Checkmk vs Spiceworks comparison

Checkmk and Spiceworks are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Checkmk is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4, while Spiceworks is ranked #44 with an average rating of 8.5. Checkmk holds a 4.1% mindshare in IM, compared to Spiceworks’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Spiceworks users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

3,383 Views
2,954 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Spiceworks

Read 47 Spiceworks reviews

868 Views
448 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Spiceworks

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Spiceworks and Checkmk cater to IT management, offering varied solutions to meet organizational needs. Spiceworks gains traction among SMBs for its cost-effectiveness, while Checkmk attracts those seeking robust monitoring features.

Features: Spiceworks is known for its SMB-friendly helpdesk, inventory systems, and community support. Its network scanning and ticketing are key highlights. Checkmk is chosen for its scalability and integration, with features like auto-discovery and comprehensive monitoring tools being particularly valued.

Room for Improvement: Spiceworks is critiqued for its basic ticketing and network inventory challenges, with users pointing out performance concerns in larger setups. Checkmk's learning curve and dependency on agents are noted, though improvements and good documentation mitigate these issues.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Spiceworks primarily operates on-premises and public cloud, with support mainly from its user community. Checkmk offers on-premises and private cloud options, with a focus on satisfactory customer support, although initial setup might need technical skills.

Pricing and ROI: Spiceworks stands out for being free, offering immediate ROI except for time investment, particularly benefiting smaller organizations. Checkmk, while paid, is considered cost-effective relative to its features, yielding reasonable ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Spiceworks Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Spiceworks

April 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 IT Infrastructure Monitoring

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (10th), Server Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (12th)

Spiceworks

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

44th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (17th), IT Asset Management (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 4.1%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 0.4%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

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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Jeetendar Kumar

Information Technology Analyst at The Aga Khan University Hospital (Pakistan)

Customizable, easy to use, easy to manage, and provides multiple features

I have used many software, but Spiceworks is the best. The tool provides multiple features. It is a valuable product for inventory. It is also useful as a ticketing system. The solution is easy to use and easy to manage. Many people can use it very easily. The features are not complicated. It is very easy to run, install, and understand. That is why my organization decided to use it. The solution’s asset management capabilities have benefitted us in many ways. We are able to manage all the inventory. We have a complete database. We have a record of everything. It is very valuable. I rate the usability of the user interface and dashboard a nine out of ten. The tool is easy to learn compared to other software.

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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

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

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

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

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

"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."

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

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

More Checkmk pros

"Helpdesk and inventory are both equally valuable, and they form the true core of the product."

"The software is cloud-based, so I do not need to store any data locally."

"If you're in the market for a low-cost service desk system, Spiceworks is a good software solution to start out with, especially when it comes to startups and those organizations that don't currently have any existing service desk software in place."

"It shows the users that are currently logged in, which is not something that Active Directory by default will ever let you know up front."

"The most valuable features are the inventory and personalization."

"The software is cloud-based, so I do not need to store any data locally."

"The nice thing about Spiceworks is always it's free. Monitoring of printers for low toner. Finding machines that have low memory or low hard disk space."

"Spiceworks' dashboard allows you to drill down to the notes, where I can take an inventory of the network and see the devices I need to monitor."

More Spiceworks pros

Cons

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

"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."

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

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

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

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

"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."

More Checkmk cons

"Since Spiceworks is a free tool, it's not very scriptable or customizable."

"The network mapping could be improved. Putting together an actual bonafide network map would be really nice."

"I would like to see more information when drilling down into access permissions, assignments management, or tagging. When I click a note or a device, I should be able to see more details about the router and modem. For example, I want to see the version, downtime, availability, latency, etc. I should have easy access to everything about our assets at a glance."

"The customer service is okay, however, I would appreciate much more clarity on what I want to know exactly."

"There are a lot of disadvantages to Spiceworks because it's not an agent-based solution."

"Once a device was recognized on the network, Spiceworks never got rid of it even after you took it off the network. You had to go in and manually remove it."

"They've also tried to integrate it with social logins, like Twitter and LinkedIn, and that type of login authentication has no place in a corporate application."

"I would like the solution to allow for more direct interaction with computers. I can open tickets and I can see their status, but I can't interact directly with the computers themselves."

More Spiceworks 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."

"Seeing that it is a low-cost solution, I would advise you to go ahead with Spiceworks and experiment with it to see if you can get things working properly, especially if you currently don't have any existing service desk software in place."

"It might be about $300 annually for a bigger company. If you pay annually, it's better and cheaper."

"It's free."

"The product is free! Get it now."

"The tool is cheap."

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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…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

University

10%

Real Estate/Law Firm

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...

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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...

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What do you like most about Spiceworks?

The solution is easy to use and easy to manage.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spiceworks?

The tool is cheap.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Spiceworks?

I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment, however, I can provide feedback later. Currently, there do not seem to be any issues.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zabbix vs Checkmk

Compared 48% of the time

Icinga vs Checkmk

Compared 9% of the time

LibreNMS vs Checkmk

Compared 7% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Checkmk

Compared 4% of the time

Observium vs Checkmk

Compared 3% of the time

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ServiceNow vs Spiceworks

Compared 30% of the time

Zabbix vs Spiceworks

Compared 28% of the time

Lansweeper vs Spiceworks

Compared 19% of the time

Freshdesk vs Spiceworks

Compared 8% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs Spiceworks

Compared 7% of the time

More Spiceworks Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

May 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

Spiceworks

April 2025

Download Spiceworks product report

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

From network inventory and network monitoring to help desk software, and mobile device management (MDM) to cloud services detection, Spiceworks helps you manage everything about your IT workday from one easy place.

Spiceworks

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Spiceworks

April 2025

Free Report: Checkmk vs. Spiceworks

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