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lsof VS iftop

Compare lsof VS iftop and see what are their differences

l
lsof

Lsof lists open files for running UNIX processes. It is a

Rating
0 reviews
Alternatives Is it good?
i
iftop

iftop does for network usage what top(1) does for CPU usage.

Rating
0 reviews
Alternatives Is it good?
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Which is more popular?

Command Line Tools popularity
28% vs 72%
alternatives listed
22 vs 59

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

l
lsof
i
iftop
Website people.freebsd.org pdw.ex-parrot.com
Listed in
Monitoring Tools Command Line Tools Performance Monitoring Accounting +1
Monitoring Tools Command Line Tools OS & Utilities Performance Monitoring +1

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

l
lsof 0 features
i
iftop 5 features

No features have been listed yet.

  • Real-time Monitoring
    iftop provides real-time bandwidth monitoring, enabling users to quickly identify network usage and any potential issues.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The tool features a simple, text-based user interface that is easy to navigate, making it accessible for users with varying levels of experience.
  • Detailed Traffic Insight
    iftop offers detailed information about network traffic, including source and destination IP addresses, service ports, and data flow rates.
  • Lightweight
    Being a command-line tool, iftop is lightweight in nature and does not consume significant system resources.
  • Open Source
    iftop is open source, allowing users to access, modify, and distribute the software freely, which can lead to community-driven improvements.

Possible disadvantages

  • Lacks Historical Data
    iftop does not have the capability to store historical data, making it unsuitable for long-term network monitoring and analysis.
  • Limited Features
    Compared to other network monitoring tools, iftop has a limited feature set and may not meet the requirements of advanced network analysis needs.
  • Requires Root Permissions
    The tool requires root or elevated permissions to run, which might be a security concern in certain environments.
  • Text-based Output
    As a text-based tool, iftop may not provide the most visually appealing outputs, which can be a drawback for users who prefer graphical interfaces.
  • Not Cross-Platform
    iftop is primarily designed for Unix-like systems and may not be available or easily operable on non-Unix platforms like Windows.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

l
lsof
i
iftop

Overall verdict

  • lsof (List Open Files) is a mature, battle-tested Unix/Linux utility that reliably reveals which files, sockets, and resources are opened by processes, making it an indispensable diagnostic tool for system administrators and developers.

Why this product is good

  • Provides comprehensive visibility into open files, network sockets, pipes, and devices tied to running processes
  • Extremely useful for troubleshooting 'device busy' errors, port conflicts, and locating processes holding onto deleted files
  • Highly portable across many Unix-like systems including FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, and Solaris
  • Long history of stable, well-maintained releases with extensive documentation and community support
  • Powerful filtering options let you query by user, process, port, file, or network connection

Recommended for

  • System administrators diagnosing resource and file-locking issues
  • Developers debugging network connections and socket usage
  • Security professionals investigating suspicious process activity and open network ports
  • Anyone needing to identify which process is using a specific file, directory, or port before unmounting or killing

No analysis of iftop yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

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lsof 2 videos + Add
i
iftop 3 videos + Add

8 Basic lsof Commands Every Sysadmin Needs to Know

More videos

  • - HakTip - Network monitoring in Linux with lsof

How to monitor network bandwidth using Iftop

More videos

  • - How to install iftop and use it on Linux Mint 18.3
  • - Untangle Traffic monitoring with Iftop

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
l
lsof
i
iftop
28% 28%
Command Line Tools
72% 72%
15% 15%
Monitoring Tools
85% 85%
100% 100%
Performance Monitoring
0% 0%
0% 0%
Tool
100% 100%

User comments

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Alternatives to lsof and iftop

When comparing lsof and iftop, you can also consider the following products.

  • 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.

    Compare htop to lsof or iftop:

    htop vs lsof htop vs iftop
  • nmon

    This systems administrator, tuner, benchmark tool gives you a huge amount of important performance...

    Compare nmon to lsof or iftop:

    nmon vs lsof nmon vs iftop
  • Sysdig

    Sysdig is an open source, system-level exploration that capture system state and activity from a running Linux instance, then save, filter and analyze.

    Compare Sysdig to lsof or iftop:

    Sysdig vs lsof Sysdig vs iftop
  • psutil

    psutil is a module providing an interface for retrieving information on all running processes and...

    Compare psutil to lsof or iftop:

    psutil vs lsof psutil vs iftop
  • v
    vtop

    vtop is a graphical command-line tool that uses unicode braille to chart CPU and memory usage.

    Compare vtop to lsof or iftop:

    vtop vs lsof vtop vs iftop
  • gtop

    System monitoring dashboard for terminal

    Compare gtop to lsof or iftop:

    gtop vs lsof gtop vs iftop
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