powertop(8)
Monitor and analyze power consumption on Linux systems, identifying power-hungry processes and suggesting optimizations.
Synopsis
powertop [OPTION]...Description
powertop is a tool to diagnose issues with power consumption and power management on Linux systems. It measures the real power draw of CPU and other components, tracks which processes consume the most power, and provides recommendations for reducing power usage.
The tool displays real-time power consumption data, CPU frequency scaling information, wake-ups per second, and device power states. It can run in interactive mode or generate reports in various formats including HTML and CSV.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-i, --interactive | Start in interactive mode (default); displays menu-driven interface for power analysis |
-r, --report | Generate a text report and exit; useful for logging power data |
-h, --html=FILE | Generate an HTML report saved to FILE; requires running as root |
-c, --csv=FILE | Generate a CSV report for data analysis and graphing |
-t, --time=SECONDS | Specify measurement duration in seconds before generating report |
-p, --pid=PID | Monitor a specific process by its process ID |
-w, --workload | Execute a workload and measure its power consumption |
--debug | Enable debug output for troubleshooting measurement issues |
-q, --quiet | Suppress verbose output; minimal text mode display |
--version | Display version information and exit |
Examples
Start powertop in interactive mode with real-time power analysis; requires root access
sudo powertopMeasure power consumption for 60 seconds and generate an HTML report
sudo powertop --time=60 --html=/tmp/power_report.htmlRun powertop for a quick measurement and display a text report immediately
sudo powertop --reportCollect 30 seconds of power data in CSV format for analysis in spreadsheets
sudo powertop --time=30 --csv=/tmp/power_data.csvMonitor power consumption of a specific process with PID 1234
sudo powertop -p 1234Measure power consumption while running a CPU stress test workload
sudo powertop --workload 'stress --cpu 4 --timeout 30s'