Icinga vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

Icinga and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Icinga is ranked #37, while SolarWinds is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5. Icinga holds a 1.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Icinga users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Icinga

Read 17 Icinga reviews

6,705 Views
5,096 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NPM

Read 160 SolarWinds NPM reviews

20,239 Views
15,584 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Icinga

SolarWinds NPM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

SolarWinds NPM and Icinga compete in the network monitoring category. While SolarWinds offers ease of use and comprehensive features, Icinga provides customization and flexibility, highlighting distinct advantages in user experience and adaptability.

Features: SolarWinds NPM offers SNMP monitoring, modular pricing, and support for multiple vendors. Its robust alert system and an active online community enhance its value. Icinga delivers a robust automation and integration ecosystem with numerous plugins, enabling extensive customization and open-source flexibility.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds NPM faces criticism for resource-heavy requirements, a complex dependency structure, and unintuitive alert configurations. Its vast feature set can be overwhelming, with additional modules necessary for full functionality. Icinga could improve dashboard usability, automation for repetitive tasks, and integration with third-party solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds NPM offers multiple deployment options, such as on-premises and hybrid cloud, with a steep learning curve due to its comprehensive features. Customer service is generally reliable but can be slow on non-critical issues. Icinga is mostly deployed on-premises, known for its straightforward setup, though lacking broad cloud support. Its community-driven support is a strong point but may occasionally lack timely responses.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds NPM has a high initial license cost, especially with extra modules, though the ROI is significant due to its powerful features. Icinga, being open-source, offers a cost-effective alternative with optional paid support. Despite its lower financial entry point, Icinga requires more manual maintenance, potentially increasing operational costs indirectly.

To learn more, read our detailed Icinga vs. SolarWinds NPM Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Icinga vs. SolarWinds NPM

June 2026

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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

Icinga

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

37th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

48th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

34th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (16th)

SolarWinds NPM

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

2nd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

4th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

160

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Icinga is 1.2%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 3.6%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM	3.6%
Icinga	1.2%
Other	95.2%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

reviewer2292201

Innovation Service Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Easy to use, and it's possible to customize the product as per the needs we may have but average multi-tenancy aspect

It's supported by the community. We use Icinga, which is not part of the Open-Source platform but is wrapped into a commercial solution from another provider, a local provider in Italy. Icinga is an open-source platform, so it is supported by the community. It's quite easy to use, and it's possible to customize the product as per the needs we may have. So it's not expensive, and it's quite a general purpose. We can easily monitor any kind of infrastructure we encounter. The ability to customize scripts and build your own queries to request information from the infrastructure elements you want to monitor. This level of personalization and customization is highly appreciated. The alerting is the same as any other monitoring platform. It's not a "wow" feature that has changed our lives, but it's perfectly adequate.

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Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Central monitoring has improved outage alerts and now needs smarter detection and modern dashboards

Regarding the automated network topology and mapping feature in SolarWinds NPM, I am not satisfied with it. For static monitoring, it is acceptable. However, if it is possible, I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment. We did not have any facility to detect that in SolarWinds. I think it would be better to incorporate those types of features. Regarding customization options in SolarWinds, the ability to customize the dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard is quite old, and we need some improvement in it. Nowadays, we have multiple tools with AI-based monitoring and web-based dashboards. SolarWinds also has a web-based dashboard, but I think there is scope for improvement in the UI. There may be other areas I would like to improve in SolarWinds NPM.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution has a self-healing handler where if the service is down, it is automatically restarted."

"We have found the solution to be stable."

"The drafts are easy but what I like about Icinga is that there are many add-ons that you can download."

"There's a module called Icinga Director, which helps us configure the product using an intuitive interface through clicks instead of creating a text configuration. It's very helpful for us."

"I would recommend Icinga; it's an open-source solution, it's quite easy and simple to use, and checks can be run with Python code and Shell Script code."

"The most valuable feature is one that not many are even aware of, as Icinga has a self-healing event handler where if the service is down, it is automatically restarted, and you can configure the handler to take action after the critical alarm without human interaction."

"An affordable solution for small organizations to do basic network monitoring."

"It is really easy in Icinga to create your own plugin and integrate it without any fuss. And it works just perfectly fine."

More Icinga pros

"The most valuable feature is the graphical user interface."

"The people in technical support are very good."

"We were able to unify our entire company under one monitoring solution that works for everybody, saving a ton of time and significantly speeding up problem-resolution time."

"For a medium-sized customer, it has everything that you're looking for."

"Our ability to locate the source of a network issue has dramatically reduced our mean-time-to-resolve."

"Technical support has always been great. They are very responsive. We've been satisfied with their level of support."

"SolarWinds NPM provides an overview of network monitoring, extending its capabilities to cover other aspects, such as virtual machines and servers. The platform has features like NetPath, which is particularly beneficial for end-users, offering insights into issues like latency, packet loss, and connectivity problems with routers, switches, or servers."

"Whether you want basic enterprise network monitoring or a full suite of network diagnostic tools and monitors, I recommend Orion 9 for its full feature set and ease of use."

More SolarWinds NPM pros

Cons

"It is not really adequate for our current needs. It causes additional issues which we have to work around and takes us time that a better solution would not."

"Icinga’s automation could be improved."

"The installation and configuration are very complex."

"The user interface should be improved."

"The tool currently fails to provide notifications to users."

"It needs Trap SNMP. I saw the documentation for Zabbix, that it has its own built-in product which handles SNMP traps, and there's nothing similar in Icinga or Nagios. I think this feature is most important for me."

"At this time, the layout of the website is a bit difficult. It should be more user-friendly for changing the background and logos."

"I think the software is quite good, but we have had problems with getting it to recognize certain areas and amend certain checks, where we needed so we would have to create backend scripts for those checks. Though, being open source, it has the support to create backend scripts, it would be better to have these scripts in-built."

More Icinga cons

"The dashboard of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."

"The solution could improve in many areas, such as the marketing and description of the products, providing areas of improvement, cloud capabilities, and being able to be more streamlined with the current integration points with other applications."

"It is not that stable. As a Windows software, I have seen issues with SolarWinds, and sometimes the performance is slow."

"New, web-based interface lacks some features of traditional GUI."

"Another feature I would ask for is for them to have this solution available for Linux systems instead of Windows."

"The solution's database performance could be improved."

"They don't have a local support team."

"The solution could be enhanced. It currently lacks integration with SMS services which is something we need."

More SolarWinds NPM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an open-source solution."

"It is cost-effective, and the return on investment can be very interesting because the price is low."

"The product is inexpensive compared to other DBM products."

"Even though Icinga's financial cost is low, it is an expensive product regarding the resources required to maintain and operate it."

"The solution is cheap."

"This is an open-source solution with paid support."

"We're using the free version of Icinga."

"The solution is free to use."

"The cost of the personal perpetual license for SolarWinds NPM is approximately $2,000."

"Our customer reports that the solution is somewhat costly and licensing is a bit complicated."

"I’d suggest that people be aware that licensing has tiers."

"The NPM component of the system costs approximately $1,000 USD per year."

"Licenses depend on the number of devices, but all license levels come with technical support."

"We have a multi-year license for the use of this solution. There are additional costs for recourses in the environment."

"The solution can become very expensive and commercially not viable in countries, such as India."

"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"

More SolarWinds NPM pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

11%

University

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	86

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

From my point of view, SolarWind is the best tool.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zabbix vs Icinga

Compared 11% of the time

Checkmk vs Icinga

Compared 7% of the time

Nagios XI vs Icinga

Compared 5% of the time

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Icinga

Compared 5% of the time

Sensu vs Icinga

Compared 3% of the time

More Icinga Competitors

ManageEngine OpManager vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Nagios XI vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

DX Spectrum vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 2% of the time

More SolarWinds NPM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Icinga

June 2026

Download Icinga product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM

May 2026

Download SolarWinds NPM product report

Also Known As

Icinga Cloud Monitoring

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer

Overview

Icinga is a robust tool for monitoring IT infrastructure, known for its distributed monitoring capabilities and seamless integration with multiple platforms. It efficiently observes servers, network devices, and environments like Linux and Windows, enabling proactive issue identification and resource management.

With a focus on task delegation and clustering, Icinga offers an intuitive interface through its GUI and Icinga Director, simplifying configuration. The extensive plugin library supports diverse technologies, while the API allows automation with tools like Terraform and Ansible. Despite its strengths, users report challenges with data display in the GUI, a need for improved dashboards, and complex configuration processes. Users benefit from its SNMP alerts, email notifications, and automated incident handling, making it essential for managed service environments and enterprises.

What are the key features of Icinga?

Task Delegation: Streamlines monitoring tasks across distributed systems.
Event Handler: Enables automatic service recovery with minimal intervention.
Plugin Library: Offers extensive support for integrating diverse technologies.
API Accessibility: Facilitates automation with popular tools like Terraform.
Custom Plugins: Allows easy creation and personalization for monitoring needs.

What benefits should you consider in Icinga reviews?

Flexibility: Tailors monitoring to specific requirements with community support.
Scalability: Successfully manages growing infrastructure demands.
Proactivity: Enhances issue identification and resource allocation.
Integration: Seamlessly works with existing IT operations platforms.

Icinga is widely adopted in IT environments for monitoring servers, networks, and applications across industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology. Its ability to integrate with various operating systems and automation platforms makes it a versatile choice for industries prioritizing comprehensive surveillance and proactive management of their infrastructure.

Icinga

SolarWinds NPM is a network performance monitoring tool offering a user-friendly interface with customizable dashboards. It provides real-time tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization, supporting diverse integration and scalability needs.

SolarWinds NPM's robust features include real-time monitoring of network performance and efficient tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization. The tool is appreciated for its ease of deployment, scalability, and support for integration with other tools. Features like SNMP monitoring, NetPath, and comprehensive reporting enhance its diagnostic capabilities and network visibility. However, users identify areas for improvement such as real-time analytics, advanced customization options, and enhanced scalability for larger enterprises. Better customer support, improved integrations, and security measures are also desired.

What are the key features of SolarWinds NPM?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and operation.
Customizable Dashboards: Allows personalized data views.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant updates on network performance.
Strong Alerting Capabilities: Offers immediate notifications for issues.
Scalability: Supports growth with ease.
Integration: Works smoothly with other tools for comprehensive monitoring.
SNMP Monitoring: Tracks device stats effectively.
NetPath: Helps visualize network paths and performance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Network Visibility: Enables proactive issue resolution.
Enhanced Diagnostics: Facilitates quicker troubleshooting.
Real-Time Performance Data: Supports informed decision-making.
Ease of Deployment: Reduces setup time and complexity.
Infrastructure Monitoring: Ensures network stability and reliability.
Custom Integration: Adapts to existing IT environments.

In enterprise environments, SolarWinds NPM is deployed to monitor network health and device status, sending alerts for any issues. It provides visibility into network performance, tracking bandwidth utilization and server metrics efficiently. Its applications span from monitoring routers, switches, and firewalls to supporting infrastructure monitoring across industries.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Puppet Labs, Audi, Spacex, Debian, Snapdeal, McGill, RIPE Network Coordination Centre

Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

Icinga vs. SolarWinds NPM

June 2026

Free Report: Icinga vs. SolarWinds NPM

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