btop

What is it?

btop (formerly bashtop and bpytop) is a resource monitor with a modern terminal interface: braille-character graphs, configurable themes, rounded panels, and mouse support. It covers CPU, memory, disks, network, and processes in one screen, and lets you rearrange and resize the panels to taste.

Why use it?

btop is the monitor you leave open on a second screen. Its graphs make trends visible — a slow memory leak or a periodically busy disk shows up immediately — and the process view is detailed enough to act on. Despite the visual polish it stays efficient, and it works in any terminal with 256 colors.

Key features

• Live braille graphs for CPU, memory, network, and disk
• Per-process CPU, memory, and I/O details
• Mouse support and clickable panels
• Themeable and configurable layout
• Process search, filtering, and signal menu
• Optional GPU monitoring

How it compares

Against htop, btop is prettier and more informative at a glance, at the cost of a little more CPU and a larger install. Against bottom it has a friendlier mouse-driven interface, while bottom appeals more to keyboard-only tiling users. Against glances it is a focused monitor rather than a client/server fleet tool. A great daily driver for desktop and server alike.