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htop VS Valgrind

Compare htop VS Valgrind and see what are their differences

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NinjaOne (Formerly NinjaRMM) provides remote monitoring and management software that combines powerful functionality with a fast, modern UI. Easily remediate IT issues, automate common tasks, and support end-users with powerful IT management tools. featured
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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.

Valgrind logo Valgrind

Valgrind is an instrumentation framework for building dynamic analysis tools.
  • htop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-20
  • Valgrind Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-15

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.

Valgrind features and specs

  • Comprehensive Memory Debugging
    Valgrind provides thorough memory debugging and memory leak detection, identifying use-after-free and other memory errors in applications.
  • Profiling Capabilities
    In addition to identifying memory issues, Valgrind offers basic CPU profiling, allowing developers to assess performance bottlenecks.
  • No Source Code Changes Required
    Valgrind can be used without altering the source code, making it easy to integrate into existing projects for debugging purposes.
  • Supports Multiple Languages
    Valgrind supports a variety of programming languages, including C, C++, and others, making it versatile across different codebases.
  • Wide Platform Support
    It is available on many platforms, including Linux and macOS, providing flexibility to developers working in different environments.

Possible disadvantages of Valgrind

  • Performance Overhead
    Valgrind significantly slows down program execution, often by a factor of 10 to 30 times, which can make testing large applications more time-consuming.
  • Limited Windows Support
    Valgrind has no native Windows support, requiring developers to use alternate solutions or run it in a Linux environment.
  • Complexity with Multithreading
    Debugging multithreaded applications can be complex, and Valgrind's tools may struggle with race conditions and other threading issues.
  • Heavy Resource Usage
    Running applications under Valgrind can consume significant system resources, impacting other processes and the overall system performance.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The tool has a steep learning curve, especially for users new to debugging tools, which can require additional time for proficiency.

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

+ Add

Htop Review Video

More videos:

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

Valgrind videos

+ Add

Detecting Memory Leaks With Valgrind

More videos:

  • Review - Finding memory errors with Valgrind
  • Review - sparcv9 New architecture to be supported by Valgrind

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to htop and Valgrind)

htop

Valgrind

Monitoring Tools
100 100%
Monitoring Tools
0% 0
Software Development
0 0%
Software Development
100% 100
Command Line Tools
100 100%
Command Line Tools
0% 0
IDE
0 0%
IDE
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 Valgrind

htop Reviews

Best Linux Network Monitoring Tools for 2020
At this point in the list, we’re starting to review less-complex programs to monitor small-network use with accuracy and reliability. Htop (the H stands for the designer’s name, Hisham) doesn’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...
Source: www.dnsstuff.com

Valgrind Reviews

We have no reviews of Valgrind yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Valgrind seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 41 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.

Valgrind mentions (41)

  • Why does Debian change software?
    Hello, as always: imho (!) I remember this incident - if my memory doesn't trick me: it was openssl which accessed memory it didn't allocated to collect randomness / entropy for key-generation. And valgrind complained about a possible memory-leak - its a profiling-tool with the focus on detecting memory-mgmt problems. * https://valgrind.org/ instead of taking a closer look / trying to understand what exactly went... - Source: Hacker News / 10 days ago
  • Understanding the Odin Programming Language
    Odin has a builtin heap allocator that works the same way you would expect any other high-level language to do memory allocation–it's just that you have to free the memory yourself. Plus, Odin's built in `context` system makes it really easy to change what kind of allocator is used for different sections of code. For my use cases, I've never needed any more than a heap and an arena, detailed in this talk:... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Intel Announces Retirement of CEO Pat Gelsinger
    Dunno, who says a lot of effort was put into Rosetta 2? It's mostly something that was needed in the first few years so you could run Chrome and Photoshop, but those have been ported now. It's mostly useful for running WINE but that's not super common outside games. That said, a binary recompiler has a lot of uses once you have one: https://valgrind.org. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Top 10 Profiler Tools for Optimizing Software Performance in 2024
    Valgrind is an open-source profiling tool suite ideal for debugging and profiling C and C++ applications. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Use Valgrind in your CI / CD
    Today I will show you how to use Valgrind to easily check for memory leaks on your code inside a GitHub Action. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing htop and Valgrind, 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'l…

WPMU DEV - WPMU offers WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, WordPress Multisite and BuddyPress Plugins and Themes.

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.

strace - Trace system calls and signals. A diagnostic, debugging and instructional userspace utility.

Windows Task Manager - Need assistance with your Microsoft product? Find helpful articles for Windows, Office, Microsoft Account, Microsoft Store, Xbox, and more.

perf - Perf is a simple app monitoring solution paired with meaningful alerts.

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