# Alternatives to btop

The beautiful terminal resource monitor.

btop ranks #4 of 8 in System monitors, with an Alt Score of 55. It is licensed under Apache-2.0, free from Free and available on Linux and macOS. 6 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/btop/
Category: System monitors

## Where btop stands out

- **Terminal UI** — 3 of 6 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Developers, sysadmins, and power users on Linux, macOS, or BSD who want a fast, at-a-glance view of what their system is doing without leaving the terminal.
- **What you get**: A colorful, mouse-and-keyboard-navigable TUI showing real-time CPU, memory, disk, network, and per-process stats, with a tree view and filtering for processes. It supports GPU monitoring (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Apple Silicon), battery status, and customizable themes and layouts via presets.
- **How it works**: Launch btop from the terminal to get a live dashboard of system resources; navigate panels and menus with arrow keys, optional vim bindings, or mouse clicks, and use the built-in options menu to switch themes, presets, or graph symbols.

## Profile

- **License**: Apache-2.0 (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Linux, macOS
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Glances](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/glances.md) | 70 | LGPL-3.0 | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| 2 | [MenuBar Stats](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/menubar-stats.md) | 70 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 3 | [iStat Menus](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/istat-menus.md) | 60 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 4 | [Stats](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/stats.md) | 50 | MIT | macOS |
| 5 | [CrystalDiskInfo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/crystaldiskinfo.md) | 45 | MIT | Windows |
| 6 | [htop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/htop.md) | 45 | GPL-2.0 | Linux, macOS |
| 7 | [HWiNFO](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hwinfo.md) | 40 | Proprietary | Windows |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| System monitors checklist | btop | Glances | MenuBar Stats | iStat Menus | Stats | CrystalDiskInfo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free | One-time | ? | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free | $4.99 USD | ? | Free | Free |
| License | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | MIT | MIT |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS | Linux, macOS, Windows | macOS | macOS | macOS | Windows |
| CPU / GPU / RAM / disk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Temperatures & fans | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Menu bar / tray widgets | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-process detail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No |
| Terminal UI | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | No |
| Alerts | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes |
| One-time purchase option | No | ? | Yes | ? | No | ? |
| Low overhead | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |

## Sources

Sources for btop. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: Apache-2.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable”
- **Platforms**: Linux, macOS — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: No Windows in this repo (btop4win is a separate fork).
  - Quote: “Since compatibility with Linux, macOS and FreeBSD are done, the focus going forward will be on new features like GPU monitoring.”
- **Status**: active — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Latest README News entry.
  - Quote: “22 March 2026”
- **CPU / GPU / RAM / disk**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: GPU monitoring also added (Linux).
  - Quote: “Resource monitor that shows usage and stats for processor, memory, disks, network and processes.”
- **Temperatures & fans**: Partial — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: CPU/core temps only; no fan-speed monitoring.
  - Quote: “Show cpu temperature.”
- **Per-process detail**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Function for showing detailed stats for selected process.”
- **Terminal UI**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “For the best experience run within a terminal with support for:”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004”
- **One-time purchase option**: No — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aristocratos/btop/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Free OSS; no purchase.
  - Quote: “non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/