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Table of Contents
Using top to monitor CPU usage
Using htop for better visualization
Quick tips for effective monitoring
Home Operation and Maintenance Linux Operation and Maintenance How to Monitor CPU Usage in Linux? (Using top and htop)

How to Monitor CPU Usage in Linux? (Using top and htop)

Dec 11, 2025 am 02:01 AM

top和htop均可实时监控Linux CPU使用率,top预装但界面简陋,htop需安装但支持彩色显示、鼠标操作和多核可视化。

How to Monitor CPU Usage in Linux? (Using top and htop)

Check CPU usage in Linux with top or htop — both show real-time process activity, but htop is more user-friendly and feature-rich.

Using top to monitor CPU usage

top is pre-installed on most Linux systems and gives a live, dynamic view of system processes and resource consumption.

  • Run top in the terminal — CPU usage summary appears in the top few lines (e.g., %Cpu(s): 2.3 us, 0.7 sy, 0.0 ni, 96.7 id...)
  • Press Shift P to sort by CPU usage (descending), so the most CPU-heavy processes appear at the top
  • Press 1 to toggle per-CPU core view (useful on multi-core systems)
  • Press q to quit

Using htop for better visualization

htop isn’t installed by default but offers color coding, vertical/horizontal scrolling, mouse support, and an intuitive interface.

  • Install it first: sudo apt install htop (Debian/Ubuntu) or sudo yum install htop (RHEL/CentOS)
  • Launch with htop — CPU usage is shown as colored bars at the top, one per core
  • Use arrow keys to navigate, F6 to sort (choose %CPU), and F9 to kill a selected process
  • Press h anytime to see the built-in help menu

Quick tips for effective monitoring

Both tools let you spot bottlenecks fast — but interpreting the numbers matters.

  • Look at the idle (%) value — consistently near 0% means the CPU is saturated
  • High system (%) time may point to kernel or I/O-heavy operations; high user (%) suggests application-level load
  • In top, the %CPU column shows CPU time used *since last refresh*, not total usage — so short-lived spikes may not stand out
  • For scripting or logging, prefer mpstat (from sysstat) or vmstat instead of interactive tools

Basically, top gets you started immediately; htop makes ongoing monitoring easier and clearer. Not complicated — just know what each number represents and where to look.

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