Cachet vs Kener
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Cachet
Open-source status page system for communicating outages
VS
Kener
Modern status page system built with SvelteKit
| Feature | Cachet | Kener |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 76 · Good | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,249 | ★ 5,174 |
| First released | 2014 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Statuspage, Better Uptime | Statuspage, Better Uptime |
What are Cachet and Kener?
Cachet
Cachet is an open-source status page system written in PHP (Laravel) for communicating downtime and incidents. It supports components, incident timelines, scheduled maintenance windows, metrics, and subscriber notifications.
- Public status page
- Incident timeline updates
- Scheduled maintenance windows
- Subscriber notifications
Kener
Kener is an open-source status page system built with SvelteKit that monitors services and displays their health. It supports incidents, maintenance windows, and a polished, customizable interface.
- Modern SvelteKit interface
- Incident and maintenance management
- Multiple monitor types
- Customizable theming
Cachet vs Kener: key differences
Cachet is written in PHP, while Kener is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Cachet versus MIT for Kener. Kener is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Cachet. Cachet is the more established project (first released 2014), while Kener arrived in 2023. Cachet has the considerably larger community, at 15,249 GitHub stars versus 5,174.
Why pick each one
Choose Cachet if…
- Polished public-facing page
- REST API
Watch out for
- Development has been intermittent
- Needs a database
Choose Kener if…
- Attractive modern UI
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Younger project
- Smaller plugin ecosystem
Frequently asked questions
Is Cachet or Kener better?
Neither is universally better. Cachet has the larger community, while Kener is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cachet and Kener free and open-source?
Yes. Cachet is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Kener under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cachet and Kener with Docker?
Cachet: yes. Kener: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Cachet or Kener?
Kener has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Cachet. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.