Cacti vs Smokeping
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Cacti | Smokeping |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 69 · Good |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,871 | ★ 1,967 |
| First released | 2001 | 2003 |
| Replaces | PRTG, SolarWinds | PRTG |
What are Cacti and Smokeping?
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
Smokeping
SmokePing measures network latency and packet loss, storing and graphing the results to reveal connection quality over time. Its distinctive smoke graphs visualize jitter and loss for troubleshooting.
- Latency and packet loss graphs
- Distinctive smoke visualization
- Multiple probe types
- Alerting on degradation
Cacti vs Smokeping: key differences
Cacti is written in PHP, while Smokeping is built with Perl. Smokeping is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Cacti. Cacti is the more established project (first released 2001), while Smokeping arrived in 2003.
Why pick each one
Choose Cacti if…
- Mature and reliable
- Detailed graph templates
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Configuration can be tedious
Choose Smokeping if…
- Excellent for connection quality
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Single-purpose tool
- Dated UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Cacti or Smokeping better?
Neither is universally better. Smokeping has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Cacti and Smokeping free and open-source?
Yes. Cacti is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Smokeping under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cacti and Smokeping with Docker?
Cacti: yes. Smokeping: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Cacti or Smokeping?
Smokeping has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Cacti. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.