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 most valuable feature of Nagios Core is the ability to check the availability of the server for network connectivity. Additionally, the interface is good."
"Dashboard provides monitor of total assets."
"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 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."
"Our customers like that Nagios Core is an open source solution. It can be customized to our customers' specific needs."
"It is fairly easy to set up, and we can monitor pretty much everything we want to."
"The most valuable features are the reports and the way it generates the report in a graphical manner."
"We mostly use Nagios Core to integrate with Python and Bash Script."
"I believe the ease of setup and use, including everything, from the initial installation to the discovery of devices is the most valuable."
"It is very extensible with 'SWQL' and APIs to where we are beginning to integrate it with network automation."
"We don't have any issues with the stability of SolarWinds NPM."
"We had some interfaces where the SFP Ports were having some problems after a while. We found which of the SFP Ports was having the error and changed it, so the bandwidth become okay."
"It is considerably cheaper compared to other tools."
"The interface is user-friendly, making it easy to use."
"The benefit of this solution is the reporting. We're able to report on and see our network in a graphical form. We are able to detect when a device is added to a network."
"The solution ranks as one of the top five monitoring tools."
"The Wi-Fi side needs improvement."
"I would like to see more training videos."
"Cloud monitoring is an area for improvement because there aren't too many plugins available."
"Would benefit from aggregations if a particular server goes down."
"The dashboard and monitoring features could be improved."
"Nagios Core could improve by adding a user interface. If you want the user interface you have to use Nagios XI."
"I believe Nagios Core will need to provide an option for big data platforms in the future."
"It is a bit slow due to latency."
"It would be nice if the company offered a sales or contract manager that was dedicated to our company so that we would have some sort of link to Nagios, and if we had issues or questions, we'd be able to contact them directly."
"The price of the solution can be improved."
"The root cause analysis and installation faults are not clear."
"The integration with the APIs and the web servers deployed can definitely be improved."
"There should be a little bit more integration in some of the other tooling and utilizing the APIs of devices or tools could be a little bit better."
"A feature I would ask for is for them to have this solution available for Linux systems instead of Windows."
"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 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"
"In terms of scalability, there is room for improvement. When you start monitoring, if you have so many interfaces and you're trying to monitor them at a faster interval, or a shorter interval, you get to a point where you need to request another node."
Nagios Core is ranked 7th in IT Infrastructure Monitoring with 46 reviews while SolarWinds NPM is ranked 4th in IT Infrastructure Monitoring 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 Zabbix, Nagios XI, 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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