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

NameIP SLA reportsLogical groupingTrendingTrend predictionAuto discoveryAgentlessSNMPSyslogPluginsTriggers / alertsMIB compilerWeb appDistributed monitoringInventoryPlatformData storage methodLicenseMapsAccess controlIPv6Latest release dateLatest release version
CactiYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesPHPRRDtool, MySQL, MariaDBGNU GPLVia pluginYesYes2025-03-231.2.30
CheckmkYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesC, PythonRRDtoolGNU GPLYesYesYes2025-05-062.4
collectdNoNoNoNoPush model; multicast possibleYesYesYesYesYesNoViewingYesNoCRRDtoolGNU GPLNoApache ACLYes2020-09-035.12
CruzYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesJava, C++, .NETMySQL, OracleCommercialYesYesYes2019-028.0.0
FreeNATSYesYesNoNoYesNoNoVia pluginYesIn PHP CodeNoFull ControlNoNoPHPMySQLGNU GPLNoYesUnknown2018-11-141.20.1b
GangliaNoYesYesNoVia gmond check inNoVia pluginNoYesNoNoViewingYesUnknownC, PHPRRDtoolBSDYesNoUnknown2016-06-143.7.2
IcingaVia pluginYesYesNoVia pluginYesVia pluginVia pluginYesYesNoFull ControlYesVia pluginCMariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQLGNU GPLYesYesYes2025-06-182.15.0
InterMapperYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoViewingYesYesWindows, Linux & Mac OSPostgreSQLLimited free, CommercialYesYesYes2017-076.1.5
isyVmonYesYesYesNoVia pluginNoYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesVia pluginPHPRRDtool, MySQLLimited free, CommercialVia pluginYesYesUnknownUnknown
MuninNoYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesPartialNoViewingVia nodesUnknownPerlRRDtoolGNU GPLUnknownUnknownYes2021-02-222.0.67
NagiosVia pluginYesYesNoVia pluginYesVia pluginVia pluginYesYesNoYesYesVia pluginCFlat file, SQL (via ndoutils), MySql (Via Nconf)GNU GPLYesYesYes2022-04-144.4.7
NetdiscoNoNoNoNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesPerlPostgreSQLBSDYesYesYes2024-09-132.079001
NetXMSUnknownYesNoNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesC, JavaPostgreSQL, PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB, MariaDB, MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, SQLiteGNU GPLYesYesYes2024-04-154.5.6
NeuralStarYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesUnknownMS SQLCommercialYesYesYesUnknownUnknown
OctopussyNoYesYesNoYesYesNoYesYesYesNoFull controlNoYesPerl, ASPMySQLGNU GPLNoYesNo2017-06-031.0.16
op5 MonitorYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesVia pluginC, PHPFlat file, SQLLimited free, CommercialYesYesYesMonthly7.3.0
OpenKBMYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesUnknownProprietary with JDBC supportCommercialYesYesYesUnknownUnknown
OpenNMSYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesFull ControlYesYesJavaJRobin / RRDTool / Apache Cassandra, PostgreSQLAGPLv3YesYesYes2026-03-1635.0.4
OPNET's AppResponse XpertYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesNoViewing, Acknowledging, ReportingYesNoUnknownUnknownCommercialYesYesUnknownUnknownUnknown
OSI NetExpertYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesJava, C++OracleCommercialYesYesYes2013-0410.0
PacketTrapYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesNoViewing, ReportingYesYesUnknownSQLCommercialYesYesYesUnknownUnknown
Pandora FMSYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesPerl, PHP, C++, JavaScriptMySQL, Percona Server for MySQLGPLv2, CommercialYesYesYes2024-06-117.0 NG 777
PA Server MonitorNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesViewing, Acknowledging, ReportingYesYesWindows, C++, .NETSQLite, Microsoft SQL ServerLimited free, CommercialYesYesYes2025-069.5
Performance Co-PilotNoYesYesNoYesOptional, LimitedYesYesYesYesNoViewingYesYesC Perl, Python, POSIX, MinGWFlat fileGPL, LGPLNoYesYes2025-03-276.3.7
PRTGYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesFull ControlYesYesDelphiFlat fileLimited free, CommercialYesYesYes2025-03-1825.1.104
ScienceLogicYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesPythonMySQLCommercialYesYesYesUnknownUnknown
SevOneYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesC, C++, PHPMySQLCommercialYesYesYes2022-116.4
ShinkenVia pluginYesYesNoYesYesVia pluginVia pluginYesYesNoViewing, Acknowledging, ReportingYesVia pluginPythonFlat file, MySQL, Oracle, Graphite, Sqlite, MongoDBAGPLYesYesYes2016-03-102.4.3
SolarWindsYesYesYesYesYesPartialYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYes.NETSQLCommercialYesYesYesUnknownUnknown
SpiceworksUnknownYesUnknownUnknownYesYesUnknownUnknownYesYesUnknownUnknownUnknownYesPHPSqliteUnknownYesUnknownUnknown2018-03-217.5.00107
Xymon/HobbitYesYesYesNoVia pluginVia pluginVia pluginNoYesYesNoViewing, Acknowledging, ReportingYesVia pluginC, ShellFlat file, RRDTool, MySQL via pluginGNU GPLVia pluginApache ACLNo2019-09-054.3.30
ZabbixYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesC, PHPMariaDB, MySQL, Oracle, Percona Server, PostgreSQL, SQLiteAGPLv3YesYesYes2025-09-29; 2025-09-30; 2025-10-017.0.19
Zenoss CoreYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesPython, JavaZODB, MariaDB, Apache HBaseFree Core GPL, Commercial EnterpriseYesYesYes2018-01-096.1.0
ZIS-SystemYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoFull ControlYesYesWindowsMariaDBCommercialYesYesYes2020-02-015.8
NameIP SLA ReportsLogical GroupingTrendingTrend PredictionAuto DiscoveryAgentlessSNMPSyslogPluginsTriggers / AlertsMIB CompilerWebAppDistributed MonitoringInventoryPlatformData Storage MethodLicenseMapsAccess ControlIPv6Latest release dateLatest release version

Legend

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.