Alternatives / SolarWinds
Looking for an open source SolarWinds alternative? We compared 8 open source monitoring tools by license, discovery, scalability, and maintenance. Zabbix, Checkmk, and Icinga are the closest suites, while Prometheus and OpenObserve are metrics and observability tools.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Netdata | Real-time monitoring, zero configuration | GPL-3.0 |
| Prometheus | CNCF metrics system with PromQL | Apache-2.0 |
| OpenObserve | Logs, metrics, and traces | AGPL-3.0 |
| Scanopy | Self-updating network maps | AGPL-3.0 |
| Zabbix | Broad monitoring, no per-device fees | AGPL-3.0 |
| Checkmk | Plugin-rich monitoring, free Raw Edition | GPL-2.0 (Raw Edition) |
| Icinga | Custom checks and high availability | GPL-3.0 |
| Nagios | Long-established plugin-based monitoring | GPL-2.0 |
We looked for open-source tools that monitor servers, networks, and applications like SolarWinds. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Zabbix monitors networks, servers, cloud, and IoT with automated discovery, multitenancy, and no per-device fees. Checkmk adds automated discovery and over 2,000 plugins with a free Raw Edition, and Icinga offers custom checks, high availability, and multi-tenancy.
Netdata gives real-time monitoring with zero configuration. Prometheus is a CNCF metrics system with PromQL and strong Kubernetes service discovery, and OpenObserve covers logs, metrics, and traces on OpenTelemetry.
Scanopy builds topology diagrams and host inventories from SNMP, LLDP, and ARP. Nagios is the long-established tool with thousands of community plugins and the separate Nagios XI product.
Checkmk's advanced features are in paid editions, Scanopy has paid tiers from $11.99 per month for larger self-hosted setups, and Nagios XI is a separate paid product.
Zabbix, OpenObserve, and Scanopy are AGPL-3.0. Netdata and Icinga are GPL-3.0. Checkmk and Nagios Core are GPL-2.0. Prometheus is Apache-2.0.
All eight had commits within weeks of this update.
SolarWinds is a proprietary suite licensed by node or element, and its Orion platform has been the target of a notable supply chain compromise. Open-source monitoring avoids per-node pricing and lets you audit the code, though you configure more yourself.
Netdata is a real-time monitoring tool with per-second metrics, zero-configuration dashboards, intelligent alerting, and extensibility for servers, containers, and distributed systems.
Pricing: Free and open source agent; paid cloud and enterprise plans for centralized features.
Prometheus is a CNCF graduated monitoring system with a multi-dimensional data model, PromQL queries, built-in alerting, service discovery, and a local time series database, and it is the de facto metrics standard for Kubernetes.
Pricing: Free and open source.
OpenObserve is a Rust-built observability platform for logs, metrics, and traces with columnar storage, high compression, a stateless architecture, and OpenTelemetry compatibility, using object storage such as S3, GCS, or Azure Blob to reduce cost.
Pricing: Free self-hosted; hosted and enterprise plans available.
Zabbix is a full-scale monitoring platform for networks, servers, cloud, and IoT with automated discovery, webhooks, multi-tenancy, log monitoring, and real-time alerting, without per-device licensing.
Pricing: Free; fixed-cost commercial support available.
Scanopy is an AGPL-3.0 network discovery tool that scans with SNMP, LLDP, and ARP, then builds topology diagrams, host inventories, and service dependency maps that update themselves. It documents your network rather than monitoring metrics, and paid tiers exist for the hosted and larger deployments.
Pricing: Free to self-host with limits; paid tiers available.
Checkmk is IT infrastructure monitoring with 2,000+ plugins, automated discovery and configuration, granular alerting, and dashboards. The Raw Edition is open source, and Enterprise, Cloud, and MSP editions are commercial.
Pricing: Free Raw Edition; paid Enterprise, Cloud, and MSP editions.
Icinga is a monitoring platform with real-time checks, custom check configurations, fast alerting, multi-tenancy, and high availability for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
Pricing: Free; commercial support available.
Nagios Core is a long-established monitoring system for servers, networks, and applications with a powerful plugin architecture, official plugins, and hundreds of community add-ons.
Pricing: Free and open source; commercial editions are separate.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netdata | Metrics monitoring | GPL-3.0 | Yes | Quick insight |
| Prometheus | Metrics monitoring | Apache-2.0 | Yes | Kubernetes and cloud-native |
| OpenObserve | Observability | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Observability |
| Scanopy | Network discovery | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Network documentation |
| Zabbix | Monitoring suite | AGPL-3.0 | Yes | Closest replacement |
| Checkmk | Monitoring suite | GPL-2.0 (Raw) | Yes | Mid-sized environments |
| Icinga | Monitoring suite | GPL-3.0 | Yes | Multi-tenant setups |
| Nagios | Monitoring suite | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Existing Nagios users |
Want a broad suite with no per-device fees
Zabbix covers networks, servers, cloud, and IoT with automated discovery.
Run Kubernetes
Prometheus has strong Kubernetes service discovery and PromQL.
Want a plugin library with a free edition
Checkmk Raw Edition is free with 2,000+ plugins.
Want to document your network
Scanopy builds topology diagrams from SNMP, LLDP, and ARP.