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Nagios Core vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Nagios and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Nagios is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0, while Progress Software is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.5. Nagios holds a 3.0% mindshare in NMS, compared to Progress Software’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Nagios users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.
Nagios Core
Read 51 Nagios Core reviews
  • 4,253 Views
  • 3,272 Comparison Views
80% willing to recommend
WhatsUp Gold
Read 24 WhatsUp Gold reviews
  • 1,789 Views
  • 1,432 Comparison Views
85% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and Nagios Core are competing network monitoring solutions. WhatsUp Gold has the upper hand in user-friendliness and customer support, whereas Nagios Core is preferred for its advanced feature set, appealing to users who seek complex customization.

Features: WhatsUp Gold offers intuitive network mapping, robust performance monitoring, and efficient alerting features. Nagios Core provides vast plugin architecture, comprehensive monitoring capabilities, and strong community support, allowing extensive customization options.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold could enhance its customization options, expand its plugin integrations, and offer more competitive pricing. Nagios Core might benefit from improving its user interface, simplifying configuration processes, and providing direct customer support options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold is known for a straightforward installation process and proactive customer support, minimizing setup time. Nagios Core requires more technical expertise and primarily relies on community-based support, necessitating more time for deployment.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold typically has a higher initial cost but promises a quicker ROI through ease of use and support efficiency. Nagios Core's open-source model allows low-cost setup, offering long-term flexibility but with slower ROI due to necessary technical investment.

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To learn more, read our detailed Nagios Core vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Nagios Core vs. WhatsUp Gold
April 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
8th
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WhatsUp Gold
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
26th
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
27th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (24th), Server Monitoring (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nagios Core is 3.0%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Nishith-Vyas - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Tom Condo - PeerSpot reviewer
If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue
When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with it.
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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

"Nagios monitors our servers, so we know if anything goes wrong and can solve the problem before it happens."
"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."
"Nagios Core is stable."
"The application performance monitoring feature is valuable."
"We use the product to monitor server applications."
"The solution is quite efficient."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of Nagios Core is it allows us to develop and add as many plugins as we want."
More Nagios Core pros
"The most valuable features are network bandwidth monitoring and monitoring device health."
"The documentation is very good."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."
"We no longer have to manually search for problems because we are alerted when something in the network goes down."
"The most valuable feature is the auto-discovery function."
"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."
"The tool's most valuable feature is the visibility it offers of everything in the network and infrastructure."
More WhatsUp Gold pros
 

Cons

"I believe Nagios Core will need to provide an option for big data platforms in the future."
"The interface could be improved."
"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 NetEase reporting structure needs improvement, especially the availability report, which is weak."
"The initial setup process could be easier."
"Bandwidth monitoring is the pain point for me because Nagios Core does not monitor bandwidth effectively like Cacti does."
"The user interface could be more interactive because it is pretty basic."
"Nagios Core could improve by adding a user interface. If you want the user interface you have to use Nagios XI."
More Nagios Core cons
"I might like to see a better interface in the future."
"One of the biggest things that made us start to look at another product is we're not able to have an end to end monitoring from a user perspective throughout the system and back to the user. All the monitoring is from inside out, we need something that also can give us from outside in."
"Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be beneficial."
"Pricing is too high relative to how many devices we use. The price list is not linear to number of devices."
"You have to invest a few days to become an expert in this solution."
"The pricing for this solution has gone up quite recently, which has led some of our customers to buy an alternative product."
"I think there are a few bugs now. Although they give some resolution for this, we cannot share the network remotely because of our company policy."
"The product is old and not updated."
More WhatsUp Gold cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free version."
"We are using the open-source, unpaid version."
"It's free."
"Nagios Core is free to use."
"It's free."
"We have saved a lot of time, money, and effort in reducing disaster times, which is owed to Nagios quick alerting."
"The enterprise version has technical support. The version we are using is free."
"Nagios Core is a cheap solution."
More Nagios Core pricing and cost advice
"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."
"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."
"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."
"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."
"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."
"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."
"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."
"This is a well priced solution."
More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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
What do you like most about WhatsUp Gold?
The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?
Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...
See all answers
What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?
Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be benefici...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Nagios XI vs Nagios Core Logo
Nagios XI vs Nagios Core
Compared 17% of the time
Zabbix vs Nagios Core Logo
Zabbix vs Nagios Core
Compared 14% of the time
Centreon vs Nagios Core Logo
Centreon vs Nagios Core
Compared 9% of the time
OP5 Monitor vs Nagios Core Logo
OP5 Monitor vs Nagios Core
Compared 4% of the time
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Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold Logo
Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold
Compared 14% of the time
PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold Logo
PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold
Compared 10% of the time
SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold Logo
SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold
Compared 8% of the time
Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold Logo
Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold
Compared 8% of the time
Nagios XI vs WhatsUp Gold Logo
Nagios XI vs WhatsUp Gold
Compared 6% of the time
More WhatsUp Gold Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Nagios Core
April 2025
Nagios Core reportDownload Nagios Core product report
Buyer's Guide
WhatsUp Gold
April 2025
WhatsUp Gold reportDownload WhatsUp Gold product report
 

Overview

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

Nagios

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

Progress Software
 

Sample Customers

Airbnb, Cisco, PayPal, FanDuel
Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof
Buyer's Guide
Nagios Core vs. WhatsUp Gold
April 2025
Free Report: Nagios Core vs. WhatsUp Gold
Find out what your peers are saying about Nagios Core vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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