Alternatives to Zabbix

If Zabbix is not the best network monitoring tool for your IT environment and you are looking for an alternative, we have a list of the best Zabbix alternatives to help you select the right solution for your needs.

Alternatives to Zabbix

Paessler PRTG, Nagios, ManageEngine, SolarWinds, Checkmk, Auvik, WhatsUpGold

Zabbix is an open-source network monitoring software that offers great features and flexibility. However, it can be challenging to set up, configure, and use and lacks some features that are important to many users.

So, let’s take a close look at alternative software, if you are looking to replace Zabbix for your IT monitoring needs.

Paessler PRTG

Paessler PRTG is a great network monitoring tool that is very affordable and has tons of features for monitoring network devices, traffic, performance, and applications.

PRTG Network Monitor’s ease of use is one of its greatest assets. It is set up in a matter of minutes and, like most professional solutions, includes an auto-discovery feature that scans the network and adds components to the monitoring setup automatically. The tool not only comes with a user-friendly online interface but also offers a native desktop application as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android (you can even use PRTG on your Apple Watch).

PRTG is vendor neutral and integrates network devices using the most popular technologies such as SNMP, WMI, SSH, or flow protocols (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX). It offers a large number of pre-configured sensors and device templates for well-known manufacturers and vendors, always keeping in mind the ease of deployment.

You can create custom, interactive dashboards and maps with PRTG that provide a multitude of visualization choices through drag-and-drop widgets.

Every PRTG license comes with all the software’s features. Other tools (e.g. SolarWinds NPM) charge for features such as flow monitoring. With licenses starting from $1,799, PRTG is also relatively inexpensive. In comparison with other tools, you can thus save thousands of dollars.

Paessler PRTG is not only available as on-premises software, but also as a SaaS solution (PRTG Hosted Monitor).

Nagios

Nagios Core is another great free and open-source Linux-based network monitoring tool. If you are looking for an open-source alternative to Zabbix, Nagios could be worth considering.

Nagios can be used to monitor not only network devices but also applications, databases, services, and more.

Because it is open-source software, there are a large number of community-developed, free add-ons for Nagios, as well as numerous APIs. This makes Nagios very customizable and extensible. But this high level of customization also means that the configuration and setup can be very complex and might need days. In addition, the management and configuration of Nagios often need special knowledge.

Moreover, if you need to customize your Nagios configuration later, you can figure spending an enormous amount of time and effort to get it done.

Besides the free Nagios Core, there are also two Nagios IX commercial editions that start at $1,995. If you’re searching for less manual configuration and scripting work, these versions may be helpful since they include features like configuration wizards, sophisticated visualization and reporting features, custom-tailored dashboards, and more.

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ManageEngine OpManager

ManageEngine OpManager from Zoho Corporation is a user-friendly network monitoring tool that offers a great feature set.

OpManager monitors not only network devices but also applications, databases, virtual machines, and more. It uses SNMP, WMI, and other protocols to collect data from devices on the network.

The software includes a wide range of reports and supports custom dashboards. You can use OpManager to create maps of your network topology using drag-and-drop.

A lot of the features of ManageEngine OpManager like monitoring virtual environments or distributed monitoring are not included in the Standard Edition. Other features like flow monitoring or application management need to be purchased as add-ons.

Pricing for ManageEngine is device based and starts at $ 245 per 10 devices for the Standard Edition, which, however, includes a limited feature set. If a company wants to use all features for comprehensive network monitoring, it needs to purchase the Professional Edition ($ 345 per 10 devices) or the Enterprise Edition ($ 11,545 per 250 devices) in addition to several add-ons and plug-ins. Because of this, license costs can rapidly rise to a huge amount of money.

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Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

SolarWinds NPM is a network monitoring software that is part of the SolarWinds Orion platform. It helps organizations detect and resolve network performance issues.

NPM uses SNMP, WMI, and other protocols to collect data from devices on the network. It can monitor not only network devices but also applications, databases, virtual machines, and more.

The NetWork Atlas application for NPM can be used to design customized maps using drag-and-drop that instantly generate L2 and L3 network connections between the specified network devices. The visualization tool NetPath lets you view all paths your data takes in your network including the ability to trace every hop. 

One of the strengths of NPM is the extensive feature set and the support of almost all vendors and devices. Due to its modular setup, the initial setup and configuration can take many hours if not days.

Solarwinds NPM is available in several editions that differ in the number of monitored elements (devices, interfaces, volumes) and included features.

Perpetual licenses for NPM start at about $ 2,800. However, keep in mind that you’ll also have to acquire costly add-ons and extra pieces of software to meet your greater monitoring demands. As with OpManager, costs can quickly reach the range of several ten thousand dollars.

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Checkmk

Checkmk is a professional tool for monitoring IT infrastructures, services, and applications.

With the Linux-based tool Checkmk, you can monitor network devices, servers, virtual machines, and more. It uses SNMP, WMI, and other protocols to collect data from devices on the network.

Checkmk offers a wide range of features for monitoring and visualizing your data including custom dashboards and reports. The software also has a built-in ticketing system and supports integration with a wide variety of third-party tools. However, many of these plug-ins are agent based and require additional, complex configurations.

Checkmk offers very basic visual maps and charts as well as configurable dashboards for visualization. For more options, we recommend that you use the Grafana plugin.

The software is available in several editions that differ in the number of monitored hosts, included features, and support options. If you want to monitor your network using flow protocols, for example, you need the Enterprise Edition.

Checkmk is only available as a subscription, so you need to pay a recurring fee to use the software.

The Enterprise Edition starts at 760 $ per year. The exact license costs depend on the number of hosts that need to be monitored.

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Auvik

Auvik is a cloud-based network monitoring tool. The software uses a hybrid-agent architecture. Lightweight sensors are deployed throughout the network to collect data and report back to the Auvik cloud platform in real time. As a SaaS tool, there is no need to install and configure a ‘main server’.

Auvik provides users with an extensive set of features for managing and monitoring their networks including support for over 60 vendors and 2000+ devices. A small drawback: There are no preconfigured templates like in PRTG or OpManager, for example. Also, Auvik doesn’t offer customizable dashboards, which limits the range of visualization options.

There are two subscriptions available for Auvik: Essentials, which includes all basic network monitoring features, and Performance, which is required for traffic and log monitoring as well as for unified problem diagnosis dashboards. Pricing is based on quotations.

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WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold by Progress (formerly Ipswitch) is a tool for monitoring your network and application performance, and for managing your logs and configurations.

Like Auvik, WhatsUp Gold doesn’t offer prebuilt templates, and integrating third-party systems and applications requires REST API calls which need a lot of configuration work.

The latest versions of WhatsUp Gold are a lot more user-friendly and offer significant improvements of user interface and layout. The bad usability of WUG was much criticized in the past.

Like other professional monitoring solutions, WhatsUp Gold comes with an automated discovery feature that scans the network for available devices and adds them to your monitoring. The tool also generates interactive layer 2 and 3 network topology maps.

A major drawback of WhatsUp Gold is its intransparent licensing policy. Prices are quote based only and you need to provide details about your network and your requirements before getting an offer. Some features like network traffic analysis or flow monitoring require an add-on (or the purchase of the Total Plus license).

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