Cacti vs Icinga 2
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Cacti
RRDtool-based network graphing and monitoring solution
VS
Icinga 2
Scalable monitoring system that watches hosts and networks
| Feature | Cacti | Icinga 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,852 | ★ 2,228 |
| First released | 2001 | 2014 |
| Replaces | PRTG, SolarWinds | SolarWinds, PRTG |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Cacti or Icinga 2 better?
Neither is universally better. Icinga 2 has the larger community, while Cacti is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cacti and Icinga 2 free and open-source?
Yes. Cacti is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Icinga 2 under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cacti and Icinga 2 with Docker?
Cacti: yes. Icinga 2: yes.