Nagios Core vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Nagios and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Nagios is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.7, while SolarWinds is ranked #38 with an average rating of 8.0. Nagios holds a 1.3% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Nagios users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Nagios Core

Read 51 Nagios Core reviews

9,323 Views
7,458 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Read 23 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reviews

4,089 Views
4,007 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Nagios Core

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and Nagios Core compete in network monitoring solutions. Nagios Core is generally seen as having the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and customization flexibility, while SolarWinds is favored for its ease of use and support.

Features: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is known for easy setup, real-time network performance monitoring, and user-friendly alerts with a polished dashboard. Nagios Core offers open-source flexibility, extensive customization options, and a wide range of monitoring features, making it appealing for those seeking in-depth customization.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds can improve in areas like advanced customization, integration capabilities, and scalability for larger enterprises. Nagios Core could benefit from simplified deployment, enhanced user interface, and more accessible support options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is praised for its quick and straightforward deployment process and strong customer support. Nagios Core's deployment is more complex, requiring technical expertise, but it allows for deeper customization.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor offers competitive pricing, making it attractive to smaller organizations seeking immediate returns, supported by comprehensive customer service. Nagios Core, being open-source, presents cost-effective initial setup and potential for long-term savings with its customization capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

September 2026

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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

19th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (18th)

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

38th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nagios Core is 1.3%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Nagios Core	1.3%
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor	0.8%
Other	97.9%

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.

Read full review

Sorin Gogean

IT Infrastructure Senior Network Technician at Autoliv

Offers some features but needs better customization and analysis tools

There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for improvement. The features are not as customizable as we would prefer, but they are workable. If configured properly, you can perform a drill-down analysis. However, I have not used this feature much for our infrastructure on the network side.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Nagios doesn't get the respect it deserves; most likely due to the fact that it doesn't have a licensing cost."

"Open source and very flexible, with a large ecosystem of tools and custom monitors built up around Nagios."

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

"Before we implemented Nagios, we did not know which servers were up or down until a customer told us, and now I can see trends over time and it gives me perspective of what needs to be improved so we are able to work proactively as opposed to reactively."

"The solution is very complete and mostly easy to manage."

"We have used this product now for quite some time and we are happy with it."

"Nagios Core is a great tool for monitoring the infrastructure including MSM queues, and when we use the agent, we can add other things as well."

"Other products are good but from the configuration point of view Nagios is really very lightweight. The price is really good in my opinion. Another important thing is that my Nagios engine still works with Dual core 8GB ram for the last 10 years."

More Nagios Core pros

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"Since our devices are spread out across the world, we can see the status of these devices without having to send someone physically to a remote location, which saves money."

"We are doing more with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor than we were doing in the past with WhatsApp Gold; when we moved to SolarWinds Network Device Monitor, the whole observability part started to grow."

"You can create an attractive dashboard and create a hierarchy."

"Link monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"The Network Device Monitor itself is very useful."

"The most valuable features of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor are the reports. We are configuring the reports, and the first reports are only about the devices. We are configuring the thresholds in order to monitor all the devices."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is monitoring."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

Cons

"The user interface could be more interactive because it is pretty basic."

"Default interface is clunky and slow."

"The dashboard and monitoring features could be improved."

"They should simplify the features so it becomes easier to setup out of the box."

"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."

"Lessening the price point would be an improvement."

"It would be nice if the company offered a sales or contract manager that was dedicated to our company so that we would have some sort of link to Nagios, and if we had issues or questions, we'd be able to contact them directly."

"I like to have the option to configure Nagios using the web interface."

More Nagios Core cons

"It should provide user-friendly page"

"Technical support needs to respond to its customers faster. We are not 100% satisfied with the level of support we get."

"It would be beneficial if SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could provide a feature to monitor CRC errors specifically on individual interfaces rather than the entire device. This would help in detecting intermittent issues and packet drops on main links more accurately, especially when there are CRC errors. It's important for us to be aware of these issues to avoid any voice quality problems or interruptions on our MTS links."

"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."

"If everything were in the package so that everything was ready to go out of the box, that would be ideal."

"The data is in the system but we are unable to pull it because reporting is not integrated and versatile."

"The reporting feature needs improvement because we are unable to configure reports that were included during initial implementation."

"There were certain aspects that weren't supported exactly. I was just able to monitor some basic things."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's free."

"Nagios Core is a cheap solution."

"Most the plugin features are free."

"The product is cheaply priced."

"We are using the free version."

"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."

"Nagios Core is free to use."

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

More Nagios Core pricing and cost advice

"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."

"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."

"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."

"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."

"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."

"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."

"The product is expensive."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

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	24

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

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 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I have experience regarding the AD part, but my focus for the last 15 years has been oriented to the network side. My experience with identity tools comes more from a network perspective. We used N...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core

September 2026

Download Nagios Core product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

September 2026

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Network Device Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Network Device Monitor

Overview

Nagios Core offers a versatile monitoring solution that efficiently manages notifications, reporting, and resource usage. Its open-source architecture provides flexibility and customization options for comprehensive infrastructure health management.

Nagios Core, known for its extensible plugin architecture, proactively enhances infrastructure management with customizable notifications and reliable reporting. Seamlessly integrating various plugins, it offers real-time dashboards and efficient alerting systems for thorough monitoring. Its adaptability and ease of configuration make it popular among users seeking flexible monitoring solutions. However, improvements in the web interface, scalability, performance, and visualization are needed to enhance accessibility. Users seek better alert mechanisms, more robust PDF export features, and simpler setup processes for increased efficiency.

What are the key features of Nagios Core?

Customizable Notifications: Tailor alerts to suit specific needs.
Reliable Reporting: Provides detailed insights into system performance.
Light Resource Usage: Operates efficiently with minimal resource demands.
Extensible Plugin Architecture: Supports a wide range of third-party integrations.
Real-Time Dashboards: Offers instant insights into system health.

What benefits should users expect from Nagios Core?

Flexibility: Allows detailed customization for unique monitoring requirements.
Open-Source Nature: Encourages community-driven enhancements and support.
Integration Capabilities: Facilitates seamless interaction with other tools and platforms.
Adaptability: Supports monitoring across different environments seamlessly.

In many industries, Nagios Core is integral to monitoring infrastructure and services, including cloud servers, applications, and network devices. Users rely on it for issue detection, capacity planning, and maintaining system stability in environments like AWS and on-premise servers. Its capabilities in CPU, memory, and bandwidth monitoring along with alert systems support sectors needing real-time oversight of critical equipment.

Nagios

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor offers comprehensive real-time network monitoring capabilities with seamless integration across multiple vendor devices, ensuring efficient network operations.

Offering features like cloud workload monitoring, quick deployment, and a user-friendly interface, SolarWinds Network Device Monitor supports real-time alert thresholds, accurate link readings, historical utilization metrics, and customizable dashboards. Its ability to integrate with multiple vendor devices and perform network discovery enhances operational efficiency. Comprehensive bandwidth and fault management features provide stable network monitoring, benefiting devices such as switches and IP phones. However, there is room for improvement in integration with tools like ServiceNow and Excel, support response times, and enhanced security. Users highlight the need for a mobile version, improved reporting, and better customization options, alongside concerns about setup complexity and licensing costs.

What are the key features?

Cloud Workload Monitoring: Monitors workloads hosted in the cloud.
User-Friendly Interface: Offers an intuitive experience for users.
Quick Deployment: Simplifies installation and setup processes.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides immediate alerts for network statuses.
Customizable Dashboards: Enhances network visibility with tailored displays.

What benefits can users expect?

Proactive Problem Solving: Real-time alerts facilitate quick issue resolution.
Efficiency: Automated network monitoring streamlines operational workflows.
Insightful Analytics: Provides valuable data on memory and CPU usage.
Cost-Effective: Monitors bandwidth and fault management to reduce outages.

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is implemented prominently in industries needing robust network infrastructure monitoring, like tech and manufacturing. Companies rely on its capabilities for IP address management, cloud workload monitoring, and remote equipment monitoring, gaining insights into system performance and ensuring compliance checks are met effectively.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel

Air Rarotonga

Buyer's Guide

Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

September 2026

Free Report: Nagios Core vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

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