Checkmk vs Zabbix comparison

Checkmk and Zabbix are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.4, while Zabbix is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7. Checkmk holds a 3.6% mindshare in NMS, compared to Zabbix’s 13.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Zabbix users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

3,526 Views
3,137 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Zabbix

Read 105 Zabbix reviews

17,122 Views
13,019 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Zabbix

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 30, 2025

Zabbix and Checkmk are key players in the open-source monitoring sector. Zabbix seems to have the upper hand with its extensive feature set and strong community support.

Features: Zabbix is known for automated network and metric discovery, high scalability, and a robust API. It provides extensive alerting and integration options with tools like Grafana. Checkmk offers automatic discovery and event management integration, enhancing scalability and administration ease. Both cater to different monitoring needs effectively.

Room for Improvement: Zabbix could enhance user experience and reporting with predictive trending and better dashboard interfaces. Checkmk users want better integration options with other monitoring solutions and user interface improvements to ease configuration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zabbix supports diverse environments including on-premises and hybrid cloud setups. It benefits from a vibrant community, though customer support experiences vary. Checkmk focuses primarily on on-premises deployment, offering straightforward setup though it could use enhanced community resources.

Pricing and ROI: Zabbix is completely open-source with no licensing fees, offering high cost-effectiveness. Checkmk has a competitive pricing model, especially for enterprise solutions, delivering good ROI through reduced downtime and system costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Zabbix Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Zabbix

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

11th

Ranking in Server Monitoring

5th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

13th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zabbix

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

1st

Ranking in Server Monitoring

1st

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

1st

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

105

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (8th)

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 Zabbix is 13.0%, up from 11.2% 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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ASM Naushad Alam

Network Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Allows any number of customizations but lacks functionality for finding root causes

We have not yet purchased the commercial version so have a lack of technical ability. We do not yet fully know the key points or key features of the solution. We just use what we use along with WhatsUp Gold. Based on our use only, stability is rated a seven out of ten.

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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

"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."

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

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

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

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

"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."

More Checkmk pros

"Every new asset placed in the environment can be automatically detected, predicting human failures."

"We use it to monitor and manage our servers."

"Zabbix helps to save time."

"It can send messages to our ticketing system."

"The solution is quite mature and very stable."

"Zabbix is both stable and scalable."

"The best thing about Zabbix is the integration and the APIs that are included are very fast"

"The pricing of the product is reasonable."

More Zabbix pros

Cons

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

"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 allow running scripts at varying intervals."

"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."

"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."

"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."

More Checkmk cons

"We would like to monitor other touchpoints such as ATM machines. It would be great if it can provide monitoring of ATM machines. Compatibility with other products would also be great."

"Zabbix technical support is sold separately."

"Zabbix is powerful, but it is difficult to understand initially. There are many things that can be improved, but we might not be using Zabbix to its fullest extent. The software has more features than we need."

"They should open an SSH session from the web interface."

"The user interface could be a bit better. They could update it a bit."

"Look and feel."

"If you want to use all of the features then you have to pay a licensing fee."

"To improve Zabbix, adding more features to support the monitoring of modern workloads like containers would be beneficial."

More Zabbix 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."

"We’re using the free version, which covers all our current needs."

"It's free software released under the GNU/GPL license."

"It is a true open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."

"If you have 20,000 hosts, the support costs around €95,000 for a year."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"My manager is very happy because it doesn't cost anything."

"It is open source. If you want to have a subscription or official support, you can pay for it. They have different plans, which are not that expensive. The plans are based on per monitoring server, not per monitored equipment. So, it is not at all expensive, and you can also live without the support if you want a cheaper option."

"For pricing, it's free. We don't pay anything for it. They open-source the code, and people pay for support."

More Zabbix pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

37%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

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.

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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 Zabbix?

The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zabbix?

The cost is minimal. It is literally free.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zabbix?

For me, Zabbix is very straightforward. I cannot think of any improvements needed. It's a very mature product. The only issue I can note is that it's Linux-based, and Linux documentation is not the...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

LibreNMS vs Checkmk

Compared 7% of the time

Centreon vs Checkmk

Compared 3% of the time

Observium vs Checkmk

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Checkmk

Compared 3% of the time

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LibreNMS vs Zabbix

Compared 10% of the time

Icinga vs Zabbix

Compared 8% of the time

NetXMS vs Zabbix

Compared 4% of the time

Centreon vs Zabbix

Compared 4% of the time

Nagios XI vs Zabbix

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Zabbix

March 2025

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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

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring software that provides real-time monitoring and alerting for servers, networks, applications, and services.

It offers a wide range of features including data collection, visualization, and reporting.

With its user-friendly interface and customizable dashboards, Zabbix helps organizations ensure the availability and performance of their IT infrastructure.

Zabbix

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

1. IBM 2. Dell 3. Cisco 4. HP 5. Oracle 6. Microsoft 7. Amazon 8. Google 9. Facebook 10. Twitter 11. LinkedIn 12. Netflix 13. Adobe 14. VMware 15. Salesforce 16. SAP 17. Intel 18. AT&T 19. Verizon 20. T-Mobile 21. Vodafone 22. Ericsson 23. Nokia 24. Siemens 25. General Electric 26. Honeywell 27. Philips 28. Sony 29. Samsung 30. LG 31. Panasonic 32. Toshiba

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Zabbix

March 2025

Free Report: Checkmk vs. Zabbix

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