top is the default command-line utility that comes pre-installed on Linux distributions and Unix-like operating systems. It is used for displaying information about the system and its top CPU-consuming processes as well as RAM usage.
atop is a full-screen performance monitor for viewing system load. It shows the most critical hardware resources such as CPU, memory, disk and network. By default, it refreshes every 10 seconds.
Let's see how top and atop compare on various factors and features.
top
atop
Overall
Type
Type
Interactive system-monitor, process-viewer and process-manager
Type
Interactive system-monitor, process-viewer and process-manager
Text based monochrome interface with the exception of highlighting critical resources in colors. Columns are shown based on the size of the window. Columns are dynamically added or removed as you enlarge or shrink the window.
Scrolling Support
Scrolling Support
No
Scrolling Support
N/A
Mouse Support
Mouse Support
No
Mouse Support
No
Process utilization
Process utilization
Displays processes but not in tree format
Process utilization
Yes, shows all processes and threads.
Network Utilization
Network Utilization
No
Network Utilization
Yes
Disk Utilization
Disk Utilization
No
Disk Utilization
Yes
Comments
Comments
Has a learning curve for some advanced options like searching, sending messages to processes, etc. It is good to have some knowledge of top because it is the default process viewer on many systems.
Comments
It is capable of reporting the activity of all processes (even if processes have finished during the interval), daily logging of system and process activity which can be collected and analyzed later.
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