Centreon vs LibreNMS comparison

Centreon is an all-in-one IT monitoring solution that is a network, system, applicative supervision, and monitoring tool. It is free and open source, and one of the most flexible and powerful monitoring softwares on the market.

Centreon Features

Centreon has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Supervision of hybrid infrastructures, from one end to the other
• Open and flexible architecture 
• Open-source solution, downloadable for free
• Filtering capability in GUI interface
• Proactive end to end monitoring
• Easily configurable and simple to handle
• Dedicated dashboard widgets
• Scalability
• Independent application for monitoring
• End to end reporting with actual logs

Centreon Benefits

There are several benefits to implementing Centreon. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

• Single platform, multi-user rights & access: Centreon is designed with built-in ACL, allowing enterprise users access to the monitored data on a need-to-know basis.

• Smart data-mapping for customized macro & micro views: Centreon provides real-time custom views in multiple screens with graphic-rich data mapping, which also enables monitoring operators to act and troubleshoot from a distance.

• Ready monitoring intelligence & reporting: With Centreon, you can easily generate reports of essential operational KPIs by using pre-configured templates, and add reports as needed by exploiting the dedicated monitoring data warehouse.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Centreon users.

PeerSpot user Thor M., CEO at a tech services company, says, "The single-pane view provides us a view of all of our network infrastructure, and it is one of the most important tools that we use to see the status of our customers' networks. It provides a nice benefit when it comes to helping align IT operations with business objectives. The top-down views, dashboards, and business context reporting are things that are nice to have because you want to be able to show the customer that everything is working, that problems have been addressed, and that you're providing value.” 

Thomas C., Managing Director, Canada at Eva, comments, “The most valuable feature of the solution is the flexibility, the ability to integrate all kinds of equipment. As long as something has an IP you can monitor it. What we try to achieve all the time is not only saying a company's system is available, but to give additional data on the performance of the equipment. So the flexibility is what matters the most to us, where we can script everything. Centreon has a lot of Plugin Packs, meaning they support, by design, a lot of devices. And on top of that, we have the ability to add our own scripts and do whatever we want and display the data as we want in the central dashboards.”

Marcilio L., President at ITS Solucoes, expresses, "The dashboards are valuable because they ease troubleshooting and viewing. It becomes easier to locate the source of a problem... The dashboards make it easier to communicate with our clients. They don't want to see the alert console, they want to see a beautiful dashboard representing their network and their business and to watch it in case something is wrong in their environment."

Florent Q., Network Engineer at a computer software company, mentions, "The most valuable feature is that we can manually configure everything we need. After it comes inside the interface of Centreon, you can display it. Because the interface is quite user-friendly, you can manually configure the configuration very deeply, which is very pleasant and useful because you can monitor and see everything on your service list, dashboard, or MAP. The most useful feature for me is that you can create your own plugin and monitoring query."

LibreNMS is a comprehensive network monitoring solution that supports various network hardware and operating systems. This open-source tool offers a robust set of features for monitoring the network's health and performance. LibreNMS is designed to be user-friendly and easily scalable, catering to networks of all sizes. It automates network discovery through SNMP to map out devices and their connections, significantly simplifying network management tasks. 

LibreNMS is web-based, offering a clean and intuitive interface for monitoring network status, viewing detailed reports, and setting up alerts for network anomalies. Users looking into LibreNMS should pay attention to its ability to provide detailed insights into network performance, its support for a wide range of network devices, and the flexibility of its alerting system. These aspects can significantly aid in proactive network management and troubleshooting.

Key features of LibreNMS:

• Auto-Discovery: Automatically detects and maps new devices and their connections using SNMP, keeping the network map current with minimal manual intervention.
• Customizable Alerting System: Allows users to set up complex alerting rules based on a wide array of conditions, ensuring timely notifications about network issues.
• Distributed Polling: Supports scaling out network monitoring tasks across multiple servers to manage larger networks efficiently and reduce load on individual systems.
• Wide Device Support: Compatible with a vast range of network devices and operating systems, facilitating comprehensive monitoring across diverse network infrastructures.
• Plugins and Integrations: Offers the ability to extend functionality and integrate with other systems through plugins, enhancing its utility and flexibility.
• Web-Based Interface: Provides a user-friendly and accessible web interface for monitoring network health, viewing detailed analytics, and managing configurations.
• API Access: Features a programmable interface to automate tasks and integrate LibreNMS data with other applications or scripts for advanced management capabilities.
• Geographical Maps: Visualize the geographical distribution of network devices and their status, aiding in the spatial analysis of network performance and issues.
• Customizable Dashboards: Allows users to create and customize dashboards to display critical network metrics and reports, tailoring the monitoring experience to meet specific needs.

Industries such as telecommunications, education, and healthcare, which rely heavily on network stability and performance, can benefit greatly from implementing LibreNMS. Its scalability and extensive support make it a suitable choice for both small networks and large, complex environments.

Regarding pricing, LibreNMS stands out as it is an open-source solution, making it accessible without the need for a significant upfront investment. However, organizations might incur costs related to hosting, additional hardware, or personnel training.

Support is community-driven, with an active online community and various resources available for troubleshooting and learning.

In summary, LibreNMS is a powerful and cost-effective network monitoring solution suitable for various industries, offering extensive device support and customization options to meet diverse network management needs.