btop
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 8 system monitors
A colorful terminal resource monitor that shows CPU, memory, GPU and IO in one screen with good defaults. Critics say it needs recent compilers and changes config files on use.
A colorful terminal resource monitor that shows CPU, memory, GPU and IO in one screen with good defaults. Critics say it needs recent compilers and changes config files on use.
49 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 38
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 38 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Attractive, colorful, well designed UI
“It’s very informative, well designed for a TUI, and shows me everything I need to see”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux” “it's the kind of modern interface, useful and informative, that I needed.”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux” “My favorite part about btop is how smooth the color gradient is”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” - Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux”
- Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface”
- Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface”
Lightweight and fast
“uses fewer resources, but is in general a better designed-UI”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux” “Simple. Clean. Efficient. Lightweight.”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “Stop Making TUIs” “The binary is 2.6MB and runs great.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” - Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Fast Software, the Best Software”
Shows more information than htop
“btop in contrast, currently shows me: GPU utilization (graph/historic+current), clock speed, power-state, power usage”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” “Lots of quality of life changes. Maybe some of them can be done in htop but with btop it's right in your face”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” “I like both the look and the information density of btop over htop out of the box.”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” - Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface”
- Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface”
Replaces htop, top and other monitors
“It's slowly growing on me too. Htop is defined in my muscle memory, but more and more of my systems now have btop installed as well..”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” “has everything htop/top provides plus it shows the usage of GPUs”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” “it even replaced iStatMenu on my brand new MacBook”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux” - Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to build on older systems
“I don't like that what's supposed to be a very basic system utility relies on compilers not available except in the newest of distributions”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” “it looks like both doesn’t do musl so that’s out”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux” Cluttered, busy interface
“the top lines bend down to meet the titles and create clutter”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Btop: A better modern alternative of htop with a gamified interface” “I personally can't stand its interface, I don't need bells and whistles in my terminal.”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “Explanation of everything you can see in htop/top on Linux”
Other system monitors people recommend
The four most recommended other system monitors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| btopThis page | 38 | 11 | 78% | 7 | — | Approved |
| htop | 28 | 4 | 88% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Utilyze | 11 | 2 | 85% | 2 | — | — |
| Stats menu bar system monitor | 10 | 1 | 91% | 5 | — | Approved |
| nvidia-smi | 5 | 4 | 56% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 60 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“has directly led to hundreds of bug fixes sent upstream to programs such as tmux, btop, shells”
“Something like btop has been there for decades and will continue to do so”
“I'm literally using btop on Windows because I want task manager to only be in the corner”
“Simple. Clean. Efficient. Lightweight.”
“I now have btop permanently running in a Terminal and I habitually Alt-Tab to it to watch my swap.”
“Btop is pretty and has good defaults for many things.”
“its just small, light, and fast”
“uses fewer resources, but is in general a better designed-UI”
“It’s very informative, well designed for a TUI, and shows me everything I need to see”
“Only thing it is missing is a ports column next to the others.”
“I like btop, but there are downsides”
“it looks like both doesn’t do musl so that’s out”
“I personally can't stand its interface, I don't need bells and whistles in my terminal.”
“it even replaced iStatMenu on my brand new MacBook”
“it's the kind of modern interface, useful and informative, that I needed.”
“Seems to be on par with regular top, despite showing much more information”
“it handles affordances in a more thoughtful and intuitive way”
“have had the current packaged debian version running for a couple of months on a server next to my desk. no memory issues here.”
“I like both the look and the information density of btop over htop out of the box.”
“I love btop. It's missing a few things I like from my rainmeter setup.”
“It's slowly growing on me too. Htop is defined in my muscle memory, but more and more of my systems now have btop installed as well..”
“btop in contrast, currently shows me: GPU utilization (graph/historic+current), clock speed, power-state, power usage”
“it's basically all of them in one, with some nicer graphs and customization”
“The binary is 2.6MB and runs great.”
“I don't like that what's supposed to be a very basic system utility relies on compilers not available except in the newest of distributions”
“the top lines bend down to meet the titles and create clutter”
“Monitoring and visualization in Btop and killing the process in htop.”
“I switched because btop provides vi-like keybindings”
“btop is more colorful and a bit prettier”
“Watching and killing processes just doesn't seem as simple in btop.”
“Lots of quality of life changes. Maybe some of them can be done in htop but with btop it's right in your face”
“btop is my default resources monitor and I really like it”
“has everything htop/top provides plus it shows the usage of GPUs”
“The respawn rate is too fast for some of these mobs.”
“it's a bit annoying that anything you do in the application results in config file changes”
“I like the idea of having IO integrated.”
“that is not gamification. there's no reward system to make one want progression, or addiction.”
“My favorite part about btop is how smooth the color gradient is”
“Btop really captures that '90s warez group feel.”
“btop so far has been quite good at this role”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.