# Alternatives to Glances

Cross-platform monitoring with web UI.

Glances ranks #2 of 8 in System monitors, with an Alt Score of 70. It is licensed under LGPL-3.0, free from Free and available on Linux, macOS and Windows. 6 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Where Glances stands out

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

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: System administrators, developers, and DevOps/SRE teams who need real-time visibility into the performance of one or more Linux, macOS, Windows, or FreeBSD machines.
- **What you get**: A cross-platform Python tool that monitors CPU, memory, load, disk I/O, network, sensors, and processes, with built-in support for Docker/Podman containers. It includes a configurable alert system that flags anomalies, and can export metrics to backends like InfluxDB, Elasticsearch, and Grafana. Core system info and uptime tracking are included out of the box.
- **How it works**: Install via pip (`pip install --user glances` or with `[all]` for full plugin support) and run it in a terminal for a live curses-based dashboard, or start it in web-server mode to view a browser-based UI and query metrics through its RESTful JSON or XML-RPC API.

## Profile

- **License**: LGPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Linux, macOS, Windows

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [MenuBar Stats](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/menubar-stats.md) | 70 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 2 | [iStat Menus](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/istat-menus.md) | 60 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 3 | [btop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/btop.md) | 55 | Apache-2.0 | Linux, 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 | Glances | MenuBar Stats | iStat Menus | btop | Stats | CrystalDiskInfo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | One-time | ? | Free | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | $4.99 USD | ? | Free | Free | Free |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 | MIT | MIT |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, Windows | macOS | macOS | Linux, macOS | macOS | Windows |
| CPU / GPU / RAM / disk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Temperatures & fans | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Menu bar / tray widgets | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Per-process detail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No |
| Terminal UI | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | No |
| Alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| One-time purchase option | ? | Yes | ? | No | No | ? |
| Low overhead | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |

## Sources

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

- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Free OSS (pip); no paid tier.
  - Quote: “Glances is an open-source system cross-platform monitoring tool.”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://nicolargo.github.io/glances/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “To install a minimal version: $ pip install --user glances”
- **License**: LGPL-3.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Glances is distributed under the LGPL version 3 license. See ``COPYING`` for more details.”
- **Platforms**: Linux, macOS, Windows — <https://nicolargo.github.io/glances/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Written in Python, Glances will run on almost any plaftorm : GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, OS X and Windows.”
- **CPU / GPU / RAM / disk**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: GPU via optional plugin.
  - Quote: “It allows real-time monitoring of various aspects of your system such as CPU, memory, disk, network usage etc.”
- **Temperatures & fans**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “temperatures, voltages, fan speeds etc.”
- **Per-process detail**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “It also allows monitoring of running processes”
- **Terminal UI**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “remote monitoring could be done via terminal, Web interface or API (XML-RPC and RESTful).”
- **Alerts**: Yes — <https://nicolargo.github.io/glances/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Listed in the official Features list.
  - Quote: “Alert”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/develop/README.rst> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Glances is an open-source system cross-platform monitoring tool.”

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