Cacti vs SNMP Exporter
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Cacti | SNMP Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,871 | ★ 2,176 |
| First released | 2001 | 2016 |
| Replaces | PRTG, SolarWinds | SolarWinds |
What are Cacti and SNMP Exporter?
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
SNMP Exporter
The SNMP Exporter scrapes SNMP-enabled devices such as switches, routers, and printers and exposes their metrics for Prometheus. A generator builds configurations from MIBs for specific devices.
- Scrapes SNMP devices
- MIB-driven config generator
- Network hardware monitoring
- Prometheus integration
Cacti vs SNMP Exporter: key differences
Cacti is written in PHP, while SNMP Exporter is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Cacti versus Apache-2.0 for SNMP Exporter. SNMP Exporter is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Cacti. Cacti is the more established project (first released 2001), while SNMP Exporter arrived in 2016.
Why pick each one
Choose Cacti if…
- Mature and reliable
- Detailed graph templates
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Configuration can be tedious
Choose SNMP Exporter if…
- Brings network gear into Prometheus
- Flexible config
Watch out for
- MIB configuration is fiddly
- Needs Prometheus and Grafana
Frequently asked questions
Is Cacti or SNMP Exporter better?
Neither is universally better. SNMP Exporter has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cacti and SNMP Exporter free and open-source?
Yes. Cacti is licensed under GPL-2.0 and SNMP Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cacti and SNMP Exporter with Docker?
Cacti: yes. SNMP Exporter: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Cacti or SNMP Exporter?
SNMP Exporter has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Cacti. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.