We compared Nagios Core and SolarWinds NPM across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:
Features: Nagios Core is an adaptable solution praised for its integration, customizability, and ability to effectively monitor server availability and network connectivity. SolarWinds NPM is commended for its adaptability and extensive network surveillance functionalities.
Room for Improvement: Nagios Core users have requested better documentation, improved scalability, and a more user-friendly configuration process. SolarWinds NPM needs improvement in edge computing capabilities and data reporting. Users also said the performance could be better and that they would like to see expanded IPAM functionality.
Service and Support: Nagios Core lacks direct customer service, but users can generally find help from a supportive open-source community and large knowledge base. While some customers described SolarWinds support as helpful and responsive, others reported delayed responses.
Ease of Deployment: Nagios Core's setup is generally seen as well-documented and straightforward. Some users said SolarWinds NPM was straightforward to set up, while others perceived it as complex.
Pricing: Nagios Core is free, but users may incur costs for installation and configuration. The cost of SolarWinds NPM varies depending on the customer’s size and requirements. Some users find it costly.
ROI: Nagios Core users say they have saved money by replacing paid monitoring tools with this open-source solution. Some users reported immediate benefits from using SolarWinds NPM in terms of security and business outcomes, while others have not.
Comparison Results: Nagios Core is a flexible open-source solution that is highly customizable and offers robust functionality commonly found in paid enterprise solutions. However, some users have said that Nagios Core becomes unwieldy when used at a large scale and that the documentation could be more thorough. SolarWinds NPM is a customizable solution that’s easy to deploy and features comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. However, some users consider it costly and voiced concerns about technical support and user experience.
"We can manage the entire system across the network and troubleshoot the pain points."
"The single dashboard is a valuable feature."
"I like that it's very simple to install, easy to manage and deploy, and easy to use for monitoring."
"Nagios Core is stable."
"The notifications are definitely one of the most valuable features of Nagios Core. We know what to look for and what to expect when things are down."
"The application performance monitoring feature is valuable."
"Alert calls occur anytime a service goes down or a matrix is difficult and that helps us to quickly restore service and transfer work."
"The most valuable feature is the performance parameters of the system."
"Nagios Core is very configurable. Whatever you want, you can do it."
"It is fairly easy to set up, and we can monitor pretty much everything we want to."
"SolarWinds NPM is a scalable solution since it can handle a huge number of users."
"The most valuable features are language support and technical support."
"The solution is extremely stable. We haven't had any issues in that regard. We haven't had issues with bugs, glitches, or crashes."
"One of the best features is the reports feature."
"It combines and presents information from many different sources, giving a corporate-wide vision on a single pane of glass."
"I like the tracking feature to track devices and see where they are connected. This is very practical."
"The most valuable feature is the way it monitors the environment, and how user-friendly the console is for the end-user. The interface is also very easy and it captures all the information very well."
"A product that is well-tested and trusted in demanding situations."
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."
"The technical support needs improvement."
"The scalability needs improvement, it's not scalable at this time."
"The user interface could be more interactive because it is pretty basic."
"The initial setup process could be easier."
"Making it a little easier to configure and set up from the start would help. There are multiple layers that you have to wade through to be able to set it up, to do it the right way, and to get it to do what you want it to do."
"The dashboard and monitoring features could be improved."
"I would like to see a sensor that shows the traffic of a user and what they're doing on the network."
"Nagios Core does not have a graphic display."
"The core version is no match for the XI version."
"SolarWinds NPM needs to increase its elements. One polling engine can only support 10,000 elements then it becomes slow. There are limitations even if you have the full SLX version license."
"An area for improvement in SolarWinds NPM is the short retention period. Currently, it's just for seven days of data, which is very low, making it hard for my organization to keep that data. SolarWinds recommended a seven-day retention period, but my organization needs a fourteen-day data retention period. Hence, I'd like an increase in the retention period or the database limit in SolarWinds NPM because you can't go back to the data for any investigation if seven days have passed. Another area for improvement in SolarWinds NPM is the database, which needs to be a bit more mature. I want a modified database in the next release of SolarWinds NPM. I'd also like more options added to groups because, currently, it's very limited."
"The interface could be made more user-friendly."
"Technical support and releases are not particularly reliable."
"The tool can only monitor up to 1000 instances in a single SolarWinds console. Customers may have over 1000 instances. Hence, it needs to support a minimum of 1500 instances. It should also improve support."
"Being able to detect devices that are trying to connect wirelessly would make using this solution much easier."
"If they did some type of synthetic monitoring, it would have been better."
"The product is scalable, but at a cost. Extra modules have to be purchased for each extra server. The initial set up isn't complex, but will require someone who is experienced with the network monitoring system"
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Nagios Core is ranked 7th in Network Monitoring Software with 46 reviews while SolarWinds NPM is ranked 4th in Network Monitoring Software with 147 reviews. Nagios Core is rated 8.0, while SolarWinds NPM is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Nagios Core writes "An Open Source Fully Featured Data Centre Monitoring Tool". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds NPM writes "High-level, comprehensive, and proactive monitoring in a user-friendly interface". Nagios Core is most compared with Nagios XI, Zabbix, Icinga, Centreon and OP5 Monitor, whereas SolarWinds NPM is most compared with Zabbix, PRTG Network Monitor, ManageEngine OpManager, ThousandEyes and Entuity. See our Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds NPM report.
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