Cacti vs Nagios Core
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
Nagios Core
Industry classic host and service monitoring engine
| Feature | Cacti | Nagios Core |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,852 | ★ 2,037 |
| First released | 2001 | 1999 |
| Replaces | PRTG, SolarWinds | SolarWinds, PRTG |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Cacti or Nagios Core better?
Neither is universally better. Nagios Core 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 Nagios Core free and open-source?
Yes. Cacti is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Nagios Core under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cacti and Nagios Core with Docker?
Cacti: yes. Nagios Core: yes.