What Is htop and How Does It Work?
htop is an interactive tool that helps you monitor your Linux server’s performance in real-time. Here's how to use it.
Publish date: 8/7/2025
If you’ve ever SSH’d into a server to figure out why it’s running slow, chances are you’ve used the top command. But while top gets the job done, it’s not exactly user-friendly.
That’s where htop comes in, a cleaner, more intuitive way to monitor processes, memory, and CPU usage on your Linux server.
What is htop?
htop is an interactive process viewer for Unix systems. Think of it as an upgraded version of top, but with a friendlier interface and more features. It displays system metrics like CPU, memory, and swap usage in real time, along with a tree view of running processes.
Unlike top, htop allows you to scroll vertically and horizontally, search and filter processes easily, and even kill tasks directly from the interface, all using the keyboard.
At its core, htop helps answer questions like:
- What processes are eating up my CPU?
- How much memory is being used—and by what?
- Are there zombie or idle tasks?
- Is my server under load or just idling?
Why use htop over top?
While top is included by default on most distributions, it feels dated. htop improves the experience by offering:
- Visual layout: clear bars showing CPU, memory, and swap usage
- Process tree: see parent-child relationships between services
- Interactive navigation: navigate and sort with arrow keys
- Search & filter: quickly find a process by name
- Customizability: choose what columns to display and how to sort them
All of this makes it ideal for quickly diagnosing issues on production servers or during development.
Note: You can see a detailed comparison between top and htop in our comparison article.
How to install and use htop
Installing htop
Installing htop is straightforward. It’s available in most Linux distribution package repositories:
On Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install htop
On CentOS or older RHEL-based releases:
sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install htop
On AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux/Fedora or newer RHEL-based releases:
sudo dnf install htop
On Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S htop
Running htop
Once installed, just type:
htop
And you're in.
As shown above, you’ll see:
- Colored bars showing CPU usage per core
- Memory and swap usage
- Load averages and uptime
- A list of processes with PID, user, CPU%, MEM%, and command
You can sort by any column by pressing the corresponding function key, and use F9 to kill a process (with signal selection), or F3 to search for a task.
Customizing htop
One of the lesser-known strengths of htop is how customizable it is.
Press F2 to enter the setup menu. From here, you can:
- Add or remove columns in the process list
- Change the color scheme
- Reorder meters (CPU, memory, swap)
- Set custom filters or display options
When should you use htop?
While htop is great for real-time monitoring, it’s not meant as a long-term analytics tool. Use it when you:
- Need to debug performance issues
- Want to check resource usage before scaling up
- Are curious why a server seems to be idle or maxed out
- Need a quick glance at system performance without spinning up more complex tools
For more persistent monitoring, tools like Prometheus, Grafana, or Netdata might be better choices, but require more setup.
Conclusion
For Linux users, especially sysadmins and developers, htop is one of those tools that just makes life easier.
It's easy to install, intuitive to use, and customizable for just about any workflow. Give it a try next time you need to peek under the hood.
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Frequently asked questions about htop
What is the difference between top and htop?
htop is a more user-friendly, interactive version of top with better visual layout, keyboard navigation, and customization options. We wrote an article comparing the two in depth here.
Can I install htop on any Linux distribution?
Yes, htop is available in most distro repositories. You can also build it from source if needed.
Is htop resource-intensive?
Not really. It uses minimal system resources and is designed for performance monitoring, not heavy analytics.
Can I use htop on remote servers?
Absolutely. Just SSH into your server and run htop. It works great on xTom's dedicated servers or V.PS virtual machines.
Does htop support mouse input?
Yes, depending on your terminal emulator. You can click to select or kill processes, but keyboard shortcuts are usually faster.