Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Bandwidth Monitoring Software

Cacti vs pmacct

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 1 check side by side
Higher score Cacti #6 in Bandwidth Monitoring Software 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 4 features Visit Cacti
pmacct #7 in Bandwidth Monitoring Software 8.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 4 features Visit pmacct

Cacti leads on 0 checks, pmacct on 0, and 1 is even. Who comes out ahead on the 1 yes/no, price and count check where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreCacti · 8.5/10
  • Free planboth

Cacti scores higher on our rubric for bandwidth monitoring software: 8.5 against 8.4 out of 10; our editors rank them #6 and #7.

Cacti is the better fit for free open-source network monitoring. pmacct is the better fit for technical teams needing flexible flow accounting.

  • Cacti fits best

    Free open-source network monitoring

  • pmacct fits best

    Technical teams needing flexible flow accounting

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Cacti 8.5/10 Visit ↗ pmacct 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.5 8.4
Ranking #6 in Bandwidth Monitoring Software #7 in Bandwidth Monitoring Software
Best for Free open-source network monitoring Technical teams needing flexible flow accounting
Pricing model Free Free
Starting price Free plan Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Self-hosted Self-hosted
Platforms Web, Windows, Linux Linux
Support Docs, Community Community, Docs
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Cacti 0/4 · pmacct 0/4
Application monitoring Not checked yet Not checked yet
User monitoring Not checked yet Not checked yet
SNMP monitoring Not checked yet Not checked yet
Bandwidth alerts Not checked yet Not checked yet
Specs
Flow protocol support Not checked yet Not checked yet
Monitored device limit Not checked yet Not checked yet
Historical data retention Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Covers SNMP, ICMP, TCP, UDP, graphing, discovery, and alerts
  • Supports distributed collectors, aggregate graphs, and automated onboarding
  • Extends monitoring through plugins, including NetFlow and network mapping
  • Supports NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow, packet capture, BGP, BMP, and telemetry
  • Combines filtering, sampling, tagging, aggregation, and Layer 7 classification
  • Exports to SQL, NoSQL, flat files, Kafka, AMQP, and multiple flow protocols
Cons
  • Self-hosted deployment requires infrastructure and ongoing administration
  • Advanced flow monitoring depends on plugins
  • SMS alerting and network mapping are plugin-based
  • Linux-only, self-hosted deployment limits platform flexibility
  • Broad configuration options require network engineering expertise
  • No commercial tiers for teams seeking packaged vendor support
Our verdict

Cacti is an open-source network monitoring and graphing platform for teams that want to collect and visualize performance data from network devices and other hosts. Built around RRDtool, it supports SNMP, ICMP, TCP, UDP, scripts, and…

Read the review →

pmacct is an open-source suite of passive network monitoring and traffic-accounting daemons for network operators and engineers. It collects IPv4 and IPv6 traffic through packet captures, NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow, NFLOG, BGP, BMP, and…

Read the review →
  1. CactiBandwidth Monitoring Software 8.5Free plan
  2. pmacctBandwidth Monitoring Software 8.4Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Cacti — where it wins

    • Covers SNMP, ICMP, TCP, UDP, graphing, discovery, and alerts
    • Supports distributed collectors, aggregate graphs, and automated onboarding
    • Extends monitoring through plugins, including NetFlow and network mapping

    Where it doesn't

    • Self-hosted deployment requires infrastructure and ongoing administration
    • Advanced flow monitoring depends on plugins
    • SMS alerting and network mapping are plugin-based

  • pmacct — where it wins

    • Supports NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow, packet capture, BGP, BMP, and telemetry
    • Combines filtering, sampling, tagging, aggregation, and Layer 7 classification
    • Exports to SQL, NoSQL, flat files, Kafka, AMQP, and multiple flow protocols

    Where it doesn't

    • Linux-only, self-hosted deployment limits platform flexibility
    • Broad configuration options require network engineering expertise
    • No commercial tiers for teams seeking packaged vendor support
  • Cacti8.5/10 · Free plan

    A broad, self-hosted monitoring suite for teams comfortable managing their own infrastructure.

    Visit CactiFull verdict →
  • pmacct8.4/10 · Free plan

    A flexible, self-hosted toolkit for flow collection, packet accounting, and network-data export.

    Visit pmacctFull verdict →

More comparisons

All bandwidth monitoring software comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update