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Monitoring Raspberry Pis with PiStats & A Unified Dashboard for All Devices

As my self-hosted network grows, keeping an eye on my Raspberry Pis is becoming more important. With multiple Pi-hole, Home Assistant, and testing boards, I need a way to track their CPU usage, temperature, storage, and overall health—ideally from a single dashboard that also monitors other key devices.

In this post, I’ll cover:

  • PiStats – A simple way to monitor Raspberry Pi devices.
  • Unified Dashboards – How to centralise monitoring for all devices, including Synology NAS and other hardware.

PiStats: A Simple Raspberry Pi Monitoring Tool

What is PiStats?

PiStats is a lightweight monitoring tool designed for Raspberry Pi devices. It provides real-time stats on:\ ✅ CPU usage\ ✅ Temperature\ ✅ Memory & storage usage\ ✅ Uptime

It’s a great alternative to setting up Grafana & Prometheus, which, while powerful, can be overkill for basic monitoring needs.

How to Install PiStats on a Raspberry Pi

Since PiStats is a simple Python script, setup is quick.

1️⃣ Install dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3-pip -y
pip3 install flask

2️⃣ Download PiStats

git clone https://github.com/Spirotot/PiStats.git
cd PiStats

3️⃣ Run PiStats

python3 app.py

4️⃣ Access the Web UI

  • Open a browser and go to http://<your-pi-ip>:5000
  • You’ll see a basic dashboard with CPU, temperature, and memory stats.

Should You Use PiStats?

✅ Pros:

  • Super lightweight (just a small Python script).
  • Simple web-based UI with key metrics.
  • No need for a database or complex setup.

❌ Cons:

  • No long-term data storage (only real-time stats).
  • No multi-device monitoring—only shows one Raspberry Pi at a time.

PiStats is great for quick, per-device monitoring, but if you want a single dashboard for all Raspberry Pis and other devices, you’ll need something more scalable.

Building a Unified Dashboard for Raspberry Pis & Other Devices

Since I want one dashboard to monitor all Raspberry Pis, my Synology NAS, and other devices, PiStats alone won’t cut it. Here are two solid options:

Option 1: Glances + Web UI (Quick & Simple)

Glances is a lightweight system monitoring tool that can show CPU, RAM, disk, and network usage across multiple devices.

How to Install & Set Up Glances

1️⃣ Install Glances on all Raspberry Pis

sudo apt update && sudo apt install glances -y

2️⃣ Run Glances in Web Mode

glances -w
  • Access it via http://<your-pi-ip>:61208

3️⃣ Centralised Dashboard:

  • Install Glances on one device (e.g., NAS or a Raspberry Pi).
  • Add all other Pis as remote agents:
glances --browser
  • Now, you can monitor all devices in a single web interface.

✅ Pros:

  • Quick to set up, no database required.
  • Works on Raspberry Pi, Synology NAS, and other Linux devices.
  • Lightweight compared to Prometheus/Grafana.

❌ Cons:

  • No historical data storage—only real-time monitoring.

Option 2: Grafana + Prometheus (Powerful & Scalable)

If you want long-term monitoring, alerts, and detailed analytics, Grafana + Prometheus is a more advanced solution.

How to Set Up a Centralised Grafana Dashboard

1️⃣ Install Prometheus on a central device (NAS or Pi)

docker run -d --name=prometheus -p 9090:9090 prom/prometheus

2️⃣ Install Node Exporter on Raspberry Pis

wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/latest/download/node_exporter-armv7
chmod +x node_exporter-armv7
./node_exporter-armv7 &
  • This sends Pi metrics to Prometheus.

3️⃣ Install Grafana (on NAS or another Pi)

docker run -d -p 3000:3000 grafana/grafana
  • Access Grafana at http://<your-ip>:3000
  • Add Prometheus as a data source.
  • Create dashboards to track CPU, temperature, RAM, uptime, and more.

✅ Pros:

  • Scales to multiple Raspberry Pis, NAS, and other devices.
  • Stores historical data for analysis.
  • Custom dashboards with alerts.

❌ Cons:

  • More complex to set up.
  • Uses more resources than Glances.

What’s Best for My Setup?

Since I want a single dashboard that covers all my Raspberry Pis and my NAS, my approach will likely be:

  • For quick monitoring: Glances Web UI
  • For long-term data & alerts: Grafana + Prometheus

PiStats is great as a basic, per-device tool, but if you want true multi-device monitoring, Glances or Grafana are the way to go.