Checkmk vs Plixer Scrutinizer comparison

Checkmk and Plixer are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.4, while Plixer is ranked #55 with an average rating of 8.0. Checkmk holds a 3.9% mindshare in NMS, compared to Plixer’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Plixer users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

4,470 Views
3,800 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

1,343 Views
927 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Plixer Scrutinizer

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Plixer Scrutinizer and Checkmk compete in the network monitoring and analysis category. Plixer Scrutinizer appears to have the upper hand due to its extensive reporting capabilities and real-time insights, which are highly valued in this sector.

Features: Plixer Scrutinizer offers quick data processing and supports multiple flow formats. It integrates with security solutions for enhanced context and provides predictive analysis. Checkmk is known for its auto-discovery features and resource monitoring, making it valuable in environments with frequent power outages. Its integration capabilities offer seamless service monitoring through effective automation.

Room for Improvement: Plixer Scrutinizer could improve its user interface and data correlation capabilities. Enhancements in integration with third-party tools, security insights, and map generation are suggested. Checkmk users find the alerting process cumbersome, pointing to deficiencies in integration with external tools. A more streamlined interface and less reliance on manual configuration could enhance usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Plixer Scrutinizer and Checkmk operate primarily on-premises. They are regarded highly for technical support, with responsive and knowledgeable service teams. Scrutinizer users report a seamless support experience, while Checkmk users note the need for improvements in initial configuration and customer service during trials.

Pricing and ROI: Plixer Scrutinizer's licensing is based on the number of devices or exporters, offering a cost-effective solution for comprehensive NetFlow analysis. While some find it mid-priced, others highlight its ROI through reduced resolution times. Checkmk provides more affordable pricing, particularly benefiting education and small business sectors, with easy acquisition due to budget-friendly costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Plixer Scrutinizer Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

July 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

8th

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)

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

55th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 3.9%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 0.4%, up from 0.3% 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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Ira Mulyanti

Sales Director at ARGA SOLUSI

An affordable product with great integration capabilities

Plixer Core Platform is a valuable feature and a good software. Plixer Scrutinizer uses NetFlow analysis to monitor whatever is there in a network. Price-wise, Plixer Scrutinizer is not an expensive product. Basically, Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that can integrate with any other brand or product in the market, so it is not an area of concern.

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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

"It's versatile, scalable, and easier to use compared to other solutions like Nagios and OMD."

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

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

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

"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 alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

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

More Checkmk pros

"As a network engineer, the ability to identify what traffic on the link is consuming all the bandwidth at any given time, and provide immediate feedback to the business, is the most valuable feature."

"There are other tools out there that will do what Scrutinizer does. But what I have found with Scrutinizer is that it does it very quickly. I've taken 25 million individual data fragments from the different sensors, and it has graphed that and mapped it and presented a picture within 30 seconds. It has a very efficient database algorithm that I am really impressed with."

"It's agnostic as far as what your network gear is. As long as it supports an sFlow, JFlow, NetFlow, some kind of flow monitoring, Plixer will support it very well."

"We have had many requests to understand in the network which devices are connected to others. Most people don't have this information or are able to establish a map of data flow everywhere around the network. Scrutinizer can really help with this. We are using it to understand who is talking to what, how, and which protocols can help us to improve security and analyze flow."

"The ability to view the status of the top-10 at a glance is helpful. We immediately know which link is over-utilized or heavily used... and it's all in real-time."

"The reporting and generating troubleshooting reports would be the best feature; our host-to-host conversation reporting."

"It helps us determine what is going on with our Internet and who is hogging it all up. If we get a real high throughput or a throughput that's going over and getting dropped fairly quickly, we can tell who (or what device) is consuming that traffic."

"The most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer are its ease of use, accessibility, and UI."

More Plixer Scrutinizer 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."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

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

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

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

"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."

"In Checkmk, the documentation can probably be improved a bit more."

"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."

More Checkmk cons

"The visual acuity of how it presents data can sometimes be confusing. It takes a bit for people to spin up how to look at the graphs."

"There is room for improvement around the data that they have on the website about solutions... they should have more templated solutions on their website. Going out and identifying how to do RTP performance with a Cisco router, or how to do application response times in an Arrista data center deployment was where most of the work was... They should spend some more time documenting solutions and putting together white papers."

"In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required."

"We couldn't get it set up properly."

"Knowing that they're coming out with a new user interface, that is an area where there is room for improvement. There are so many variables. They should limit the variables in the user interface and create some classes, like "simple," "novice," and "expert" to narrow down the variables within it."

"For updating the Scrutinizer platform, when we have the actual data, it never happens in one day. Every time we have the data, we are obliged to install a new server in order to integrate the old data, and every time it has a problem. Most of the time, we were obliged to scrap all the data because we couldn't transfer it to the new server. So, it would be very good if they could improve this part."

"Data retention needs improvement. Data retention is a thing where we are looking for a better way to collect flow data for a longer time to do forensic research on security incidents. By default, data retention is quite low. We need detailed data in safe storage for a longer time, e.g., for a couple of months. An improvement would be a way to export data into a secure long-term storage."

"Though Plixer Scrutinizer has network detection and response, it's an area that needs just a little more rounding out. Another room for improvement in the solution is its lack of SaaS offering which some customers were looking for. My company deals in small to medium businesses, mid-market, and some customers wanted the SaaS feature which Plixer Scrutinizer doesn't offer. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is for it to have a SaaS offering because my company also deals with educational spaces and smaller businesses that just don't have the staff that can implement this. If there's either a managed service or SaaS-based offering to just make it a little easier for those types of customers, it would be a great addition to Plixer Scrutinizer."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is affordable."

"Checkmk is a fairly reasonably priced solution."

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

"Compared to some of the other tools we have, it's incredibly reasonably priced."

"We just renewed. The pricing is 5,000 euro per year. This is the final price. All tax (20 percent) is included."

"We recently bought a license upgrade, so we will integrate more exporters. We upgraded from a 25 exporter license to a 50 exporter license. Therefore, there will be more flows, and this will be an extension. I don't know when we will purchase a faster server, because the server that we have is quite new."

"It's about €10,000 a year for initial license and yearly maintenance costs. In addition, the hardware costs are about €10,000 once every five years."

"The licensing cost for Plixer Scrutinizer is in the middle. It's not the cheapest, but it's not the most expensive. Its licensing model is based on how many exporters, how many devices export information to the system. Plixer Scrutinizer has different modules you could add such as the security module which would cost extra."

"There are no extra costs. It's about $8,000 a year. The bang for the buck (cost) is definitely a plus."

"The license is per device. We have 50 devices."

"Currently, the license for Plixer Scrutinizer is subscription-based and at a yearly fee. The price would depend on the amount of traffic you pull in. For example, there are several blocks from a 10K flow, a 40K flow, and a 100K flow, and based on the number of devices that you receive the flows from, that's the license, and it is not a per-interface pricing model, so that is a very strong, very competitive pricing feature of Plixer Scrutinizer. Licensing for the product is also not based on the number of storage, compared to some competing products that are priced based on the amount of storage you need, particularly based on the retention and the amount of data. Plixer Scrutinizer licensing is based on the device, and it's more in the direction of $10,000 because, with just $1,000, you don't have anything."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

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.

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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...

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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 Plixer Scrutinizer?

Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Plixer Scrutinizer?

I rate Plixer Scrutinizer's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price or affordable, and ten is high price or expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Plixer Scrutinizer?

I don't have deep enough knowledge to comment on what requires improvements in Plixer Scrutinizer. In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required.

See all answers

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Compared 22% of the time

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Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

August 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

August 2025

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Overview

Checkmk provides a comprehensive monitoring solution designed to streamline IT infrastructure management with features like auto-discovery, custom checks, and effective alerting.

Checkmk serves as a powerful tool for organizations managing large networks of servers, databases, and network appliances across multiple locations. It simplifies monitoring tasks with features like auto-discovery, custom scripting, and Slack integration. Users benefit from its resource monitoring capabilities and scalability, although there are areas for improvement, such as alert acknowledgment and greater usability. It supports both Linux and Windows environments, enabling effective oversight of IT infrastructure. The growing body of documentation enhances its adaptability in complex settings.

What are the key features of Checkmk?

Auto-Discovery: Identifies new hosts and applies monitoring rules automatically.
Custom Monitoring Checks: Tailor checks for databases and specific applications.
Slack Integration: Receive downtime alerts directly in Slack channels.
Automation for Scripts: Streamline repetitive tasks with scripts.
Effective Alerting System: Offers timely notifications on network activities.

What benefits can users expect?

Resource Efficiency: Saves time on configuration with automated features.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing network and system requirements.
Cost-Effectiveness: Suitable option for budget-conscious users.
User-Friendly Setup: Easy to configure, reducing the learning curve.

Industries deploying Checkmk frequently utilize it for monitoring IT infrastructure, including servers and network appliances, to manage proactive issue identification and compliance. Companies employ it in the proof of concept phase or for ongoing monitoring, covering hosts, services, and custom application metrics.

Checkmk

The Scrutinizer incident response system leverages network traffic analytics to provide active monitoring, visualization, and reporting of network and security incidents. The system quickly delivers the rich forensic data needed by IT professionals to support fast and efficient incident response.

Plixer

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Oxford Networks, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, UltiSat, Wipro, West Aurora School District 129, SUNY Geneseo College, Bloomington Public Schools, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Kitsap Credit Union, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston Texas, Carilion Clinic, Banner Health, IDEXX Laboratories, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Goodwill Industries, Parmalat, Armstrong Coal Company, Flybe, James Walker

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

July 2025

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