Bottom (btm): A Modern System Monitor Replacing top and htop

TL;DR — Quick Summary

Bottom (btm) is a graphical system monitor for the terminal written in Rust. CPU, memory, network, disk, temperature, and process management with interactive charts.

Bottom gives you real-time graphical system monitoring in the terminal. CPU usage over time, memory trends, network throughput, disk I/O — all as interactive charts you can navigate with keyboard shortcuts.

Installation

# macOS
brew install bottom

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S bottom

# Cargo
cargo install bottom --locked

# Ubuntu/Debian (snap)
sudo snap install bottom

# The binary is called 'btm'
btm

Keybindings

Key	Action
`Tab` / `Shift+Tab`	Switch widgets
`↑ ↓`	Navigate within widget
`Enter`	Expand/collapse chart
`e`	Expand selected process
`s`	Search processes
`dd`	Kill selected process
`t`	Toggle tree view
`b`	Toggle basic/detailed mode
`Ctrl+r`	Reset zoom
`/ ?`	Help
`q`	Quit

Configuration

~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml:

[flags]
rate = 1000           # Update rate in ms
dot_marker = false     # Use braille for charts
temperature_type = "c" # Celsius
tree = true            # Default to tree view
hide_avg_cpu = false

[colors]
table_header_color = "LightBlue"
cpu_color = ["Red", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow", "Cyan", "Magenta"]

# Custom layout
[[row]]
  [[row.child]]
    type = "cpu"
[[row]]
  ratio = 3
  [[row.child]]
    type = "proc"
    default = true

Comparison

Feature	Bottom	htop	top	gotop	glances
Language	Rust	C	C	Go	Python
CPU chart	History	Bar	Text	History	Text
Memory chart	History	Bar	Text	History	Text
Network	Graph	No	No	Graph	Text
Disk I/O	Graph	No	No	No	Text
Temperature	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Battery	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Cross-platform	All	Unix	Unix	Unix	All
Process tree	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes

Summary

Bottom (btm) is a graphical terminal system monitor with interactive charts
Shows CPU, memory, network, disk I/O, temperature, and battery over time
Process management with search, tree view, and kill capabilities
Cross-platform: Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD
Customizable layout, colors, and update rate via config file

Guide & Instructions

Estimated Time: 5m

Tools Needed:

Bottom (btm)
Terminal

Install Bottom

Install with brew install bottom, cargo install bottom, pacman -S bottom, or snap install bottom. The binary is called btm.

Launch

Run btm to start. The default view shows CPU, memory, network, disk, temperature, and processes.

Navigate

Use Tab/Shift+Tab to switch between widgets. Arrow keys to navigate within a widget. Enter to expand a chart.

Manage processes

In the process widget, press s to search, dd to kill a process, or t to toggle tree view.

Customize

Create ~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml for custom update rate, colors, default widgets, and layout.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bottom (btm)?

Bottom is a cross-platform graphical system monitor for the terminal. Written in Rust, it displays CPU, memory, network, disk I/O, temperature, and battery charts with interactive process management — similar to top/htop but with richer visualizations.

How is Bottom different from htop?

Bottom has graphical charts (CPU/memory/network history), disk I/O visualization, temperature monitoring, battery status, and network usage graphs. htop focuses on process lists. Bottom is also cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows).

Does Bottom work on macOS and Windows?

Yes, Bottom is cross-platform and works on Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD. Install with your package manager or download from GitHub releases.

Can I customize the layout?

Yes, Bottom supports custom layouts via its config file. You can rearrange widgets, change the default view, set update intervals, and configure color themes.