Checkmk vs Nagios Core comparison

Checkmk and Nagios are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.4, while Nagios is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0. Checkmk holds a 3.6% mindshare in NMS, compared to Nagios’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Nagios users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

3,526 Views
3,137 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Nagios Core

Read 51 Nagios Core reviews

4,253 Views
3,272 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Nagios Core

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Nagios Core and Checkmk compete in the network monitoring solutions category. Checkmk appears to have the upper hand due to its ease of use and comprehensive built-in monitoring functionalities, contrasting with Nagios Core's flexibility but steeper learning curve.

Features: Nagios Core is known for its open-source nature, flexibility, and customizable options. It allows integration with custom monitoring systems and features a variety of plugins. Checkmk, however, offers user-friendly automatic discovery, comprehensive monitoring capabilities, and ease of setup with built-in functionalities.

Room for Improvement: Nagios Core can be challenging due to its complex configuration and less interactive display, needing UI and dashboard enhancements. Checkmk could improve its integration options with third-party systems and streamline its alerting process to reduce manual intervention.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nagios Core supports a variety of deployment environments, including on-premises and cloud-based. The lack of direct customer service is a disadvantage, relying mainly on community support. Checkmk also provides flexible deployment options and generally has better support structures, although integrations can be limited.

Pricing and ROI: Nagios Core's open-source model allows for cost-effective deployment for basic monitoring needs, with community resources often providing necessary support, though it may demand technical expertise and effort. Checkmk presents a budget-friendly price compared to other enterprise solutions, offering significant value by facilitating scaling and advanced features.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Nagios Core Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Nagios Core

February 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 Network Monitoring Software

11th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (12th)

Nagios Core

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

8th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 3.6%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nagios Core is 3.0%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

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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Nishith-Vyas

Tech Lead at STL Digital Limited

Valuable reporting and alert system with room for PDF export improvements

The NetEase reporting structure needs improvement, especially the availability report, which is weak. It should be generated automatically with minimal human intervention and should be exportable as a PDF. Besides that, an integrated PDF export feature for reports is necessary. Also, the alert mechanism and graphing mechanism need to be integrated properly into Nagios Core. Currently, integrating these requires advanced Linux knowledge. Integration of more visualization tools like Grafana and Prometheus for better graphing and visualization is also recommended.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

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

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

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

"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."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

More Checkmk pros

"Other products are good but from the configuration point of view Nagios is really very lightweight. The price is really good in my opinion. Another important thing is that my Nagios engine still works with Dual core 8GB ram for the last 10 years."

"The application performance monitoring feature is valuable."

"The most valuable feature of Nagios Core is the ability to check the availability of the server for network connectivity. Additionally, the interface is good."

"We use the product to monitor server applications."

"The notifications are definitely one of the most valuable features of Nagios Core. We know what to look for and what to expect when things are down."

"Alert calls occur anytime a service goes down or a matrix is difficult and that helps us to quickly restore service and transfer work."

"Nagios Core is very configurable. Whatever you want, you can do it."

"The most valuable features are the reports and the way it generates the report in a graphical manner."

More Nagios Core pros

Cons

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

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

More Checkmk cons

"The interface could be improved."

"We're using the free version, which limits us in terms of the things that we can do. If we had the paid version, a lot of our issues would probably go away. For example, we can't isolate instances that are being built or updated with the production ones. When they're being built, on Nagios, they're showing in red. It'd be nice to be able to partition those off until they're all green, and then we can bring them into the environment. This is probably because we've got the free version and not the paid version. If we went for the paid version, it would probably allow us to do exactly what we want to or remove the restrictions that we have, but if we are able to isolate instances in the free version, it would make life much easier."

"I would like to see a sensor that shows the traffic of a user and what they're doing on the network."

"The dashboard should be improved."

"The core version is no match for the XI version."

"It would be nice if the company offered a sales or contract manager that was dedicated to our company so that we would have some sort of link to Nagios, and if we had issues or questions, we'd be able to contact them directly."

"t was a little hard to get our setup represented in the configuration."

"The scalability needs improvement, it's not scalable at this time."

More Nagios Core cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The product is affordable."

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

"It's free."

"We are using the open-source, unpaid version."

"We are using the free version."

"Most the plugin features are free."

"Nagios Core is a cheap solution."

"Nagios Core is an open source solution, and there are no licensing fees."

"The solution is expensive."

"The enterprise version has technical support. The version we are using is free."

More Nagios Core pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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 do you like most about Nagios Core?

What I like about Nagios Core is that it helps me ensure everything is running smoothly by checking the status of hosts and services.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios Core?

Nagios Core is a free and open-source product. We don't charge for the product itself, but we charge for the man-hour costs related to installation, configuration, ongoing operation, and maintenance.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Nagios Core?

The dashboard should be improved. It's very simple. I don't have a very clear or specific suggestion. You can change the skin of the dashboard, however, it's good for me.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Icinga vs Checkmk

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LibreNMS vs Checkmk

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

Netdata vs Checkmk

Compared 2% of the time

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Icinga vs Nagios Core

Compared 27% of the time

Nagios XI vs Nagios Core

Compared 19% of the time

Zabbix vs Nagios Core

Compared 15% of the time

Centreon vs Nagios Core

Compared 9% of the time

Observium vs Nagios Core

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

March 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core

March 2025

Download Nagios Core product report

Overview

Checkmk is a powerful tool for monitoring IT infrastructure, providing vital insights on servers, databases, network devices, and custom applications.

Primarily used for supervising IT infrastructure, Checkmk helps organizations ensure service availability by monitoring hosts, processes, load, storage, and network appliances. With support for both Linux and Windows environments across multiple data centers, Checkmk performs compliance checks and preserves historical data for core network devices.

What are the key features of Checkmk?

Auto-discovery: Automatically identifies new hosts and applies monitoring rules.
Custom monitoring: Enhances MySQL performance tracking.
Slack integration: Provides immediate downtime alerts.
Graphical trend analysis: Offers 400 days of trend data.
Multiple site monitoring: Ensures seamless data synchronization through task automation.
Resource and infrastructure monitoring: Configures log factors to fit budget constraints.
System metric imports: Includes servers, SQL, file systems, and application monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Time-saving: Auto-discovery and task automation streamline processes.
Proactive alerts: Immediate downtime notifications optimize response times.
Historical insights: Long-term graphical trend analysis aids strategic planning.
Cost efficiency: Resource monitoring aligned with budget constraints.

Checkmk is deployed extensively in large enterprise environments for monitoring critical infrastructure. It proves particularly useful under conditions of frequent power outages or network issues, helping maintain smooth operations. While the alert acknowledgment process and interface require improvements, and the lack of an agent-less platform complicates server management, the strengths in auto-discovery, integration, and comprehensive monitoring make Checkmk a strong contender for IT infrastructure monitoring.

Checkmk

This is IT infrastructure monitoring's industry-standard, open-source core. Free without professional support services.

Nagios

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Nagios Core

February 2025

Free Report: Checkmk vs. Nagios Core

Find out what your peers are saying about Checkmk vs. Nagios Core and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.

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