Cacti vs Naemon
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Cacti | Naemon |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 73 · Good |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,871 | ★ 173 |
| First released | 2001 | 2014 |
| Replaces | PRTG, SolarWinds | SolarWinds, PRTG |
What are Cacti and Naemon?
Cacti
Cacti is a complete network graphing solution that harnesses RRDtool for data storage and graphing. It polls devices over SNMP and scripts, presenting historical performance data through a web interface.
- RRDtool-based graphing
- SNMP and script polling
- Plugin architecture
- Templating for devices
Naemon
Naemon is a host and service monitoring tool based on the Nagios core, designed for improved performance and modern features. It checks the availability of resources and alerts on outages.
- Nagios-compatible checks
- Improved performance
- Livestatus query interface
- Large plugin compatibility
Cacti vs Naemon: key differences
Cacti is written in PHP, while Naemon is built with C. Naemon is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Cacti. Cacti is the more established project (first released 2001), while Naemon arrived in 2014. Cacti has the considerably larger community, at 1,871 GitHub stars versus 173. Cacti lists first-class Docker deployment; Naemon does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Cacti if…
- Mature and reliable
- Detailed graph templates
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Configuration can be tedious
Choose Naemon if…
- Faster than classic Nagios
- Reuses Nagios plugins
Watch out for
- Text-file configuration
- Needs add-ons for a modern UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Cacti or Naemon better?
Cacti is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Naemon if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Cacti and Naemon free and open-source?
Yes. Cacti is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Naemon under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cacti and Naemon with Docker?
Cacti: yes. Naemon: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Cacti or Naemon?
Naemon has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Cacti. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.