Checkmk vs Zabbix comparison

Checkmk and Zabbix are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.5, while Zabbix is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6. Checkmk holds a 3.1% mindshare in NMS, compared to Zabbix’s 12.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Zabbix users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 8 Checkmk reviews

3,335 Views
3,003 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Zabbix

Read 105 Zabbix reviews

17,341 Views
13,304 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Zabbix

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 26, 2024

Zabbix and Checkmk are open-source monitoring tools competing in the network monitoring category. Zabbix seems to have an upper hand with its comprehensive feature set and scalability, while Checkmk is noted for its ease of deployment and responsive support.

Features: Zabbix offers automated network and metric discovery, customizable alerts, and seamless integration with third-party tools. Its comprehensive monitoring capabilities eliminate the need for secondary tools, and it supports a scalable architecture. Checkmk provides intuitive auto-discovery of services, resource monitoring, and log factor configuration, making it effective in environments with frequent outages.

Room for Improvement: Zabbix needs to address its steep learning curve and improve integration with automation and third-party systems; enhancements in graphics, mobile client flexibility, and UI customization are also needed. Checkmk requires improvements in its presentation layer and easier integration with systems like ServiceNow and Dynatrace, along with enhanced dashboards and reporting.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Zabbix and Checkmk offer straightforward deployment. Zabbix supports on-premises, hybrid, and public clouds, providing versatility. Checkmk is especially easy to deploy for on-premises and private cloud setups. Zabbix has an active community and various support tiers, though its paid support is costly. Checkmk is praised for responsive support but needs better documentation for its features.

Pricing and ROI: Zabbix provides a completely free open-source product, offering significant savings for enterprises with no licensing fees. Its long-term cost consists mainly of learning and potential support subscriptions. Checkmk offers an affordable enterprise edition with robust features, making it a cost-effective choice for budget-constrained environments.

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

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Zabbix

January 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

Ranking in Server Monitoring

6th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

12th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

12th

Average Rating

8.6

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 (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 3.1%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zabbix is 12.2%, up from 11.7% 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 helps me compare data and foresee issues."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"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 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."

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

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

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

More Checkmk pros

"I'm supervising all the IT departments, and Zabbix seems quite good for them. It provides graphics and information in real time. We get alerts about crashes on the system, enabling us to quickly repair issues. We can easily find devices with problems."

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

"It can send messages to our ticketing system."

"We are able to do problem determination on runaway processes."

"The solution allows for good integration with other products."

"The solution's design has recently changed and it is visually pleasing with more color, for example, there is blue, black, and white."

"It has an intuitive UI with beautiful graphs and customizable maps."

"The most valuable feature is network traffic monitoring."

More Zabbix pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

More Checkmk cons

"Zabbix claims that there is an auto-discovery process but my team member was facing difficulty and was told that it's not really automatic, and there are some manual steps."

"The performance reporting could be improved."

"I think the reporting part of Zabbix can be improved in terms of more user-friendly graphics to display the collected data. Many simple users who don't know how to use Zabbix properly might get confused by the reporting, although at the same time it is very versatile for my company."

"There is a bit of a learning curve during installation."

"Having a more customizable interface and dashboard would be an improvement."

"I am having difficulties connecting it to Grafana, as well as some of the other plugins like Kibana."

"The event correlation could be better."

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

More Zabbix 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."

"It’s free of cost."

"Zabbix and Grafana are both open source products, we only needed to go to their website and download the application and we began to use them. The solutions are free."

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

"Zabbix is a free solution but the support contact costs money."

"I was using the free, Community Edition."

"The solution is open source so is free."

"Zabbix is an open-source tool, and it's free to use."

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

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

16%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

39%

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Checkmk?

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. But basically, we're okay with it. The difficult part was adapting fro...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Checkmk?

We use it to monitor mainly Linux servers, including operating system metrics, processes, services, and so on. We also use scripting and monitoring logs.

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 6% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

SCOM 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

Centreon vs Zabbix

Compared 4% of the time

NetXMS vs Zabbix

Compared 3% of the time

OpenTelemetry vs Zabbix

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

February 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Zabbix

January 2025

Download Zabbix 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

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

January 2025

Free Report: Checkmk vs. Zabbix

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