Zabbix Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

Ronald Rood

Principal Technical Consultant at CIBER

Mar 3, 2021

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Proactive troubleshooting and has good integration with other tools

Pros and Cons

"We detect problems before the customer does and before it actually happens using the predictive functions in Zabbix."

"I would like to see a more flexible mobile client, and better HA out of the box."

What is our primary use case?

We - msp - use this solution for enterprise-wide monitoring and alerting for network devices, appliances, Linux, Windows, Exadata, ODAs, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and MySQL databases.

How has it helped my organization?

We detect problems before the customer does and before it actually happens using the predictive functions in Zabbix. Zabbix gives us a single point of truth.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the low-level discovery, auto registration, host discovery, integration with other tools, and the zbxdb plugin for database monitoring

Very good templates

What needs improvement?

I would like to see a more flexible mobile client, and better HA out of the box.

It would also be very interesting to have a GUI on the proxy server[s]

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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability of the product (servers and agents) was one of the key factors we checked. The agents normally have a low footprint and are very resource friendly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Especially when using postgres with the timescaleDB option, the performance improved a lot because data deletion is now done by dropping partitions, which saves lot's of database time. We are confident that zabbix kan keep working for us while we grow. In the end, the bottle neck will be the database but we see a lot of options to stretch this.

How are customer service and support?

Zabbix support works through various channels and works responsive. We are also very glad with the community support where we also share our experiences. Currently there is an active community in Telegram https://t.me/ZabbixTech

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Earlier we used all kinds of other tools, all for a part of the stack. Oracle enterprise manager for oracle databases, PEM for postgres databases, SCOM for Windows, prtg for network, appman for applications. This required to run and maintain all those tools .... Now consolidating to 1 saves a lot of time and gives a single point of truth.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. Making it completely HA required some work but if you are familiar with the redhat tools it is not hard.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the zabbix solution our selves. A team consisting of a Linux admin and a postgres dba that both know Linux and zabbix setup the infra structure. The other teams gave input for their metrics, thresholds and views.

What was our ROI?

Combined with the other tools that we phased out the ROI will be within 1 year. One of the things we save a lot of money on is the replacement of SMS by an other notification service.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Make a POC, start simple and let it grow. The servers are created with good performance by design. Memory for the caching, both on the database as on the zabbix server are important. As database backend choose postgres with timescaleDB. This save many hours housekeeping processing. For proxies, sqlite will do nicely. Involve a dba for the database setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We checked the above mentioned options. Zabbix came out as a winner. Simple, good web application, no need for fat clients which makes maintenance simpler. Zabbix does not have the nicest GUI, compared with some above but it is certainly acceptable, especially when pricing is taking into account. Especially with the postgres database in combination with the timescaleDB options is has an excellent performance. It has a clean database design and handling.

If state of the art reporting is important, integrate with grafana. It can be done via the api and directly on the zabbix database.

What other advice do I have?

If performance and scalability is important, use postgres with timescaleDB as database backend. This wins hands down compared to mysql.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Faustine ChisasaSystem Administrator at TZ Telecom Ltd.

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Sep 30, 2021

I am pleased to see what other tools you have used before switching to Zabbix, out of those I have only used PRTG and I see Zabbix as a better option by far.

it_user685347

Linux System Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jun 26, 2017

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The solution allows us to monitor critical parts of our systems, track performance and utilization, and prevent outages.

What is most valuable?

Zabbix is fully open-source - no paid features/versions, so you get everything for free. Great, totally free product:

It is very customizable and flexible - you can monitor almost everything.
It has many great options - like auto discovery/registration, many types of alerting and templates provided by the vendor.
It is easy to implement, easy to use for technical people.
It is very stable, flexible and scalable.
It has many great features ready to use right after installation.
It is a little hard to understand for the non-technical user.

How has it helped my organization?

Zabbix allows us to monitor critical parts of our systems, track performance and utilization, and prevent outages.

It allows us to monitor specific parts of the system as well as control how the whole environment is doing.

With the great alerting system we always know which component might fail and can prevent it.

Adding new hosts/items is easy and quick and the great function for mass updating many components at once is very helpful as well.

What needs improvement?

Zabbix is a great tool and fairly easy for a technical person but it could be more friendly for non-technical staff.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with stability. Zabbix is very stable. I can't remember a Zabbix server ever failing.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never contacted Zabbix technical support. I had no need to. The Zabbix forum was enough for my issues.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I switched from Nagios to Zabbix. For me Zabbix is more intuitive, flexible, offering more options out-of-the-box.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't have troubles implementing it. The official documentation is more than enough.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Zabbix is free - no hidden costs, no paid features. Just download, install and enjoy.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I had the option to stay with Nagios or switch to Zabbix. I switched.

What other advice do I have?

Make a plan for components you want to monitor, how these components are related, what groups and templates you want to create.

Also at the beginning don't be afraid to use templates provided by Zabbix - it will help you start. After that you can slowly tweak them or add new ones.

Make the database backup - that should be obvious.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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it_user2652

Project Manager at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees

Mar 4, 2016

Highly recommended open source monitoring software for servers and network monitoring

Zabbix provides flexible functionality over Nagios and other open source monitoring softwares like opennms, zenoss etc. It is widely used in market these days due to its easy administration and configuration.

Pros:- 1. Zabbix provides a user friendly GUI interface for administration and configuration for monitoring servers and network.

2. Zabbix is open source software, so no licenses needs to be purchased.

3. Zabbix clients can be configued easily by installing Zabbix client software on client machines on the network. Zabbix client machines can be of either windows, linux or any unix machine.

4. User parameters can be configured for customized scripts.

5. Configuration/administration documentations are available on official web site of Zabbix and videos/additional documentations are also available on other popular websites like youtube etc.

Cons:- 1. Installation is little complex, tedious, time consuming and prone to user errors. However, once installed, it provides user friendly interface for all administrative tasks.

2. Some scripting knowledge is required in order to make changes to configuration files.

3. Adding custom services requires reloading the config or restarting the service.

Alternate Vendors:- Nagios, Zenoss, Cacti !!

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user2652Project Manager at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees

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Jul 20, 2013

I have not used Anturis, but I have heard that this is very good monitoring tool for cloud servers.

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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 using these, but they require quite some expertise before you can use them. Then there are the ones that are not open source, the enterprise softwares and cost you some money, but on the other hand, they are extremely easy to set-up and learn. You can have them up and running in a matter of minutes. And then there are those which are completely cloud based. They can be free of cost or charge some money depending on the software. The good thing about these is that you don’t have to install any extra software, and it can be managed completely online but then again these have limited features and you cannot exploit them to the full extent as you can do with the open-source and to some extent the enterprise software, so I won’t suggest you to use these, because these are generally not the complete solutions and require other support software to achieve the same. Below I have listed the outstanding pros and cons of the various Network analyzers that you can look into.

Nagios

Pros:

Nagios offers an extensive set of collector plug-ins that allows users to gather performance and availability data from a broad range of operating systems, including Windows and Netware
Nagios has a web interface that helps users check network health from anywhere
Creates reports on trends, availability, alerts, notifications — via the web interface
Monitors network redundancies and failure rates

Cons:

Web GUI is not good
Steep learning curve is required for managing config files to run devices and tests

Zabbix

Pros:

Zabbix is fully configurable from its web front end and so it is easier to use Zabbix
than the popular Nagios — whose configuration requires several text files
Further, Zabbix combines both monitoring and trending functionality, while Nagios
focuses exclusively on monitoring
The Web monitoring function of Zabbix allows users to monitor the availability and
performance of web-based services over time. Moreover, this functionality allows
Zabbix to log into a web application periodically and run through a series of typical
steps being performed by a customer
It’s open-source and has a well-designed Web GUI and overall concept
Zabbix offers good alerts, dedicated agents and an active user community

Cons:

Zabbix is not suitable for large networks with 1,000+ nodes, due to PHP performance
and Web GUI limitations
A lack of real-time tests, as well as complicated templates and alerting rules

Solarwinds

Pros:

SolarWinds’s ConnectNow Topology Mapping allows users’ environment to be mapped
in real time automatically. This provides graphical visibility into users’ networks,
requiring no additional work or tools
SolarWinds’s Integrated Wireless Poller monitors wireless devices for security and other issues and reduces the difficulty in managing these items, allowing more widespread use of wireless technologies
Excellent UI design
Customizable, automated network mapping
Great community support provided by Thwack
Mobile access
Native VMware support

Cons:

Unable to configure alerts from the web-console
Clumsy “Group Dependency” configuration
Reporting module needs better ad-hoc reports
No native support for Microsoft Hyper-V. Features SNMP only

PRTG Network Monitor

Paessler has completely redesigned its Web interface to make it simpler to use. In addition, the company has added support for a mini-HTML interface for mobile devices, including iPhones, BlackBerrys, Androids and Windows Mobile devices. What’s more, with the iPhone app — available through the iTunes App Store — IT managers can not only receive alerts about network status, they can also take action.

Pros:

Google Maps integrated with the Web interface, allowing monitoring software to display
geographical maps
Functions of advanced maps for creating custom network views
Real-time availability of up to a year of actual historic data, not aggregated data
Integrated native Linux monitoring functions
Monitoring of virtual environments, including VMware, HyperV, Xen and Amazon Cloud Watch
Installation of reliable alarm system enabling alerts via e-mail, SMS, instant
messenger, pager message, HTTP request, syslog, etc.
A variety of new sensors and remote probes to monitor distributed systems, including
xFlow sensors for monitoring via NetFlow or sFlow.
Very easy setup,
broad range of sensors,
self-contained design

**I did not find any cons!

Spiceworks

Spiceworks is a network management and monitoring, Help Desk, PC inventory and software reporting solution for handling IT in small and medium-sized businesses.

Pros

● Fast installation
● Main dashboard completely configurable
● Easy to use monitoring console
● Active user community, with forums, ratings and reviews, how-tos and whitepapers
● Free
● Easy to install and configure for Windows environments
● “All in one” solution for Inventory, Monitoring, and Help Desk
● Great starting point for IT management

Cons

● On larger networks, performance can be slow
● Limited scalability
● Does not facilitate managing control of monitored devices
● Some initial device configuration is required to be recognized by Spiceworks
● VMWare and Unix systems not discovered nearly as easily as Windows
● Does not provide the same depth of monitoring and control as enterprise-level
products

Software	Faster Config Process	Good web interface	Compatible to leading OS	Better Graphics and Navigation	Cost Effective	Free?	Mobile Access	Integrated Maps
Nagios	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Zabbix	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Solarwinds Orion Network Performance Monitor	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Paessler NetworkMonitor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Spiceworks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

Inputs

If you want to try out an open-source software, which is absolutely free, you should opt for Zabbix. You can also try out the PRTG Network monitor as it is free for up to 30 sensors. Considering the fact that currently we do not have a lot of servers, you can opt for the PRTG monitor as it is much simpler than Zabbix with almost all the same features and actually much better GUI. Like Zabbix it also has excellent community support and once you feel that you need to add more sensors you can opt to pay for those using the PRTG Network monitor or go for Zabbix. The problem with softwares like Zabbix and Nagios is that they require a very steep learning curve and unless you devote a person for that purpose it would be really time (that implies money) consuming. So basically its just the same. I would suggest to give the PRTG Network Monitoring System a try.

Important links

PRTG Network Monitor download link : http://www.paessler.com/prtg/download
Zabbix Download link : http://www.zabbix.com/download.php

PRTG System Requirements : http://www.paessler.com/prtg/detailedrequirements
Zabbix Systems Requirements : http://www.zabbix.com/requirements.php

PRTG Support : http://www.paessler.com/support/manuals
Zabbix Support : http://www.zabbix.com/documentation.php

PRTG Community and Blog : http://www.paessler.com/blog
Zabbix Community and Blog : http://www.zabbix.com/community.php

Extended Feature Comparison of the Network Analyzer tools

Name	IP SLA Reports	Logical Groupings	Trending	Trend Prediction	Auto-Discovery	Agentless	SNMP	SysLog	Plug-Ins
Zabbix	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Supported	Yes	Yes	Yes
Solarwinds	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Supported	Yes	Yes	Yes
PRTG Network Monitor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Supported	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nagios	via Pliug-in	Yes	Yes	No	via Pliug-in	Supported	via Pliug-in	via Pliug-in	Yes

Name	Triggers/ Alerts	WebApp	Distributed Monitoring	Inventory	Platform	Data Storage Method	License	Maps
Zabbix	Yes	Full Control	Yes	Yes	C, PHP	Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, IBM DB2, SQLite	GPL	Yes
Solarwinds	Yes	Full Control	Yes	Yes	.NET	SQL	Commercial	Yes
PRTG Network Monitor	Yes	Full Control	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Proprietary	Freeware and Commercial	Yes
Nagios	Yes	Yes	Yes	via Pliug-in	C, PHP	Flat file,SQL	GPL	Yes

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user613302Works at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

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Apr 13, 2017

Meanwhile Zabbix offers trend prediction as well:
www.zabbix.com

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reviewer290277

IT Administrator at a aerospace/defense firm with 501-1,000 employees

Sep 15, 2021

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Easy to use and manage but delivers too many false positives

Pros and Cons

"The solution is stable."

"The user interface could be better."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is primarily used for monitoring servers, printers, and network switches.

What is most valuable?

It's very easy to use and manage.

The solution is stable.

You can scale the product well.

There is a free open-source version of the solution.

What needs improvement?

I don't like to use the solution for the most part.

I get too many false positives. I get a problem one minute and then it's okay the next. That happens a lot. I hate that.

The user interface could be better.

The performance needs improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for six years or so. I've used the solution for a while at this point.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't have any issues with the stability. The performance isn't great, however. That said, it doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't really any bugs.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. A company can easily expand it.

We have about five users who monitor it constantly. I no longer manage it myself.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never contacted technical support. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I need to be able to monitor stuff and I can't monitor these things now, so I am using other products for it.

How was the initial setup?

The installation happened a long time ago. I can't recall what the implementation was like in terms of if it was complete or straightforward.

You only need one person to handle the maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm using a free version. I do not pay any licensing fees.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a customer and an end-user.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

I'm not sure if I would recommend the solution. I really don't like it as it generates a lot of false information. That said, it is a good monitoring solution, for what it's worth.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

reviewer1320186

Project Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees

Nov 23, 2020

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Straightforward to set up, and works well for monitoring our internal network

Pros and Cons

"The initial setup was not complex."

"The graphical user interface could be customized a little bit more, and also the dashboard could be more friendly."

What is our primary use case?

Primarily we are using an on-premise installation, and just now we are exploring the cloud installation. It's basically the same one. It's a pre-production and production environment. We use the on-premises for testing, and we have the one with the cloud installation also.

We are using this solution for monitoring our internal network and infrastructure in the company, and also for monitoring a couple of our customers' installations. Not only their network but also their services, and to reduce consumption.

What needs improvement?

The graphical user interface could be customized a little bit more, and also the dashboard could be more friendly.

I would like to recommend the possibility of being integrated for the monitoring of the Micro Strategy System environment and clusters of machine Micro Services.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zabbix for perhaps six months

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable product. We have 20 users in our organization who are using it.

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't have any experience with technical support. We haven't had any reason to contact them because we have been able to address any issues on our side.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not complex. It took two hours to install.

What about the implementation team?

My colleague, along with one other internal team member deployed this solution. We did not use anyone externally.

What other advice do I have?

We have only just started using this solution a couple of months ago, but we plan to continue using it in the future.

I can recommend this product to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Sudip Karmacharya

Information Security Specialist at CAS Trading House

Jan 25, 2023

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A good network monitoring tool that is user-friendly, but lacks automatic push functionality and could benefit from improved stability

Pros and Cons

"We like the user-interface for this solution, which makes it an easy to use tool."

"We would like to see the addition of automatic push functionality to this product. This would save time when monitoring our servers and networks as, at present, we have to manually install the Zabbix agent on any hardware to be monitored."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to monitor, install and configure our networks, servers, virtual machines, and cloud services.

What is most valuable?

We like the user-interface for this solution, which makes it an easy to use tool.

This product is also easy to configure to our exact requirements.

What needs improvement?

We would like to see the addition of automatic push functionality to this product. This would save time when monitoring our servers and networks as, at present, we have to manually install the Zabbix agent on any hardware to be monitored.

We would also like inventory management functionality to be added to this solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have occasionally experienced issues with the stability of this solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution, but requires a lot of resources to be engaged in order for it to be scaled.

How was the initial setup?

The setup process for this solution could be easier, as it requires a lot of configuration prior to deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented this solution in-house.

What other advice do I have?

We would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Venkatesh Shanmugavel

Lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Jun 22, 2021

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Easy to manage, user-friendly, and new features added frequently

Pros and Cons

"The solution is open-source, easy to manage, and user-friendly making it easy for anyone to use."

"In an upcoming release, there should be automated reports which we are currently doing manually. For example, if we collect a report file every day and want to send it to a moderator for review. We are expecting this feature to come out soon but it would be valuable to have now."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for network and application monitoring.

What is most valuable?

The solution is open-source, easy to manage, and user-friendly making it easy for anyone to use.

Zabbix is always improving by adding more features and they have monthly announcements explaining the upcoming new features and functionality.

What needs improvement?

The automation could be improved.

In an upcoming release, there should be automated reports which we are currently doing manually. For example, if we collect a report file every day and want to send it to a moderator for review. We are expecting this feature to come out soon but it would be valuable to have now.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. They release major updates every two or three years with the minor changes being released every six months.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Zabbix an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.