Side by side

Argus Monitor vs Facter

Both stand on system information software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Argus Monitor

Free plan Windows

Argus Monitor combines detailed fan controls with hardware and storage monitoring for Windows. A 30-day evaluation is listed, followed by licenses from $16.45 a year.

Visit Argus Monitor

Facter gathers system information and makes it available to Puppet workflows, with support for built-in, custom, and external facts. Users configuring fact groups or caching need to create or manage the configuration file themselves.

Visit Facter

The facts

	Argus Monitor	Facter
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Yes
Runs on	Windows	API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Windows
Lowest paid plan	1-year renewal: $11.95 a year	Free or on request
Plans published	5	4
Maker	Argus Monitor	Not published
Website	argusmonitor.com	puppet.com
On system information software	#5 of 36	#1 of 36

Argus Monitor: what it does well

Fan control supports curves, profiles, and rate limits.
Monitors nearly all available HDDs and SSDs through S.M.A.R.T.
A fully functional 30-day evaluation is available.
Each listed license supports two concurrent installations.
No subscription is required.

What to know first

Supports Windows 11 and Windows 10 version 22H2 or later.
RGB controls are limited to supported hardware.
Each additional active installation adds a fee.

Facter: what it does well

Collects hardware, network, and operating system facts
Supports custom Ruby and external facts
Preserves structured and numeric fact values
Facts can be used in Puppet manifests

What to know first

Some built-in facts do not apply to every system
Custom-fact examples require Ruby familiarity
Facter does not create facter.conf automatically
Legacy facts require --show-legacy in CLI output

Alternatives to Argus Monitor Alternatives to Facter The whole list