Apple Silicon power readings.

  • Mission Center

    A Linux system monitor that looks like the Windows Task Manager, which is exactly the point.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    btop++ moves monitoring into the terminal with graphs, GPU support and SSH-friendly use on Linux and macOS, but needs a colour-capable terminal.

  • nvitop

    Interactive terminal viewer for NVIDIA GPUs and the processes running on them.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    btop is a general terminal resource monitor that includes GPU monitoring on supported hardware, alongside CPU, memory, disk and network graphs.

  • nvtop

    Watch GPU activity in a terminal interface.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    btop++ shows GPU monitoring on supported hardware alongside processes, CPU, memory, disks and network in one terminal screen, under Apache-2.0 on Linux and macOS.

  • Plasma System Monitor

    KDE's desktop application for monitoring system sensors, running processes and resource usage on Linux.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    btop moves monitoring into a terminal, adding GPU graphs and working over SSH, and also runs on macOS.

  • procs

    Inspect processes with a more readable command-line listing.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    btop++ adds graphs for CPU, memory, disks, network and GPUs around a sortable process list, but has no native Windows build and needs WSL there.

  • Resources

    A GNOME app that shows CPU, memory, GPU, network, storage and battery usage and manages processes.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    btop++ moves monitoring into a terminal, with process management, CPU, memory, disk, network and GPU graphs, and runs over SSH on Linux and macOS.

  • Stats

    See system resource use in the macOS menu bar.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOS

    btop++ moves monitoring from the menu bar into a terminal on macOS and Linux, adding a sortable process list and graphs for CPU, memory, disks and network.

  • Zenith

    A terminal system monitor like top or htop, with zoomable charts for CPU, memory, network and disk.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    btop++ is an Apache-licensed terminal monitor for Linux and macOS with graphs, a mouse-driven process list and GPU monitoring, but no historical logging.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.