SHSelfHostIndex

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.

Not the right match-up?
CA Cacti RRDtool-based network graphing and monitoring solution VS SN SNMP Exporter Prometheus exporter for SNMP-enabled network devices
FeatureCactiSNMP Exporter
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseGPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePHPGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB64 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, docker, sourcedocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 1,852★ 2,156
First released20012016
ReplacesPRTG, SolarWindsSolarWinds

Why pick each one

Choose Cacti if…

  • Mature and reliable
  • Detailed graph templates
Cacti details

Choose SNMP Exporter if…

  • Brings network gear into Prometheus
  • Flexible config
SNMP Exporter details

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.

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