bwmon review
A focused, open-source tool for diagnosing bandwidth usage on one Linux machine.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
bwmon is a self-hosted bandwidth monitoring tool for system administrators investigating network usage on a single Linux host. It provides live receive and transmit graphs, per-process attribution through nethogs, spike detection using conntrack flows, sustained-bandwidth alerts, and command-line monitoring and history tools. The local design avoids a cloud service and keeps the product focused on host-level diagnosis rather than centralized infrastructure monitoring.
Its strongest area is investigation depth for a single machine. One-second polling supports live observation, while forensic records, heatmaps, bandwidth-rate distributions, and six months of historical samples help connect unusual activity with processes and connection flows. Sustained-rate alerts include history tracking, giving administrators a way to review recurring bandwidth conditions instead of relying only on live graphs. Integrations with nginx, PHP-FPM, systemd, cron, Plotly, and nethogs fit a Linux server environment, and the project includes one-command installation and uninstall scripts.
The trade-off is scope. bwmon is built around one Linux host and does not provide user monitoring or SNMP monitoring, so it is not suited to teams that need multi-device flow analysis, network-device polling, or a broader monitoring stack. Its deployment also assumes familiarity with Linux services and the supporting server components. Administrators who need detailed local bandwidth diagnostics, open-source licensing, and historical analysis should find the focus appropriate; teams seeking centralized visibility across hosts or SNMP-managed infrastructure should choose a broader platform instead.
bwmon pros and cons
- Where it wins
- One-second live RX/TX monitoring with per-process attribution
- Spike forensics, heatmaps, and six months of history
- Open-source local deployment with CLI and alerting tools
- Where it doesn't
- Designed for one Linux host rather than multi-host monitoring
- No user monitoring or SNMP monitoring
- Requires a Linux server stack including nginx, PHP-FPM, cron, and systemd
bwmon fact sheet, pricing and score →
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