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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 favourite 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 they have in common

Before the differences, it is worth being clear about what these tools actually are. Both CumulusMX and WeeWX are collection engines. They read data from your station, store it, and generate web pages or feed it to templates. They support a wide range of station brands, including Davis.

And both share the same fundamental requirement: they need a computer running 24/7 on your network, plus somewhere to host the website they produce. That shapes the whole experience, so keep it in mind as we go.

CumulusMX

Best for: Windows or Raspberry Pi users who want power without living in a terminal.

CumulusMX is the cross-platform successor to the classic Cumulus software. It is genuinely powerful, supports many station brands, and generates detailed web pages out of the box. It has an active, helpful community forum, and its admin interface runs in the browser, which makes day-to-day configuration approachable.

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.

WeeWX

Best for: Linux enthusiasts who are comfortable on the command line.

WeeWX is written in Python and is endlessly extensible through plugins and skins. Once it is set up, it is one of the most reliable engines available, and people run it for years with very little fuss. That reliability and flexibility are 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.

Head to head

  • Ease of setup: CumulusMX is more approachable thanks to its graphical admin. WeeWX rewards patience but expects command-line comfort.
  • Reliability: Both are solid. 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.
  • Platform: CumulusMX is the better Windows citizen. WeeWX is most at home on Linux.
  • Hosting: Identical situation. Both generate files you must host yourself, typically over FTP.

The catch they both share

Whichever you pick, you are signing 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. None of this is hard for someone who enjoys it, but it is real, ongoing work. A power cut, a failed SD card, a stalled FTP upload, or a PHP version bump on your host can all quietly break your public site until you notice and fix it.

That is the honest cost of the self-hosted route, and it is worth weighing against how much you enjoy tinkering.

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 or WeeWX are excellent, free choices. Pick CumulusMX for a friendlier, Windows-friendly experience, or WeeWX for reliability and deep Linux-based customization. Just be ready to run and maintain a server.

If you would rather skip all of that and have a professional site that stays online by itself, Pro Weather gets a Davis station online in about five minutes.

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