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Nagios XI vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor 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
26th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (14th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (28th), Cloud Monitoring Software (26th)
SolarWinds Network Device M...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
27th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nagios XI is 2.3%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.8%, 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 (%)
Nagios XI2.3%
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor0.8%
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.
SG
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.

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 simplifies our setup and reduces the time spent configuring monitoring tools."
"I can monitor a phone on a desk to very big servers of any company."
"Nagios XI helps us monitor the bandwidth of the internet connection, HTTP, DNS, active directory services, and exchange data availability. We have multiple servers to monitor databases, availability of servers, and ping."
"Nagios is stable and it's easy to use the monitoring software, which is why we chose this product."
"This is a very good solution and it is simple to use, for any company."
"An excellent solution that is easy and intuitive to implement."
"Nagios XI is a simple monitoring tool with performance management."
"The solution and its interface are elaborate and fully integrate all monitored items for easy analysis and troubleshooting."
"SolarWinds is flexible and works with multiple vendor devices."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is a straightforward product with valuable functionality."
"Overall, I rate SolarWinds Network Device Monitor ten out of ten."
"There are vital features of auto-plugin core ports"
"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."
"This product proactively tells us about issues before the users notice."
 

Cons

"The scalability of Nagios XI is scalable. However, it is not easy to do."
"The installation and monitoring need improvement."
"The PNP4Nagios plugin not working easily with XI is an issue for me, because some open source monitoring plugins do not work out of the box. But in the end, you learn to live with it."
"Improve the documentation, examples, and best practices, therefore users can understand how to do things."
"It is really difficult to integrate Nagios XI with another system to generate logs and alert our management of failures in security infrastructure."
"The reporting structure could be more streamlined."
"The GUI could be improved."
"The product does not have SAP monitoring."
"The solution should have AI-powered issue-resolving capabilities"
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor lacks the granularity of other monitoring tools like LiveNX."
"When an organization's network grows, the complexity of the dashboard becomes an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Integration with different tools, such as ServiceNow and Excel, can be improved."
"The solution is not user-friendly."
"The security needs improvement, which is why we are moving away from Solar Winds. We have security concerns."
"There is no mobile version of this product, and our team should be able to access it using a mobile device."
"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing costs are reasonable."
"Nagios XI is open source."
"We are using the free version of this solution."
"The pricing is high with separate licensing for the product and support."
"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."
"Nagios Core does not have any payment, but Nagios XI requires payment for the license."
"Nagios XI is an expensive solution."
"The licensing fees for this solution are approximately $3,000 USD per year."
"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."
"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."
"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."
"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."
"The enterprise license is good for the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor. However, it is expensive, they should reduce their price."
"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."
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."
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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
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
 

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 Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

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 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
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 impro...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Network Device Monitor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nagios has over one million users globally, including AOL, DHL, McAfee, MCI, MTV, Yahoo!, Universal, Toshiba, Sony, Siemens, and JPMorgan Chase.
Air Rarotonga
Find out what your peers are saying about Nagios XI vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.