How to monitor performance with htop and atop in Linux. Using htop and atop tools in Linux represents an essential step in efficient resource management.
While htop offers an intuitive interface for quick interventions, atop provides an in-depth and historical perspective on system behavior.
By integrating these tools into your current workflow, you will gain better control over your server and prevent performance issues.
How to Monitor Performance with htop and atop?
System performance monitoring is essential for efficient Linux server administration.
Two of the most popular tools for this task are htop and atop.
These command-line applications provide detailed information about hardware resources and active processes, being useful for diagnosis, optimization, and prevention of critical issues.
What is htop?
htop is an interactive and more advanced alternative to the classic top command.
It offers a colorful, easy-to-use interface with keyboard navigation, making it highly appreciated by system administrators.
Installing htop
For most Linux distributions, htop can be installed with the following commands:
sudo apt install htop # Ubuntu/Debian sudo yum install htop # CentOS/RHEL sudo dnf install htop # Fedora
Basic Usage of htop
The launch command is simple:
htop
Once launched, htop displays:
- Real-time CPU usage
- RAM and swap memory consumption
- Active processes and the resources they use
- The ability to sort, filter, and terminate processes
Useful Commands in htop
- F2 – Settings and customization
- F3 – Search process
- F5 – Tree view
- F6 – Sort by column
- F9 – Terminate process
- F10 – Exit
What is atop?
atop is an advanced monitoring tool that provides detailed information about resource usage for each individual process.
Unlike htop, atop can record data in log files, making it ideal for audits or performance analysis over time.
Installing atop
For most commonly used Linux distributions, the installation command is:
sudo apt install atop # Ubuntu/Debian sudo yum install atop # CentOS/RHEL
Basic Usage of atop
The startup command is:
atop
It displays details about:
- Active processes and CPU per process
- Memory and swap consumption
- Disk and network activity
- Block-level I/O information
Benefits of Using atop
atop is excellent for tracking issues related to:
- Processes that excessively consume CPU or RAM
- Disk I/O limitations
- Network bottlenecks
- Retrospective analysis of server performance
Automatic Recording with atop
atop can run as a service and record data periodically:
sudo systemctl enable atop sudo systemctl start atop
Logs are saved, typically, in /var/log/atop/ and can be read later with:
atop -r /var/log/atop/atop_20250724
htop vs. atop
Although both tools offer monitoring functionality, they are complementary:
- htop is ideal for real-time monitoring and quick process management
- atop is recommended for historical analysis and advanced diagnostics
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