Nagios Core vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

The compared Nagios and SolarWinds solutions aren't in the same category. Nagios is ranked #10 in NMS , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 1.9% mindshare in the category. SolarWinds is ranked #3 in NTA , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 5.3% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Nagios users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Nagios Core

Read 51 Nagios Core reviews

4,463 Views
3,749 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Read 43 SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer reviews

1,984 Views
655 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Nagios Core

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Nagios Core and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Monitoring Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Report (Updated: September 2020).

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

September 2020

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Helped 879,425 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

8.8

Nagios Core reduces downtime and costs with quick alerts, providing full ROI and eliminating expensive monitoring tools.

Sentiment score

4.0

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer offers ROI through bandwidth management, yet budget-conscious users consider cheaper alternatives with similar features.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

There is a return on investment when purchasing SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, as in the long run, there is a return on investments.

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

5.1

Nagios Core relies on community support, praised for stability and resources, but lacks official help compared to Nagios XI.

Sentiment score

6.5

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's customer service receives mixed feedback, with varying response times and expertise contributing to inconsistent experiences.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

I am very satisfied with their technical support, rating it nine out of ten.

Rivka Alexander

Content Specialist at PeerSpot

They often say that only premium subscribers receive support within one or two hours.

RajasekharMaturi

Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I would rate support eight out of ten.

DeepakVyas

Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.7

Nagios Core shows scalability for large networks but may need customizations and integrations for distributed environments.

Sentiment score

6.6

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is scalable but costly, with performance challenges in large infrastructures due to licensing and capacity limits.

The solution is scalable.

Husham Yaqoob

Senior System Administrator at Interactive Group

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is a scalable solution, and by adding licenses, I can use the same deployment and instance to onboard more elements and nodes.

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

The license is based on the count of the ports.

DeepakVyas

Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.2

Nagios Core is highly stable and reliable with minimal footprint, supporting extensive monitoring without network burden.

Sentiment score

6.4

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is stable and reliable, though occasional performance issues exist, especially in demanding environments.

I tried many other solutions at work, however, in terms of Nagios, I haven't seen any disruption or downtime.

Husham Yaqoob

Senior System Administrator at Interactive Group

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

The solution is quite stable.

RajneeshKumar3

Manager Observability at ICE

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Room For Improvement

Nagios Core needs a more intuitive interface, better scalability, and features like enhanced reporting and integration with modern tools.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer needs improved integration, AI, documentation, performance, security, UI, and reduced licensing costs for better user experience.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar with Meraki devices, you can locate any device directly on the world map.

DeepakVyas

Global-Manager Network & communications at Secure Meters Limited

Ideally, NetFlow should have a robust alerting mechanism.

RajasekharMaturi

Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands.

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Setup Cost

Nagios Core is a free, cost-effective open-source tool, but requires Linux expertise and incurs hosting and maintenance costs.

Enterprise users find SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer valuable, though its pricing can be high compared to alternatives, especially when scaling.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands.

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

provide a rating of nine out of ten

Rivka Alexander

Content Specialist at PeerSpot

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Valuable Features

Nagios Core provides flexible, low-resource monitoring with customization, automation, efficient alerts, and integration support for reliable IT performance visibility.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer provides traffic analysis, bandwidth monitoring, and customizable reporting for efficient network management and performance tracking.

It has a very handy dashboard, providing live alerts and visibility for everything.

Husham Yaqoob

Senior System Administrator at Interactive Group

For more quotes and insights, download the Nagios Core report

It provides proactive monitoring, rather than waiting for applications to go down due to heavy bandwidth or latency.

RajneeshKumar3

Manager Observability at ICE

The integration of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer with other SolarWinds tools such as Network Performance Monitor is very important for our network visibility.

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

The best feature is customizable reporting, which includes network diagrams and monitoring of various types of bandwidth usage and peak times.

Rivka Alexander

Content Specialist at PeerSpot

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Categories and Ranking

Nagios Core

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (10th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (11th)

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Nagios Core is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 1.9%, down 3.0% compared to last year.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, on the other hand, focuses on Network Traffic Analysis (NTA), holds 5.3% mindshare, down 5.6% since last year.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Nagios Core	1.9%
Zabbix	6.9%
SolarWinds NPM	3.4%
Other	87.8%

Network Monitoring Software

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	5.3%
Darktrace	19.4%
Cisco Secure Network Analytics	11.5%
Other	63.8%

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

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.

Read full review

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

Improved bandwidth management and network visibility have resulted in financial benefits and streamlined operations

There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting. The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Healthcare Company

University

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	13
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	26

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 the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

Regarding improvement, the application monitoring capabilities are not exceptional. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve in that area, it would be helpful. It is less AIOps driven a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Icinga vs Nagios Core

Compared 14% of the time

Nagios XI vs Nagios Core

Compared 9% of the time

Zabbix vs Nagios Core

Compared 9% of the time

Centreon vs Nagios Core

Compared 5% of the time

LibreNMS vs Nagios Core

Compared 5% of the time

More Nagios Core Competitors

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 13% of the time

Wireshark vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 13% of the time

Darktrace vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 10% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 8% of the time

Plixer Scrutinizer vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 8% of the time

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core

December 2025

Download Nagios Core product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

December 2025

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Download SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer product report

Also Known As

No data available

Netflow Traffic Analyzer

Overview

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

Nagios

SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer enables you to capture data from continuous streams of network traffic and convert those raw numbers into easy-to-interpret charts and tables that quantify exactly how the corporate network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel

Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

September 2020

Free Report: Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Find out what your peers are saying about Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: September 2020.

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