iftop ☆

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Description:
Display an interface's bandwidth usage

Type: Formula | Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Networking

Tags: networking monitoring terminal bandwidth real-time

Install: brew install iftop

About:
iftop is a command-line tool that provides a real-time, top-like display of network bandwidth usage on a specified interface. It captures network traffic, groups it by connection pair (source and destination), and presents bandwidth statistics in an interactive, sorted list. This allows administrators to quickly identify which specific connections are consuming the most bandwidth at any given moment.

Key Features:

Real-time, top-like interface for network traffic
Sorts connections by bandwidth usage
Displays bandwidth in both directions (sent/received)
Supports host and port name resolution
Interactive commands for sorting and filtering

Use Cases:

Diagnosing sudden network slowness by identifying bandwidth-hogging connections
Monitoring server network usage in real-time
Auditing which remote hosts a local machine is communicating with

Alternatives:

nload – Displays overall bandwidth usage per interface, but does not break down traffic by connection.
bmon – Provides a modular system for monitoring bandwidth, often with a more detailed view of multiple interfaces.

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Sep 12, 2025 10:28am		0	VERSION_BUMP	2a510f56