Nagios Core vs SolarWinds Network Automation Manager comparison

Nagios and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Nagios is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #107. Nagios holds a 2.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Nagios users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Nagios Core

Read 51 Nagios Core reviews

3,994 Views
3,475 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Automati...

Read 2 SolarWinds Network Automation Manager reviews

555 Views
205 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

Nagios Core

SolarWinds Network Automati...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Nagios Core and SolarWinds Network Automation Manager are solutions in the network monitoring and automation category. SolarWinds holds the upper hand with its superior features, despite potentially higher costs.

Features: Nagios Core offers strong open-source monitoring capabilities, customizable alerts, and an extensive plugin library allowing flexibility. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager provides advanced automation tools, comprehensive reporting, and integration capabilities, delivering a robust enterprise solution.

Room for Improvement: Nagios Core could improve by simplifying its manual configuration process, enhancing community support, and streamlining its deployment for complex environments. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager would benefit from reducing its higher pricing structure, increasing support for non-enterprise settings, and improving scalability for smaller organizations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nagios Core offers a flexible deployment model requiring technical expertise for setups, supported by its community. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager provides a streamlined deployment process with professional assistance, ensuring smoother customer service and thorough onboarding thanks to detailed documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Nagios Core is a cost-effective solution due to its open-source nature with low initial setup costs, suitable for budget-conscious projects. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager involves higher upfront investments but justifies these with its comprehensive features and the potential for greater ROI in large-scale environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager

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

Nagios Core

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (11th)

SolarWinds Network Automati...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

107th

Average Rating

5.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Automation (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nagios Core is 2.5%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Automation Manager is 0.2%, up from 0.1% 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	2.5%
SolarWinds Network Automation Manager	0.2%
Other	97.3%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Nishith-Vyas

Tech Lead at STL Digital Limited

Valuable reporting and alert system with room for PDF export improvements

The NetEase reporting structure needs improvement, especially the availability report, which is weak. It should be generated automatically with minimal human intervention and should be exportable as a PDF. Besides that, an integrated PDF export feature for reports is necessary. Also, the alert mechanism and graphing mechanism need to be integrated properly into Nagios Core. Currently, integrating these requires advanced Linux knowledge. Integration of more visualization tools like Grafana and Prometheus for better graphing and visualization is also recommended.

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Giulio Valeri

Owner at SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS SRL

Threat detection failures, poor technical support, and expensive

We use the solution to manage all of our customer's systems. We monitor and decide if everything is okay and if not, we do changes when needed. For example, if there is a need to change the antivirus software we can automate the process and install the new one. There are scripts within the 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

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

"I like that it's very simple to install, easy to manage and deploy, and easy to use for monitoring."

"Alert calls occur anytime a service goes down or a matrix is difficult and that helps us to quickly restore service and transfer work."

"The application performance monitoring feature is valuable."

"We use the product to monitor server applications."

"The good thing about Nagios Core is it covers everything."

"Nagios Core integrates with tools like Splunk, Datadog, or Dynatrace. It is usually used as a feed to provide more technical information about devices or hosts to another system."

"The most valuable feature is the performance parameters of the system."

More Nagios Core pros

"The installation is easy."

"The solution offers so many great resources, it makes them a powerhouse in the market."

Cons

"There is room for improvement in the graphics."

"We're using the free version, which limits us in terms of the things that we can do. If we had the paid version, a lot of our issues would probably go away. For example, we can't isolate instances that are being built or updated with the production ones. When they're being built, on Nagios, they're showing in red. It'd be nice to be able to partition those off until they're all green, and then we can bring them into the environment. This is probably because we've got the free version and not the paid version. If we went for the paid version, it would probably allow us to do exactly what we want to or remove the restrictions that we have, but if we are able to isolate instances in the free version, it would make life much easier."

"The interface could be improved."

"t was a little hard to get our setup represented in the configuration."

"It's not that easy to install the product itself. Also, the UI is a bit hard for regular users to navigate through."

"Nagios Core does not have a graphic display."

"The alerting mechanism in Nagios Core could be improved."

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

More Nagios Core cons

"We did not like SolarWinds because it was not able to communicate between UPSA and our accounting system. They should have better integration."

"The price could be a bit lower."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"We are using the open-source, unpaid version."

"Nagios Core is an open source solution, and there are no licensing fees."

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

"It's free."

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

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

"It's free."

More Nagios Core pricing and cost advice

"The price of SolarWinds Network Automation Manager is fair. However, it is more expensive than ConnectWise."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Government

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Nagios Core?

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

See all answers

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

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Comparisons

Icinga vs Nagios Core

Compared 21% of the time

Nagios XI vs Nagios Core

Compared 14% of the time

Zabbix vs Nagios Core

Compared 12% of the time

Centreon vs Nagios Core

Compared 7% of the time

Checkmk vs Nagios Core

Compared 6% of the time

More Nagios Core Competitors

NetBrain vs SolarWinds Network Automation Manager

Compared 76% of the time

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs SolarWinds Network Automation Manager

Compared 16% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs SolarWinds Network Automation Manager

Compared 9% of the time

More SolarWinds Network Automation Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core

September 2025

Download Nagios Core product report

Buyer's Guide

Network Automation

October 2025

SolarWinds Network Automation Manager report

Download SolarWinds Network Automation Manager product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds NAM

Overview

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

Nagios

Scale environments from 1,000 to tens of thousands of nodes with comprehensive performance, traffic, WAN, and switch port monitoring, automated change and configuration management, and IP address management in an integrated network automation software solution.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel

Maalem Financing Company, School City of Hammond

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager

September 2025

Free Report: Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager

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