psutil
Cross-platform lib for process and system monitoring.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. psutil is production-stable (Development Status 5), actively maintained, has no security vulnerabilities, and is the de facto standard for cross-platform system monitoring in Python. The medium install friction is offset by pre-built wheels for all major platforms and Python versions. Use it whenever you need programmatic access to process or system metrics.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.6 or later; compiled C extensions need a C compiler or pre-built wheels for your platform.
- Medium install friction due to compiled C extensions, but pre-built wheels are available for modern Python versions (3.6+) and major platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, Solaris, AIX).
- Repository is actively maintained with recent commits.
License · maintenance · safety
BSD-3-Clause (permissive) — BSD-3-Clause is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute psutil in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions, provided you include the license notice.
last release 2026-01-28 (198 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-13 · 11,262 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 387,578,492 downloads/mo, #111 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
import psutil
# CPU usage
print(psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1))
# Memory info
print(psutil.virtual_memory())
# List all processes
for pid in psutil.pids():
p = psutil.Process(pid)
print(p.name(), p.memory_info())- Whether sensor APIs (temperature, fan, battery) work reliably on all supported platforms or only on specific hardware.
- Performance overhead of frequent polling for CPU/memory metrics in high-frequency monitoring scenarios.
- Compatibility and behavior differences between CPython and PyPy implementations.
What it is and what it does
psutil is a cross-platform Python library that exposes system and process information in a unified API, replacing the need to shell out to Unix tools like ps, top, lsof, netstat, and free. It works on Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD variants, Solaris, and AIX, supporting both CPython 3.6+ and PyPy. The library has no runtime dependencies and uses compiled C extensions for efficient system calls.
You use psutil to query CPU times and utilization (per-core or aggregate), memory and swap usage, disk partitions and I/O counters, network interfaces and connection statistics, and hardware sensors (temperature, fans, battery). For process management, you instantiate a Process object by PID to read its name, executable path, working directory, command line, parent process, and resource consumption. It's commonly used in system monitoring daemons, performance profilers, resource-limiting tools, and observability agents.
Use it for
- Build a system monitoring dashboard that tracks CPU, memory, and disk usage in real time.
- Implement a process manager that lists running processes and their resource consumption.
- Create alerts when a process exceeds memory or CPU thresholds.
- Collect network interface statistics for bandwidth monitoring and troubleshooting.
- Query hardware sensors (temperature, fan speed) for thermal management.
- Profile application resource usage during development and testing.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
psutil is production-stable (Development Status 5), actively maintained, has no security vulnerabilities, and is the de facto standard for cross-platform system monitoring in Python. The medium install friction is offset by pre-built wheels for all major platforms and Python versions. Use it whenever you need programmatic access to process or system metrics.
Install
psutil on PyPI
Before you install
Medium install friction due to compiled C extensions, but pre-built wheels are available for modern Python versions (3.6+) and major platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS, BSD, Solaris, AIX). Repository is actively maintained with recent commits.
Requires Python 3.6 or later; compiled C extensions need a C compiler or pre-built wheels for your platform.
License in practice
BSD-3-Clause is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute psutil in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions, provided you include the license notice.
Quickstart
import psutil
# CPU usage
print(psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1))
# Memory info
print(psutil.virtual_memory())
# List all processes
for pid in psutil.pids():
p = psutil.Process(pid)
print(p.name(), p.memory_info())Verify before relying
- Whether sensor APIs (temperature, fan, battery) work reliably on all supported platforms or only on specific hardware.
- Performance overhead of frequent polling for CPU/memory metrics in high-frequency monitoring scenarios.
- Compatibility and behavior differences between CPython and PyPy implementations.
Package facts
| License | BSD-3-Clause permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.6 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 198 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 387,578,492 / month, #111 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Information TechnologyIntended Audience :: System AdministratorsOperating System :: MacOS :: MacOS XOperating System :: MicrosoftOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows 10Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows 11Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows 7Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows 8Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows 8.1Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows Server 2003Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows Server 2008Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows :: Windows VistaOperating System :: OS IndependentOperating System :: POSIXOperating System :: POSIX :: AIXOperating System :: POSIX :: BSDOperating System :: POSIX :: BSD :: FreeBSDOperating System :: POSIX :: BSD :: NetBSDOperating System :: POSIX :: BSD :: OpenBSDOperating System :: POSIX :: LinuxOperating System :: POSIX :: SunOS/SolarisProgramming Language :: CProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Software Development :: LibrariesTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python ModulesTopic :: System :: BenchmarkTopic :: System :: HardwareTopic :: System :: MonitoringTopic :: System :: NetworkingTopic :: System :: Networking :: MonitoringTopic :: System :: Networking :: Monitoring :: Hardware WatchdogTopic :: System :: Operating SystemTopic :: System :: Systems AdministrationTopic :: Utilities |
Evidence: psutil-7.2.2-cp313-cp313t-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp313-cp313t-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp313-cp313t-manylinux2010_x86_64.manylinux_2_12_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp313-cp313t-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp313-cp313t-win_amd64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp313-cp313t-win_arm64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp314-cp314t-macosx_10_15_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp314-cp314t-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp314-cp314t-manylinux2010_x86_64.manylinux_2_12_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp314-cp314t-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp314-cp314t-win_amd64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp314-cp314t-win_arm64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp36-abi3-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp36-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp36-abi3-manylinux2010_x86_64.manylinux_2_12_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp36-abi3-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp36-abi3-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp36-abi3-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp37-abi3-win_amd64.whl; psutil-7.2.2-cp37-abi3-win_arm64.whl
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See also Glances · uptime · setproctitle · psutil-home-assistant · mozsystemmonitor · types-psutil · py-cpuinfo · memory-profiler · ps-mem · uwsgitop