Install atop with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• atop
• atop-2.12.1
• atopacctd
• atopcat
• atopconvert
• atopgpud
• atophide
• atopsar
• atopsar-2.12.1

Project history

The official README credits Gerlof Langeveld as creator and maintainer and describes Atop as an ASCII full-screen performance monitor for Linux. Unlike simple top-style views, Atop records activity for all processes active during an interval, including processes that have already exited before the next screen refresh.

The project has evolved from live resource display into a broader performance-analysis suite. The README emphasizes daily logging of compressed raw counters for long-term analysis, atopsar reporting from those logs, cgroup-level resource consumption, optional per-process network accounting through netatop or netatop-bpf, and GPU accounting through atopgpud.

Recent GitHub releases show continued active maintenance: v2.10.0 in January 2024, v2.11.x in 2024 and 2025, and v2.12.x in 2025. The June 2026 man page indicates ongoing documentation updates for live bar graph mode, cgroup mode, raw log writing, JSON/parsable output, and twin mode.

Adoption history

Atop is packaged broadly in Linux distributions and also appears in Homebrew, but its natural home is Linux operations. The input package facts list Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Alpine, Arch, Nix, and openSUSE packages, matching a tool used by administrators who need historical process-level data after an incident.

Its adoption is helped by features that fill gaps between `top`, `sar`, and process accounting: storing daily raw logs, preserving exited-process activity, and showing disk, network, memory, CPU, cgroup, thread, container, and optional GPU details in one terminal interface.

How it is used

Interactive usage is top-like: run `atop` with an interval and optional samples, switch views, inspect busy resources, and use colors or markers for critical resource pressure. The man page also documents bar graph mode, cgroup text mode, process text mode, parsable or JSON output, raw log writing, and replay from raw files.

Historical usage centers on `/var/log/atop/atop_YYYYMMDD` raw logs and `atopsar`, which can extract reports from prior Atop recordings or sample live kernel counters. The atoprc manual documents system-wide `/etc/atoprc` and user `~/.atoprc` settings for defaults such as flags, intervals, thresholds, colors, and resource line limits.

Why package nerds care

Atop matters to package nerds because it is one of the rare terminal monitors where packaging, init integration, and log retention policy are core to the tool's value. Installing it is not just dropping a binary; distributions often wire it into periodic logging so historical data exists when the user finally needs it.

It is also Linux-specific in a principled way. The package exposes kernel counters, cgroups, optional BPF/network modules, and daemonized logging rather than trying to be a lowest-common-denominator cross-platform monitor.

Timeline

• 2024-01: GitHub release v2.10.0 published.
• 2024-07: GitHub release v2.11.0 published.
• 2025-04: GitHub release v2.11.1 published.
• 2025-06: GitHub release v2.12.0 published.
• 2025-09: GitHub release v2.12.1 published.
• 2026-06: Official atop(1) man page date reflects continued documentation maintenance.

Related projects

• Related tools include top, htop, iotop, pidstat, sysstat/sar, dstat, glances, netatop, netatop-bpf, atopgpud, and atopsar. Atop's distinguishing feature is tying live process/resource display to long-term raw logs.

Sources

• Official GitHub README.
• Official GitHub releases API.
• Official atop(1), atoprc(5), and atopsar(1) man pages.
• input source_facts.package-manager.