nethogs
Command-line network traffic monitor that groups bandwidth by process with real-time upload/download speeds, per-process identification, and interactive sorting for Linux systems.
NetHogs is a lightweight network monitoring tool that groups bandwidth usage by process rather than by protocol or subnet. This makes it exceptionally useful for quickly identifying which applications are consuming network resources on your system.
Key capabilities include:
- Per-process bandwidth monitoring with PID and program name identification
- Real-time traffic display showing upload and download speeds for each running process
- Multiple network interface support for monitoring across different connections simultaneously
- Interactive sorting by sent or received traffic to quickly spot bandwidth-heavy applications
- Customizable display modes showing bandwidth in kB/s, total MB, or GB/s
- TCP and UDP traffic tracking with configurable garbage collection
- No kernel module required - uses
/procfilesystem for process tracking
NetHogs is particularly valuable for system administrators, network engineers, and DevOps professionals who need to troubleshoot network performance issues or detect runaway applications consuming excessive bandwidth. When network traffic suddenly spikes, you can launch NetHogs and immediately see which process is responsible. The tool is mature, included in most Linux distributions, and can be run with appropriate capabilities by non-root users.
Features
JSON output
Media
Pros
4- Groups bandwidth usage by process
- Real-time upload and download speeds
- Identifies bandwidth-hogging processes
- Interactive sorting of network data
Cons
2- Primarily Linux-focused; limited functionality on other OS
- Requires root privileges or specific capabilities for full functionality
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