gtop
gtop is a lightweight terminal-based system monitoring dashboard for Linux, macOS, and Windows that displays real-time CPU, memory, and process metrics. It is installed via npm and runs as a command-line tool, offering an alternative to traditional system monitors like 'top' with a more modern terminal UI.
Key facts
Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | aksakalli/gtop |
| Owner | aksakalli |
| Primary language | JavaScript |
| License | MIT — OSI-approved |
| Stars | 9.9k |
| Forks | 337 |
| Open issues | 42 |
| Latest release | v1.1.5 (2023-08-11) |
| Last updated | 2025-11-06 |
| Source | https://github.com/aksakalli/gtop |
What gtop is
Written in JavaScript (Node.js >= v8), gtop provides a TUI (text user interface) for system resource monitoring with process sorting by PID, CPU, or memory usage. It requires host-level access to system metrics and can be containerized via Docker with appropriate net and pid namespace assignments.
Get the gtop source
Clone the repository and explore it locally.
git clone https://github.com/aksakalli/gtop.gitcd gtop# follow the project's README for install & configurationNeed it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.
Best use cases
Implementation considerations
- Requires Node.js v8 or later; verify runtime version in target environment.
- Terminal encoding and color support may need explicit environment variables (LANG, TERM) on some systems per README troubleshooting.
- For Docker deployment, must explicitly pass --net=host and --pid=host flags; requires elevated or privileged execution context.
- Process sorting and display refresh is keyboard-driven; no batch/scripted data export for automation.
- No built-in configuration file or programmatic API; interaction is CLI-only.
When to avoid it — and what to weigh
- Enterprise-grade monitoring required — No alerting, historical data retention, centralized dashboards, or multi-host aggregation; better served by Prometheus, Datadog, or New Relic.
- Windows as primary platform — README states only 'partial support' for Windows; Linux and macOS are primary targets.
- Persistent metrics or audit trail — gtop is read-only and transient; it does not log, export, or persist metrics for compliance or historical analysis.
- Low-maintenance long-term operations — Last release was August 2023 (v1.1.5) with 42 open issues; newer system kernels or Node.js versions may introduce compatibility gaps.
License & commercial use
MIT License. Permissive OSI-approved license permitting use, modification, and distribution with attribution.
MIT is permissive and allows commercial use. However, verify your legal and compliance requirements for any modifications or bundling; this assessment is based on license text alone and does not constitute legal advice.
DEV.co evaluation signals
Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.
| Signal | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Maintenance | Moderate |
| Documentation | Adequate |
| License clarity | Clear |
| Deployment complexity | Low |
| DEV.co fit | Possible |
| Assessment confidence | High |
gtop requires access to /proc (Linux) or equivalent system APIs to read process and resource data; no authentication or encryption layer. When containerized, requires --pid=host and --net=host, which escalate container privileges. Review access controls and use only in trusted environments. No audit logging of data read. Regular updates recommended to address any kernel API changes.
Alternatives to consider
htop
Mature C-based alternative with broader platform support, more features, and active maintenance; terminal-based like gtop but without Node.js runtime dependency.
Prometheus + Grafana
Enterprise-grade monitoring with time-series storage, alerting, multi-host dashboards, and deep integrations; significant complexity trade-off for production use.
btop / bpytop
Modern terminal UI monitoring tools (C++ / Python) with lower resource footprint and richer visualizations than gtop; actively maintained.
Build on gtop with DEV.co software developers
Our DevOps engineers can assess whether gtop fits your infrastructure or recommend alternatives for your specific workload and compliance requirements.
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gtop FAQ
Does gtop store or export metrics?
Can I use gtop in production?
What are the resource overhead and runtime requirements?
How does gtop compare to the 'top' command?
Work with a software development agency
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Our DevOps engineers can assess whether gtop fits your infrastructure or recommend alternatives for your specific workload and compliance requirements.