7 Ways to Monitor Your Raspberry Pi Without the Terminal

If you’re like me, you’ve probably wanted a simple way to check what your Raspberry Pi is doing without opening the terminal. A good web dashboard makes it simple to monitor temps, services, logs, and more. I’ve tested a bunch to find the ones that are actually worth using.

Several web dashboards can monitor and manage a Raspberry Pi without using many terminal commands. Popular options like PiCockpit each offer a different approach to system control and monitoring.

If you’re not comfortable with Linux commands, or you want a clearer view of what’s going on with your Raspberry Pi, you’ll find something helpful in this list. Let’s look at what each dashboard does best so you can pick the right one for your setup.

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Cockpit

The Closest You’ll Get to a Full Linux Control Centre—All in Your Browser

Cockpit is an open-source, lightweight system monitoring tool. It is primarily aimed at remote maintenance and management of Linux servers. However, it can serve as a great Raspberry Pi Dashboard.

Cockpit can be installed through official repositories using the command:
sudo apt install cockpit

However, the version available through the official repository is outdated, and the developers recommend enabling the backport repositories to install the latest version.

You can read the complete installation and setup guide in our detailed tutorial.

The Cockpit dashboard provides multiple viewports for monitoring system resources, such as CPU and memory usage. Using Cockpit, you can also update your system directly from the dashboard without opening the Raspberry Pi terminal. Cockpit uses PackageKit D-Bus API for this.

Most system monitoring features are already installed. You can view system Logs, monitor storage and network usage, and manage accounts and services.

However, the key advantage of Cockpit is that you can enhance its functionality by installing official & third-party plugins. For example, I installed this file explorer module to be able to manage the storage of my Raspberry Pi remotely:

Another nice feature of Cockpit is that you can open a Terminal session directly on your Raspberry Pi to run commands.

One of Cockpit’s key advantages is the ability to manage multiple servers (Raspberry Pis) from a single dashboard. Cockpit does this by establishing an SSH connection between the two servers and presenting you with data from both.

Overall, if you are looking for a dashboard that offers solid system administration and hardware monitoring, Cockpit is one of the best and most well-rounded options. Its modular design allows you to tailor the dashboard to your use case and preferences.

Furthermore, the ability to manage multiple servers from a single dashboard can significantly streamline your workflow across nodes.

PiCockpit

Made for Raspberry Pi From the Ground Up—GPIO, Sensors, and Stats in One Click

PiCockpit is a dashboard/remote system monitoring and control tool specifically designed for Raspberry Pi. It doesn’t require you to manually install any software on your Raspberry Pi. You can sign in to the PiCockpit website and add your device there.

PiCockpit automatically installs the required repositories during setup.

For a detailed tutorial on how to start using PiCockpit, you can read this guide on 9 Best Tools to Monitor Raspberry Pi’s Performance.

PiCockpit offers a wide range of options for controlling and monitoring your Raspberry Pi.

You can use PiStats to monitor the real-time hardware statistics of your Raspberry Pi in graphical form. You can monitor CPU usage and memory.

PiDoctor is another application available in PiCockpit that provides in-depth statistics on your system hardware.

Since PiCockpit is explicitly designed for Raspberry Pi, it offers niche capabilities that other generic dashboards lack, such as remote GPIO control.

PiCockpit offers a wide range of system management and monitoring features and is the only option designed specifically for Raspberry Pi, so it caters to Raspberry Pi users out of the box.

Besides being extremely simple to install, PiCockpit also works over the internet from the get-go. You can use it as a dashboard from anywhere with internet access (you don’t need to be on the same LAN).

CasaOS

A Beautiful App-Centric Dashboard That Makes Your Pi Feel Like a Smart Home Hub

CasaOS is an open-source smart home solution. It is primarily aimed towards home automation, with dedicated apps for smart home devices. However, it can also serve as a great Raspberry Pi dashboard.

CasaOS can be installed on top of Raspberry Pi OS using a simple curl command. For the complete procedure, see the detailed guide on CasaOS.

The CasaOS dashboard is aesthetically modern in design. It offers the most commonly required system statistics, such as CPU, RAM, and storage usage, on the home page.

The key advantage of CasaOS is the wide range of applications available that are easy to install. You can open the built-in App Store to search for and install your desired application.

For example, I installed this file explorer application to manage files on my Raspberry Pi from my CasaOS dashboard.

However, CasaOS is primarily aimed at home automation and smart home devices; therefore, most apps in the CasaOS app store are tailored to this audience.

CasaOS is a complete cloud solution that turns your Raspberry Pi into the brain of your smart home. It also supports media streaming applications such as Plex.

If you are looking for an aesthetically pleasing dashboard that can serve as the brain of your smart home setup, CasaOS is an excellent choice. It has many useful apps and a strong community to support you if you run into any difficulty.

Webmin

The ‘Everything Panel’ for Power Users Who Want Total Control Without the Terminal

Webmin is another open-source, web-based system administration software for Linux servers. It can be installed on your Raspberry Pi to monitor and control it, serving as your Raspberry Pi dashboard.

Webmin can be installed either via the official script or manually by downloading the .deb file. For a complete step-by-step procedure, see the in-depth guide on installing Webmin on Raspberry Pi.

The Webmin dashboard provides detailed status information for your Raspberry Pi hardware.

Webmin includes several built-in tools, such as a file manager, which is accessible from the admin menu under Tools > File Manager.

Other useful tools included in Webmin include user management and an SSH server. These tools enable you to perform basic and advanced system management and administration.

In addition to the pre-installed modules, you can install official or third-party modules in your Webmin setup to add functionality and tailor it to your needs. You can find modules on their website.

Overall, Webmin is one of the most powerful dashboards you can run on a Raspberry Pi. It exposes nearly every part of the system through a web interface, enabling tasks that would typically require dozens of terminal commands. If you want complete control and don’t mind a denser interface, Webmin delivers a lot.

That said, Webmin is clearly aimed at power users. The interface feels more utilitarian than modern, and beginners may find the number of options overwhelming at first.

But if your goal is maximum control without relying on a terminal, Webmin remains a solid, reliable choice for managing a Raspberry Pi.

Netdata

When You Want to See Everything—Live, Real-Time Monitoring Like No Other

Netdata is another server monitoring tool that can serve as a dashboard. Netdata is geared more toward system monitoring than system management.

It is one of the topics I also covered in my article, 9 Best Tools to Monitor Raspberry Pi Performance.

You can easily install Netdata using the kickstart.sh script file.

Netdata also supports sign-in. If you choose to do so, your data will be synced with their cloud server, and you can view your system statistics from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet connectivity. You can also manage multiple devices this way.

When you log in to your Netdata dashboard, you will be greeted by a preconfigured dashboard that displays the most valuable statistics in real time. This dashboard is sufficient for most use cases, and no manual configuration is required.

You can scroll down to view different system statistics—the Netdata dashboard layout updates automatically based on available data. Netdata team calls this the “zero configuration” system.

They claim that more than 800 auto-discovered integrations are built into Netdata, including databases, web servers, and network devices.

The downside of Netdata is that it is limited to system monitoring; it lacks system management tools, such as a remote terminal or file explorer. However, for system monitoring, it is one of the best options available.

If you are looking for a dashboard to monitor your Raspberry Pi’s system metrics, Netdata is an excellent choice. Since it requires no configuration, it’s extremely easy to install and get started.

Quick note: If you find it hard to remember all these commands, I’ve put them all on a one-page cheat sheet. You can download it for free here so you have it handy whenever you're working on a project.

Heimdall

Your Raspberry Pi’s Home Screen for Web-Based Tools

Heimdall is another open-source dashboard application that can run on your Raspberry Pi. It acts as the central hub for all your web applications, services, and links. The most obvious use case of Heimdall is to use it as your browser’s home page.

Heimdall can be installed manually or via the Docker image (recommended). Once installed, you can access the dashboard by opening a browser and entering the Raspberry Pi’s hostname or IP address.

By default, you will see an empty screen with just a background and a notification that no applications are installed.

You can add web applications to your dashboard by clicking on “add an application here“. Click the application type, then enter the name of the desired application. Heimdall will automatically fill in the icon and aesthetic fields.

However, note that you need to install a separate Plex server for Heimdall to function. Once the Plex server is installed and running, enter its URL here.

Heimdall is, in itself, only a dashboard with links to various web applications. The applications need to be installed separately.

You can even add a search bar to your Heimdall dashboard. It supports DuckDuckGo, Google, Baidu, and other famous search engines.

If you use a lot of web applications on your Raspberry Pi and are looking for a centralized home page to easily access all these web applications without having to remember the URL for each web application, Heimdall can be a great dashboard application.

Unlike the last option, Heimdall’s downside is that it lacks system monitoring capabilities. However, you can add web application-based monitoring tools, such as Netdata and Glances, to your Heimdall dashboard.

The ideal use case for Heimdall is to set it as your browser homepage, with a convenient search bar and access to all your web applications and pinned webpages in one place.

Dashy

The Most Customizable Start-Page Dashboard You Can Run on a Raspberry Pi

Dashy is another open-source dashboard application that is highly customizable. Dashy uses a single YAML configuration file to define every aspect of your dashboard’s UI.

Dashy can be installed using a Docker image. Once installed, edit the config/conf.yml file to suit your preferences. You can add web applications, links, or widgets to your dashboard.

For example, I added this clock widget to my configuration, and when I reloaded Dashy, I saw it like this:

Dashy can also be used to monitor system statistics. For example, you can integrate it with Grafana to display detailed graphs of your system metrics.

The only downside of Dashy is that it requires you to study its documentation thoroughly. But I guess that comes part and parcel with this level of customization.

Dashy also has an avid community; for example, you can see on their GitHub page where people have showcased their Dashy configurations. You can examine the different results to estimate how configurable Dashy truly is.

Overall, although there is a steep learning curve to getting started with Dashy, it is one of the most comprehensive dashboard solutions available. With the correct configuration, it can be transformed into your perfect Raspberry Pi Dashboard.

Still don’t know which Raspberry Pi dashboard is right for you? It ultimately depends on what you want to see and how you prefer to interact with your system. If complete system administration is your priority, tools like Cockpit and Webmin provide deep control through a web interface.

CasaOS offers a polished, app-centric experience that feels closer to a smart home hub. Netdata excels at real-time performance monitoring with zero configuration, and Heimdall and Dashy shine as customizable start pages for organizing your web-based tools.

Whether you want detailed system insights, simplified management, or a clean visual overview of your services, one of these dashboards can significantly reduce your reliance on the terminal and make managing your Raspberry Pi more approachable and enjoyable.

Whenever you’re ready, here are other ways I can help you:

Test Your Raspberry Pi Level (Free): Not sure why everything takes so long on your Raspberry Pi? Take this free 3-minute assessment and see what’s causing the problems.

The RaspberryTips Community: Need help or want to discuss your Raspberry Pi projects with others who actually get it? Join the RaspberryTips Community and get access to private forums, exclusive lessons, and direct help.

Master your Raspberry Pi in 30 days: If you are looking for the best tips to become an expert on Raspberry Pi, this book is for you. Learn useful Linux skills and practice multiple projects with step-by-step guides.

Master Python on Raspberry Pi: Create, understand, and improve any Python script for your Raspberry Pi. Learn the essentials step-by-step without losing time understanding useless concepts.

You can also find all my recommendations for tools and hardware on this page.