ctop vs cAdvisor
Container monitoring tools compared
ctop provides an interactive terminal dashboard for monitoring containers, while cAdvisor collects and exports container and host resource data. ctop focuses on live inspection and interaction from a shell; cAdvisor offers historical metrics and programmatic or storage-plugin access.
ctop: Monitor Container Metrics in a Terminal
ctop is a terminal dashboard for viewing real-time metrics across multiple containers, with a focused view for inspecting one container. It suits operators and developers who want a quick, interactive overview without opening a web dashboard.
cAdvisor: Monitor Container Resource Usage and Performance
cAdvisor is a Go daemon for collecting and exporting resource and performance data from running containers and machines. It supports Docker natively and uses Google's lmctfy-based hierarchical container abstraction.
| ctop | cAdvisor | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | Go |
| License | MIT | — |
| Stars | 17.8k | 19.5k |
| Forks | 589 | 2.5k |
| Last analyzed | Oct 3, 2026 | Oct 21, 2026 |
Key differences
- ctop presents real-time metrics in a terminal and supports filtering, sorting, logs, and an exec shell; cAdvisor provides a web UI, REST API, and statistics exports.
- ctop supports Docker and runC connectors; cAdvisor supports Docker natively and can run as a Kubernetes DaemonSet.
- cAdvisor covers container and machine-level data, including historical usage, resource isolation settings, histograms, and network statistics; ctop emphasizes live container views.
- ctop is suited to interactive troubleshooting from a terminal; cAdvisor is suited to collecting data across hosts for analysis or monitoring workflows.
- ctop is MIT-licensed; cAdvisor's repository license metadata is NOASSERTION, so verify applicable obligations.
- Both are written in Go. cAdvisor has more listed stars and forks than ctop.
Choose ctop if you…
- need a quick, interactive terminal view of multiple containers.
- want to filter or sort containers and inspect logs or open an exec shell.
- work with Docker or runC and prefer monitoring from a shell.
Choose cAdvisor if you…
- need container and machine resource data, including historical usage and network statistics.
- want a web UI, versioned REST API, or storage-plugin exports.
- operate Kubernetes nodes and want to deploy a statistics collector as a DaemonSet.
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This comparison is generated with AI from the OSRepos analyses of both projects. Always check each project's repository and documentation before choosing.