Introduction
When managing Linux servers, especially on
Red Hat-based systems as RHEL, Rocky Linux or any distribution of Linux, real-time monitoring tools like top and htop are handy. They provide a glance of your
system health as CPU usage, memory consumption, process details and more.
In this post, we'll walk you through the requirements, installation and usage of both top and htop on Linux systems.
Monitoring system performance in the Linux requires a basic understanding of the operating system. If you are new to the Linux start with our beginner guide on What is Linux? An Introduction to Linux and Its Popular Distributions.
Requirements
• A
Linux-based system (RHEL, Ubuntu, and Rocky Linux or any Linux
distribution)
• Access
to terminal (CLI)
• Sudo
privileges
Installation:
Mostly
top utility is pre-installed on all Linux distributions; however, htop is not installed by default in RHEL 9. You can run it directly by
typing top on bash.
Process management in the Linux is performed through the command line using tools such as ps, top and kill. you are new to the Linux terminal start with our tutorial on 10 Linux Basic Commands Every Beginner Should Know.
#top
If
htop is not pre-installed on any Linux distribution, you can easily install it.
As is the case, htop is not installed on RHEL 9. Now, follow the following steps
to install htop in RHEL 9.
Step 1: Enable the EPEL repository if not already enabled
EPEL stands for Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux. It is a community-driven repository maintained by the Fedora project that provides additional software packages that are not included in the official Red Hat or CentOS repositories. The EPEL repository includes these extra open-source packages built to be fully compatible with RHEL-based systems.
Here epel repository is
enabled by this command on RHEL 9.
Now install epel-release with the command sudo dnf install epel-release. you must enable the EPEL repository before installing htop; otherwise, you will get an error message.
#sudo dnf install epel-release
System monitoring tools display the detailed information about the running processes and resource usage. To understand how to manage the processes in the Linux read our guide on Linux Process Management for Beginners – Complete Guide 2025.
Step 2: Install htop
# sudo dnf install htop
That’s it. Check htop is successfully installed with the command htop --version. Now htop is ready to use.
Usage
To start monitoring issue top command on bash.
# top
The High CPU or memory usage can sometimes be caused by the network services running on a Linux server. understanding the networking concepts and the troubleshooting read our guide on Linux Basic Networking for Beginners – Complete Guide 2025.
You’ll see real-time statistics. Here's what each section means:
· Load average: System load over 1, 5 and 15 minutes
· Up Time: shows the up time of the system
· Total Task: show the total task
· Seeping Task: show any sleeping process
· Zombie Task: show any zombie process
· Stopped Task: show any of the stopped processes
· Running Task: number of running tasks
· Tasks: Number of running, sleeping and stopped processes
· %CPU: CPU usage per process
· %MEM: Memory usage per process
· Swap Memory: usage of swap memory
Common commands within top:
You
can run commands during the top running interface to control things in real time
like the following commands.
q:
Quit
k: Kill
a process (you'll be prompted for PID)
r:
Renice a process (change priority)
h:
Help
Using htop
To start monitoring with htop, issue the htop command on bash.
# htop
You'll get a colorful,
interactive dashboard.
Features:
- Scroll with arrow keys
- Use F3 for search and F4 for filter
- F9 kills process and F6 changes sort column
Comparison
between top and htop
top
- By default installed in almost all distributions
- Provides basic system information and lists processes sorted by CPU or memory usage
- Offers fewer command-line options for filtering and sorting
- Comparatively simple to use for basic monitoring
htop
- Installation is required before using
- Includes colored output, supports mouse input and easy process management
- An interactive interface with a visually more appealing
- Offers robust, customized options sorting and display
- Requires more deeper learning curve due to its advanced features
Key Differences
|
Feature |
top |
htop |
|
Default
installation |
Yes |
No |
|
User
interface |
Basic
text-based |
Enhanced,
interactive, color-coded |
|
Mouse
support |
No |
Yes |
|
Process
management |
Limited |
More
intuitive, including killing/renicing |
|
Customization |
Basic |
Extensive |
|
Learning
curve |
Low |
Moderate |
Best Practices for Using top and htop
- Use top for minimal resource monitoring on production systems
- Prefer htop for interactive and colorful visualization
- Combine htop with tools like vmstat or iostat for deeper analysis
- Avoid running htop continuously on low-memory systems
- Use htop -d 5 to reduce refresh frequency and save CPU usage
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is the top
command used for in Linux?
It displays a real-time
summary of running processes, CPU, and memory usage.
Q2: What is the
difference between top and htop?
htop offers an
interactive, color-coded interface and easier process management compared to
the traditional top.
Q3: How can I kill a
process using htop?
Select the process with
the arrow keys and press F9 to kill it.
Q4: Is htop available on
all Linux distributions?
Not by default; you may
need to install it using your package manager.
Q5: Can top or htop affect system performance?
They use minimal resources and are safe to run even on production systems.
Monitoring system performance is also useful for identifying the unusual activity or unauthorized processes. protect your system further read our guide on How to Secure SSH Access on Linux.
Final Thoughts
Both top and htop is essential tools in a Linux admin's toolbox. While top is always available and reliable, htop brings user-friendly enhancements that make system monitoring much more interactive. You are diagnosing system performance issues or monitoring your system load, mastering these tools will give you a deep understanding of what is happening under the hood.
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