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htop VS Singularity Container

Compare htop VS Singularity Container and see what are their differences

htop logo htop

htop - an interactive process viewer for Unix. This is htop, an interactive process viewer for Unix systems. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses. Latest release: htop 2.

Singularity Container logo Singularity Container

Singularity is a container solution with a focus on building reproducible software stacks and...
  • htop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-20
  • Singularity Container Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-18

htop features and specs

  • User-friendly Interface
    htop features a colorful, visually appealing interface that displays system processes in a tree structure, which makes it easier to understand process hierarchies and relationships.
  • Interactive Process Management
    You can easily manage processes in htop by using keyboard shortcuts to kill, renice, or trace processes without needing to type out commands.
  • Customizable Display
    htop allows users to customize which metrics are displayed and in what order, enabling more efficient monitoring tailored to individual needs.
  • Resource Usage Meters
    It provides live updating meters and histograms for CPU, memory, and swap usage, offering a quick overview of system performance.
  • Process Filtering and Sorting
    htop includes advanced filtering and sorting options that make it easy to find specific processes or sort them by criteria like CPU usage, memory usage, or user.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    htop is compatible with a variety of Unix-like systems including Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and macOS, making it versatile for use in different environments.

Possible disadvantages of htop

  • Resource Consumption
    Because htop provides live updates and a rich graphical interface, it consumes more system resources compared to simpler tools like top.
  • Limited Remote Monitoring
    htop does not natively support remote monitoring of systems, which can make it less useful in distributed or cloud environments without additional tools or configurations.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic interface is intuitive, mastering htop's advanced features and customizations may require additional learning and familiarity.
  • No Built-in Logging
    htop does not have functionality for logging or saving historical data, which can limit its usefulness for performance tracking over time without third-party tools.
  • Dependency on Terminal
    As a terminal-based application, htop requires a terminal to run, which might not be ideal for users who prefer GUI-based monitoring tools.
  • Lack of Detailed Metrics
    htop provides an overview of system performance but does not offer the granularity of metrics provided by specialized monitoring tools dedicated to in-depth analysis.

Singularity Container features and specs

  • Security
    Singularity is designed with a focus on security, making it ideal for use in multi-user environments like high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. It runs containers without requiring root privileges, which helps minimize security risks.
  • Compatibility
    Singularity supports running containers as if they are native applications, providing a seamless way to integrate container workflows into existing systems. It is especially compatible with HPC environments and can run most containerized applications built for Docker.
  • Performance
    Singularity offers near-native performance, as it manages to run containers without introducing significant overhead. This is crucial for scientific and computational workloads where performance is a critical factor.
  • Ease of Use
    Singularity features a user-friendly model that allows users to easily build, manage, and run containers. Its simple command-line interface is designed to be intuitive, which facilitates smoother adoption.

Possible disadvantages of Singularity Container

  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to Docker, Singularity has a more limited ecosystem and community support. This can affect the availability of pre-built images and third-party tools.
  • Less Commercial Support
    Singularity has less commercial support and fewer enterprise-level solutions compared to other containerization platforms like Docker or Kubernetes, potentially leading to challenges in professional environments.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Singularity may not offer the same level of advanced features (such as orchestration and service discovery) found in platforms like Docker and Kubernetes, which can limit its use cases.
  • Storage and File System Management
    Singularityโ€™s approach to storage and file system management can sometimes be less flexible compared to other container technologies, which might complicate specific deployment scenarios.

Analysis of htop

Overall verdict

  • Yes, htop is considered a good tool. It improves upon the functionality of the standard top command by providing a more intuitive interface and additional features that enhance usability and efficiency in system monitoring.

Why this product is good

  • Htop is an interactive process viewer for Unix systems, offering an enhanced, user-friendly alternative to the traditional top command. It provides a visually appealing interface that allows users to easily monitor system processes, resource usage, and performance in real-time. Features like tree view for process hierarchies, customizable meters, and the ability to manage processes make it a popular tool among system administrators and power users.

Recommended for

  • System administrators
  • Linux and Unix users
  • IT professionals
  • Developers interested in system performance
  • Servers monitoring

htop videos

Htop Review Video

More videos:

  • Review - HTOP Hotel DO's and DONT's || REVIEW #2
  • Review - Htop - Terminal-Based Interactive Process Viewing Program

Singularity Container videos

No Singularity Container videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to htop and Singularity Container)
Monitoring Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Security & Privacy
0 0%
100% 100
Command Line Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare htop and Singularity Container

htop Reviews

Best Linux Network Monitoring Tools for 2020
At this point in the list, weโ€™re starting to review less-complex programs to monitor small-network use with accuracy and reliability. Htop (the H stands for the designerโ€™s name, Hisham) doesnโ€™t contain graphical analysis software, but it provides a flexible monitoring program that can be installed on Linux as well as Unix-based systems. Htop might not be the most visually...

Singularity Container Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Singularity Container seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 4 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

htop mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of htop yet. Tracking of htop recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Singularity Container mentions (4)

  • Is there any Ubuntu adopters in HPC?
    I highly recommend checking out Singularity for your computational software. Running your software within containers allows you a lot of freedom, although it does create some complexity in regards to MPI based parallelization. Source: about 3 years ago
  • How do you deploy Python applications?
    Use a singularity image to contain what you want to deploy and give access on the jump host to the image. Permissions flow from existing OS permissions. https://sylabs.io/singularity/. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Brand New HPC Sysadmin at a Major University, Where to Start?
    Singularity This is a HPC focused container system that has large industry support. You can use this to package finicky software that only runs on specific linux distributions or only allows for RPM/Deb installations. It is also another mechanism for users to bring their own software and it integrates fairly well with both Slurm and HTCondor. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Microsoft's Experimental OS โ€“ Singularity
    > and it was then when they came up with a pretty cool name for their new OS โ€” Singularity. Or, it was then when they (intentionally?) ripped off the name of an existing, open source, OS-related project. https://sylabs.io/singularity/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing htop and Singularity Container, you can also consider the following products

Process Explorer - The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'lโ€ฆ

DockerSlim - DockerSlim (docker-slim): Don't change anything in your Docker container image and minify it by up to 30x (and for compiled languages even more) making it secure too! (free and open source) - d...

glances system monitoring - Glances is a cross-platform system monitoring tool written in Python. Written in Python, Glances will run on almost any plaftorm : GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, OS X and Windows.

FingerprintJS - Fraud detection and prevention using browser fingerprinting with 99.5% accuracy. Stops account sharing, payment processing fraud and gaming.

Process Lasso - Process Lasso is NOT yet another task manager.

Nanobox - The ideal platform for developers. Focus on code, not config.