Centreon vs Checkmk comparison

Centreon and Checkmk are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Centreon is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.3, while Checkmk is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.3. Centreon holds a 1.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to Checkmk’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Centreon users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Checkmk users who would recommend it.

Centreon

Read 31 Centreon reviews

7,170 Views
5,879 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

7,198 Views
5,758 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Centreon

Checkmk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Centreon and Checkmk compete in the IT monitoring software category. Centreon has the upper hand with its flexibility in integration and dashboard customization.

Features: Centreon offers scalability, integration flexibility, and customizable dashboards. Its plugin packs and BI reports support comprehensive monitoring. Checkmk provides resource monitoring and integrates with event management. It is appreciated for auto-discovery and rule-based configuration.

Room for Improvement: Centreon could enhance end-to-end monitoring, UI responsiveness, and API functionality. Network and cloud monitoring need improvement, along with a more intuitive alert acknowledgment process. Checkmk is urged to improve its documentation, simplify the interface, and expand integration options. Users recommend increased user-friendliness and better predictive monitoring.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Centreon and Checkmk operate on-premises, with Centreon also supporting hybrid and public cloud. Centreon's support receives mixed reviews, with calls for 24/7 service and improved response times. Checkmk's support is seen as responsive but needs better onboarding. Deployment is generally straightforward, though Centreon's cloud capabilities provide an advantage.

Pricing and ROI: Centreon is affordable and provides significant ROI, especially with extensive infrastructures. Its open-source nature offsets costs, though licenses can increase expenses. Checkmk is cost-effective in enterprises, offering a good price-to-performance ratio. Centreon's varied pricing may cause confusion, while Checkmk's straightforward pricing is advantageous.

To learn more, read our detailed Centreon vs. Checkmk Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Centreon vs. Checkmk

April 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Centreon

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

24th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

29th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

18th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Checkmk

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

15th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

27th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

17th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Centreon is 1.4%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Checkmk is 1.7%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Checkmk	1.7%
Centreon	1.4%
Other	96.9%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

Experience enhanced monitoring with real-time alerts and efficient support

I would like to see automation in the poller features, as currently, the poller is not automated. If we could automate the addition or removal of hosts in the poller, it would improve efficiency. Sometimes, Centreon does not show the status of services as updated, which should be addressed. Additionally, enhancements are needed in identifying configuration issues, providing real-time alerts in case of issues, and improving the HTTP configuration tasks, as Centreon does not currently display issues with HTTP links, requiring manual investigation.

Read full review

reviewer1704309

IT Administrator at a construction company with 201-500 employees

Utilizing data monitoring capabilities and scripting potential to optimize system management

I frequently program functions with PowerShell, and although Bash could be used, my specialization is in PowerShell. Two of us focus on programming in PowerShell for infrastructure optimization. I set up a dedicated server to run scripts every hour, generating files for Checkmk output. However, Checkmk does not allow running scripts at varying intervals. I am working on this in the raw version of Checkmk.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"This product provides comprehensive reporting for our top management."

"We have all our tickets inside Centreon in real-time and can monitor a lot of ELP and CLN in real-time for application purposes."

"Centreon allowed us to do it without having to look for another solution."

"We have the business activity monitoring, the map, and the MBI modules and they are all very good."

"The most important feature is that it permits us to receive alarms if there is an incident within the infrastructure. The feature I love the most is the reporting feature, the MBI (Monitoring Business Intelligence) which permits us to send advanced reports to our customers in PDF format or in Doc format. We also deploy Centreon Map which gives our customers intuitive views of their information system."

"Centreon's real-time monitoring, despite having some manual aspects, supports us in managing our operations effectively."

"E-mail alert notifications are valuable."

"Another feature we use is Business Activity, which provides us with an end-user perspective when a service is down or isn't working correctly. This is helpful when monitoring the KPIs. When we see a device or server that isn't working, we find the root cause."

More Centreon pros

"Checkmk was built on a platform that was user-friendly, and I could build my charts easily."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

"The most valuable features of Checkmk are its resource monitoring, infra monitoring, and log factor configuration."

"It's versatile, scalable, and easier to use compared to other solutions like Nagios and OMD."

"The initial setup of Checkmk was easy...It is a very stable solution."

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

"Overall, from one to ten, I rate Checkmk a nine."

More Checkmk pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the area of artificial intelligence. The product gives us a lot of information, but it's only information."

"I think Centreon's security could be improved by leveraging AI. That's where things are heading in the industry."

"Centreon supports officially 10,000 services per poller. That is not much for larger customers, because this limit is reached very quickly. We use it with three times the limit without any problems, but Centreon says, "Okay, we are only supporting it with 10,000 services." We are aware that increasing the limit has different impacts because they need to support it. However, for most customers, it would be be very good if they could increase the limit of services."

"The reporting has room for improvement."

"Now that we got it, I haven't had time to work on it since it is a paid solution that is quite expensive."

"Centreon needs to improve the granularity of the data as well as the graphical data. It would also be better to if there was improvement to the filtering/grouping system as well as the creation of views."

"There is room for improvement in the area of artificial intelligence. The product gives us a lot of information, but it's only information. We want the product to do more auto-remediation."

"The scalability of Centreon is very bad because of the nature of the software."

More Centreon cons

"The main challenge for us is that we're moving from Nagios to Checkmk, and we're still getting used to the new way of working."

"In Checkmk, the documentation can probably be improved a bit more."

"It is easy for tech-savvy people, but newcomers might find it intimidating."

"Checkmk does not work too easily with the PowerStore. I use a PowerShell script as Checkmk runs on Linux and a Windows system, connecting with the Checkmk agent."

"I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most."

"Checkmk does not allow running scripts at varying intervals."

"Sometimes we receive alerts, and it can become annoying when you acknowledge an alert. It is very clunky when you acknowledge the alert. The process is not very intuitive, and there are instances where it feels a bit cumbersome to acknowledge an alert."

"If an alert is generated for a specific pattern in the log, and if Checkmk catches that log, it will stay there even after the alert is resolved."

More Checkmk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Open-source solutions like this can be very cost effective for an organization looking for a product that they can quickly implement, as there is no initial cost and there are no license renewal fees. However, it is important to take into consideration some of the related costs that may come along as needed, such as training, support, and product enhancements."

"I think Centreon's pricing is fair, especially given the criticality of our system. They were cheaper than the other solutions. The licensing terms were pretty straightforward. I believe it was based on the number of hosts."

"The pricing starts at around 5000 euro. However, this depends on: Your environment, the size of your host, how many hosts you have, how many remote pollers you have, and if you want to use the Monitoring Business Intelligence or Centreon MAP functionalities."

"For more complex tasks, we use prepaid support days and ask Centreon to come onsite."

"It's quite expensive when you use the Enterprise version, but if you compare it to other providers, it's more like a middle-of-the-line product. It's always good to have a price that is lower, but I would say the price is okay because we get very good support and if we have any other issues we can always contact them. There has never been a time when I didn't get help from them."

"In terms of licensing, you have to think through if the components that need licensing are really needed. For example, the Map module: If you don't need a map to be shown, I don't see a point in paying for those licenses, if you just use it a couple of times a month or a couple of times a week... You can use the Centreon free version and get the main features. The licensing part is, I would say, only for bigger customers who have the option to pay more and who really need those kinds of modules, fancy reports, etc."

"They only sell four hour slots for support, so if you have just one question, then you need to pay for four hours. Or, you need to wait until you have enough questions to fill those four hours. They are not flexible in this."

"I would like to see improvement in the licensing model. You can purchase X number of licenses, up to 1,000 devices or 1,000 instances. Your next batch is 2,000. But what if you only need, say, 1,200? The model could be changed a little bit."

More Centreon pricing and cost advice

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

"The product is affordable."

"The price of Checkmk is cheaper compared to other enterprise products."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Centreon?

Centreon's pricing is not very expensive. Initially, I rated it seven, but corrected to five out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Centreon?

I have certain concerns with Centreon, such as being unable to set downtime for multiple devices at once due to the limitation of adding only 50 devices in a single go. Increasing this limit would ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Centreon?

We are using Centreon for monitoring devices, both LAN and WAN devices. There are subsidiaries for my company, so if any devices go down or there are any service alerts, we receive alerts through C...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Checkmk?

I will get more information about Checkmk when the proof of concept is done. It's going to be before the summer. There will be a report about the tool and a recommendation to use it. So far, it loo...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Checkmk?

Checkmk ( /products/checkmk-reviews ) is a monitoring tool, so that's what I will use it for. Right now, it's not in production, but it's in a proof of concept phase. It looks good, so probably, du...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Checkmk?

I would rate Checkmk an eight out of ten, not knowing the final report.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Centreon

Compared 9% of the time

Datadog vs Centreon

Compared 8% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Centreon

Compared 7% of the time

LibreNMS vs Centreon

Compared 2% of the time

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Zabbix vs Checkmk

Compared 14% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Checkmk

Compared 5% of the time

Icinga vs Checkmk

Compared 5% of the time

LibreNMS vs Checkmk

Compared 5% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Checkmk

Compared 2% of the time

More Checkmk Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Centreon

May 2026

Download Centreon product report

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

May 2026

Download Checkmk product report

Overview

Centreon offers a robust IT infrastructure monitoring platform, featuring user-friendly dashboards and real-time monitoring. It excels in scalability and integration, making it suitable for monitoring diverse network environments.

Centreon stands out with its unified monitoring capabilities, providing businesses with user-friendly dashboards and extensive plugins for customization. Its scalability ensures companies can expand monitoring tasks without incurring additional costs. Integration capabilities allow seamless interaction with ticketing systems and automation tools. Centreon offers customizable reporting and effectively manages downtimes, providing real-time feedback and proactive maintenance through Business Activity and Anomaly Detection features. Despite its strengths, users find areas for improvement including downtime scheduling, API functionalities, UI enhancements, end-to-end monitoring, and documentation. Businesses are increasingly demanding better automation, network discovery, cloud monitoring, and notification options.

What are Centreon's standout features?

Unified Monitoring: Delivers a comprehensive monitoring platform for IT infrastructure.
User-Friendly Dashboards: Offers intuitive and customizable dashboards for efficient monitoring.
Extensive Plugins: Enables flexibility and customization through numerous plugins.
Scalability: Allows expansion of monitoring duties without additional costs.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with ticketing systems and other tools.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Minimized resolution time through proactive maintenance features.
Ease of Use: Simplifies monitoring with its user-friendly interface.
Proactive Issue Resolution: Real-time monitoring and alerts help prevent service outages.
Customizable Reporting: Adapts reports to meet specific organizational requirements.
Diverse Network Management: Capable of handling diverse IT environments efficiently.

Centreon is implemented across industries to monitor IT infrastructures, including networks, servers, and applications. Companies leverage it to track server performance, manage network devices, and receive timely alerts on device status. Its ability to integrate with ticketing systems and automation tools streamlines operations, enhancing global IT infrastructure monitoring and customer service management with real-time feedback and issue resolution.

Centreon

Checkmk provides a comprehensive monitoring solution designed to streamline IT infrastructure management with features like auto-discovery, custom checks, and effective alerting.

Checkmk serves as a powerful tool for organizations managing large networks of servers, databases, and network appliances across multiple locations. It simplifies monitoring tasks with features like auto-discovery, custom scripting, and Slack integration. Users benefit from its resource monitoring capabilities and scalability, although there are areas for improvement, such as alert acknowledgment and greater usability. It supports both Linux and Windows environments, enabling effective oversight of IT infrastructure. The growing body of documentation enhances its adaptability in complex settings.

What are the key features of Checkmk?

Auto-Discovery: Identifies new hosts and applies monitoring rules automatically.
Custom Monitoring Checks: Tailor checks for databases and specific applications.
Slack Integration: Receive downtime alerts directly in Slack channels.
Automation for Scripts: Streamline repetitive tasks with scripts.
Effective Alerting System: Offers timely notifications on network activities.

What benefits can users expect?

Resource Efficiency: Saves time on configuration with automated features.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing network and system requirements.
Cost-Effectiveness: Suitable option for budget-conscious users.
User-Friendly Setup: Easy to configure, reducing the learning curve.

Industries deploying Checkmk frequently utilize it for monitoring IT infrastructure, including servers and network appliances, to manage proactive issue identification and compliance. Companies employ it in the proof of concept phase or for ongoing monitoring, covering hosts, services, and custom application metrics.

Checkmk

Sample Customers

Airbus, Bollore, BT, Canal Plus, Kuehne Nagel, Limagrain, LVMH, Oberthur Technologies, Orange, Darty, Addax Petroleum, Plastic Omnium, Auchan, Valeo, Saint Gobin, Clarins, Hugo Boss, JC Decaux, French Government (Defense, Justice, Environment, Agriculture), OptiComm, Thales, Zeiss.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Centreon vs. Checkmk

April 2026

Free Report: Centreon vs. Checkmk

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