Abstract: In this work, we compare the incubation-time criterion of cavitation and the classical criterion of unstable cavitation. It is shown that the incubation-time criterion of cavitation can serve as a universal basis for estimating the threshold values of negative pressure in a wide range of frequencies of an acoustic field, at different temperatures of a liquid and hydrostatic pressure. Contrary to the classical criterion, it does not require information on the microscopic parameters of the defect structure of a material. On the other hand, the combination of two criteria allows one to determine the frequency dependence of the range of radii of active cavitation nuclei. Moreover, we consider the physical nature of the macroscopic parameters of a liquid used in the incubation-time criterion of cavitation. It is shown that the incubation time of cavitation may be related to the Gibbs number and the nucleation rate of cavitation nuclei.