Checkmk vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

Checkmk and Splunk are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Checkmk is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.5, while Splunk is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.4. Checkmk holds a 3.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to Splunk’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Checkmk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Checkmk

Read 9 Checkmk reviews

4,452 Views
3,829 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 70 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

5,846 Views
1,578 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Checkmk

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

Splunk Observability Cloud and Checkmk compete in the observability and monitoring space. Splunk seems to have the upper hand due to its continuous feature evolution and superior integration capabilities, appealing largely to larger enterprises.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud offers custom dashboards, rapid log indexing, and advanced application performance monitoring. Its ability to seamlessly integrate diverse data sources enhances user experience. Checkmk highlights auto-discovery, rule-based configuration, and a user-friendly interface. Despite fewer advanced features, it remains effective for traditional setups.

Room for Improvement: Splunk needs improvements in scalability, pricing models, and interface intuitiveness. Users often cite complex navigation and high costs as concerns. Checkmk could enhance integration with other tools and streamline its user interface, particularly for non-technical users, addressing a steep learning curve.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk supports hybrid, public, and private cloud deployments, ideal for complex infrastructures, with proactive customer service, though response times may vary. Checkmk focuses on on-premises deployments and provides responsive customer service, facing integration challenges due to limited resources.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk is known for being costly, justified by a comprehensive feature set leading to higher ROI for larger organizations. Conversely, Checkmk is budget-friendly, suiting smaller enterprises with basic needs, offering straightforward monitoring tools without significant financial commitments.

To learn more, read our detailed Checkmk vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

September 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

14th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

24th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (8th)

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

6th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

7th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (8th), Container Management (6th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Checkmk is 3.7%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk Observability Cloud	1.2%
Checkmk	3.7%
Other	95.1%

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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Taiwo Ige

IT Operations Engineer at ABC Supply Co. Inc.

Alerting improves incident response across teams and enables faster awareness before customer impact

Splunk Observability Cloud could be improved in terms of integrations with more technical add-ons, such as Zoom. Although they have one with Zoom, it's not available in the cloud, so having that feature would be beneficial. Essentially, Splunk should continue expanding to create easier ways to ingest logs from different products. The out-of-the-box customizable dashboards in Splunk Observability Cloud are very effective in showcasing IT performance to business leaders. However, there are aspects that could be improved, such as linking dashboards to one another. While IT leaders may not drill down, it's crucial to create levels of dashboards for technical users to find root causes, making it effective for stakeholders.

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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."

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

"I really like the auto-discovery feature."

"Checkmk helps me compare data and foresee issues."

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

"We can monitor multiple sites using the product."

"The alerting system in Checkmk really works properly."

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

More Checkmk pros

"Customer service and technical support respond very quickly."

"This solution is very quick to deploy as it is a SaaS solution and integrates with tools like ServiceNow."

"Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM) has one great advantage in that if they have SAP users, they can monitor their SAP applications."

"Splunk APM provides a holistic view of the application. Unlike other APMs, Splunk's service map is quite effective."

"The initial setup was straightforward. We didn't find it to be too complex."

"The solution's service map feature allows us to have a holistic overview and to see quickly where the issues are."

"The most valuable thing that we have seen within our group is the ability to ingest all this raw data and have it organized in a certain way so that different groups can get effective alerting from this massive amount of raw data that is out there."

"The solution monitors attacks or unauthorized access to the information we want to protect."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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 initial setup is a bit complex."

More Checkmk cons

"There is not a lot of support for the tool's on-premises version, especially since everything is on the cloud."

"The only strain point we've encountered with Splunk Observability Cloud is that the search times can be lengthy for some things. We have a large environment, so that's expected."

"There is room for improvement in customer support due to delays and standard feedback responses."

"The end-to-end visibility is lacking because Splunk cannot directly monitor network devices."

"The price has room for improvement."

"Splunk could be better integrated with configuration manager solutions so we can automatically resolve issues without human interference."

"In Splunk Observability Cloud, I notice room for improvement in synthetic monitoring. It does not provide output based on server names."

"In future updates, I would like to see more predefined monitoring query solutions, which could be more effective."

More Splunk Observability Cloud 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."

"It is expensive."

"Splunk APM is a very cost-efficient solution."

"I would rate the price of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring as an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"The price of Splunk APM is less than some of its competitors."

"This is an expensive solution."

"Splunk's infrastructure monitoring costs can be high because our billing is based on data volume measured in terabytes, rather than the number of devices being monitored."

"Splunk offers a 14-day free trial and after that, we have to pay but the cost is reasonable."

"I am not in that circle, but we are currently licensing based on our queries. That is working out for us. Previously, it was by volume of data, and now, we can store as much data as we want."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	43

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 SignalFx?

The most valuable feature is dashboard creation.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SignalFx?

Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The solution involves observability in general, such as Application Performance Monitoring, and generally addresses digital applications, web applications, sites, and mobile applications. I worked ...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Honeycomb Enterprise vs Splunk Observability Cloud

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk

September 2025

Download Checkmk product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

September 2025

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring, Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM), Splunk Synthetic Monitoring

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

Splunk Observability Cloud offers sophisticated log searching, data integration, and customizable dashboards. With rapid deployment and ease of use, this cloud service enhances monitoring capabilities across IT infrastructures for comprehensive end-to-end visibility.

Focused on enhancing performance management and security, Splunk Observability Cloud supports environments through its data visualization and analysis tools. Users appreciate its robust application performance monitoring and troubleshooting insights. However, improvements in integrations, interface customization, scalability, and automation are needed. Users find value in its capabilities for infrastructure and network monitoring, as well as log analytics, albeit cost considerations and better documentation are desired. Enhancements in real-time monitoring and network protection are also noted as areas for development.

What are the key features?

Log Searching: Efficiently search and analyze logs from various sources.
Data Integration: Seamlessly integrate with multiple environments.
Dashboard Customization: Tailor dashboards to specific monitoring needs.
Monitoring Capabilities: Provides comprehensive insights into application performance.
Security Features: Analyze and address security threats across systems.
Visualization Tools: Enhance data analysis and system performance optimization.

Why consider this for ROI?

Comprehensive Visibility: Gain complete insights into IT infrastructure.
Performance Optimization: Improve overall system performance and efficiency.
Rapid Deployment: Quick setup to meet organization demands swiftly.
Enhanced Security: Strengthen security measures through detailed analytics.

In industries, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for security management by analyzing logs from detection systems, offering real-time alerts and troubleshooting for cloud-native applications. It is leveraged for machine data analysis, improving infrastructure visibility and supporting network and application performance management efforts.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

Checkmk vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

September 2025

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