Glances vs Beszel: Lightweight Monitoring Compared
Quick Verdict
For monitoring multiple servers with historical data and alerts, choose Beszel. It’s purpose-built for the hub-and-agent model where you need to track a fleet of machines over time. Glances is the tool you want when you need an instant, detailed snapshot of a single server — CPU, memory, disk, network, and processes in one terminal screen or lightweight web page. They solve adjacent but different problems.
Overview
Glances is a Python-based system monitoring tool that started as an enhanced top/htop replacement and grew into a cross-platform resource monitor with a web UI option. It runs on the machine you want to inspect and shows you everything happening right now — CPU per-core, memory breakdown, disk I/O, network throughput, Docker containers, processes, sensors, and more. Version 4.5.1 (February 2026) added ZFS monitoring, NPU tracking, and token-based API authentication.
Beszel is a Go-based monitoring hub released in 2024 that takes a different approach. You run a central hub (built on PocketBase) and deploy lightweight agents to each server. The hub collects metrics over SSH, stores historical data, and provides a clean web dashboard with alerting. Version 0.18.4 (February 2026) includes GPU monitoring (NVIDIA, AMD, Apple Silicon), S.M.A.R.T. disk health, Docker/Podman stats, and systemd service monitoring.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Glances | Beszel |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Single-server agent | Hub + agent (multi-server) |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Primary interface | Terminal UI / basic web UI | Web dashboard |
| Historical data | No (real-time only) | Yes (configurable retention) |
| Alerting | No built-in alerts | Yes (thresholds + quiet hours) |
| Multi-server monitoring | Client/server mode (basic) | Native hub-agent design |
| Docker container stats | Yes | Yes |
| GPU monitoring | AMD (via py3nvml) | NVIDIA, AMD, Apple Silicon |
| Disk health (S.M.A.R.T.) | No | Yes |
| Sensor/temperature data | Yes (via psutil) | Yes |
| Process list | Yes (full process tree) | No |
| REST API | Yes (JSON export) | Yes (PocketBase API) |
| RAM usage (agent) | ~80-150 MB | ~20-30 MB |
| Authentication | Token-based API auth (v4.5+) | Built-in user auth (PocketBase) |
| Configuration | INI config file | Web UI |
Installation Complexity
Glances installs in one line — docker run or pip install glances — and immediately shows metrics. The Docker image (nicolargo/glances:4.5.1) needs access to host resources via privileged mode or specific volume mounts (/proc, /etc/os-release, Docker socket). No database, no dependencies beyond Python.
Beszel requires two components. The hub runs as a single container (henrygd/beszel:0.18.4) with a PocketBase-embedded database. Each monitored server needs an agent container (henrygd/beszel-agent:0.18.4) that connects to the hub over SSH. Initial setup involves generating an SSH key pair and configuring the hub to expect each agent. More steps than Glances, but still simpler than a Grafana + Prometheus stack.
Performance and Resource Usage
| Resource | Glances | Beszel Hub | Beszel Agent |
|---|---|---|---|
| RAM (idle) | 80-150 MB | 50-80 MB | 20-30 MB |
| CPU (idle) | 1-3% | <1% | <1% |
| Disk footprint | ~50 MB (no data storage) | Grows with retention | ~10 MB |
| Startup time | <2 seconds | <3 seconds | <1 second |
Glances uses more RAM because Python and psutil are inherently heavier than Go. Beszel’s agent is remarkably lightweight — you won’t notice it on a Raspberry Pi or VPS. The hub grows with the number of monitored servers and data retention period, but stays under 200 MB for most homelab setups.
Community and Support
| Metric | Glances | Beszel |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 27,000+ | 6,000+ |
| First release | 2011 | 2024 |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Documentation | Comprehensive (readthedocs) | Good (beszel.dev) |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Weekly |
Glances has 13+ years of stability and a mature codebase. Nicolas Hennion (nicolargo) maintains it actively with monthly releases. The plugin ecosystem exists but is limited compared to dedicated monitoring platforms.
Beszel is newer but moves fast. Henry (henrygd) ships weekly updates with responsive issue handling. The MIT license and Go codebase make it easy to contribute to. Community adoption is accelerating — 6,000+ stars in under two years is strong traction.
Use Cases
Choose Glances If…
- You need a quick system overview on a single machine (SSH in, run
glances, done) - You want a terminal-first monitoring experience
- You need per-process detail (which process is consuming CPU/memory)
- You want to export metrics via API to an existing monitoring stack
- You prefer a mature, battle-tested tool
Choose Beszel If…
- You monitor multiple servers and want a single dashboard
- You need historical data to identify trends (was memory usage growing last week?)
- You want alerting when a server exceeds CPU/memory thresholds
- You need Docker container-level monitoring across your fleet
- You want the lightest possible agent on each server
- You need S.M.A.R.T. disk health tracking
Final Verdict
If you run multiple servers — even just two or three — Beszel is the right tool. The hub-agent architecture gives you a single pane of glass with historical data and alerts, and the agent barely touches system resources. Glances wins when you need an instant, detailed diagnostic view of one machine — it shows you processes, per-core CPU, sensor temperatures, and disk I/O in a way that Beszel’s dashboard doesn’t. Many homelab operators run both: Beszel for ongoing fleet monitoring, Glances for ad-hoc debugging when something looks wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Glances to monitor multiple servers?
Glances has a client/server mode where you run glances -s on a server and glances -c hostname from a client. But there’s no central dashboard — you connect to one server at a time. For multi-server monitoring, Beszel or a Grafana + Prometheus stack is a better fit.
Does Beszel replace Uptime Kuma?
No. Uptime Kuma monitors endpoint availability (HTTP, TCP, DNS) and shows you whether services are up or down. Beszel monitors server resources (CPU, memory, disk). They complement each other — use Uptime Kuma for service health and Beszel for infrastructure health.
Can Beszel send alerts to Slack or Discord?
Beszel supports threshold-based alerts with quiet hours. Notification channels include webhook integrations. For the breadth of notification options that Uptime Kuma or Grafana offer, you may need to pair Beszel with a notification relay like ntfy or Gotify.
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