Can Htop Show Network Usage Per Process on Ubuntu?

This article explains whether the htop system monitor displays network traffic per process on Ubuntu and provides alternative tools for monitoring bandwidth usage by specific applications. You will learn why htop lacks this feature and how to use dedicated utilities like nethogs to achieve real-time network monitoring per process.

The short answer is no, htop cannot show network usage per process. By default, htop is designed to monitor CPU usage, memory consumption, and system threads. While it provides an excellent interactive view of system resources, it does not include network interface statistics or bandwidth usage tied to specific process IDs.

To monitor network usage per process on Ubuntu, you should use a tool specifically built for that purpose. The most popular alternative is nethogs. This utility groups bandwidth by process rather than by subnet or interface, allowing you to see exactly which application is consuming your data.

To install nethogs on Ubuntu, open your terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nethogs

Once installed, you can launch the tool by specifying your network interface. If you are unsure of your interface name, you can usually find it using the ip addr command. Common interface names include eth0 for wired connections or wlan0 for wireless. Run nethogs with sudo privileges as shown below:

sudo nethogs <interface_name>

For example, to monitor traffic on eth0, you would type sudo nethogs eth0. The interface will display a live list of processes along with their sent and received traffic rates in KB or MB per second. This provides the specific per-process network visibility that htop lacks.

Another option is iftop, though it functions slightly differently. iftop monitors bandwidth usage on a specific network interface and shows connections between hosts, but it does not always link them directly to local process names as clearly as nethogs does. For most Ubuntu users seeking process-specific network data, nethogs remains the standard solution.