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Nagios XI vs Nmap comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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 XI
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
27th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (14th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (29th), Cloud Monitoring Software (25th)
Nmap
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nagios XI is 2.5%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nmap is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Nmap0.6%
Nagios XI2.5%
Other96.9%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Emmanuel Appiah Boateng - PeerSpot reviewer
Network and Security Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Simplifies setup and requires user interface enhancement
Nagios XI is easy to install, which sets it apart from other open-source solutions I've tried. Typically, setting up a monitoring system on Linux involves cloning files from GitHub, building it, and installing many dependencies, but with Nagios XI, it wasn't like that. Nagios XI simplifies our setup and reduces the time spent configuring monitoring tools.
MR
CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Improves network monitoring and offers insights into traffic, including VPNs
The real-time reporting feature of Nmap is particularly valuable. It generates detailed reports on the source and destination IP addresses, the protocols used, and the types of traffic. This feature is crucial for law enforcement agencies to monitor and analyze network connectivity effectively. It also has traffic analysis. For example, assessing bandwidth usage and configuring the tool to track specific types of traffic is crucial. Unlike SolarWinds, which requires configuration for this, Nmap has built-in functionality that allows it to check all 4,000 computer ports. It identifies the type of traffic each port is using and can easily generate reports on network communications between computers, whether there are 100 or 1000 in the network.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's great for monitoring IT services infrastructure."
"Nagios XI is stable."
"The most valuable features of Nagios XI are you can customize it based on your use case and requirements. It is flexible and easy to integrate with our systems. You can customize the solution by adding additional features using code."
"The dashboard allows you to see what's going on in the overall system."
"Nagios XI is a simple monitoring tool with performance management."
"Nagios allows us to configure any device so that we can send pager alerts when people don't have access to emails. It also allows us to schedule downtime and maintenance."
"Nagios is a custom API manager, and we can expose custom APIs for our integration. This is a great feature."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its simplicity."
"Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to scan our network and identify devices that aren't connected properly. This helps us detect any issues related to the operating systems of these devices."
"It helps us secure the network infrastructure."
"The most valuable feature of the solution for security audits stems from the fact that it serves as a powerful tool with the ability to scan a large number of ports."
"It is a very user-friendly product."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its scripts. These scripts prove beneficial when security features may obscure or block connections. Nmap helps identify vulnerabilities across different systems, including web servers and various server types."
"The solution detects the operating systems, which makes testing the software much easier before making the payload."
"It enables us to delve deeper and identify the services and open ports on the system and visualize this information on a dashboard automatically."
"The scanning procedure includes UDP ports which sets it apart from competitors."
 

Cons

"The product uses the backend as Perl and could be modified to a more lightweight solution like what's being offered by other vendors."
"The Configuration Wizard needs improvement, because not all vendors are present."
"Technical support is an area that needs improvement. It is not available 24/7."
"Improve the documentation, examples, and best practices, therefore users can understand how to do things."
"The technical support is variable - sometimes I get answers, but most of my tickets go unanswered."
"The installation and monitoring need improvement."
"It can be quite difficult to know which drivers and agents to use when setting up."
"Nagios XI can improve its GUI for users with a new look."
"They should deliver Playtech's username and password."
"Nmap needs to improve its scanning speed."
"Customization is not very user-friendly in Nmap."
"There are concerns with the stability of the product, making it an area where improvements are required."
"The solution's initial setup could be better."
"The solution should increase the number of features under a free license."
"There could be a specific option to check non-pingable endpoints for the product."
"Nmap major operates through the CLI; there's no GUI component, and that's where the challenge is."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $3,000 USD per year."
"You can grow into the higher-priced scale as they learn how to utilize the features for Nagios XI."
"This solution is very expensive, at approximately $5,000 USD when I purchased it, which is why I haven't upgraded my version in several years."
"As it is not an agentless tool, I think it is expensive."
"We are using the free version of this solution."
"The pricing is high with separate licensing for the product and support."
"Licensing costs are reasonable."
"Nagios XI is an expensive solution."
"I am using the free version of Nmap."
"The solution is free of cost."
"It's an open-source product, and I haven't seen any premiums. Options are available for those who purchase, but for my use case, everything I need is available in the community and forums."
"Nmap is open source software, which suits us well because we are a manufacturing company and not an IT company, for example. If we were an IT company, we would probably need to pay for extra support or instead go for another software solution. But as it is, we don't have any need for high-end troubleshooting tools."
"It's an open-source solution. Commerically, only the support service is available."
"The solution is free of cost, but there are specific services that we have to buy."
"Nmap is an open-source product. You don't need a license to install it."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Retailer
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nagios XI?
The pricing for the Nagios XI product is good and better than other solutions. I would give it a four or five.
What needs improvement with Nagios XI?
The user interface needs improvement. Many tools have poor user interfaces, making them hard to manage and navigate.
What is your primary use case for Nagios XI?
I normally use Nagios XI for our servers. It's not particularly used for network equipment, however, I use it for monitoring our server performance, including CPU, memory, data, and services runnin...
What do you like most about Nmap?
Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to sca...
What is your primary use case for Nmap?
Nmap is used for network scanning to map the network, identify devices, and assess their status. It helps determine open ports and services running on a particular endpoint or server within an ente...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nagios has over one million users globally, including AOL, DHL, McAfee, MCI, MTV, Yahoo!, Universal, Toshiba, Sony, Siemens, and JPMorgan Chase.
Lockheed Martin, Eastern Bank Boston, Perspecta, Harris Corporation, Discovery Communication
Find out what your peers are saying about Nagios XI vs. Nmap and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.