Paessler PRTG Network Monitor vs Cacti

Struggling to choose between Paessler PRTG Network Monitor and Cacti? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a Network & Admin solution with tags like network, monitoring, infrastructure, devices, servers, switches, routers, websites, applications, alerting.

It boasts features such as Auto-discovery of network devices and servers, Monitoring of network bandwidth usage, traffic, availability and uptime, Monitoring of server resources and performance metrics, Monitoring of website and web application availability, Advanced alerting and notification features, Customizable dashboards and reporting, Sensor-based monitoring architecture, Support for SNMP, WMI, NetFlow and other protocols, Agentless and agent-based monitoring options and pros including Comprehensive monitoring capabilities, Easy to set up and configure, Intuitive web interface, Powerful alerting and notification features, Customizable dashboards and reports, Scales to monitor large environments, Wide range of supported protocols and sensors.

On the other hand, Cacti is a Network & Admin product tagged with network, monitoring, graphing, statistics.

Its standout features include Graphing and monitoring tool for network devices, Supports SNMP polling for data collection, Customizable graphs and dashboards, Threshold-based alerting, Supports RRDTool for data storage, Web-based interface, Plugin architecture for extendibility, and it shines with pros like Free and open source, Easy to install and configure, Wide range of supported devices, Flexible and customizable, Active community support.

To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison of these two products, delving into their features, pros, cons, pricing, and more. Get ready to explore the nuances that set them apart and determine which one is the perfect fit for your requirements.

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a powerful and comprehensive network monitoring solution for monitoring IT infrastructure and network devices. It can monitor servers, switches, routers, websites, applications and more with advanced alerting features.

Categories:
network monitoring infrastructure devices servers switches routers websites applications alerting

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor Features

  1. Auto-discovery of network devices and servers
  2. Monitoring of network bandwidth usage, traffic, availability and uptime
  3. Monitoring of server resources and performance metrics
  4. Monitoring of website and web application availability
  5. Advanced alerting and notification features
  6. Customizable dashboards and reporting
  7. Sensor-based monitoring architecture
  8. Support for SNMP, WMI, NetFlow and other protocols
  9. Agentless and agent-based monitoring options

Pricing

  • Free version for up to 100 sensors
  • Commercial version with tiered subscription pricing

Pros

Comprehensive monitoring capabilities

Easy to set up and configure

Intuitive web interface

Powerful alerting and notification features

Customizable dashboards and reports

Scales to monitor large environments

Wide range of supported protocols and sensors

Cons

Can be complex for beginners

Requires resources to run monitoring server

Limited support for monitoring cloud infrastructure


Cacti

Cacti

Cacti is an open-source network monitoring and graphing tool that provides easy monitoring of network devices and servers. It polls devices for utilization data, stores the data, and generates graphs and statistics to help analyze network traffic and utilization.

Categories:
network monitoring graphing statistics

Cacti Features

  1. Graphing and monitoring tool for network devices
  2. Supports SNMP polling for data collection
  3. Customizable graphs and dashboards
  4. Threshold-based alerting
  5. Supports RRDTool for data storage
  6. Web-based interface
  7. Plugin architecture for extendibility

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Free and open source

Easy to install and configure

Wide range of supported devices

Flexible and customizable

Active community support

Cons

Steep learning curve

Complex interface

Manual configuration required

Limited scalability

No official support