Checkmk vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

Checkmk and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.4, while SolarWinds is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.0. Checkmk holds a 3.6% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

3,526 Views
3,137 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Read 22 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reviews

710 Views
594 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Checkmk

SolarWinds Network Device M...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and Checkmk are competing network monitoring solutions. Checkmk seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and scalability, making it more adaptable to diverse IT environments.

Features: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor offers real-time monitoring, alerts, and is straightforward, appealing to smaller organizations. Checkmk includes customizable dashboards, extensive plugin support, and scalability fit for medium to large enterprises.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could enhance its features for larger and more complex network environments, improve integration with other tools, and expand its reporting capabilities. Checkmk may reduce its learning curve, streamline its initial setup, and enhance its user interface for better usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is praised for quick setup and intuitive configuration, with responsive customer support. Checkmk, though having a steeper learning curve, provides comprehensive documentation and a supportive community for complex deployments.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is competitively priced with lower initial costs, appealing to small and medium businesses seeking cost efficiency and fast ROI. Checkmk has potentially higher initial costs, offering long-term value with its features and scalability, suitable for larger organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

March 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Checkmk

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (5th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (13th), Cloud Monitoring Software (12th)

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

28th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 3.6%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Paolo Sala

Application performance and System monitoring at Agos

A reasonably priced tool for system and application monitoring

The main room for improvement is in the solution's presentation and the integration area. In our company, we use the integration capabilities from ServiceNow. We also have another big monitoring solution in place in our company, which is Dynatrace. At the moment, there doesn't exist an out-of-the-box integration for Dynatrace. I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most. The only implementation of Checkmk that allows high availability is the virtual appliance that has the option for the availability of a different box. Otherwise, you have to find a way to implement it manually with some custom solution, which could be an improvement.

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Vijay Samant

Assistant Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Monitor network utilization and manage bandwidth efficiently with live monitoring and reliable fault management capabilities

I use SolarWinds Network Device Monitor for monitoring network utilization, bandwidth utilization, uptime, and downtime. It also assists in incident management SolarWinds Network Device Monitor provides live monitoring capabilities, which are very useful. Its fault management capabilities are…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The initial setup of Checkmk was easy...It is a very stable solution."

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

"Checkmk was built on a platform that was user-friendly, and I could build my charts easily."

"Overall, from one to ten, I rate Checkmk a nine."

"The most valuable features of Checkmk are its resource monitoring, infra monitoring, and log factor configuration."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

More Checkmk pros

"I like the mapping that you could do and the dashboards were very pretty."

"In terms of general network monitoring features, I find SolarWinds Network Device Monitor very flexible and comfortable to use. The software itself is extremely useful when it comes to monitoring how our data moves between different networks and environments."

"The alerts we are getting when we start losing connection access have been helpful."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is it can alert you when a device is not working."

"The product is useful for switches and IP phones."

"The most valuable features of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor are the reports. We are configuring the reports, and the first reports are only about the devices. We are configuring the thresholds in order to monitor all the devices."

"Since our devices are spread out across the world, we can see the status of these devices without having to send someone physically to a remote location, which saves money."

"I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

Cons

"Sometimes we receive alerts, and it can become annoying when you acknowledge an alert. It is very clunky when you acknowledge the alert. The process is not very intuitive, and there are instances where it feels a bit cumbersome to acknowledge an alert."

"It is easy for tech-savvy people, but newcomers might find it intimidating."

"Checkmk does not work too easily with the PowerStore. I use a PowerShell script as Checkmk runs on Linux and a Windows system, connecting with the Checkmk agent."

"The main challenge for us is that we're moving from Nagios to Checkmk, and we're still getting used to the new way of working."

"If an alert is generated for a specific pattern in the log, and if Checkmk catches that log, it will stay there even after the alert is resolved."

"Checkmk does not allow running scripts at varying intervals."

"I think that the integration and the exporting of the data collected are areas where Checkmk lacks but should try to improve the most."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

More Checkmk cons

"The security could always be improved."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve the features. We don't have the complete model for the database, and the monitoring for the database is up and down. We expect that we could monitor the blocking items on the database but we don't have that feature."

"The solution should have AI-powered issue-resolving capabilities"

"The main disadvantage of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is the licensing cost, which is expensive."

"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."

"SolarWinds pricing is on the higher side, and in India, every customer is cautious about commercial aspects."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor lacks the granularity of other monitoring tools like LiveNX."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve by being more user-friendly. The network has so many features which make it difficult to find how to configure how to use it. It is not simple to customize."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

"The price of Checkmk is cheaper compared to other enterprise products."

"The product is affordable."

"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."

"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."

"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."

"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."

"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."

"The enterprise license is good for the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor. However, it is expensive, they should reduce their price."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."

"The product is expensive."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Checkmk?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it has a lot of different pieces, and they all work together...It is a very scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Checkmk?

I will get more information about Checkmk when the proof of concept is done. It's going to be before the summer. There will be a report about the tool and a recommendation to use it. So far, it loo...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Checkmk?

Checkmk ( /products/checkmk-reviews ) is a monitoring tool, so that's what I will use it for. Right now, it's not in production, but it's in a proof of concept phase. It looks good, so probably, du...

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

The more devices you add, the more expensive the licenses become. SolarWinds has a premium cost associated with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

The solution lacks in performance monitoring. Although it identifies that everything is operating correctly across silos, it fails to demonstrate where a problem might be occurring within the servi...

See all answers

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 32% of the time

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Compared 29% of the time

FortiMonitor vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

Compared 29% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

March 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

March 2025

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Network Device Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Network Device Monitor

Overview

Checkmk is a powerful tool for monitoring IT infrastructure, providing vital insights on servers, databases, network devices, and custom applications.

Primarily used for supervising IT infrastructure, Checkmk helps organizations ensure service availability by monitoring hosts, processes, load, storage, and network appliances. With support for both Linux and Windows environments across multiple data centers, Checkmk performs compliance checks and preserves historical data for core network devices.

What are the key features of Checkmk?

Auto-discovery: Automatically identifies new hosts and applies monitoring rules.
Custom monitoring: Enhances MySQL performance tracking.
Slack integration: Provides immediate downtime alerts.
Graphical trend analysis: Offers 400 days of trend data.
Multiple site monitoring: Ensures seamless data synchronization through task automation.
Resource and infrastructure monitoring: Configures log factors to fit budget constraints.
System metric imports: Includes servers, SQL, file systems, and application monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Time-saving: Auto-discovery and task automation streamline processes.
Proactive alerts: Immediate downtime notifications optimize response times.
Historical insights: Long-term graphical trend analysis aids strategic planning.
Cost efficiency: Resource monitoring aligned with budget constraints.

Checkmk is deployed extensively in large enterprise environments for monitoring critical infrastructure. It proves particularly useful under conditions of frequent power outages or network issues, helping maintain smooth operations. While the alert acknowledgment process and interface require improvements, and the lack of an agent-less platform complicates server management, the strengths in auto-discovery, integration, and comprehensive monitoring make Checkmk a strong contender for IT infrastructure monitoring.

Checkmk

Network Device Monitor is a free tool that makes it easy to monitor the real-time performance and health of a single device on your network with a desktop dashboard that alerts you when your device is in trouble.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Air Rarotonga

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

March 2025

Free Report: Checkmk vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

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