CumulusMX vs WeeWX: Which Should You Use?

If you have a personal weather station and you want to publish its data, two free programs come up again and again: CumulusMX and WeeWX. Both are mature, capable, and well loved by the weather community. Both are also free and open source. So which one should you use?

The short version: CumulusMX is the friendlier choice if you are on Windows or want a graphical experience, while WeeWX is the favorite of people comfortable on the Linux command line who value rock-solid reliability and deep customization. This post breaks down where each one shines, and where both share the same catch.

What do CumulusMX and WeeWX have in common?

CumulusMX and WeeWX are both free, open-source collection engines: they read data from your weather station, store it locally, and generate web pages you host yourself. Both support Davis and many other station brands, and both require a computer running 24/7 on your network plus a separate web host.

That shared requirement shapes the whole experience, so keep it in mind as we go. Neither program is a website by itself; each produces output that still has to be published somewhere, usually over FTP to a hosting account you manage. On the plus side, both are excellent citizens of the wider weather ecosystem — each can forward your readings to Weather Underground, CWOP, and similar networks while it builds your own site.

What is CumulusMX best for?

CumulusMX is best for Windows or Raspberry Pi users who want serious power without living in a terminal. Its admin interface runs in the browser, it generates detailed web pages out of the box, and a large, helpful community forum plus plenty of ready-made templates keep the learning curve manageable.

CumulusMX is the cross-platform successor to the classic Cumulus software, written in C# on .NET. It is genuinely powerful and supports many station brands, and its browser-based configuration makes day-to-day tweaks approachable for non-programmers.

Strengths:

• Browser-based admin interface, friendlier for non-programmers.
• Strong Windows support, plus it runs on a Raspberry Pi.
• Large, active community and plenty of ready-made web templates.
• Good out-of-the-box web output.

Trade-offs:

• Needs a machine running all day and night. If it reboots or the SD card corrupts, your site goes stale.
• You still host the generated web files yourself, usually over FTP to a separate web host.
• Configuration, while approachable, can get fiddly as you customize.

What is WeeWX best for?

WeeWX is best for Linux users who are comfortable on the command line and want maximum reliability and extensibility. Written in Python, it can run untouched for years, and its plugin and skin ecosystem lets you build almost any output you can imagine — at the price of a config-file-driven setup.

Once WeeWX is set up, it is one of the most dependable engines available, and people run it for years with very little fuss. That reliability and flexibility are exactly why technical users swear by it.

Strengths:

• Extremely reliable once configured.
• Highly extensible with a rich ecosystem of extensions and skins.
• Lightweight, happy on modest hardware like a Raspberry Pi.
• Excellent documentation for those willing to read it.

Trade-offs:

• Setup assumes comfort with the terminal: config files, command-line tools, and skin editing.
• Primarily a Linux experience.
• As with CumulusMX, you need an always-on machine and a place to host the output.

How do CumulusMX and WeeWX compare head to head?

CumulusMX is easier to set up thanks to its browser-based admin, and it is the better Windows citizen. WeeWX takes longer to configure but has the stronger long-term reliability reputation and is far more extensible through Python. Their hosting story is identical: both generate files you must publish yourself.

A few nuances the table cannot capture:

• Reliability: both are solid, but WeeWX has a particularly strong reputation for running untouched for years.
• Customization: WeeWX wins for deep, programmatic control via Python. CumulusMX covers most needs with less effort.
• Community: both have active forums; CumulusMX's tends to be gentler on beginners.

What's the catch with both?

Whichever you pick, you sign up to run and maintain two things: the software and a 24/7 computer to run it on. Then you add a third — a web host for the output. A power cut, a failed SD card, a stalled FTP upload, or a PHP version bump can quietly break your public site.

None of this is hard for someone who enjoys it, but it is real, ongoing work, and it never actually finishes. That is the honest cost of the self-hosted route, and it is worth weighing against how much you enjoy tinkering. If you want to put numbers on it, we added up the hardware, electricity, and hosting in the hidden costs of running your own weather server.

Or skip the server entirely

If the comparison above is making you wonder whether there is a way to get the result — a great-looking weather website — without the server and the maintenance, there is.

Pro Weather takes a different approach. Instead of software you install and a machine you keep running, you give it your Davis WeatherLink API key and it builds and hosts the website for you:

• No Raspberry Pi, no FTP, no PHP to maintain.
• Updates automatically every 10 minutes.
• Your data is stored forever, so charts and records keep growing.
• Your own domain with automatic SSL is included.
• Set up in minutes, not an afternoon.

The trade-off is the mirror image of CumulusMX and WeeWX: less raw control over the internals, but nothing to run or maintain, and it is focused specifically on Davis stations.

Which should you choose?

If you love tinkering and want total control, CumulusMX and WeeWX are both excellent, free choices: pick CumulusMX for a friendlier, Windows-friendly experience, or WeeWX for reliability and deep Linux-based customization. If you would rather have a professional site that stays online by itself, a hosted service is the shortcut.

Just be ready, on the self-hosted path, to run and maintain a server as part of the hobby. If you would rather skip all of that, Pro Weather gets a Davis station online in about five minutes.

Common questions

Does CumulusMX run on a Raspberry Pi?

Yes. CumulusMX runs on a Raspberry Pi via .NET, and the Pi is one of the most popular ways to host it — the community forum has well-trodden install guides. The usual Pi caveats apply: use a quality SD card (or boot from SSD), because SD corruption after a power cut is the most common way a CumulusMX site quietly dies.

Is WeeWX free?

Yes. WeeWX is free, open-source software released under the GPL, and there is no paid tier. The real costs of running it are indirect: the always-on computer it runs on, the electricity that computer uses, a web host for the generated pages, and the time you spend on setup, updates, and the occasional recovery.

Can I switch from CumulusMX to WeeWX and keep my data?

Mostly, yes — in that direction. WeeWX ships an import utility that can ingest Cumulus monthly log files, so years of CumulusMX history can be carried into a new WeeWX database. Expect some cleanup around units and gaps. Going the other way, from WeeWX to CumulusMX, is less well supported and usually means custom scripting.

Do CumulusMX and WeeWX work with WeatherLink Live?

Yes, both. CumulusMX supports the WeatherLink Live directly, and WeeWX has drivers that read its local API and real-time UDP broadcasts on your network — no paid subscription required for local access. If you are not sure which Davis interface you own, see our breakdown of WeatherLink Live, the Console, and data loggers.

For the wider field, including the WeatherLink portal and PHP templates, see Best Weather Station Software for a Personal Website.