Cacti vs Observium
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Cacti | Observium |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 0 · At risk |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,871 | ★ 1 |
| First released | 2001 | 2010 |
| Replaces | PRTG, SolarWinds | SolarWinds, PRTG |
What are Cacti and Observium?
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
Observium
Observium is a network monitoring platform that auto-discovers devices via SNMP and collects performance and health data. It focuses on a clean interface and low-maintenance operation for network infrastructure.
- SNMP auto-discovery
- Network device dashboards
- Low maintenance design
- Historical performance graphs
Cacti vs Observium: key differences
Cacti is written in PHP, while Observium is built with Shell. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Cacti versus GPL-3.0 for Observium. Cacti is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Observium. Cacti is the more established project (first released 2001), while Observium arrived in 2010. Cacti has the considerably larger community, at 1,871 GitHub stars versus 1. Cacti lists first-class Docker deployment; Observium 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 Observium if…
- Discovers devices automatically
- Clean interface
Watch out for
- Community edition lags the paid version
- SNMP-centric
Frequently asked questions
Is Cacti or Observium better?
Neither is universally better. Cacti has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cacti and Observium free and open-source?
Yes. Cacti is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Observium under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cacti and Observium with Docker?
Cacti: yes. Observium: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Cacti or Observium?
Cacti has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Observium. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.