The Best Task Managers for Linux

As a Linux system administrator, having visibility into what processes are running on your servers is critical for monitoring performance and troubleshooting issues. Linux task managers provide valuable insight into CPU, memory, disk, network usage and allow you to view and control processes.

There are several good task managers to choose from on Linux. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover the most popular options, their key capabilities and how they differ.

Top – Quick Overview of System Processes

Top is one of the most basic Linux task managers, included by default in all Linux distributions. It provides a dynamic real-time view of the processes running on your system.

Some key features of Top:

• Quick overview of system resource utilization – CPU, Memory, Swap
• List of processes sorted by CPU, Memory usage
• Ability to kill/renice processes
• Limited configuration options

Top is easy to use and can show you the "top" processes by CPU and Memory, as the name implies. It gives you a high-level snapshot of what‘s happening on your system. However, it lacks more advanced features for customizing the process list or viewing additional details.

Example output from the top command showing an overview of real-time system resource usage and processes

To run Top:

top

Top is well-suited for getting a birds-eye view of overall system performance. With only a basic display available, it can be easier for new admins to interpret. Sorting by CPU and Memory usage helps quickly identify processes that may be resource intensive and candidates for troubleshooting.

However, Top lacks capabilities of other solutions when more customization, filtering and process details are needed. It has limited options for configuring the output or adding additional metrics. This makes it difficult to focus on specific types of processes or resources when diagnosing issues. Top also doesn‘t allow persisting the output or integrating with monitoring and alerting tools.

For a basic system overview, Top excels with its simplicity. But its lack of customization may leave some Linux experts wanting more specialized insights.

Htop – Improved Interactive Process Viewer

Htop aims to be an improved version of top, with better visibility into processes and more options for customizing the view. It shows processes in a format similar to top, but adds things like scrolling, keyboard shortcuts and color-coding for easier monitoring.

Some key features of htop:

• Interactive terminal interface, allowing scrolling/sorting
• Keyboard shortcuts for common actions
• Ability to filter processes dynamically
• Tree view to show parent/child process relationships
• Colors processes by status, IO usage, schedules priority

The htop process view, with processes color coded by status. More detailed metrics and scrolling are available.

Htop gives you more flexibility in terms of sorting and filtering processes on the fly without having to rerun commands. The interactive interface makes it easier to monitor resource usage over time. It‘s included in most Linux distro repositories.

To install htop:

sudo apt install htop

To run htop:

htop

Htop brings some additional capabilities over the standard Top utility with its interactive terminal view. Having the ability to scroll the process list makes it easier to monitor systems under load where the process table may span multiple screens. Keyboard shortcuts also help rapidly perform actions like killing processes without additional typing or taking your hands off the keyboard.

The added filters allow focusing on the types of processes you care about, making it easier to zero in on the cause of a load spike. And the color coding by things like I/O usage helps pick out outliers visually. The tree view also gives some added context about which processes may be related.

In benchmarks, Htop does have marginally higher overhead than top in terms of memory usage and process spying impact. But it‘s often negligible and worth the extra context it provides.

Overall Htop makes practical improvements over top while still maintaining a text-based terminal utility approachable by all Linux users. The flexibility and interactive capabilities bring better workflow integration for troubleshooting and standard monitoring.

GNOME System Monitor – GUI Process Manager

For a convenient graphical interface, GNOME System Monitor is a capable task manager included with GNOME desktop environments.

Some key features:

• Process management with tree hierarchy
• Easy to view CPU, Memory, Disk, Network usage
• Built-in resource graphs over time
• System data views for overall usage
• Available on Ubuntu, Red Hat, other GNOME desktops

GNOME System Monitor features a process tree and list view, along with graphical monitoring.

GNOME System Monitor gives both high level system info as well as per-process details in one place. The graphical interface allows you to easily kill processes or change process priority without typing commands. Resource graphs help spot usage spikes over time.

To open GNOME System Monitor (on supported distros):

gnome-system-monitor

Transitioning to a graphical interface brings additional usability, making GNOME System Monitor an appealing choice for less technically-inclined Linux admins. The ability to click on processes to change settings or kill them avoids the need to memorize command arguments. Charts and graphs also visualize the raw data in an easier to consume format.

Integrating top-like process statistics, detailed process trees, and system performance graphs into one unified view reduces tool switching for troubleshooting performance issues. Having readily visible historical trends makes it less likely a spike is missed compared to only spot-checking with intermittent terminal commands.

However, pursuing pure mouse-driven operation does sacrifice some speed and efficiency which could be better for Linux experts during time sensitive incidents. GNOME System Monitor also lacks the breadth of advanced configuration options available from certain terminal task managers. So while the GUI facilitates easier usage, it requires some tradeoffs.

KSysGuard – Feature-packed Task Manager for KDE

KSysGuard is a powerful task manager designed for KDE desktop environments. It includes tons of detailed monitoring and configuration options lacking in many other Linux task managers.

Some key features:

• Customizable tables for processes/network/disk etc
• Granular selection of table fields
• Change process priority/niceness
• Built-in graphs and monitors
• Supports remote monitoring
• Extensive configuration options

Multiple detailed views are available within KSysGuard like processes, file systems, sensors and more.

KSysGuard almost has too many features to list. You can drill down into fine details on process threads, file handles, open sockets etc. Extensive filtering and graphical tools aid monitoring. If you need advanced process insights using the KDE desktop, KSysGuard delivers.

To open KSysGuard on KDE desktops:

ksysguard

As GNOME System Monitor demonstrates, a graphical interface provides easier access and interpretability for new users. KSysGuard builds on that concept by exposing tremendously flexible views and configurations suitable for advanced users, not just prebuilt metrics.

KSysGuard exposes over 175 different fields across its dozens of available tables, covering everything from detailed priority levels, environment variables, socket connections, and kernel-specific attributes. Savvy Linux experts can carefully construct the perfect process view to isolate application performance issues or hardware bottlenecks.

Building on its advanced table features, the graphing and monitoring capabilities integrate directly to provide fine-grained performance analysis. You can plot various process and system level attributes over time, correlating behavioral trends across each. Configuring accurate alerts prevents outages before they occur.

The downside to this immense flexibility is complexity. Novice administrators may be quickly overwhelmed with the extensive data views. Determining which data points are superfluous vs root cause is non-trivial. And the breadth of features can induce paradox of choice indecisiveness for even experts exploring alternatives.

But for Linux professionals who need to tune the intricate details that differentiate marginal gains in efficiency and throughput, the long learning curve pays dividends. KSysGuard exposes the advanced inspection capability unmatched in other offerings.

glances – Cross-Platform System Monitoring

Glances takes a unique approach by aggregating a wide range of system statistics and presenting them in one view for centralized monitoring.

Some key features:

• Overview of memory, CPU, load, disks, network
• Per-process metrics for top processes
• Built-in alerts for configured thresholds
• Web interface for remote monitoring
• Cross-platform – Linux, MacOS, Windows

Glances web interface showing system metrics, top processes, alerts and more

Glances gives you top-level system metrics and allows drilling down into process details all within one terminal view or web UI. The alerts and threshold warnings help you spot abnormal events. Being able to run Glances across different OS types is also a nice plus.

To install Glances:

pip install glances

To run glances:

glances

Glances consolidates metrics from many low-level system monitoring tools like vmstat, netstat, iostat etc into one view. This saves needing to cross-reference multiple terminal outputs to assess overall system health and key process indicators. Having knowledge spread across too many tools makes reliably connecting issues tougher – Glances aims to centralize the critical signals.

It also stands out with the ability to run both locally and remotely via web browser. The web interface enables viewing metrics easily across broader teams compared to being physically at a console. Alert integration allows configuring visual notifications or automation workflows when approaching troublesome thresholds.

Behind the scenes Glances uses psutil Python for portable system statistics monitoring, amid other libraries. This comes at a small performance cost depending on your application profile and server load. But for lighter workloads the richer consolidated views outweigh the overheads.

Glances provides balanced, unified visibility enabling tighter event correlation with standards based data APIs. You give up some deeper configurability and platform optimization in exchange for brevity and consistency.

Conky – Extremely Customizable System Monitor

Conky is less of a true task manager, but deserves a mention for being extremely customizable to display the system details you want.

Some key features:

• Custom text-based displays for system data
• Highly flexible configuration using variables
• Lua scripting support
• Custom positioning/styles via configuration

Conky can create a tailored system monitor view right on the Linux desktop

While more complex to configure than the other Linux task managers above, Conky can create detailed, customized displays to show the metrics that matter most to you. Configurations can mimic various monitoring dashboards or match your desktop theme. If you like to tinker with configurations, Conky is for you.

To install Conky:

sudo apt install conky-all  

To run Conky:

conky

Where solutions like Top and Htop focus on process details and Glances on consolidation, Conky excels at putting the exact desired metrics right in front of your eyes. By sprinkling in Conky displays on walls or desktop backgrounds, critical reporting avoids getting lost in noisy log feeds and alerts.

Given blacklist capabilities, Conky also helps avoid notification fatigue by only highlighting metrics explicitly defined as notable or needing attention. The custom textual display requires no mouse usage while working, keeping users focused.

Lua script support also enables programmatically generating or updating displays tailored to niche metrics or transient spikes. You get immense room for innovation and specialization.

Of course, with flexibility comes complexity. Designing attractive, useful Conky configs requires non-trivial effort. Precise placement, stylistic concerns, and option overload all take time. Benefits depend heavily on your ability to carefully craft displays that work for your unique environment vs leveraging existing best practices.

But if you need purpose-built, aesthetic monitoring and have particular creative needs, Conky enables impressive results.

Choosing the Right Task Manager

With multiple solid task managers to choose from on Linux, finding the best fit depends on your use case, level of detail needed and preference for terminal vs graphical tools.

For quick overviews, Top and Htop offer lightweight assessment of high level CPU/Memory usage.

For graphical insight, GNOME System Monitor and KSysGuard expose extensive metrics manageable via mouse.

For customizability, Glances consolidates focused metrics and Conky builds customized displays.

Task Manager	Strengths	Weaknesses	Best For
Top	Simple, fast, included by default	Few configuration options, lacks detail	Quick overview for all users
Htop	Interactive terminal, flexible filtering/sorting	Slightly higher overhead than Top	Frequent terminal users, finding resource intensive processes
GNOME System Monitor	Intuitive GUI, graphs/monitoring, avoids CLI	Less flexible than terminal tools, Desktop focused	Understanding system behavior over time, occasional troubleshooting
KSysGuard	Extremely detailed metrics, full customization of all views	Complex configurations, KDE dependent	Advanced performance analysis and tuning
Glances	Centralized metrics, web interface, alerts	Additional overhead processing many stats	Correlating system indicators, team monitoring
Conky	Purpose-built detailed displays, very customizable	Time consuming configuration, focused metrics	Custom troubleshooting dashboards, aesthetic monitoring

Take some time to experiment with the various Linux task managers highlighted here. Evaluate which one gives you the right process visibility without overwhelming you with too much or too little data. With the power to see exactly what‘s happening under the hood, you can better optimize and troubleshoot your Linux systems.

Integrating Linux Task Managers into Workflows

Whichever task manager you choose, consider how to best incorporate it into your regular workflows rather than just ad hoc troubleshooting. Building task manager visibility into standard practices helps raise red flags proactively before users notice system problems.

Periodically logging snapshots – Capture output from task manager commands at regular intervals for later analysis. Watch for trends over time.

Triggering automated actions – Use threshold-based alerts to automatically escalate, notify or take action when crossing boundaries.

Supplementing metrics dashboards – Complement Grafana, Kibana and other dashboard displays with task manager insights.

Profiling deployment usage – Understand normal small-scale behavior before promoting apps to production at larger scale.

Optimizing batches and automation – Check for zombie processes, high load batches impacting other pipelines. Add early termination logic.

Triaging client issues – Cross reference task manager data points when clients report app malfunctions without clear causes.

Validating infrastructure changes – Sanity check key indicators during maintenance windows or technology migrations to confirm smooth operations.

Getting the most out of Linux task managers requires folding them into regular habits. Use them to enrich other tools instead of as isolated checks.

Additional Niche Features and Capabilities

While typical process and system inspection covers most common use cases, there are niche scenarios that merit additional Linux tooling:

Container visibility – Docker and Kubernetes environments have additional layers of abstraction and complexity to monitor. Tools like CAdvisor, Weave Cloud and Scout provide added context.

Application profiling – For finding optimization opportunities at the code level, profilers like Valgrind, gprof and Intel VTune highlight hot spots.

Tracing distributed transactions – Following the path of requests across services requires distributed tracing tools like Jaeger and Zipkin to stitch together spans.

Historical analysis – Inspect platform metrics long after the fact requires storing time-series metrics like with InfluxDB and processing with Grafana.

Predictive capacity planning – Get out ahead of resource shortages by modeling usage growth against cluster headroom with reservoirs like StatsD.

While most standard task managers focus on real-time visibility, additional Linux utilities can provide valuable supplementary vantage points for niche scenarios.

Final Recommendations

Getting deep visibility into all processes and system resources running on Linux is hugely beneficial for ensuring high performance and pinpointing issues quickly when they emerge. The afundant quality open source Linux task managers all cater to different preferences and trade-offs.

For broad troubleshooting usage, htop likely strikes the best balance of meaningful capabilities without intense complexity. Its interactive terminal delivers nuanced insights for seasoned Linux professionals without alienating junior administrators. Install htop and configure integration with monitoring, alerting and graphing tools to enrich observational capabilities.

However for niche analysis, the other task managers have advantages in particular domains. Those supporting heavy desktop workloads receive better user experience tracking resource usage over time with GNOME System Monitor. KSysGuard shines when extreme tunability is mandatory. And Glances singular monitoring aggregations makes correlation easier.

Evaluate the various options across both terminal and GUI tools firsthand to decide what‘s most appropriate for your Linux environments and maturity with different interfaces. The needs of brand new administrators unable to recall arguments contrast sharply with SREs intimately familiar with process hierarchies under the hood.

Regardless of which solution you standardize on, the universal importance of Linux task managers can not be overstated. Having infinite observability into your infrastructure ensures you stay ahead of issues before customers complain or outages snowball. Let no bottleneck go unseen or trouble ticket get brushed aside unexplained. Maintain vigilance.