NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE vs Nagios Core comparison

Nagios and NETSCOUT are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Nagios is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.7, while NETSCOUT is ranked #50 with an average rating of 8.5. Nagios holds a 1.9% mindshare in NMS, compared to NETSCOUT’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Nagios users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NETSCOUT users who would recommend it.

Nagios Core

Read 51 Nagios Core reviews

4,463 Views
3,749 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE

Read 7 NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE reviews

944 Views
897 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Nagios Core

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Nagios Core and NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE are competing products in the network monitoring category. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE seems to have the upper hand due to its superior features and advanced functionalities, making it a compelling choice for its price.

Features: Nagios Core offers extensive plug-in support, flexibility in monitoring a wide range of network services, and competitive pricing. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE provides real-time visibility, comprehensive analytics, and advanced functionalities giving detailed insights into network performance.

Room for Improvement: Nagios Core could improve by simplifying its deployment model, enhancing customer support, and integrating more analytics capabilities. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE may focus on reducing initial costs, expanding plug-in support, and increasing flexibility in its deployment options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nagios Core's open-source deployment can be complex yet is backed by a robust community for technical assistance. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE offers streamlined deployment with dedicated customer service, making it appealing for organizations seeking quicker setup and ongoing support.

Pricing and ROI: Nagios Core's open-source model allows for lower upfront costs but may involve longer setup times and higher maintenance efforts, impacting ROI. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE, although more expensive initially, provides better ROI through efficient setup, usability, and comprehensive analytics.

To learn more, read our detailed NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE vs. Nagios Core Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE vs. Nagios Core

December 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

Nagios Core

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (11th)

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

50th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

4.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nagios Core is 1.9%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Nagios Core	1.9%
NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE	0.5%
Other	97.6%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Husham Yaqoob

Senior System Administrator at Interactive Group

Monitoring solution provides comprehensive visibility across IT infrastructure

The good thing about Nagios Core is it covers everything. Everything in the IT domain, you can monitor anything. You can even monitor printers, the ports of printers, Core workstations, and storage. You can monitor the workflow Core and the utilization of computes. If you want to grasp everything of your IT equipment on a single interface, you can use Nagios. It's the best one. It provides dashboards, and you can also configure your emails and alerts with it. If something is critical, you can configure it to notify via emails. It has a very handy dashboard, providing live alerts and visibility for everything.

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Ian Munoz

Ingeniero en Telecomunicaciones at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Has improved traffic visibility and simplified dashboard use, but could benefit from better integration with other tools

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE works very well in our case. We have not experienced any troubles with traffic analysis SolarWinds has a dashboard that is older and not as user-friendly. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE has an easier dashboard to manipulate compared to SolarWinds. NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE is not…

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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 would rate the overall solution ten points out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of Nagios Core is the ability to check the availability of the server for network connectivity. Additionally, the interface is good."

"The solution is quite efficient."

"What I like about Nagios Core is that it helps me ensure everything is running smoothly by checking the status of hosts and services."

"The most valuable feature depends on the project. It's great if you need to check to ensure a service is running 24/7. I can use the full solution for free, and it's flexible. If I need to add a dashboard, I can integrate it with Nagios. Cloud synchronization is wonderful."

"We mostly use Nagios Core to integrate with Python and Bash Script."

"It is fairly easy to set up, and we can monitor pretty much everything we want to."

"Monitoring with Nagios Core is helpful because it provides immediate alerts if something goes down, such as a server, or wireless router, or if there's a cable break. This allows us to respond promptly to any issues."

More Nagios Core pros

"NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE has an easier dashboard to manipulate compared to SolarWinds."

"This is a very reliable and complete solution for troubleshooting and monitoring environments."

"The most valuable features of this solution are monitoring and maintaining traffic queuing, as well as seeing who is using the bandwidth."

"I like the single pane of glass view. I like being able to go to one place instead of having to hunt around for everything."

"The solution's technical support team consists of good engineers and technicians."

"I like the single pane of glass view because it presents everything in one window, obviously. You can see it all. With a quick glance, you get a pretty good snapshot of what's going on in a particular situation."

"The most valuable feature of NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE is the network troubleshooting analysis. You can pinpoint an issue before it could shut down the network."

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the graphics."

"Cloud monitoring is an area for improvement because there aren't too many plugins available."

"The mapping is a little hard."

"Making it a little easier to configure and set up from the start would help. There are multiple layers that you have to wade through to be able to set it up, to do it the right way, and to get it to do what you want it to do."

"The scalability needs improvement, it's not scalable at this time."

"Nagios Core does not have a graphic display."

"The core version is no match for the XI version."

"The NetEase reporting structure needs improvement, especially the availability report, which is weak."

More Nagios Core cons

"The GUI interface and dashboards could be more attractive to the customer."

"They require a lot of manual effort as traffic flows, networks, and formal times change."

"Usability is the area with the biggest room for improvement. We've found that with NETSCOUT, while it's a fantastic product, the usability is a major factor because there are just way too many clicks. It's obvious, from our experience, that the people who are developing the product aren't using it."

"The price of the solution could be reduced."

"NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE is not integrated with SolarWinds. They work in different ways."

"Before an attack starts, seeing the traffic behavior and activities would be great. The tool should also share alerts since it is an area where the product has certain shortcomings."

"In terms of additional features, I would like to see better event notification. Right now, we put in an email address to receive an alert and it receives every event and every alert that comes out. We need something a little more granular."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free version of Nagios Core."

"We are using the free version."

"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"We have saved a lot of time, money, and effort in reducing disaster times, which is owed to Nagios quick alerting."

"The Nagios Core (PNP4Nagios + Core) is free and can be setup by Netadmin within a few hours. The only additional cost is the cloud server."

"It's free."

"Lessening the price point would be an improvement."

"It's free."

More Nagios Core pricing and cost advice

"The price of NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE is high. The other solutions are less expensive but we cannot depend on the other solutions, they are not as stable."

"The tool's price is okay. On a scale of one to ten, I rate it as a five, where one means it is not expensive, and ten means it is the most expensive."

"Cost is contracted on a yearly basis. There is no additional cost beyond the standard licensing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Government

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	22

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios Core?

Nagios Core is a free and open-source product. We don't charge for the product itself, but we charge for the man-hour costs related to installation, configuration, ongoing operation, and maintenance.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Nagios Core?

The dashboard should be improved. It's very simple. I don't have a very clear or specific suggestion. You can change the skin of the dashboard, however, it's good for me.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Nagios Core?

I was a senior system administrator. I've been using Nagios Core for more than ten years now. It can be used to monitor hosts, such as machines, and monitor services of any kind. I'm using it to mo...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE?

The tool's price is okay. On a scale of one to ten, I rate it as a five, where one means it is not expensive, and ten means it is the most expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE?

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE is not integrated with SolarWinds. They work in different ways.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE?

I use the solution in my company to analyze international traffic.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core

January 2026

Download Nagios Core product report

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE

January 2026

Download NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE product report

Also Known As

No data available

nGeniusPULSE

Overview

This is IT infrastructure monitoring's industry-standard, open-source core. Free without professional support services.

Nagios

NETSCOUT’s nGeniusPULSE delivers the visibility needed into today’s evolving IT eco-system to ensure the availability, reliability, and performance of your mission-critical business services across your multi-cloud environment, from wherever users need access.

NETSCOUT

Sample Customers

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel

Banco Votorantim

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE vs. Nagios Core

December 2025

Free Report: NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE vs. Nagios Core

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