Comparison of network monitoring systems

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The following tables compare general and technical information for several notable network monitoring systems. For more information, please refer to the individual product articles.

Features

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Name IP SLA reports Logical grouping Trending Trend prediction Auto discovery Agentless SNMP Syslog Plugins Triggers / alerts MIB compiler Web app Distributed monitoring Inventory Platform Data storage method License Maps Access control IPv6 Latest release date Latest release version
Cacti Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes PHP RRDtool, MySQL, MariaDB GNU GPL Via plugin Yes Yes 2025-03-23 1.2.30
Checkmk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes C, Python RRDtool GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes 2025-05-06 2.4
collectd No No No No Push model;
multicast possible 		Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Viewing Yes No C RRDtool GNU GPL No Apache ACL Yes 2020-09-03 5.12
Cruz Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes Java, C++, .NET MySQL, Oracle Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2019-02 8.0.0
FreeNATS Yes Yes No No Yes No No Via plugin Yes In PHP Code No Full Control No No PHP MySQL[1] GNU GPL No Yes Unknown 2018-11-14 1.20.1b
Ganglia No Yes Yes No Via gmond check in No Via plugin No Yes No No Viewing Yes Unknown C, PHP RRDtool BSD Yes No Unknown 2016-06-14 3.7.2
Icinga Via plugin Yes Yes No Via plugin Yes Via plugin Via plugin Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Via plugin C[2] MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL[3] GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes 2025-06-18 2.15.0[4]
InterMapper Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Viewing Yes Yes Windows, Linux & Mac OS PostgreSQL Limited free, Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2017-07 6.1.5
isyVmon Yes Yes Yes No Via plugin No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Via plugin PHP RRDtool, MySQL Limited free, Commercial Via plugin Yes Yes Unknown Unknown
Munin No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Partial No Viewing Via nodes Unknown Perl RRDtool GNU GPL Unknown Unknown Yes 2021-02-22 2.0.67
Nagios Via plugin Yes Yes No Via plugin Yes Via plugin Via plugin Yes Yes No Yes Yes Via plugin C Flat file, SQL (via ndoutils), MySql (Via Nconf) GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes[5] 2022-04-14 4.4.7[6]
Netdisco No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Perl PostgreSQL BSD Yes Yes Yes 2024-09-13 2.079001[7]
NetXMS Unknown Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes C, Java PostgreSQL, PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB, MariaDB, MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, SQLite GNU GPL Yes Yes Yes 2024-04-15 4.5.6
NeuralStar Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes Unknown MS SQL Commercial Yes Yes Yes Unknown Unknown
Octopussy No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Full control No Yes Perl, ASP MySQL GNU GPL No Yes No 2017-06-03 1.0.16
op5 Monitor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Via plugin C, PHP Flat file, SQL Limited free, Commercial Yes Yes Yes Monthly 7.3.0
OpenKBM Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Unknown Proprietary with JDBC support Commercial Yes Yes Yes Unknown Unknown
OpenNMS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Full Control Yes Yes Java JRobin / RRDTool / Apache Cassandra, PostgreSQL AGPLv3 Yes Yes Yes 2025-08-13 34.0.0
OPNET's AppResponse Xpert Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Viewing, Acknowledging, Reporting Yes No Unknown Unknown Commercial Yes Yes Unknown Unknown Unknown
OSI NetExpert Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Java, C++ Oracle Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2013-04 10.0
PacketTrap Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Viewing, Reporting Yes Yes Unknown SQL Commercial Yes Yes Yes Unknown Unknown
Pandora FMS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes Perl, PHP, C++, JavaScript MySQL, Percona Server for MySQL[8] GPLv2, Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2024-06-11 7.0 NG 777
PA Server Monitor No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Viewing, Acknowledging, Reporting Yes Yes Windows, C++, .NET SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server Limited free, Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2025-06 9.5
Performance Co-Pilot No Yes Yes No Yes Optional, Limited Yes Yes Yes Yes No Viewing Yes Yes C Perl, Python, POSIX, MinGW Flat file GPL, LGPL No Yes Yes 2025-03-27 6.3.7
PRTG Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Full Control Yes Yes Delphi Flat file Limited free, Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2025-03-18 25.1.104
ScienceLogic Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes Python MySQL Commercial Yes Yes Yes Unknown Unknown
SevOne Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes C, C++, PHP MySQL Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2022-11 6.4[9]
Shinken Via plugin Yes Yes No Yes Yes Via plugin Via plugin Yes Yes No Viewing, Acknowledging, Reporting Yes Via plugin Python Flat file, MySQL, Oracle, Graphite, Sqlite, MongoDB AGPL Yes Yes Yes 2016-03-10 2.4.3
SolarWinds Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes .NET SQL Commercial Yes Yes Yes Unknown Unknown
Spiceworks Unknown Yes Unknown Unknown Yes Yes Unknown Unknown Yes Yes Unknown Unknown Unknown Yes PHP Sqlite Unknown Yes Unknown Unknown 2018-03-21 7.5.00107
Xymon/Hobbit Yes Yes Yes No Via plugin Via plugin Via plugin No Yes Yes No Viewing, Acknowledging, Reporting Yes Via plugin C, Shell Flat file, RRDTool, MySQL via plugin GNU GPL Via plugin Apache ACL No 2019-09-05 4.3.30
Zabbix Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes C, PHP MariaDB, MySQL, Oracle, Percona Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite[10] AGPLv3 Yes Yes Yes 2025-09-29; 2025-09-30; 2025-10-01 7.0.19[11] Edit this on Wikidata
Zenoss Core Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes Python, Java ZODB, MariaDB, Apache HBase Free Core GPL, Commercial Enterprise Yes Yes Yes 2018-01-09 6.1.0
ZIS-System Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Full Control Yes Yes Windows MariaDB Commercial Yes Yes Yes 2020-02-01 5.8
Name IP SLA Reports Logical Grouping Trending Trend Prediction Auto Discovery Agentless SNMP Syslog Plugins Triggers / Alerts MIB Compiler WebApp Distributed Monitoring Inventory Platform Data Storage Method License Maps Access Control IPv6 Latest release date Latest release version

Legend

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Product name
The name of the software, linked to its Wikipedia article.
IP SLAs reports
Support of Cisco's IP Service Level Agreement mechanism.
Logical grouping
Supports arranging the hosts or devices it monitors into user-defined groups.
Trending
Provides trending of network data over time.
Trend prediction
The software features algorithms designed to predict future network statistics.
Auto discovery
The software automatically discovers hosts or network devices it is connected to.
Agentless
The product does not rely on a software agent that must run on hosts it is monitoring, so that data can be pushed back to a central server. "Supported" means that an agent may be used, but is not mandatory. An SNMP daemon does not count as an agent.
SNMP
Able to retrieve and report on SNMP statistics.
Syslog
Able to receive and report on Syslogs.
Plugins
Architecture of the software based on a number of 'plugins' that provide additional functionality.
Triggers / alerts
Capable of detecting threshold violations in network data, and alerting the administrator in some form.
MIB compilter
Able to read MIB data, to quickly understand what resources are being managed.
Web app
Runs as a web-based application.
  • No: There is no web-based frontend for this software.
  • Viewing: Network data can be viewed in a graphical web-based frontend.
  • Acknowledging: Users can interact with the software through the web-based frontend to acknowledge alarms or manipulate other notifications.
  • Reporting: Specific reports on network data can be configured by the user and executed through the web-based frontend.
  • Full Control: ALL aspects of the product can be controlled through the web-based frontend, including low-level maintenance tasks such as software configuration and upgrades.
Distributed monitoring
Able to leverage more than one server to distribute the load of network monitoring.
Inventory
Keeps a record of hardware and/or software inventory for the hosts and devices it monitors.
Platform
The platform (Coding Language) on which the tool was developed/written.
Data storage method
Main method used to store the network data it monitors.
License
License released under (e.g. GPL, BSD license, etc.).
Maps
Features graphical network maps that represent the hosts and devices it monitors, and the links between them.
Access control
Features user-level security, allowing an administrator to prevent access to certain parts of the product on a per-user or per-role basis.
IPv6
Supports monitoring IPv6 hosts and/or devices, receiving IPv6 data, and running on an IPv6-enabled server. Supports communication using IPv6 to the SNMP agent via an IPv6 address.

References

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  1. ^ "Install PHP Source - FreeNATS Wiki". www.purplepixie.org. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  2. ^ "Intro - Icinga 2 - Icinga Wiki". Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-06-25.
  3. ^ "Debian - Icinga DB". icinga.com. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  4. ^ "Icinga2 Changelog". GitHub. 2025-09-04.
  5. ^ "NRPE IPv6 Support". Archived from the original on 2024-07-24. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  6. ^ "Nagios Core Changelog". Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  7. ^ "Releases · netdisco/netdisco · GitHub". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  8. ^ "Installation [current]". pandorafms.com. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
  9. ^ "Announcing IBM SevOne Network Performance Management Version 6.4". IBM.
  10. ^ "2 Requirements". www.zabbix.com. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  11. ^ "Release Notes for Zabbix 7.0.19". 29 September 2025. Retrieved 8 October 2025.