Checkmk vs Elastic Observability comparison

Checkmk and Elastic are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Checkmk is ranked #24 with an average rating of 8.5, while Elastic is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5. Checkmk holds a 4.0% mindshare in IM, compared to Elastic’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Elastic users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

4,452 Views
3,339 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Elastic Observability

Read 29 Elastic Observability reviews

8,986 Views
3,684 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Elastic Observability

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Elastic Observability and Checkmk compete in the monitoring and observability space, offering solutions for businesses looking to maximize operational efficiency. Elastic Observability may have the upper hand in providing a comprehensive toolset with extensive metrics visibility and seamless integration capabilities, while Checkmk excels in cost-effectiveness and integration with resource monitoring.

Features: Elastic Observability provides a comprehensive toolset beyond typical APM functionalities with unlimited licensing per elastic search host. It also includes notable features such as machine learning, open-source support, and offers extensive metrics visibility. Checkmk is valued for its resource monitoring and auto-discovery features, alongside integration capabilities with event management systems, making it highly suitable for complex infrastructures that require easy scalability.

Room for Improvement: Elastic Observability needs enhancements in visualization metrics and process monitoring, along with AI integration. Users seek greater automation and predictive analytics. Checkmk could improve alert handling and integration capabilities with solutions like Dynatrace. Its complexity can be a hurdle, impeding adoption and highlighting the need for a smoother onboarding experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Elastic Observability offers versatility by being deployable across on-premises, public, and hybrid cloud environments. Its technical support is generally responsive and personalized. Checkmk, typically deployed on-premises or in private cloud settings, is known for reliable technical support. Users find Checkmk straightforward but acknowledge a notable learning curve that could benefit from improved support materials.

Pricing and ROI: Elastic Observability's pricing can vary based on data volume and infrastructure size, posing challenges for startups. Despite higher costs compared to alternatives, its extensive features promise successful ROI through efficient incident management. Checkmk offers affordable pricing, valued as a good choice for enterprises due to its potential for expansion without significant cost increases. Its observable ROI appeals to budget-conscious users.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Elastic Observability Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Elastic Observability

September 2025

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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

Checkmk

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

24th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (14th), Server Monitoring (8th)

Elastic Observability

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

10th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (7th), Log Management (14th), Container Monitoring (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 4.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Elastic Observability is 2.9%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Elastic Observability	2.9%
Checkmk	4.0%
Other	93.1%

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Paolo Sala

Application performance and System monitoring at Agos

A reasonably priced tool for system and application monitoring

The main room for improvement is in the solution's presentation and the integration area. In our company, we use the integration capabilities from ServiceNow. We also have another big monitoring solution in place in our company, which is Dynatrace. At the moment, there doesn't exist an out-of-the-box integration for Dynatrace. I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most. The only implementation of Checkmk that allows high availability is the virtual appliance that has the option for the availability of a different box. Otherwise, you have to find a way to implement it manually with some custom solution, which could be an improvement.

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Stefan Decuypere

Technology Consultant at Hybrid software

Real-time dashboards and visual insights have streamlined issue analysis and monitoring

After careful consideration about areas for improvement in Elastic Observability, aspects such as pricing, customization, implementation, and scalability could be improved. As a user of the system, I know what it costs but am not directly involved in cost-benefit evaluations or maintenance, which is handled by another team. I develop the visual representation of the data and frankly, I don't see major gaps in my application or anything I would really miss; I appreciate the fast pace of the developments that have occurred in the last couple of years. Regarding room for improvement in Elastic Observability, I would have preferred built-in tools to manage the indexes on deployment for better visual representation, as the initial feedback regarding system performance and data storage was fairly primitive and lacking.

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

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

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

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

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

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

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

More Checkmk pros

"It is a powerful tool that allows users to collect and transform logs as needed, enabling flexible visualization and analysis."

"The solution has been stable in our usage."

"The customizable dashboards in Elastic Observability allow us to group relevant data to specific aspects of our solution, giving us around 20 interlinked dashboards which provide an overview, and if one aspect shows weird behavior, we can focus on that specific aspect of our software with a dedicated dashboard."

"It has always been a stable solution."

"Machine learning is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"Elastic APM has plenty of features, such as the Elastic server for Kibana and many additional plugins. It's a comprehensive tool when used as a logging platform."

"Good design and easy to use once implemented."

"The tool's most valuable feature is centralized logging. Elastic Common Search helps us to search for the logs across the organization."

More Elastic Observability pros

Cons

"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."

"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 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."

"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."

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

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

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

More Checkmk cons

"It lacked some capabilities when handling on-prem devices, like network observability, package flow analysis, and device performance data on the infrastructure side."

"In the future, Elastic APM needs a portfolio iTool. They can provide an easy way to develop the custom UI for Kibana."

"More web features could be added to the product."

"Elastic APM's visualization is not that great compared to other tools. It's number of metrics is very low."

"The solution would be better if it was capable of more automation, especially in a monitoring capacity or for the response to abnormalities."

"Elastic Observability is reactive rather than proactive. It should act as an ITSM tool and be able to create tickets and alerts on Jira."

"The cost must be made more transparent."

"Elastic Observability could improve asset discovery as the current requirement to push the agent is not ideal."

More Elastic Observability cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

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

"The product is affordable."

"Users have to pay for some features, like the alerts on different channels, because they are unavailable in different source versions."

"Pricing is one of those situations where the more you use it, the more you pay."

"There are two types: cloud and SaaS. They charge based on data ingestion, ingest rate, hard retention, and warm retention. I believe it costs around $25,000 annually to ingest 30GB of data daily. That is the SaaS version. There is also a self-managed license where the customer manages their own infrastructure on-prem. In such cases, there are three license tiers that respectively cost $5,000 annually per node, $7,000 per node, and $12,500 per node."

"Elastic Observability is cheaper than other similar solutions, such as Dynatrace. Its license calculation is based on various factors like data volume and physical infrastructure, particularly related to RAM capacity."

"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."

"The price of Elastic Observability is expensive."

"We have been using the open-source version."

More Elastic Observability pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Checkmk?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

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...

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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 do you like most about Elastic Observability?

Elastic Observability significantly improves incident response time by providing quick access to logs and data across various sources. For instance, searching for specific keywords in logs spanning...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?

The problem is their licensing model, which is a bit confusing. Many customers struggle to understand their total cost of ownership because Elastic licensing is not dependent on easy, quantifiable ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?

Out-of-the-box use cases have room for improvement in Elastic Observability. They don't invest a lot in building out-of-the-box observable use cases, and they are more focusing on giving a very fle...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 41% of the time

LibreNMS vs Checkmk

Compared 9% of the time

Icinga vs Checkmk

Compared 7% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Checkmk

Compared 5% of the time

Pandora FMS vs Checkmk

Compared 1% of the time

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Sentry vs Elastic Observability

Compared 12% of the time

New Relic vs Elastic Observability

Compared 11% of the time

Dynatrace vs Elastic Observability

Compared 10% of the time

Grafana vs Elastic Observability

Compared 8% of the time

Zabbix vs Elastic Observability

Compared 7% of the time

More Elastic Observability Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

October 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability

October 2025

Download Elastic Observability product report

Overview

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

Elastic Observability offers a comprehensive suite for log analytics, application performance monitoring, and machine learning. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Teams and Slack, enhancing data visualization and scalability for real-time insights.

Elastic Observability is designed to support production environments with features like logging, data collection, and infrastructure tracking. Centralized logging and powerful search functionalities make incident response and performance tracking efficient. Elastic APM and Kibana facilitate detailed data visualization, promoting rapid troubleshooting and effective system performance analysis. Integrated services and extensive connectivity options enhance its role in business and technical decision-making by providing actionable data insights.

What are the most important features of Elastic Observability?

Centralized Logging: Streamlines the collection, analysis, and storage of log data.
Powerful Search: Provides robust search capabilities for quick access to relevant information.
Scalability: Supports growing data needs across diverse environments.
Real-time Telemetry: Ensures up-to-date insights and monitoring.
Platform Integration: Seamlessly connects with services like Teams and Slack.
Data Visualization: Enhances visibility with Elastic APM and Kibana.

What benefits and ROI should users explore in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers significant savings through efficient data management.
Rapid Incident Response: Minimizes downtime with quick troubleshooting tools.
Comprehensive Insights: Supports better business decisions with detailed data analysis.
Performance Tracking: Enables assessment of system effectiveness and improvements.

Elastic Observability is employed across industries for critical operations, such as in finance for transaction monitoring, in healthcare for secure data management, and in technology for optimizing application performance. Its data-driven approach aids efficient event tracing, supporting diverse industry requirements.

Elastic

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Elastic Observability

September 2025

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