# Alternatives to htop

The interactive process viewer standard.

htop ranks #7 of 8 in System monitors, with an Alt Score of 45. It is licensed under GPL-2.0, free from Free and available on Linux and macOS. 5 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Where htop stands out

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

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: System administrators, developers, and other technical users who need to monitor and manage running processes on Linux, macOS, BSD, or Solaris systems.
- **What you get**: An interactive, color text-mode process viewer built on ncurses that shows real-time CPU, memory, and swap usage alongside a full process list. You can scroll and search the process tree, and send signals (like kill) or change priorities directly from the UI. It supports mouse interaction and customizable columns/meters, going beyond the static, keyboard-limited view of traditional top.
- **How it works**: Run htop in a terminal to see a live-updating dashboard of system resource meters and a scrollable, sortable list of processes; navigate with arrow keys or the mouse, and use function-key shortcuts to search, filter, kill, renice, or tree-view processes.

## Profile

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

## 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 | [btop](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/btop.md) | 55 | Apache-2.0 | Linux, macOS |
| 5 | [Stats](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/stats.md) | 50 | MIT | macOS |
| 6 | [CrystalDiskInfo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/crystaldiskinfo.md) | 45 | MIT | Windows |
| 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 | htop | Glances | MenuBar Stats | iStat Menus | btop | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free | One-time | ? | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free | $4.99 USD | ? | Free | Free |
| License | GPL-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS | Linux, macOS, Windows | macOS | macOS | Linux, macOS | macOS |
| CPU / GPU / RAM / disk | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Temperatures & fans | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Menu bar / tray widgets | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Per-process detail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Terminal UI | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
| Alerts | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes |
| One-time purchase option | No | ? | Yes | ? | No | No |
| Low overhead | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |

## Sources

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

- **License**: GPL-2.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Free OSS (GPL-2.0); no paid tier.
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”
- **Platforms**: Linux, macOS — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: macOS via README build section; not Windows.
  - Quote: “`htop` is a cross-platform interactive process viewer.”
- **CPU / GPU / RAM / disk**: Partial — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: CPU/memory/swap; no GPU/disk.
  - Quote: “to see their full command lines and related information like memory and CPU consumption. Also system wide information, like load average or swap usage, is shown.”
- **Per-process detail**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Tasks related to processes (e.g. killing and renicing) can be done without entering their PIDs.”
- **Terminal UI**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Running `htop` requires `ncurses` libraries, typically named libncurses(w).”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”
- **One-time purchase option**: No — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/htop-dev/htop/main/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Free OSS; no purchase.
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991”

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