Checkmk vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

Checkmk and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.5, while SolarWinds is ranked #28 with an average rating of 7.9. Checkmk holds a 3.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

3,438 Views
3,086 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Read 22 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reviews

705 Views
604 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Checkmk

SolarWinds Network Device M...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and Checkmk are competing network monitoring solutions. Checkmk seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and scalability, making it more adaptable to diverse IT environments.

Features: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor offers real-time monitoring, alerts, and is straightforward, appealing to smaller organizations. Checkmk includes customizable dashboards, extensive plugin support, and scalability fit for medium to large enterprises.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could enhance its features for larger and more complex network environments, improve integration with other tools, and expand its reporting capabilities. Checkmk may reduce its learning curve, streamline its initial setup, and enhance its user interface for better usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is praised for quick setup and intuitive configuration, with responsive customer support. Checkmk, though having a steeper learning curve, provides comprehensive documentation and a supportive community for complex deployments.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is competitively priced with lower initial costs, appealing to small and medium businesses seeking cost efficiency and fast ROI. Checkmk has potentially higher initial costs, offering long-term value with its features and scalability, suitable for larger organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

March 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

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (6th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (12th)

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

28th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 3.4%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.6%, up from 0.5% 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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GurinderSingh

Sr Systems Engineer Network at AutoZone

A powerful and affordable tool designed to help you achieve comprehensive monitoring

It would be beneficial if SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could provide a feature to monitor CRC errors specifically on individual interfaces rather than the entire device. This would help in detecting intermittent issues and packet drops on main links more accurately, especially when there are CRC errors. It's important for us to be aware of these issues to avoid any voice quality problems or interruptions on our MTS links.

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

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

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

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

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

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

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

More Checkmk pros

"You can create an attractive dashboard and create a hierarchy."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is monitoring."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The product is useful for switches and IP phones."

"Link monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"SolarWinds is flexible and works with multiple vendor devices."

"I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process."

"There are vital features of auto-plugin core ports"

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

Cons

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

"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."

"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."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"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."

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

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

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

More Checkmk cons

"The reporting feature needs improvement because we are unable to configure reports that were included during initial implementation."

"SolarWinds pricing is on the higher side, and in India, every customer is cautious about commercial aspects."

"It would be beneficial if SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could provide a feature to monitor CRC errors specifically on individual interfaces rather than the entire device. This would help in detecting intermittent issues and packet drops on main links more accurately, especially when there are CRC errors. It's important for us to be aware of these issues to avoid any voice quality problems or interruptions on our MTS links."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve the features. We don't have the complete model for the database, and the monitoring for the database is up and down. We expect that we could monitor the blocking items on the database but we don't have that feature."

"If everything were in the package so that everything was ready to go out of the box, that would be ideal."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve by being more user-friendly. The network has so many features which make it difficult to find how to configure how to use it. It is not simple to customize."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor lacks the granularity of other monitoring tools like LiveNX."

"There is no mobile version of this product, and our team should be able to access it using a mobile device."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor 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."

"The enterprise license is good for the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor. However, it is expensive, they should reduce their price."

"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."

"The product is expensive."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."

"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."

"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."

"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."

"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor 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

16%

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

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 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 ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Checkmk?

Currently, I use two Dell PowerStore systems, and I'm responsible for disposing of systems in our environment. We need to upgrade our systems, but we are working on less pressing issues. Right now,...

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

The more devices you add, the more expensive the licenses become. SolarWinds has a premium cost associated with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

The solution lacks in performance monitoring. Although it identifies that everything is operating correctly across silos, it fails to demonstrate where a problem might be occurring within the servi...

See all answers

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 32% of the time

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Compared 29% of the time

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Compared 29% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

March 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

March 2025

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Network Device Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Network Device Monitor

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

Network Device Monitor is a free tool that makes it easy to monitor the real-time performance and health of a single device on your network with a desktop dashboard that alerts you when your device is in trouble.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Air Rarotonga

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

March 2025

Free Report: Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

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