atop is an open source, ASCII full-screen performance monitor, similar to the top command, but atop only shows the active system-resources and processes, and the deviations since the previous interval.
atop shows the occupation of the most critical hardware resources (from a performance point of view) on system level, i.e. cpu, memory, disk and network.
atop also shows which processes are responsible for the indicated load with respect to cpu- and memory load on process level. Disk load is shown if per process “storage accounting” is active in the kernel or if the kernel patch `cnt’ has been installed. Network load is only shown per process if the kernel patch `cnt’ has been installed.
Every interval (default: 10 seconds) information is shown about the resource occupation on system level (cpu, memory, disks and network layers), followed by a list of processes which have been active during the last interval (note that all processes that were unchanged during the last interval are not shown, unless the key ‘a’ has been pressed). If the list of active processes does not entirely fit on the screen, only the top of the list is shown (sorted in order of activity). The intervals are repeated till the number of samples (specified as command argument) is reached, or till the key ‘q’ is pressed in inter‐ active mode.
Key Features
- Resource consumption by all processes.
- Utilization of all relevant resources.
- Permanent logging of resource utilization.
- Highlight critical resources.
- Scalable window width.
- Resource consumption by individual threads.
- Watch activity only.
- Watch deviations only.
- Accumulated process activity per user.
- Accumulated process activity per program.
- Network activity per process.
Website: www.atoptool.nl
Support: atop
Developer: Gerlof Langeveld
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
atop is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Process Viewers | |
|---|---|
| btop++ | Continuation of bashtop and BpyTOP rewritten in C++ |
| htop | Provides a full list of processes running |
| Glances | System monitoring tool written in Python |
| nmon | Performance monitoring tool |
| bottom | GUI process/system monitor seeking inspiration from gtop, gotop and htop |
| gtop | System monitoring dashboard for the terminal |
| Conky | Advanced, highly configurable system monitor for X based on torsmo |
| Zenith | Turbo-charged top utility |
| BpyTOP | Presents the system resources in a logical and well-thought out way |
| atop | Monitor for system resources and process activity |
| ttop | System monitoring tool with historical snapshots and alerts |
| below | Time traveling resource monitor |
| sysstat | System performance tools |
| gotop | Seeks inspiration from gtop and vtop |
| sot | System observation tool |
| vtop | System monitoring tool in the spirit of top |
| dgop | System monitoring tool with CLI and REST API |
| evisum | Enlightenment system monitor |
| collectl | Collects data that describes the current system status |
| socktop | Remote system monitor with a rich TUI |
| Saidar | Displays live system statistics |
| Xtop | TUI system monito |
| tiptop | Graphical activity monitor for the command line |
| TTV | Term-task-viewer |
| Lyvoxa Stellar | Built from the ground up in Rust |
| bb | Simple process viewer |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.