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RRZE-HPC/likwid

Free

Performance monitoring and benchmarking suite

FreeFree tier
Type
Open Source
Company
RRZE-HPC
Visit Website GitHub (38 stars)

About RRZE-HPC/likwid

Likwid (Like I Knew What I'm Doing) is a simple-to-install and use toolsuite of command-line applications and a library for performance-oriented programmers. It provides detailed performance monitoring, benchmarking, and system topology analysis for Intel, AMD, ARMv8, and POWER9 processors on Linux, with additional support for Nvidia and AMD GPUs. The suite includes tools for hardware performance counter configuration and readout (likwid-perfctr), power and energy measurement via RAPL (likwid-powermeter), thread pinning (likwid-pin), micro-benchmarking (likwid-bench), CPU feature manipulation (likwid-features), MPI application launching (likwid-mpirun), live performance metric plotting (likwid-perfscope), memory sweeping (likwid-memsweeper), and frequency control (likwid-setFrequencies). Likwid is open-source and widely used in HPC environments.

Key Features

Hardware performance counter monitoring (Intel, AMD, ARM, POWER, Nvidia GPUs)
CPU topology and NUMA detection with likwid-topology
Power and energy measurement via RAPL with likwid-powermeter
Thread pinning for pthread, Intel and GCC OpenMP with likwid-pin
Micro-benchmarking platform for CPU architectures with likwid-bench
CPU feature manipulation (hardware prefetchers) on x86 with likwid-features
MPI and Hybrid MPI/OpenMP application launcher with likwid-mpirun
Live performance metrics plotting using gnuplot with likwid-perfscope
Memory sweeping and cacheline eviction with likwid-memsweeper
CPU and Uncore frequency control on x86 with likwid-setFrequencies

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • Comprehensive tool suite covering multiple performance aspects
  • Broad processor support including Intel, AMD, ARM, POWER, and GPUs
  • Open-source with active community and documentation
  • Low overhead and easy to integrate into workflows
  • Command-line interface suitable for scripting and automation
Cons
  • Linux-only operating system support
  • Some architectures (ARMv7, POWER8/9) are experimental and not fully tested
  • GPU support limited to Nvidia and AMD (no Intel GPUs)
  • May require root privileges for certain features like frequency control
  • Steep learning curve for users unfamiliar with performance counters

Best For

Performance analysis and optimization of HPC applicationsBenchmarking CPU and memory subsystemsEnergy efficiency analysis using RAPL countersThread and process pinning for NUMA-aware executionHardware prefetcher tuning for workload-specific performanceReal-time performance monitoring and visualization

FAQ

What operating systems does Likwid support?
Likwid runs on the Linux operating system only.
Which processors and GPUs are supported?
Likwid supports Intel, AMD, ARMv8, POWER9 processors, and Nvidia and AMD GPUs. Intel Atom, Xeon Phi, and many microarchitectures are included.
Is Likwid free to use?
Yes, Likwid is open-source and free to use. It is distributed under the terms of the license found in the repository.
How can I install Likwid?
You can download releases from http://ftp.fau.de/pub/likwid/ and follow the instructions in the INSTALL file or the build instructions wiki page.