# htop

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/htop/

21 people recommended htop in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 12 months, in 12 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free terminal process viewer that gives a clear overview of resource usage and works well over SSH on servers and desktops.

Summary written by Claude from 26 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Same workflow on servers and desktops (3 comments in the sample): "I want to have the same workflow for checking the processes running on a server and on a desktop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48863247)) "Being able to run vim, htop, etc. on servers is quite useful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49398077)) "I install it on every machine where I have control" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48787934))
- Clear, low-effort terminal interface (2 comments in the sample): "good showcases how a TUI reduces mental load and are superior to browsers and / or other GUI tools" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47363615)) "I always see htop as the prime example of a good TUI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48001012))
- Runs on very limited hardware (2 comments in the sample): "htop scales all the way down to 40x8 on my TRS-80." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48790862)) "I run htop just fine on my handhelds" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46524475))
- Better for killing processes (2 comments in the sample): "Htop is better for actually killing processes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45858238)) "killing the process in htop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45858283))

## What people warn about

- Annoying, needs manual workaround (2 comments in the sample): "htop does the same and it is indeed annoying!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45858363)) "But it’s silly that you need to do that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45858563))

## Other system monitors people recommend

- [btop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/btop/): 26 recommend, 11 mixed, 11 criticize
- [Stats menu bar system monitor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stats/): 9 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize
- [top](https://hackerapproved.com/p/top/): 5 recommend, 0 mixed, 3 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "htop", https://hackerapproved.com/p/htop/ (21 recommend, 5 mixed, 4 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.