How to Install htop on Ubuntu 24.04

htop on Ubuntu 24.04 – A Modern Interactive Process Viewer for Linux

htop is a powerful, real-time, interactive process viewer for Unix-like systems. Designed as an enhanced alternative to the classic top command, htop provides a user-friendly interface for monitoring system resources, managing processes, and diagnosing performance issues.

On Ubuntu 24.04 “Noble Numbat”, htop remains an essential tool for sysadmins, developers, and DevOps professionals, offering detailed visibility into the health and performance of your server or desktop system.

What Is htop?

htop is an interactive command-line utility written in C. It displays a dynamic view of system metrics and allows users to interactively sort, filter, and kill processes with keyboard shortcuts.

Compared to the traditional top command, htop offers:

Colorized output for easier interpretation
Horizontal and vertical scrolling
Tree view for process hierarchy
Real-time CPU, memory, and swap usage graphs
Interactive process management (kill, renice)

Why Use htop on Ubuntu 24.04?

Ubuntu 24.04 ships with the latest Linux kernel (6.8+), improved systemd, and a variety of up-to-date system utilities. htop complements this ecosystem by offering quick insights into system behavior and an interactive overview of active processes.

Feature in Ubuntu 24.04	htop Benefit
systemd integration	Displays systemd-based service hierarchies
Multicore support	Per-core CPU activity graphs
Improved memory handling	Real-time RAM and swap monitoring
Modern scheduling	Monitor CPU affinity, thread grouping
Secure defaults (AppArmor/UFW)	Observe the impact of system security on services

Core Features of htop

Memory & Swap Monitoring: Shows active memory, buffers/cache, and total usage.
CPU Core Usage Visualization: Per-thread CPU usage with colored bars.
Process Tree View: Toggleable tree that displays parent-child process structure.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
- F2 – Setup/configuration
- F3 – Search processes
- F4 – Filter processes
- F5 – Tree view
- F6 – Sort column
- F9 – Kill process
Renice & Signal Support: Change process priority or send termination signals.
Detailed Per-Process Info: CPU%, MEM%, time, user, status, threads, I/O.

Common Use Cases

Real-time performance diagnosis (e.g., find high CPU or memory consumers)
Resource usage auditing on VPS, servers, and embedded devices
Troubleshooting stuck or zombie processes
Interactive process killing or renicing without typing kill -9
Monitoring containers or VMs running under the host kernel

htop vs top: Quick Comparison

Feature	`top`	`htop`
Interface	Basic text, no colors	Colored, interactive
Mouse support	❌	✅
Tree view	❌	✅
Scrollable list	❌	✅
Process actions	Command-line only	Interactive (F-keys)
Ease of use	Moderate	Beginner-friendly

Advanced Tips

Use htop -u username to filter processes by user.
Press F2 → Display Options to enable detailed CPU meters (frequency, IO wait).
Combine with watch, atop, or iotop for complementary system insight.
In Docker containers, install htop inside or monitor from the host system.
On servers with hundreds of threads, configure column visibility and refresh rate for optimal performance.

Alternatives to htop

Tool	Purpose
`atop`	More detailed accounting, long-term resource tracking
`glances`	Web-ready multi-resource monitor
`bpytop`	Modern TUI with charts
`iotop`	Focused on disk I/O
`bashtop`	Eye-candy version of htop

htop remains the most lightweight and universally compatible tool among them.

htop on Ubuntu 24.04 is a must-have system monitoring utility that brings speed, clarity, and control to your Linux environment. Whether you’re debugging a slow VPS, managing a home server, or just exploring how your system runs, htop offers a reliable, intuitive, and efficient interface to understand process-level activity in real time.

For VPS hosting or server environments—such as on Shape.Host Cloud VPS—htop provides invaluable insights into resource bottlenecks, process trees, and server health with a single command.

Step 1: Set Up a Server Instance on Shape.Host

To try out htop, you can deploy a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 instance using Shape.Host.

Go to https://shape.host and log in.

Click “Create” → “Instance.”

Configure your instance:

Region: Pick a location near you.

Shape.host instance form with the data center location selector highlighted.

OS: Select Ubuntu 24.04 (64-bit)

Plan: Even a minimal configuration (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) is sufficient for testing.

Shape.host instance form with the operating system image selector highlighted.

Click Create Instance.

Shape.host instance form with the Create Instance button highlighted.

After provisioning, copy the IP address to connect via SSH.

Shape.host Resources dashboard with the server IP address highlighted.

Step 2: Connect to Your Ubuntu Server

From Linux/macOS:

ssh root@your_server_ip

From Windows:

Use PuTTY, enter your IP address, and connect as root.

Step 3: Install htop

Step 3.1 – Update Package List

Always begin by refreshing the package database:

apt update

Terminal showing APT package management commands and output.

Step 3.2 – Install htop

apt install htop

Step 3.3 – Confirm Installation

htop --version

You should see version information, confirming that htop was successfully installed.

Step 4: Launch htop

Start the htop interface by running:

htop

This will open a full-screen terminal application showing system metrics and process information in real time.

Terminal showing the interactive process monitor.

Step 5: Useful htop Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
`F1`	Open help menu
`F2`	Open setup/configuration menu
`F3`	Search for a process
`F4`	Filter process list
`F5`	Display tree view of process hierarchy
`F6`	Sort by a different column
`F9`	Kill the selected process
`F10`	Exit `htop`
`Arrow Keys`	Navigate through the list
`Space`	Select/deselect a process
`U`	Show only user-owned processes

Step 6: Uninstall htop (Optional)

If you no longer need htop, you can remove it using the following commands.

Step 6.1 – Remove htop (keep config files)

apt remove htop

Terminal showing APT package removal details.

Step 6.2 – Remove htop completely (with config)

apt purge htop

Step 6.3 – Clean up any unused dependencies

apt autoremove

You’ve now installed, used, and (optionally) removed htop on Ubuntu 24.04. It’s a powerful tool for monitoring system performance, managing processes, and keeping an eye on resource usage in real time.

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