NetHogs

Spec sheet

Purpose

NetHogs is a small “net top” tool that groups network bandwidth by process instead of by protocol or subnet.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Support

The installation instructions invite users with problems to contact [email protected].Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

License

NetHogs may be redistributed under the terms of GPLv2 or any later version.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Downloads

The project says users can clone the repository or obtain a source release from GitHub Releases.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Integration

The project says libnethogs is used by the separate gnethogs project.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Interface

The text-based interface depends on ncurses, and user-level packet capture depends on libpcap.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Kernel requirements

NetHogs does not rely on a special kernel module being loaded.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Library

The codebase can also build libnethogs, which the project describes as highly experimental and warns may break source and binary compatibility.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Linux distribution availability

The project describes NetHogs as mature software included in most Linux distributions and gives Arch Linux installation instructions using pacman.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Permissions

Running as a non-root user requires cap_net_admin and cap_net_raw; displaying process names also requires cap_dac_read_search and cap_sys_ptrace.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Platform limits

Most features are available only on Linux because NetHogs relies heavily on /proc; on Mac OS X and FreeBSD it can show connections but not processes.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Troubleshooting

It can show which PID is causing a sudden increase in network traffic, helping identify programs using bandwidth unexpectedly.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Unattributed traffic

The “unknown TCP” bucket contains traffic that cannot be associated with a process, for example when the process ended before its traffic could be counted.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com

Plans and prices

Every NetHogs plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Bandwidth Monitoring Software#24 of 337.5